“Make an incision 5 cm long over the right lumbar region and begin extracting the residue blood.”

Ellowyn’s eyes snapped open at the voice, only to be blinded by a glaring white light. Then the scenery slowly unfolded as her eyes adjusted to the brightness.

She was lying down on a bed, three large hologram screens floated above her and two giant robotic arms with countless smaller arms, each equipped with a different tool for cutting and slicing, stood to each side of her body.

One screen depicted the close-up image of her bruised belly, while the other two showed outlines of her body and various statistics such as heart rate, body temperature, and blood pressure. While she couldn’t feel any pain due to the System surprising her pain receptors, she could tell that her body was in a critical state from the grave data on the screen and countless warning notices the System was giving out.

One of the robotic arms used a marker to put an X on a small area next to her navel, then the other arm’s circular blade started to spin.

“Wait, she is awake!” Yelled the same voice over the intercom.

All procedures halted as an alarm went on in the operating room. Ellowyn slightly moved her neck to see a glass window with five doctors in green scrubs operating what appeared to be holographic controllers.

“Give her more anesthesia.”

“I’m on it.”

A doctor rushed into the room and frantically waved his hand.

“Miss Ellowyn, please remain calm. We are performing critical operations to maintain your condition. There is nothing to be afraid of.”

Ellowyn felt a strange pressure in her arm as more anesthetic was pumped in.

Detected tranquilizing drug, removing substance… done

Too late. She rolled her eyes and sent a sorry gaze at the guy before he showed a confused look.

“Why isn’t the anesthetic working? We already gave her 50% over the limit.”

Ellowyn opened her mouth and spoke, only to result in dry coughs as her throat was long dried up.

The doctor rushed out and immediately ran back with a glass of water.

“I’m fine. You can continue the operation.” She said, after gulping down the water.

“Are you sure? We do not want you to be in pain.”

“Don’t worry, I have suppressed pain. I won’t feel a thing.”

For a moment, the doctors looked at each other with lost expressions. Then one of them received a phone call.

“Alright, miss Ellowyn, we will continue the operating procedure. If you feel there is any problem, please notice us immediately.” Was their decision after the call.

They still covered her eyes and ears, despite her protest. She still could get complete gasps of what the doctors were doing through the System, but her curiosity had no bound.

Using the System, she accessed the medical sensors attached to her body and began tracing the connection back to the operating network. There, she piggybacked onto the camera’s signal and viewed the procedure.

It was only through another’s eye that she could see her body’s battered condition, after the ordeal it had been through. Massive bruises enveloped her arms, legs, and abdomen. Her chest caved in a weird way, and one of her legs was bent at an impossible angle.

After days of combat practice against simulated flesh and blood opponents, she was used to seeing the gore but never had she seen herself so dreadfully injured. The gruesome scene sent shivers down her spine.

Still, she wanted to witness the operation and perhaps gain more insight when she performed her own body modifications in the future.

The operation lasted three hours. They opened her up, cleaned the dried up blood that bled within her innards, and put her limbs inside casts thicker than the biceps of the extremely muscular hero she saw back in the tunnel.

The doctors then moved her bed towards the exit. Her eyes widened the moment they came outside. The towering figure of the titanic vessel earlier hovered before her. The golden light of dusk bounced off its gleaming armor.

Based on the ship's location relative to her, it seemed they never moved her body from the place she made the rough landing earlier. Probably because her body’s condition was too grave to be transported back to the ship. She concluded they had built the entire medical center just to treat her.

A transport quickly landed on the ground in front and the doctors pushed her bed inside. Inside the ship, they then moved her to a larger medical room to be monitored.

The doctors asked if they could put a virtual reality headset onto her so that she could gain access to a remote-controlled body.

With her exhaustion reaching its limit, she could only nod absentmindedly.

Detected foreign electronic wave-emitting device affecting brain wave activities. Block interruptions?

No. Was her last thought before giving in to the exhaustion.

##

“Ellowyn!” Alice’s voice woke her up like a bright beam in the endless void of darkness.

Ellowyn sprung up and immediately pulled Alice into a strong hug.

The first thing she noticed was that her arms and legs were no longer in a cast, the second thing was either Alice had gained a lot of muscle mass while she was gone, or the person she was hugging wasn’t Alice.

Ellowyn timidly opened her eyes and found out it was Alex whom her hug was directed against. She quickly released herself and glanced at the other side of the bed.

Alice was directing a hostile glare at Alex, while Sophie, at her. The hostile atmosphere lasted only for a fraction of a second, but the terror remained in her heart.

“Sorry!.” She hastily replied.

“It’s fine.” Alex waved dismissively.

Then she noticed a strange problem, her right ear and left ear seemed to have been switched, as Alex was on her left side, yet she heard his voice in her right ear. Realization hit her as she glanced onto her own body. It was only a humanoid robotic drone.

The System’s last message replayed in her mind as she pieced together the facts. That was a proxy robotic body the doctors gave her to use while her real body rested in recovery. The hearing problem was obviously a glitch.

Before she could fix it, a pair of arms reached out from behind and pulled her into a fierce hug.

“I thought you were gone.”

Wet droplets landed on Ellowyn’s shoulder. She tried to turn her head around, but the hug was too strong. She could only reach her hand behind and patted Alice’s head. “Me too, Alice, me too.”

The hug continued for a long time. Sophie and Alex decided to take their leave to give the two some time alone.

Alice released the hug reluctantly and turned Ellowyn around to face her.

Before Ellowyn could speak, however, a resounding slap echoed throughout the room.

Ellowyn could only stare agape at the glaring Alice. “Why?” She whispered.

"Were you happy?! Were you finally happy that you could Sacrifice yourself for me?" Alice hissed.

Still not comprehending the situation. Ellowyn could only nod.

“Did you feel relieved before you were about to die?”

Ellowyn nodded again.

“Then don’t!”. Alice’s scream threatened to break the room’s glass windows. “Don’t feel happy for what you did, you have no right to feel that way.”

Alice cupped her face in her hands. “I don’t know why, as it had only been two weeks. But I feel more attached to you than any other strangers in my life. You, Ellowyn, is one of the most precious things in my life that I never want to lose.

“You may feel happy that your death had helped preserve my well-being. But in fact, it doesn’t. Without you, how can I ever be happy?”

The question stabbed at Ellowyn’s heart.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry for what? You need to know what exactly it was that you did. You tried to take away one of my most precious thing - yourself. Do you know how painful that felt?”

“When I saw you teleporting outside that gate,” Alice continued, “I felt like I was abandoned like a lost puppy on the side of the road. That you, the one most precious person with me, was probably not going to return through the gate, to me.”

Then the two embraced each other in another sobbing hug.

It was then that Ellowyn realized she was the most selfish person in Varius. So selfish was she that she didn’t realize in her vain attempt to satisfy her desire for Alice’s well-being, she didn’t take into account that her own death would bring immense sadness to Alice. That the foolish sacrifice she attempted was nothing but a selfish act done by her blinded ego.

“I’m sorry, Alice, I’m really sorry for doing something so stupid.” Two wet trails traveled down her cheeks. “Can you forgive me?”

“How can I not?”

The touching reunion was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.

“Ah, I’m sorry for the interruption. I will come back later.” Said a familiar voice.

Ellowyn turned around to see the intruder. “Mister Clive!”

“Glad to know that you still remember me.” A faint smile formed on his surprised face.