While waiting for his wounds to heal, Sigmarus moved away from the wall and placed Merci’s body on yet another ragged old shirt. He also cleaned it off with water and a rag. Once her body looked relatively clean, he crawled back over to the wall. Just getting into a seated position proved difficult now that bruises were showing up on his body. He hoped the pill would heal those, too, and not just his legs.

I’m gonna run out of shirts at this rate, He thought, chuckling at himself before letting his head fall back and bump against the hard wall.

Now that he was no longer active, his eyelids started to feel heavy. He raised his arm to check the time, but then realized his wrist-com wasn’t there right now. A sigh slipped from his lips, and he allowed his body to relax as much as possible despite the putrid air tugging on his senses. Just when he thought he could take a break, a notification screen materialized in front of him.

[WARNING! Dangerous presence detected. Immediate evacuation recommended.]

Pursing his lips, he stared blankly at the screen and thought, Fuck. What now?

Clicking his tongue, he looked left and right, but saw nothing. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. The apparatus hadn’t betrayed him up to this point, so he figured it wasn’t lying. Still, he wouldn’t be able to do much even if something dangerous appeared. Sighing in resignation, he decided to just go with the flow this time.

Another notification with the same warning as the previous one popped up. It bothered him a little, considering the screen was yellow this time. Shortly after he dismissed it, a red one popped up. Perturbed by the surprising urgency in the notifications, he looked around once more. This time, when he looked downstream, he thought he saw movement in the darkness. Out of morbid curiosity, he grabbed the helmet by his side and pointed the head lamps in that direction.

Sigmarus’ breath caught in his throat when he saw something approaching him with calm and silent steps. Although the being looked mostly human, its appearance shook Sigmarus to the core. Grime moved out of the way under its feet with each of its steps as though the bacteria gained sentience only to make way for the being. Even under illumination of bright LED lights, its skin was pale white like volcanic ash. It lacked genitals of any sort, causing it to look genderless despite its highly defined and masculine muscle structure. Metallic stitches trailed over a large portion of its body. Circular stitching coiled around its legs and arms, gradually leading to strangely stitched patterns that formed the vague notion of chain links or DNA on its torso. Even more cross-stitching sealed its eyes, ears, and mouth, leaving only its nose open. Instead of stitching, small metal rods protruded from the bridge of its nose. The being also lacked even a single strand of hair on its body.

Unable to tear his eyes away from the eerie human-like being, Sigmarus broke out into a cold sweat. His heart raced as though he had just finished fighting. Something about the ‘person’ made him feel like he could be reaped like a blade of grass on a well-manicured lawn just from being in its presence. Gritting his teeth, he hoped it was simply passing by, though that hope immediately sank moments later.

The ‘person’ stopped less than a meter away from him and craned its neck to ‘look’ down at him through sealed eyes. Although Sigmarus already felt an intangible pressure before, he suddenly felt like gravity had tripled its hold on him. He couldn’t help wincing as his wounds flared up under the pressure.

Ignoring Sigmarus’ anxiousness, the being nonchalantly crouched next to him and extended its hand toward the surface of the concrete walkway. Grime and dirt alike rushed away from its finger as though a leaf blower had been pointed in that spot. The cleared area quickly extended several meters, creating a perfect ring of cleanliness in this gutter of filth. From there, the ‘person’ pressed its index finger onto the concrete. Then, it dragged its finger across the hard surface.

Hearing a low pitched grinding sound, Sigmarus stared wide-eyed at the being’s finger. His mouth dropped open when he saw a deep fingertip-sized crevice carved into the cement behind the finger. Moments later, the being pulled back its hand and looked at him. Although he was still startled, Sigmarus furrowed his brows at the unfamiliar symbols carved into the ground.

Apparently noticing his inability to read it, the being carved something else with different symbols. Again, Sigmarus failed to recognize it. The being repeated the action of carving different types of symbols and letters until finally…

‘Hello.’

“Ah.”

Noticing that it had finally hit the mark, the being slowly nodded and wrote, ‘Which realm are you from?’

“Realm? Different worlds? I’m from this one.”

The being tilted its head slightly as though surprised, but it seemed to recognize Sigmarus’ vague familiarity with the idea of other words and etched more words in an instant, its arm a blur to Sigmarus’ eyes.

‘But you are a cultivator?’

Feeling a tingle on the back of his neck that told him he shouldn’t lie, Sigmarus answered, “Kind of. An old guy from another realm gave me a way to cultivate.”

The being nodded and wrote, I felt your advancement and came this way. Where is this?

“Haze City.”

The being paused for a moment, and then wrote, What country?

“Country? There are no countries anymore. Just a few cities,” Sigmarus answered, raising a brow at the strange question.

‘I was... asleep for a long time.’

Huh. Interesting, Sigmarus thought. Slightly amused despite his apprehension toward the strange being, he decided to say, “This land used to be called the United States a long time ago.”

‘United States? This was not England? Why English?’

“That’s… a long story.”

‘Indeed. Time is the biggest bastard. Anyway, the people of this country once detained me somewhere while I was asleep. I only realized it when another cultivator made a mess of the facility they detained me in. Probably happened… 200 or so years ago? I’m looking for the artifacts they took from me.’

“Sorry, can’t help you.”

‘Unfortunate. Still, I believe this meeting to be an interesting twist of fate. What’s your name?’

“Uh… Sigmarus. You?” Sigmarus replied out of habit, though he instantly felt like he’d done something wrong by asking for its name. He glanced at its face with trepidation, but it didn’t look bothered.

‘I am’, The being wrote before halting for a moment. A few seconds of heavy silence passed before it finally etched out, Chain.

The moment he read the name, Sigmarus felt anxious for some reason. He could feel his origin energy squirming within his meridians, though he didn’t understand why.

‘Farewell. We will meet again.’

The being carved one last line into the cement and waited for Sigmarus to read it before waving its hand and erasing everything in a cloud of dust. It then stood and walked off into the darkness again with the same calm gait it had arrived with. Sigmarus reached up and wiped sweat off the back of his neck and sighed. He could finally breathe properly again. Well, as properly as one could breathe in a filthy sewer.

“Glad it was peaceful…” He mumbled to himself.