Part 1

White walls.

I woke up to find myself surrounded by white walls.

No, why did I wake up in the first place? Wasn't I supposed to be dead? Or was this place the netherworld? I thought it would be more gloomy and foreboding.

"Ah! Doctor Saionji, the patient's awake."

"Hm? Oh, he's awake huh? Let's see..."

A young melodious voice followed by a somewhat sloppy sounding male baritone. Are they also souls that departed to the afterlife like himself? Or are they actually the residents of this place. The so called "guides".

My eyes slowly regained their focus. I began to look for the source of the voices. What came into view was a tall, slick haired male who wore glasses and a young girl who had her long, lustrous black hair tied up into a neat ponytail.

The man had a spotless white robe over his strange looking clothes. The girl's attire was both strange, whimsical and quite revealing. She only had light pink robe-like clothes on, which were really form fitting and emphasized her developing figure quite well. It barely reached halfway down to her thighs. Her slender legs were covered with white cloth which went up to just above the knee, exposing a fair amount of skin. She also wore a strange headdress of the same color as her clothes.

Truth be told, I had a hard time looking away from her. Even in death, a man's desires can never be underestimated...

"Strange..." I thought.

For beings that resided in the realm of the dead, they surely looked quite... human-like. They also appeared tangible. Almadeus beliefs surely preached that dying will purge us from our physical forms and we will continue on as ethereal spirits, residing in the realm of the dead to be purified and finally sent back to the material plane in accordance to the Great Cycle, as the great goddess Alma wills.

But the beings in front of me looked like anything but ethereal spirit entities. The girl's lovely legs certainly looked quite solid and supple...

No!

What's wrong with me? My improper thoughts will surely get me reincarnated into a bug. I need to resist the stirrings of my male heart...

"Doctor, he still looks in pain." the girl exclaimed worriedly.

Crap. Did my thoughts show in my expression? I frantically tried to put on my best poker face.

"Hm? Sure doesn't look like that to me." the man she addressed as "doctor" replied.

He then approached me and touched my face. His gloved hands felt rather cold. But strangely enough, it wasn't really uncomfortable.

"No signs of any obvious aftereffects. Complexion looks quite normal. Temperature's good too. I'm gonna have to observe him for a few more hours just to be sure. But it does seem he's recovered from the worst of it."

The girl's expression brightened after the man's lengthy exposition. She was actually pretty cute. The man turns to me once more and smiled wryly.

"Hello there lad. You certainly have the devils luck. You're extremely lucky to be alive. Especially after unrestrained genion particle exposure of that magnitude." he said in a cheerful tone.

Alive?

Who?

Me?

How?

Why?

Lots of questions started popping up inside my head. It seems this place really isn't the netherworld. But, if so, where exactly is this place? And why was I here? Was I really alive? Did I really survive a fall from that sort of height?

No! More importantly, what day is it? Can I still make it to the wedding?

I tried to stand up in panic. But my strength failed me and I staggered.

"Steady there sir. You haven't made a complete recovery yet. Don't overdo it."

The girl pushed me back down firmly on the bed I was apparently lying down on. My body really did feel weak. I couldn't resist her at all. The fact that she smelled nice didn't help either.

"I'm sorry miss. But I really have to go to the capital fast. How long was I out? Is it still the fourth day of the month of Aelios? Where are we anyway? Are we far from Vandelas? Has the wedding between the hero and Vandel kingdoms queen concluded already? Please. Tell me miss. I need to know!"

I unleashed a barrage of questions on her in panic. I was met with a confused expression. Of course I was. That was a bit rude of me after all. But I really need to know if I could still make it. If not, then it'll be another thing worth apologizing to Vance and Felise for.

"W-What are you talking about sir? Vandelas? Kingdom? Hero? Queen? D-Doctor! This is..."

The girl quickly turned flustered and gazed back towards the man wearing glasses with a worried look.

I sensed something was off. But I pressed on anyway. I need to see them again. I had to.

"Miss, my name is Myst Evrard. I'm the son of Lindorf villages chief. I was on my way to the capital Vandelas in order to attend the royal wedding. But the merchant caravan I was with got caught up in a landslide and I fell down the cliff. I sincerely thank you for nursing me back to health after the accident, but I really need to get to the capital to greet the royal couple. You may not believe me, but they're both dear friends of mine, and I want to personally give them my blessing. Please..."

Apprehension and worry filled the faces of both the girl and the man in glasses.

"Now lad, I'm sure it's been hard on you. You just need a bit more rest. Nemu, if you please..." the man spoke with a soothing tone, beckoning for the girl who was now holding some sort of strange tube.

"No! You don't understand! I have to meet with Vance and Felise! I need to apologize. I have to. I..."

I felt something pierce my neck. My consciousness quickly dimmed.

Part 2

"Well, this certainly doesn't bode well for the project." a sharp eyed man with hawk-like features exclaimed with a sigh.

"Mm. We've barely recovered anything after the transport was attacked. All our test pilot candidates bit the dust, save for one. But it turns out he didn't quite escape death unscathed after all." the bespectacled doctor sighed back.

"What exactly is going on with him doctor?" the sharp eyed man asked.

"As I'm not an expert on the field, I can only speculate. But I think the severe traumatic experiences he encountered coupled with his brush with death put him through an extreme state of denial. He's replaced reality with elements from what appears to be some sort of fantasy novel." the doctor explained.

The sharp eyed man raised an eyebrow.

"A fantasy novel? People still read that sort of stuff?" he exclaimed with an air of disbelief.

The doctor shrugged helplessly.

"Different strokes for different folks as they say." he replied.

"Will he recover?" the sharp eyed man asked.

"Hard to tell sir. For now, let me continue observing him. We're already at our wits end anyway. At this point, I'd actually be tempted to take a crazy guy in as the test pilot for the Elysium project rather than admit defeat." the doctor said with conviction.

"Alright. I'll leave it to you. And doctor... Our enemy got wind of the plan despite the massive information blackout we implemented. There's a high possibility that they have someone on the inside. Trust no one. Not even me." the sharp eyed man warned.

The doctor grinned darkly.

"Oh, don't worry captain. I never trust anybody."

***

"Sir, Deep Eyes 04s periodic report has just been sent in." a young officer exclaimed.

"Hm? Ah, yes. Just leave it there." a skinny but stone faced man answered and gestured towards his desk.

The young officer promptly saluted and transferred the data recordings on the terminal installed in the stone faced man's desk.

After the young officer left, the man expanded the data recording into several overhead holographic screens. His poker face slightly faltered after taking a look at them.

"So, one rat escaped extermination huh? We need to remedy that." he hissed.

He sent out an encrypted code that relayed his orders to the spy they sent to infiltrate the enemy ship.

Missing one kill left him a bitter aftertaste. At least that's going to be fixed soon.

He can almost imagine the looks of despair and frustration on those Confederacy dog's faces. He laughed in glee at the thought.

-Chapter 4 End-