The Void slammed into Liz with the force of a crashing wave. The all-encompassing tide of pure black submerged her, and her lungs struggled to inflate against the astronomical pressure crushing them. Every fiber of her being told her to escape but she held herself together with an iron grip, forcing herself to stay calm. A had told her that this would happen.

And through the panic and struggle, she was starting to feel something. A distinct tugging at a strange part of her that she didn't recognize, an instinctual pull towards some greater meaning. She wanted to move towards it, but she was at the Void's mercy, being swept along like a ship in a storm.

Luckily, she didn't have to move. The tugging was growing stronger by the second. The Void pressed down on her even more, and she gritted her teeth, trying to keep in the little air she still had in her lungs. Her neck spasmed, and her head felt as though would pop at any moment.

Then, something about the Void changed.

The pressure grew even further, but it was as if she had become part of it. Fresh air flowed back into her lungs, and she opened her eyes, gasping. Rather than the pitch black that she had seen engulf the world, this part of the Void was tinged with cracks of deep purple. One strand headed towards her, and she reached out a hand, meeting the source of the tugging with the tip of her finger.

Power like she had never felt before flooded her body. Her nerves rebelled at the extreme energy coursing through her, but that mysterious part of her reveled in the power, drinking it in like a dying plant in fresh rain.

Initiating third transaction... Receiving payment...

A strange tingling sensation filled her, and she recognized it as her genetic potential being removed. A small part of her wept at the thought, but a larger part reveled in the feeling, knowing what was coming next.

Payment complete. Initiating Mark transfer... Error. Void's actions are straying from predictions. Recalibrating...

She stared at the screen, urging for it to calibrate faster.

Power imbalance detected. Simulating potential futures... Simulation complete. Detractions necessary. Detracting Affinities. Processing... Spiritual Regeneration lessened. Recalibrating...

A new tingling sensation appeared, but this time it wasn't in her body. It was that new part of her that was being changed, her spirit. Yet, even as her chest caught at the foreign feeling, something else flooded in.

A vast, limitless potential filled her soul, and she clenched her fists, reaching out towards her newfound Mark. It was as soothing as a fresh spring day, but as boundless as the deepest oceans. Healing.

She focused on the sensations around her, as the Acolyte had told her.

Her eyes glowed with brilliant viridian power, and something engraved itself into her shoulder, spilling out an emerald hue. She laughed.

Using that new strange part of her, she made green light burst from her palms, cutting through the Void like a lamp in the dark. She could feel the endless power at her disposal, the incredible things that she could do with just a flick of her wrist. Then, another System message appeared.

Transaction complete.

Just as suddenly as it had come, the power left. Her shoulders sagged, and her glow in her eyes winked out, replaced by her regular dull green.

"No..."

The final wave of Void passed smoothly over her, and though she was no longer subject to its enormous pressure, she didn't feel as connected as felt before. Instead, it was more like she was a rock in the ocean, letting the blackness flow without a care in the world.

Finally, the blackness receded back to the walls of the room, and she dropped onto the floor in a heap. The solidified Void was surprisingly forgiving, but still firm enough that her right shoulder ached. Or maybe that was the result of the new verdant swirl engraved into it. Her Mark.

Her mind turned to the state of enlightenment she had just felt, and she let out a moan of agony. Out of all the limitless energy she had felt, only a spark remained, nestled deep within her chest like the embers of a dying flame.

Was that it?

A moment later, she recognized the absurdity of her statement. She could still heal herself!

Using that new part of her, she quickly moved the spark of power to her spine. It was... it was like a sixth sense had been implanted into her, a mystical set of eyes she had only just now awakened. She could feel everything around the spark, from muscle fibers to blood vessels to the surface of her bones. And, standing out like a sore thumb was the area where her central nervous system had been smashed to bits. Jagged, inflamed tissue, scarring around a nest of broken nerve endings.

Her throat caught when she saw the true damage inside her, but she steeled herself. It would finally go away now.

She pulled the spark into the damaged tissue, and promptly blacked out.

* * *

Liz awoke to her body's screams for water.

She instantly tried to sit up, but it was like her body was no longer her own. Her stomach just spasmed, and her flopped back down, hitting her head against the floor. She tried to open her eyes, but they were glued shut without water to lubricate them. Her face was boiling hot, and her throat was as dry as sand. All signs of severe dehydration.

Shit. This had to be a dream, right? How had she gotten into such a situation? Her eyes finally wrenched themselves open, and she realized how. Everything around her was black except for a plush velvet chair, and her right shoulder still throbbed with a dull pain. But how was she supposed to get water from here?

Blackness surrounded her, and...

The Void. What was it that A had said? That if she wanted to make any more transactions, she would have to get to a ley line. But if ley lines were just dense concentrations of Void...

She focused on her contact with the floor, feeling the subtle energy that the solidified substance held as it pressed against her back.

Open.

She urged it to trigger the shop, but it stubbornly resisted.

Oh come on! Wasn't it supposed to want her to survive and grow strong? How pathetic would that be, for her to die of dehydration inside one of the only safe spaces still around.

And she had just healed herself again...

The thought sparked a new determination inside her, and she forced her will onto the room, forging ahead despite its ignorance of her commands.

She knew that it would open. It had to.

Finally, after an agonizing minute of dehydrated torture, something clicked. A screen flickered to life in front of her, and she hurriedly willed it to turn to water. The system spread out with a myriad of options, but she hurriedly 'clicked' the first one she saw.

Error. Requires sacrifice. Use Order's blessing?

She didn't even give it a second thought. Frantically, she searched her mind for the thing that would have the most value to her.

Her notes. Ever since the bombing, they had held her hopes and dreams, not to mention countless hours of effort and pain. She had gone over them so many times that she had everything memorized, but they still represented the single driving purpose of her life for three years. If those weren't considered subjectively valuable, she didn't know what was.

Trade accepted.

Something flashed into existence beside her, and she recognized it to be a plain plastic water bottle.

With superhuman effort, she dragged her arm towards it and brought it to her face. Her other arm came up as well to try and loosen the cap, but the tiny plastic seal remained stubbornly in place.

Was the world trying to kill her?

She latched onto the cap with her jaw, and with all the remaining force left in her arms, she twisted. Cool, blissful water poured into her mouth, and she instantly coughed it back up.

Fucking hell.

She turned onto her side to avoid choking, setting the bottle back down onto the ground as carefully as she could manage. Her shirt was soaked now, but she barely registered it. A handful of water poured over her closed eyelids, and relief washed over her as the heat of her fever slowly transferred over to the liquid.

Now, she felt like she could at least sit up. She had wasted almost all the water left, but she swallowed the last bit, thankfully keeping it down this time. She mentally clicked on a shop window and another appeared beside her, but she resisted the urge to chug it all down.

The human body wasn't good at such drastic changes. She would need to endure another few hours of agony as she gradually reincorporated liquid back into her system. Except... did she need to do that anymore?

Feeling like an idiot, she searched her chest for the spark of power that had been granted to her.