Waking up from unconsciousness isn't exactly a nice feeling. It's not the same as opening your eyes in a comfortable bed, with the chirping of birds wishing you a good morning. For me, it was like being jolted awake. I felt as if I had just been stripped of all layers of protective armour with a spear coming right towards my heart. Almost immediately, I sat up, not even sure where I was or if I was even still alive. The recollection of my senses was halted even further by Rogier, who wrestled me back down to the ground, with my head resting on a part of Amy's backpack.

"Don't panic. You're alright. You're alive," Rogier muttered and shoved a candy bar to my face. "The nerd said it would help. Want some?"

"Not really," I mumbled back.

"Good, I think it's a waste of rations." He slid it back into the backpack.

I stared up at the ceiling. It was a place I knew quite well. The painted sky and the sounds of waves were quite unforgettable.

"Are we back in that Glassroom?" I asked.

"Yup." Rogier scooted aside a bit to let me have a better view of the fortress sitting in the middle of the lake. From the looks of it, they decided to let me rest as close to the wall as possible, far away from the dangers the centre of the room may bring.

"Why are we here?"

"Well, this place was the safest we could think of. You've been out for quite some time. We've already been through two shuffles."

"Two shuffles?! But..." I didn't quite know what to say. Suddenly, I felt concerned, yet I wasn't quite sure about what. "Corwyn!" A memory suddenly came to me.

"He's alive and well. After your little idiotic leap past the edge, he got pulled down with the Guardian, but his artefact organs kept him alive. The Guardian ate him but he still had some of those popping boxes with him, which kinda blew up the creature's stomach from the inside."

"Wait, so... he killed the Guardian?"

"Yeah." I could not believe it. Rogier spoke of such a feat as if it was nothing, yet that creature could've easily killed us all. "After that, we just tossed him a rope and pulled him up. He was pretty tuckered out though. The fall made him pretty sick. Guess even a body like his has some limits. So instead of exploring, we just wanted to crash down at a somewhat safe place. And here, it's perfect."

"But that big floating head–"

"Oh yeah! Amy figured it out."

"Figured what out?"

"How to trade with it."

"Trade? With the head?"

"Haha, yeah, it was wild. She wanted to try and 'make amends' by returning the crops we took. You know, to try and at least make the outer part around the wall safe for us. And guess what, the moment she put them back, some coins just appeared in return. Turns out that the big place over there is not a fort but like... a marketplace. You give something, you get the coins. Then for the coins, you can take food from the garden. And I guess it already forgot where we got the crops from in the first place."

"So we got a food source now?"

"Kinda. At least as long as we have something to trade for it. The shiny cubes from the other room were worth jack shit, just like pretty much any of the books we offered so far, so we'll have to find pricier objects. Fortunately, Amy's little warehouse she's been carrying on her back has plenty of expensive stuff. We should be okay for even a couple of weeks. Same with water. The stuff in the lake is drinkable. Or at least it seems so. We've been boiling it just to be safe, but so far, no sickness or anything of the sort."

Those were relieving news. At least right now, we no longer had to worry about the most basic necessities. That, however, meant that my worries could turn elsewhere. I looked down at my right arm. All attempts to move it have been futile. It lay there, immobilized by what seemed to be long plates of metal and layers of bandages, which concealed everything from the tips of my fingers, all the way to my shoulder.

"How bad is it?" I asked, my heart sinking deeper into my chest. It was lost, I already knew that much. There was no way I could get proper treatment just from Amy's knowledge of first aid.

"Physically? Not at all. Psychologically? Well, we're about to find out."

"Psychologically?" I slowly sat up, unsure of what he was talking about.

"Take it off," he gestured over the bandages.

"But... isn't that like–"

"Take it off! Look, Corwyn thinks we should ease you into it. I, on the other hand, say that it's best to take it like tearing off a band-aid. And since the two went out trading, we're doing this my way. So come on!"

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Reluctantly, I began taking off the bandages around my fingers. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, until I eventually noticed something that wasn't supposed to be there. At first glance, it looked like a tiny piece of metal. I slid my fingers around it. It seemed to be going over my joint and disappearing into the flesh on my index finger. All my hair stood up and I quickly began undoing more and more of the bandages, until I eventually revealed everything up to my wrist.

"What is that?!" I almost yelled when I saw more metal plates covering my hand, looking as if they had melded with my skin. I tried pulling on them, but they wouldn't move an inch, as if they were now a permanent part of me.

"It's this." Rogier knocked on his metal leg.

"What do you mean?! This is... Is that even my arm?" I undid the rest of the bandages. Sure enough, everything looked like a strange mix of metal rods and plates perfectly integrated into my arm. Their orange tint reminded me of the metal clockwork Guardian we met on the top floor.

"Sure it's your arm. When the shuffling happened, those things appeared. I think maybe the library tries its best to repair any serious damage people receive here. Like what happened to my leg and now with your arm too. Since I lost it, the shuffling gave me a replacement. And since your bones turned into a jigsaw puzzle, it somehow reinforced them."

