As time passed, Sarah was given more opportunities to experience The Colony’s use of ki in healing and combat. It was much easier to study its healing methods, as she had more time to do so.

As such, Sarah made progress. When she focused on regeneration ki, she got the impression of growth and healing. It was hard to explain what she felt; she didn’t get a vision, and it wasn’t like her ki senses were any more than a fuzzy understanding of the flow of ki in her body. Her subconscious was just somehow picking up on a ‘regeneration intent’ infused into the ki.

As for the few times she was conscious during goblin raids, she was only able to feel a hint of speed intent in the ki flowing through her legs. Sarah was sure that there was more to it than that, and wished she had more chances to study her ki flow during combat.

Emma had quickly surpassed Sarah in ki manipulation. First, she had regained control of her legs, which led the girl to dance and brag to Sarah.

“Oh my gosh, it feels so good to move my legs,” she had said once. “Must feel bad to be stuck there on the rocky floor.”

Sarah wasn’t jealous.

Soon after, the girl somehow learned how to create regeneration and speed ki, baffling Sarah. It didn’t help that all Emma could say to Sarah was, “I just tried and it worked.”

Sarah definitely wasn’t jealous.

More time passed, and the mold pillar finally reached the top of the cave, with about twice the width of a person. Sarah had learned to ignore it while practicing her ki- staring at it got boring after the third day.

That’s why Sarah didn’t immediately notice when the pillar started to pulse ominously. In fact, she was woken out of her trance by the sound of footsteps.

“Sarah. Since when did this thing start squirming like that?”

Sarah opened her eyes to see Emma staring at the pillar suspiciously. It pulsed like a beating heart, there was a jagged crack in its fuzzy exterior that showed a glimpse of translucent green fluids inside. The crack was just as tall as a person, standing vertical like a door to a green abyss.

“It wasn’t like this before, Emma. It might be dangerous, please help me get away from it,” Sarah analyzed.

Emma didn’t respond, however. The girl staggered closer to the pillar, taking steps in time with its pulses. Her pupils were dilated, and looked a shade greener than normal. Emma was no longer conscious, taken over by The Colony’s insidious methods.

Before Sarah could do anything, Emma stepped through the crack. The pillar swallowed her whole.

Sarah sat in shock for longer than she should have. After weeks of the same routine, she had started to believe that everything would be okay, deep in her subconscious. This was a rude awakening.

When she finally moved, her first action was to scrape off some of the mold coating the pillar. It took every ounce of her will to touch the pulsing mass, but she overcame her fears. As she hoped, peeling away the outer mold left only translucent gel, giving Sarah a line of sight on Emma.

Slowly, green fuzz was sprouting on her body, including even her eyes and hair. Already, Emma’s striking purple highlights could no longer be seen.

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It was at that moment that Sarah realized she was a coward.

It was to be expected: her memories had left her, and taken with them her goals and inspirations. Very little was left in her to restrain her primal fear. As such, with the reminder that Sarah was not safe in The Colony, Sarah fled in fear.

Arm after arm, she dug her fingers into the hard floor of the cave, dragging herself to the entrance. A splatter of pink from sunrise marked its location, and to Sarah it was the most beautiful sight she had seen in her limited memory.

Despair struck her as a piercing pain raked through her brain. It was The Colony’s method of keeping her in line, and it would knock her out whenever Sarah tried too hard to recall memories, or rebel. Now, it was the chain that kept Sarah from escaping.

Desperate minds yielded miracles, and Sarah latched onto a faded gray fabric bag. It was the same container Sarah had used to carry green slime with, back before she had started to be used in combat. Now, the bag provided her with an excuse to leave the cave.

The pain faded from her mind as The Colony gave permission. A mix of thrilling excitement and fear embedded itself within Sarah’s chest at her success. Every time when Sarah had left the cave, The Colony had been controlling her destination. Now, however, Sarah had seized control by taking initiative. For the first time ever, Sarah was even given back control of her legs!

Sarah had no way of knowing, but The Colony preferred to brainwash its hosts, and then give them more freedoms. It was less resource intensive than manual control. To The Colony, it merely seemed like Sarah had been completely brainwashed earlier than expected.

Immediately, Sarah walked in the direction where she had encountered soldiers before. She walked about five miles before another lance of pain in her mind forced her to stop.

It seems like this is as far as its willing to let me go on my own. Sarah let out a self-pitying chuckle. Rather than forcefully march onwards, Sarah relented and started to gather sticks, which could help digging a pit to place the slime in.

After piling more sticks than she really needed in a pile, Sarah took out an indented stone, a sturdy drill stick, and a base board. Next, she tore a strap off the gray bag, which she used in place of string to make a makeshift bow. Already, pain was starting to build in the back of her head as The Colony grew confused at her actions, so Sarah took a break to shovel some slime.

As soon as the pain stopped, Sarah returned to her pile of materials. Now, she had all the materials ready to create a fire using the bow-and-drill method. Sarah thanked her previous self for learning the method, and was glad she retained the knowledge.

Her setup wasn’t great, as this was her first time making a fire, and she didn’t have the time to be picky with her materials. To make up for it, Sarah cycled her ki as fast as she could through her arms. It wasn’t nearly as effective as speed ki, but the normal ki still provided enough of a physical boost to speed up the drilling process. In under a minute, Sarah had a small fire going, which she tossed into some badly made kindling.

As the fire grew into a bonfire, Sarah bought time by shoveling slime as slowly as possible. As the slime slowly ran out, Sarah even dug new holes to waste time. Her calm façade started to crack the closer she came to the bottom of the gray bag, and still there was no sign of rescue.

Sarah had just run out of slime and moved on to covering the holes with dirt when she heard some muffled rustling. She looked up and saw a gun pointed right at her face.

“Hands in the air!”

A brown-haired, light skinned soldier was twenty feet in front of her, with both hands holding his gun. All around her, hidden behind trees and bushes, was a squad of over twenty men. The soldier in front of her, Arthur Wright, aggressively motioned with his gun after a second of pause.

“I said! Put your hands in the air!”

Excitement coursed through Sarah’s body at being rescued, but quickly she realized that her situation wasn’t that great. A pulse of pain in her head urged her to fight and gather more hosts for The Colony.

Sarah quickly ran through her options. She could put her hands in the air, ask the soldiers to handcuff her, and hope that she retained control of her body long enough. She could rush at the soldiers, dodging bullets and then cuff herself with the steel handcuffs hanging off of the Arthur’s belt. And lastly, she could break her own limbs, so that the soldiers could restrain her even if she loses control.

Three choices, and she had to pick one now.