On a treatment chair in the middle of the room lay Serafina. Her abdomen had been cut open and the thin layers of fat had been pulled back. Res had seen the innards of pigs and dead humans in the academy. He was one hundred percent sure that Serafina’s heart wasn’t supposed to be blue. Her lungs had been replaced by fleshy pinkish balls linked together and several other organs were clearly alien.

“Bro, what the fuck. It is like they went into a scrapyard and they pulled out random car pieces to fix a Ferrari.”

He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the bizarre sight. It was horrifying but also fascinating to think of where they had gotten the different organs. One doctor in the room gave a thumbs up and they placed the abdominal skin over her organs like a curtain. Through the glass, Res could hear one doctor say.

“If this works, we will be celebrated, no revered. You know what, I don’t like being disappointed, so let’s drink the toast of victory now.”

They laughed and one of them pulled out several glasses which he filled with a white liquid from a flask. They drank the substance down in one go and then one of them opened a cabinet on the other side of the room. Steam flowed out of it and settled on the ground as the klengan retrieved a white liquid. He dumped all of it into Serafina’s mouth and watched at her.

With a squelch, the gut wound closed, but the doctors didn’t let their eyes off her, so Res didn’t as well. Serafina arched her back in pain and blue veins bulged out of her head. She released a horror-filled scream as her eyes turned into a mesmerizing pink. Her fingernails grew to ridiculous lengths and turned blue, but Res couldn’t turn away. Finally, her writhing ceased, and she settled back onto the bed. For several moments, they all were silent, then one doctor shouted. “Fuck Yeah! One Million Credits, Baby!”

The doctors soon were hugging and clapping each other on the back. An enormous burden dropped from his shoulders. The right part of her body was still scarred, but it seemed as if she would live. One klengan with expensive-looking clothing knocked on the door to the surgery. The klengan talked with the doctors in hushed tones. Finally, he motioned Res to come into the room and sit next to the bed. So, he sat there next to the girl he had hurt so much physically and mentally.

In the time he had to think about her, he had realized how of an ungrateful bastard he was. He had shamed her, insulted her, and had taken her for granted. Res couldn’t imagine how horrifying it must be to be sworn to serve a princess. To make it even worse, that princess forces you into the role of a mistress. A disposable toy for Res that wouldn’t be allowed to even carry any seed or share genuine love. She would have been a semen bag that he could satisfy his lust when Xenia didn’t want to.

When he put it like that, he felt disgusted with himself like he never had before. On top of that, he had hurt Serafina and maned her for life. He knew that she would reject him, but he was determined to help her. He would stay by her side to pay for all the immeasurable damage he had caused. Serafina’s eyes fluttered open and shut again. Tentatively, Res grasped Serafina’s hand while avoiding her long nails. She didn’t pull away but turned her head in his direction without opening her eyes.

“Whe … Where … am I?”, she croaked out. Res stroked her hand as he watched the scarred half of her face. All the pain he had caused with his naivety.

“You are safe. You survived the goblins. I am Res.”

She opened her eyes a slit and immediately shut them. “Am I in … the afterlife?”

Res chuckled. “No … definitely not.”

She clutched at his hand. “You saved me.”

Res grimaced, and a tear made its slow descent down his cheek. “I didn’t. I hurt you. I am so sorry.”

Serafina squeezed his hand with surprising force, which made his bone crackle and he cried out in pain. Serafina looked confused at her hand. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you. You saved me. Without you, I would be dead.”

“But I, …”

“No buts. You didn’t know any better and didn’t intentionally lead me into a mob of goblins. We all thought the fight would work out like usual. The problem was that Xenia left me behind.”, Serafina interrupted him.

Silence hung between the two of them and Serafina cracked an eye open once again. “What is this? I am seeing everything in the weird orange color. What happened to me?”

The leader of the people with black boxes stepped forward and whispered: “We transplanted her heart with that of a mountain cat lion from Asteroid A7A0. Her eyes are affected by the aether that the mountain cat heart pumps out. She will need to guide pure aether to her eyes.”

Out of a side pocket, he additionally produced a hand mirror and pushed Res back towards Serafina. She now sat up in her bed and cast about. “There are others. Who are they?”

Res extended his hand to comfort her, and she grasped it. Res had to harden his skin to stop her from crushing his hand with her new strength. “Can you remember the announcer?”

“Yes.”

“He is the owner of the tournament and some of his subordinates are here too. You received grave injuries and you couldn’t be healed with a normal potion.”

Her grip on his hand got even tighter. “Many of your vital organs were damaged beyond repair, so they cut them out and put others in.”

Serafina screeched in horror at the idea and touched her stomach. Res tried to calm her by stroking her hand. “You are fine. You got organs from various animals and they apparently have some side effects. It seems like she might have gotten heat vision. She can turn it off by pulling raw aether into her eyes.”

After several seconds, she opened her now pink eyes and looked at him delightedly. With a quick flick of her gaze, she took in the entire room but focused on him. “Why do you have black eyes? How did that happen?”

The revelation took him aback, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. He looked her deep in the eyes and whispered in a broken voice. “Serafina, please don’t panic at what I am about to show you. Do you promise?”

Serafina pressed his hand so hard that he had to put a considerable amount of aether into retaining its shape. “I will do my best.”

Res gave Serafina the mirror, and he swore to never forget Serafina’s face of horror when she saw her reflection. She stared at the mirror for several moments. Then, she broke out into tears and, when she wanted to wipe them away, she noticed her long blue fingernails. For two entire minutes, she stared at them until the same black-box man as before stepped forward and whispered: “If she inherited the cat’s aether allocation, she may be able to retract them with aether too.”

