“How did you get here?” Katarina asked looking at Ashley in her wheelchair and hospital attire.

“Golden Misty Coin?” Ashely responded with a puzzled look pointing to the place where the mist used to be. She realized that the mist was gone and with it the coin.

“How are you feeling?” Katarina asked with confusion, “Do your bones hurt?”

“I think I’m cured. Grishika cured me...I guess?” Ashley was still processing what just happened

“Ah! Grishika! How was he?” Katarina asked with a smile unaware of what just happened

Ashley’s eyes suddenly clouded with fear of what she just experienced and stayed silent shaking her head. She directed her eyes into the chair that Grishika was sitting in hoping that Katarina picked up her hint. Katarina eventually saw that Ashley was fearfully nudging her to look at the high back chair in front of her desk and as she approached a head full of blonde hair popped out. Katarina noticed that Ashley feared Grishika in a traumatized way.

In rage Katarina instantly grabbed Grishika by the collar of his shirt and bellowed, “What did you do Grishika” slowly tightening her grasp. Her other hand grabbed Grishika’s wrist and dug deep until blood started to seep out. She sent out an army of nano-spiders to infiltrate Grishika’s host brain to grasp what exactly happened. These were memory reading spiders able to decipher the recent neurological activity within the last 24 hours. Katarina had no qualms about the cost right now, all she knew was that Grishika might have caused irreversible trauma to Ashley and what she wanted was the pure truth. She read the memory and saw what had happened while she was gone. Katarina grasped harder causing more blood to seep out.

Grishika let all of this happen with a wince on his face before saying calmly, “I’m sorry Ashley, I believe we got off on the wrong foot. I’m not the devil, that was a lie. Let me re-introduce myself. I’m Grishika, the administrator of the Tryphant Program. A program designed to gather capable individuals to stop crises from happening within the multiverse. Your sister used to work under me before she retired and came to live a life on Earth. As a compensation for my actions I completely cured you of your disease and am willing to do you a favour. I hope you can forgive my actions”

At the same time Grishika mentioned his favour Katarina released her grip with a stunned emotion on her face. She immediately grabbed Grishika by the collar again and asked, “Did you really mean what you say?”

“Yes. I’m not lying. A favour to compensate for my actions” he replied with a flat tone

“Are you serious” Katarina confirmed once again

This time Grishika silently nodded in affirmation.

Ashley suddenly interjected, “Um..How significant is his favour?”

Katarina let out a sigh and released her grip on Grishika’s collar letting him fall into his seat.

“To receive a favour from Grishika I would be willing to throw away my entire company. Since you just met him so you don’t understand his full capability but think of the genie from Aladdin who grants you 3 wishes. You can practically ask for anything but I recommend that you save it when you’re in an emergency.”

Ashley fell into deep thought as she was thinking of things she can wish for. “What happens if I wish for something abstract like world peace?” she questioned Grishika

“That’s too vague for a wish. If you were seriously adamant about it killing everyone would technically bring world peace” he teased with a smile, “Of course I wouldn’t do that. The favour needs to be clear and within my capabilities. My specialty is information, so if you were going to use that as a favour then I’ll blackmail each country with their state secrets and family to ensure that the cost of war is far more than anything they hope to gain. I need to remind you that I’m not omnipotent, just very close to being omniscient.”

“Then what do you not know?”

“That’s a secret my child, but I know that you were secretly recording on your phone in the distorted world. If I were to disregard your privacy I would even know your thoughts and your future as well”

Ah, Ashley opened her phone and clicked into the gallery and played the latest recording. There she saw that the world was bright and colourful, the sound of cars in traffic, the voices of the nurses in the hallway and the beeping of the heart rate monitor were present. Nothing was out of the ordinary, nothing was in a distorted mess which meant that Grishika could affect what information a person was getting. Ashley's face filled with fear as she realized that Grishika could fabricate her entire life and reality and she wouldn’t know it unless Grishika told her otherwise. The information on the phone was probably noticed by Grishika and that was his display of power.

If this was the case then the world Ashley is experiencing right now could be a total lie and they could still be in the hospital bed. Pure dreaded fear emerged from her mind as she realized that everything she knows could be a lie. Looking up from her phone she looked around the room and her eyes landed on the European boy,

“How do I know that what I see right now is real?” she inquired with impatience.

Katarina saw the panic that was plastered on Ashley’s face and slowly approached her. With a hand on her shoulder she knelt down and met Ashley on her eye level and brought her into a hug.

“I also had the same reaction when I first knew someone like Grishika existed.” Katarina whispered into Ashelys’ ear calming her down, “But I can assure you that the world we’re in is real. That’s because I realized that Grishika has rules that he needs to follow as well.”

“Someone as powerful as him has rules to follow?!” Ashley responded in shock

“They’re his personal rules and moral principles. He hasn’t violated them for as long as I can remember and one of them is to respect the privacy of high-tier agents unless it’s necessary. I’m a high-tier agent so Grishika doesn’t violate my privacy or anyone else close to me like you unless it’s necessary and right now it isn’t necessary.”

Ashley hugged back to Katarina with a sigh of relief. Happy that she was lucky to find someone so kind and caring as her sister.

“Hey big sis”

“Yeah”

“Can you tell me what’s going on?”

Katarina nodded then called her secretary to cancel all of her meetings for that day on the basis that Ashley miraculously recovered from her cancer.

“I’ll tell you everything about my past life, but right now we need to celebrate for your recovery! lI’ll take you to the most expensive restaurant I know then we’ll go to an exclusive fashion store where only the VIP’s get access to. Then after that if you want to go do anything I’ll clear my entire schedule for you! We’re using my black credit card today! No holding back” she said with glee

“What about Grishika? What are we going to do about all of this?”

Katarina responded with a smile, “Just leave all the complicated matters to me. You’ve done well to get this far, I’m proud of you. I truly am. I’ll talk with Grishika later about the details and fill you in once we’re done. Today all that matters is that we’re getting drunk!! You’re 18 and recovered so we can finally drink together!”

Ashley turned to find the European boy only to find him missing from his chair. Inside Katarina’s office was just Ashley and Katarina alone as if he was never there. Katarina started to push Ashley’s wheelchair into the elevator while saying goodbye to her co-workers. Ashley was still paranoid about Grishika worrying that everything could possibly be a lie. As they got into the car Katarina felt a tug on her shirt. “Um..Sis, can we just go back home? I want to just sleep right now”

“Whatever you want” with a smile Katarina drove to her mansion where she helped carry a mentally and physically weak Ashley to her room. There Ashley felt the soft silky sheets of her bed, the scent of lavender flowers and the dolls stored in her room. As she realized that this was home, a truly safe place she immediately fell asleep tired from the mental and physical stress she had just gone through. Her heavy eyes closed to end the mentally tiring chapter in her life, happy to find a safe place to rest, a refuge from the chaos that was beginning to emerge from her life. Happy to have a home to return to.