The technorunner was off to dreamland, but he wasn't back to drowning in a deep ocean, nor was he dead. There was no way he was going to let himself off to a petty death like that. When he opened it once again, he wasn't faced by a bright light like both instances before. He was facing what looked like a wooden ceiling. However, he couldn't move, at least, not the entirety of his body. He felt much weaker than before, but he had a feeling that he was going to recover.

He cocked his head to the left, and then, let out a sigh of relief. He was in no truck or no side of the road. He was inside a dimly lit room, guided only by the warm light coming from the fireplace. Among other things in the room, there were plenty of miniatures on the wall, he couldn't read well from the distance he was at, and the light wasn't of any help, but he figured they were certificates by the way they looked. Just after that "shrine" of diplomas was a large counter, filled with all kinds of herbs and medical equipment. There were some other peculiar tools that were far more advanced than the ones normal herbalists use. But this didn't belong to an average herbalist; it wasn't a herbalist at all. At first, one might think that this belonged to those who practice magik, but that wasn't the case. Whoever used all this, they were a neuroalchemist.

At the far right of the room, there was a woman standing in front of a table, with her back facing the technorunner. Her white hair was long to the point that it almost reached her feet — reminding him of a girl from a very old fairy tale he had once heard as a child. She was gowned in violet silk.

The woman turned around with a tool in her hand, but then blinked twice at the sight of the awoken technorunner. She put the tool back at the counter and rushed immediately at him.

Upon closer inspection, the woman did not look quite like a woman. That said, she was female, just not fully grown. If you would see a herbalist, an alchemist, or any woman who practices this sort of stuff, they would usually look not younger than thirty, even with all the medical procedures they would do upon themselves, there were still some points where one can easily learn that they were simply hiding in a facade. With this girl, however, she didn't look a day over seventeen. The technorunner was rather worried by that. Imagine being taken care of in an extreme life-or-death condition by a kid — now that would set off some alarms.

The girl studied him carefully, which almost made him uncomfortable.

'Can you hear me?' She spoke, her voice rather elegant, but her accent was a bit different from that of an Eldrian.

The technorunner nodded.

She placed her fingers near his eyes and opened one after the other widely. There was no doubt that she seemed to know what she was doing, but she couldn't possibly be an expert.

'Can you see me?'

He nodded once again.

She smiled, 'Everything seems to be in its place. Your leg was greatly infected with a remnant's sting — Marcus and Ron told me they found you in the Outlands, so that would explain it. The poison almost took over your entire system. You're lucky that I had just received a new batch of Poemspire leaves.' The technorunner was starting to lose focus on what she was saying, and she noticed that. 'Well, leaving all the boring details out, I cured you… you're perfectly fine now. And you better thank God the boys found you when they did. Without them, you'd be a goner. Just don't scare them like that again, okay? We're low on cleaning supplies.'

The technorunner cleared his throat, and helped himself to sit upright, 'So… you're a neuroalchemist?'

'You could say that, but I prefer being referred to as a doctor.'

Even with what she said, the awards on the wall would say something else. None of them were of a major medical degree, and besides, the only doctors that existed in the world were only in the republic or in the empire. It was impossible for a doctor to end up in the rock bottom end of Eldria of all places.

'Now,' the girl got closer to the technorunner, 'Why would a technorunner, a scrap collector of all people, be interested in the dead desert? I'd understand you like to collect garbage, but the Outlands? Really? You'd have to be an alec to think you'd find anything of value there.'

'You clearly have no idea what a technorunner does, kid,' he said.

'Hold on!' the girl seemed frustrated, 'Don't call me that! I'm not a kid, I'm a doctor.'

'Alright then, "doctor," what do you do?'

'I…'

'See! You can't just read some books and recite them to your dad for some "diplomas" and call yourself a doctor.'

'Hey, I'm eighteen! And experience is more important than age anyway.'

'Still a kid,' he stood by his point.

The girl chuckled, 'You are really one to talk, huh.'

The technorunner was confused for a moment. Unbeknownst to him, the girl was able to figure out his age while she examined him. It was quite easy to determine the biological age of a human with the current advancements.

'You're only twenty-eight, aren't you?' She talked as if she had claimed victory, her behavior was certainly that of a child.

'Huh… So you are a witch! Also, you make it sound like twenty-eight's a pretty young age…'

'It's not magik!! It's science!'

'...With a bit of magik…,' he awaited a response but she only gave him an angered gaze, 'Listen uh…,' he realized he did not know the girl's name.

'Eeira…,' she said, her arms crossed against her chest.

'Well… Eeira. I don't have time for all this bullshit, so if you'll excuse me,' he turned to stand up but felt extreme pain in his abdomen. He held it tight as if blocking the blood from a wound, and tried to hold in his pain.

Eeira sighed, 'What are you doing? You still need more time.'

He grunted, 'You said I was perfectly fine!'

'I… I didn't mean it literally.'

'Ah, thanks, doctor.'

Before Eeira could reply back, which she seemed natural at, the technorunner remembered something that he could not believe he had forgotten ever since he woke up in the desert. The Elastinum. That material was worth a fortune, it was off the corpse of a dark rider's animal after all. Immediately, he sought out the whereabouts of his bag. He looked around frantically that it struck Eeira as odd.

'W-Where's my bag?' He asked, with worry covering his voice. The elastnium was in his bag.

'What?'

'My bag? I had a bag with me,' he feared that those two boys from earlier might have stolen it. They were collectors, after all, stealing wasn't out of the question. There were times where he himself stole valuables for his benefit.