Res told her so and a minute later, her fingernails slowly moved back to their original length. Serafina whirled to face the other direction. She buried her face in her pillow and wept so earnestly that Res instinctively reached out to her. Yet, he felt that the blood oath connection between them was non-existent, but he ignored that for now. For a minute, Res sat there, not knowing what to say, while Serafina cried and he felt bad.

“Bro, she needs you right now.”

“I don’t know what to tell her.”

“Then tell her that, but you have to do something.”

Overcoming his anxiety, he spoke out his mind.

“I don’t know what to say right now. I could tell you that it isn’t that bad, but that would be untrue.”

Serafina cried even more, but Res barreled through.

“So, this is bad, but you know what? It doesn’t matter.”

Out of impulse, he rounded the bed and sat down next to Serafina on the edge of the bed. When she saw what he was doing, she turned away and buried her head under the pillow. His initial impulse was to leave her alone, but he remembered his own tantrum he had thrown with the entity. He wasn’t about to let it end by her falling down the whirlpool of despair, so he grabbed her hand. “Serafina, you don’t have to hide. Look at me.”

Serafina cried even harder. A muffled voice answered from under the pillow. “I am ugly now. My life is ruined. The people will think I am cursed and I will be stoned to death.”

Her answer made her cry even harder. “Serafina, I will be honest with you. You may perceive yourself to be damaged goods, but I think otherwise. Look at me Serafina. Those scars only underline your determination, strength, and goodness. When I look at your scars, I get angry. Angry at myself for letting this happen to you. But you, you are thankful that I saved you. You have such a big heart and I don’t think you should be like this, but I love you for it. Not for the scars themselves, but the woman that lies beneath them. Look at me, Serafina.”

She peeked at him from behind her pillow while searching for any falsehood. Res only looked at her with all the passion he felt for her and her cheeks reddened in that wonderful characteristic blush. Quickly, she covered her face up back again and Res laughed.

With some protest, he wrestled the cushion away which turned out to be difficult due to her new strength. Finally, the cushion tore, and a rain of white plush surrounded them. Res met Serafina’s gaze. “I want to say sorry for all the times I shamed you and you endured my stupidity.”

Res grinned mischievously. “Especially for our first meeting.”

Serafina turned away and blushed cutely. “I want to say sorry for all the times I insulted you and I want to say sorry for all the times I took you for granted. That weird servant-master relationship between you and Xenia messed things up. I know that you will hate me for all the bad I have done to you, but I hope that I can at least set some things right.”

Serafina looked tentatively back at him again. “You mean it?”

That innocent look of hers inflamed a fire deep inside him. “Yes. Everything and more than that. You are beautiful the way you are and nothing will change that.”

“Bro, that was a slam dunk. The ‘You are perfect as you are’ stick works wonders.”

She absently fumbled around with her thumbs. “What about Xenia?”

Res looked her in the eyes. “I am done with her. What she did back there has opened my eyes to her selfishness. She is wrong as a human being and no excuses will change that.”

“Do you still have your bond to her?”Res felt the bond still pulsing, but the connection to Serafina had been cut.

“I still have, but I didn’t do it on purpose.”

Serafina looked disturbed by that and turned away with a thoughtful expression. Luckily, the well-dressed man was there to help. With a professional air, he announced. ”Serafina, your heart stopped beating when it was exchanged with another one. What is the exact phrasing of the spell? It might have been chained to the beating of your heart?”

The comment hit a nerve and Serafina gave Res a hopeless look. “Even if that is true, you two will be bound forever. You won’t be able to resist her charms of no fault of your own.”

Frantically, Res searched for a way out of this mess. He turned to face Serafina and cupped her hands in his. “We will get through this tournament and win. We can form another blood bond if we still have our powers, right? Who will tell me to do anything when I am king and you are … ”

Both Res and Serafina reddened and looked away. Finally, Serafina added nonchalantly: “I think you didn’t finish the sentence there.”

Res blabbered incoherent words and remembered how troublesome marriage could be. “You know what I wanted to say.”

Serafina’s dejected expression made Res add: “Serafina, that you are the most amazing woman that I have ever met … I feel very … how do you say that … ”. Serafina didn’t relent as she looked at him expectantly and Res sighed. “Fine. I like the way you blush, talk, move, fight, think, feel, smell, … I like everything about you.”

Serafina looked at him dreamily and caressed his cheekbone. Her hand trailed along his face. She pulled him to herself and Res let it happen. His breath came faster and he could hear that she experienced the same thing. They were only inches apart when Serafina breathlessly whispered: “I love you too.”

Both of them closed the short gap when Res, for only an instant, flicked his gaze to her scars. The look of betrayal on her face this close made his heart crack. With a hurt grin, she pulled away from him and Res let her go with a heavy heart. Now both of them were sitting awkwardly on the same bed while trying to act like this all hadn’t happened.

Res tried to start the conversation back up once again, but the same nice black-box guy chimed in. “I am sorry, but the tournament will not wait. It will begin in thirty seconds and you will need to be both on those two teleporting pads.”

Given an excuse to dissolve the awkward situation, they both clambered out of bed. Several klengans carried silver teleporting disks into the room and they each stepped onto one. As the vertigo set in, the friendly guy produced Serafina’s sword out of a bag. The klengan threw it at her and shouted: “The advice from the Gamemaster is that you can’t win without playing games.”

Then, the white light encompassed him and he had to close his eyes.