I couldn't stop looking at it. For some reason, the sight of it disgusted me and fascinated me at the same time.

"Does it hurt?" Rogier asked.

"N-No. It just kinda... It feels like my normal arm. I can kinda feel the metal even. Like, look, I can feel this." I ran my fingers over one of the metal plates and truly, it was like feeling touch over a thick piece of clothing.

"Yeah, you don't have to explain that to me. I have the same thing, remember? Or... close enough."

A moment of silence followed. I tested out my range of motion and it seemed as if nothing had even changed if one wouldn't count the new science-fiction look.

"Hey, it's gonna be fine," Rogier said, most likely after seeing the shock not leaving my widened eyes. "It's strange, but you'll get used to it. If you want to hide it, you can wear long sleeves and a glove. Other than that, it's all fine. Don't dwell on it too much. Try to think of something else."

I leaned against the wall behind me and tried my best to focus my attention elsewhere. There was, however, one thing that kept coming up in my mind.

"Rogier?"

"Yeah?"

"If I ask you something, you'll tell me what you honestly think, right?"

"Without a question."

"Right. Well... Would you say that I'm more of a... burden to our group?"

"Oh yeah, absolutely."

"Wow."

"Don't ask what you don't want to know the answer for."

"Right." I didn't know what else to say. I took a breath, wanting to apologize for holding us back, but Rogier's words were faster.

"Not like the rest of us are perfect though. Look at us. Corwyn is skilled and has the body of a machine, but is shy and worried all the time. Amy's a bloody know-it-all but just crumbles under pressure. As for myself, I know far too well that if nothing else, I'm a good runner. That's how I stayed alive for this long. But now there's the whole 'don't abandon the rookies' thing going on and that makes things difficult for me too. So I guess we all add something good and bad to the team."

"Heh, thanks. I guess you've got a point."

"Except for you though. You don't add much."

"Was that really necessary?!"

"Hell yeah! Do you think I'd let what happened slide just like that?"

"Right... The whole thing with me trying to catch Corwyn."

"Yeah, what the hell were you thinking?"

"I wasn't. I just... I jumped instinctively."

"Well, your instincts could get you killed one day. We could've progressed further but instead, we had to carry you back here and wait until you'd wake up again. Sorry to say that but behaviour like that is not helping us."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't care about your apologies." He sat down beside me and sighed. "Damn, I could go for a smoke now. Let me guess, you asked me about that whole burden thing because you feel like one, right?"

"Kinda."

"Good, then do something about it. It would be delightful to let you just sulk here all day but unfortunately, we don't have time for that. You don't have knowledge, skill, experience, or any special talents, but you are still an extra pair of hands. Want to feel less like a burden? Start thinking less about how bad you feel and more about what you can do to feel better."

"Right. I... guess you're right."

"I hope so. Never was really one for a pep talk. If you want fluffy comfort, go to Amy, not me." He stood up and stretched his back. "Now come on. You've been lazing around long enough. You're okay, so let's go check how the business is going for the two."

Rogier had me carry Amy's backpack as we went across one of the bridges towards the fort on the lake. I don't think I ever hated him more than in that moment. I couldn't wrap my head around how Amy could carry such heavy luggage around all the time and never complain, but as if that extra weight wasn't enough, Rogier sometimes reached down for a bit of water to splash me with. According to him, it was a "refreshing distraction." I tried punching him several times, only to stumble and receive a slap or two myself. Despite how much I hated him though, I had to admit that very soon, my thoughts were indeed elsewhere. The arm felt about as normal as before. Only sometimes, when I rubbed my hands, it felt a bit strange feeling the three small plates sitting embedded into my palm. Nevertheless, thanks to Rogier acting like an incredible prick, I never had too much time to focus on it.

The inside of the fort looked a lot more majestic than I thought it would. To put it simply, it was like a tiny, roofless labyrinth where walls were made of smooth, stone bookshelves. As we continued forth, however, the corridors of the place eventually opened up into a large area filled with market stalls. Corwyn and Amy were just standing near one of them, so I had enough time to witness the strange transaction. Amy grabbed four pieces of some unknown fruit and placed them onto a large balance scale sitting in the very centre of the place like an ancient monument of inconceivable value. After placing the fruit onto one of the plates, she raised her hand above the other. Large metal coins began falling out of her palm, appearing out of nowhere. As five of them landed on the scale, they perfectly balanced out the fruit. A dull click announced that the process was finished and she could now take the fruit with her.

"Oh, E-Eliot! You're awake!" Corwyn noticed me first. "Hey... ummm... about that arm of yours. I'm sorry. I-I should've pushed you away or something. I–"

"Oh quit it!" Rogier silenced him. "He's the only one to blame and you know it. Stop feeling sorry for each other. We're alive, well, and now there are four of us again. Now that we've got food and water taken care of as well, we can finally move on to phase two."

"Phase two? That's what exactly?" I asked.

"Actually getting out of here."