'Oh, it's over there, by the counter, along with all your weapons' she pointed there and he saw the bag with light shining above it as if it was calling for him, 'By the way, why would you, of all people, carry-'

He paid no attention to the girl and immediately fell down the medical bed he was on. Despite his stomach burning and his leg still being injured, he stood up and rushed to the counter, like a beggar when they spotted actual food. He grabbed the bag and sat on the ground. Inside was the elastinum, shining in all its glory. Sure, it looked like a body organ, but within that organ, was the treasure worth millions. It was the rarest material in all of Gaia. Had those boys taken it, the technorunner might have had a heart attack. But then, he thought, there was no way for them to know it was elastinum. To them, it would have seemed just as another android organ. The same would have happened if the bounty hunters' found him out. Oh, the bounty hunters. They would have been a handful. Only keen eyes, which were very few in this daft excuse of a continent, could discern whether or not this was the true material — the technorunner, with all of his experience, was one of them.

Everything was in its place, besides his leg. All that was left was to gain the coins, and he would be out of this continent with no return — that was his plan all along. His days as a technorunner were numbered. It was time to move on with his journey.

But destiny had other plans for him.

The sound of glass breaking resonated throughout the room, breaking his perplexity with the elastinum. It was a Florence flask, and, right before it, was Eeira, standing with shock in her eyes.

'Is that what I think it is?' She spoke, staring at the elastinum like a madwoman.

No!

She got a bit closer, and almost jumped in joy, 'It is. H-How did you find it?' she tried to reach for it.

'Back off!' The technorunner exclaimed, as he put the organ back in his bag, and stood up, 'Do you even know what this is?' He hoped that perhaps she had mistaken it for a mechanical organ, there was no way a girl like her could have had knowledge of such an ancient stone. But then again, she was a "doctor" at the age of eighteen. What doesn't she know?

'Of course! Elastinum!' She replied with confidence.

Shit! You weren't supposed to know that, as if it had been a secret that was exposed.

She continued, 'It was made around the first age-'

'I don't need a history lesson, kid,' he pushed her aside, and went to grab his boots and overcoat — he was wearing only the shirt he had on, and his pants.

But Eeira, who proved to be quite strong for a girl her age, grabbed his arm and pushed him back, 'I thought I told you to stop calling me that!'

'Will do… Eeira,' his patience was running thin, so he pushed her aside again.

'But… but wait, I'm not going to steal it from you,' she was desperate, 'I just… I want to see it, purely for research.'

Rigghhht! The only way she would have hold of it would be off his corpse. But then he thought once again, she probably knew more than him about that material and its worth. So if he were to promise her that she could have a look at it, she might be willing to share some information with him. He needed to be careful.

'I'll let you have a look at it,' he said, and she quickly rushed at him, before he stopped her from grabbing his bag like a thief, 'If… you tell me where the nearest merchant is.'

'That's it?!' She chuckled, 'You can find them there,' she pointed at the window, which overlooked a large garden, and beyond it, a road that split into another that led to a cave entrance, 'In Phaesevell, the underground town just up ahead. But don't think that'll be easy. They'll be sure to scam their way to get it.'

'How'd you know I'd sell it?'

She grimaced, 'Well, that's obvious. A scrap collector finds the rarest material there is and he doesn't even think about selling it? That might work if reality was booming with riches, but this is the reality. Everyone's after the gold,' she tried to snatch the bag once again, but he moved it away, 'If you're really thinking about selling it there, you will never end up with enough.'

'A Doctor and an Economist? You're full of surprises. But don't worry, I know my way around scammers and have the experience to know the true value,' he said sarcastically.

Back to the counter where the bag was, he looked at his weapons. They were all busted, with no ways of repair. The Outlands really did a number on them. All except the revolver he held back at the boys. It was still working, but it lacked the bullets. Nevertheless, it was all he had if things were to go south, again. Besides, he was heading into a town filled with all kinds of services — that was what he expected. Surely, there must be an ammunition shop of some sort.

He holstered the gun, put on his coat and boots, packed all his belongings, and prepared himself to leave. Not bothering to thank Eeira for her services, or even throwing a coin her way — not like he had any after all. Thankfully, he didn't have to worry about that. Eeira wasn't that type of healer. But she had her other intentions for him.

'You won't be able to cross the town proper without a citizen's pass,' she seized his attention.

What was he supposed to do then? Then a thought came to him, 'I'll just look for another town, then.'

'Wait wait! No!' she freaked out, her plan was crumbling, 'I-I can get us across if you want,' she pulled a card from one of her drawers and showed it to the technorunner up close, 'I have a pass. But… I'll take you there if you show me the elastinum.'

The card was covered with a shiny coating that hardened it and made it seem modernized — if that was the right term. "WELCOME TO PHAESEVELL, TOWN OF DIAMONDS," was written atop the black card, it looked more like a visiting pass, rather than a citizen's pass. But it was a pass card nonetheless, so if it let them through, it worked for him.

However, if he chose that, it would mean the girl would have to accompany him for a little while, and that annoyed him. She probably wasn't going to let him go, until he lets her have a look at the stone, which he wasn't going to do, he couldn't trust her yet. And she couldn't trust him as well. They were both using each other for their own intentions, and they knew it. That alone was enough for them to settle on an agreement. All they had to do was say it aloud.

'How about it?' Eeira was eager.

'Fine…,' the technorunner unclutched the bag from his hand and left it dangling from his shoulder. With that, Eeira tried to take advantage once again, 'Not now!' he pushed her away, 'When I find somebody… then… you can have a look at it.'

Crazy Scientist, he thought of her.

Greedy Bastard, she thought of him.

And so began an unlikely alliance that destiny had not foretold, not yet.