A new day had dawned in the Bastion of Hope, but the markets and food stalls were surprisingly devoid of life. Many of the hunters who would normally risk life and limb to bring in fresh meat and pelts were nowhere to be found, and even the housewives who normally woke up early to secure the best foods for their families were scarce. To some of the citizens, the lack of people meant less competition for food, but for the others it served as an ill omen of sorts.

Among the most popular of current rumors from the remaining families was Magical Beings coming in the night and stealing whole entire families out of their homes to be used as food. However, many investigations were carried out and there was no signs of breaking and entering at all.

Truthfully, the families that remained in the Bastion of Hope could be said to be the reason why the city was doomed to fail. Greed and malice, abuse and gluttony were openly displayed to show how much power they had over others.

The families had sided with The One True King and abused their power to keep the other smaller families down, instead of enriching the lives of those they could directly or indirectly affect.

Unfortunately their fortunes meant nothing since they did not have anyone to procure for them the basic necessities. The majority of foodstuffs in their pantry were known to waste away quickly, and they had no way of sustaining the current inventory.

The major families sent out everyone they could to find out the truth behind the disappearances. Ultimately, their efforts bore no fruit and they were left to languish about the lack of sustainability that had suddenly happened over the course of a few days. Their extravagant lifestyle up until now could no longer be sustained and many families thought about fleeing the Bastion of Hope in search of a new sanctuary.

Questions arose such as 'where would we go?' and 'can we even survive in the wilderness beyond the walls?'.

Most agreed though, even slavery was better than dying of starvation sitting at a golden table.

Within a large castle.

"Eliza!" A rotund man yelled out loudly for his servant, a young girl no older than sixteen.

"Yes, Master?" The sheepish girl carrying a small tray approached the man, bending down to one knee at his side. Her ribs poked out of her servant garb, and her scrawny arms held the tray close to her chest.

The large man smashed his wine cup down onto the gold-trimmed table. "Where is my food!" He was almost frothing at the mouth as he cried out.

"My a-apologies Master, there seems to be a shortage of food all throughout the city. Anything at the food stalls were bought up by the bigger families... I was unable to procure fresh meat for you. Your wives and children have gone to get food from other families. I have sent anyone we have contact with letters asking for their assistance. In the meantime, our cooks are still preparing your food with everything they could find in the storage." The small girl winced as she spoke.

No sooner has she finished speaking, a large palm slapped her across the face, sending her crashing against the stacked chairs in the otherwise empty dining room.

"Worthless... What have I done to deserve such worthless servants." The big man stood up from his gold-trimmed chair and walked over to the young girl, grabbing her by the hair. "Maybe I will just eat you alive." He licked his lips as drool ran down one side of his mouth. His spit flew off in different directions as he spoke.

"*Hic*... Please, Master. Spare me. *Hic*". The girl began to cry and gasp as the large man began kicking her repeatedly.

"Useless. Trash. How dare you show your face in front of me." The fat man continued kicking until he became winded shortly after. "Leave me."

The young girl staggered to her feet, a look of fear on her face as she slowly hobbled out of the dining room.

"Don't come back without my food!" The fat man yelled as she closed the door behind herself.

The girl returned to the servant quarters, a determined and fierce look in her eyes. She filled a rucksack with anything she could fit into it and quietly left the building.

When she reached the courtyard, she noticed the guards whom would normally be patrolling were gone, and the streets in front of the castle were empty.

With a sullen face and a bruised body, she hobbled out into the streets and did not look back. The smells that normally filled the Bastion of Hope were missing, as if they had never existed.

A few servants of major families were running around frantically, completely ignoring her, looking to buy up all they could until they heard further word about the situation.

"Is it this place?" The young girl wandered up and down the streets, looking for a certain little house with a small lawn. An otherwise inconspicuous house that any other person would normally walk past stood immovably in front of her.

The biggest rumor was about Magical Beings right now, but another less talked about rumor that was talked about in the servant quarters was that were was a small house within the inner area, and there were some people who would enter it but never leave.

"Anywhere is better than here." The young girl clutched at her bruised sternum as she climbed the few steps.

The door to the house was unlocked, and despite there being no one in the home, it was immaculately kept, as if dust was being repelled from it magically.

The girl stumbled through the house clumsily as she walked through the halls. Though she searched thoroughly, she found no signs of a trap door or secret exit.

Dejectedly, she began heading for the entrance until a sudden thought entered her head. As if acting on that single thought, her body carried her over to the rug in the living room.

The rug was thick, and embroidered on it were two lions baring fangs and claws at each other. She lifted the rug and a teleportation array could be seen beneath it.

"Is this it?" The girl wondered as she placed her hands on the array. "Please, take me away from here." She pleaded, not sure if she was talking to the weird runes or the Gods who never seemed to answer her prayers.

All of a sudden, her fingers began to glow beautifully and her body disappeared.

In the Private Sanctum.

There had been an incredible amount of hustle and bustle around the teleportation array.

It was early in the morning and everyone was ready to begin their day, the hunters had begun learning archery from the dark elves and the dark elves had learned of various things from the occupants of the Private Sanctum.

The amount of people coming in and out of the teleportation array was well within the calculations of the old woman who took care of the middle floor.

Her presence was considered fundamental for the general flow of work, and she seemed to revel in her job as she finished various tasks with ease. A wooden board with a piece of paper hung at her side, with departure times and estimated arrival times for various hunters and workers.

Suddenly, there was a fluctuation at the teleportation array that could not be accounted for. The array brightened up as a small girl appeared, completely bewildered.

From her point of view, the scenery was too much of a difference compared to the desolate Bastion of Hope. The new area had weird long-eared dark-skin creatures whom were casually talking with humans, the smell of food and people happily talking back and forth.

The information was too much to process, and the young girl passed out.

"Get a healing mage!" the old woman yelled as she ran to clear the girl away from the teleportation array. The last thing they needed was an incident of her getting trampled by accident.

As she scooped the frail girl in her arms, she gave an order to the closest table to clear their food out of the way. She carried the girl over to the table and administered basic first aid to the best of her abilities.

Her first aid training was in part a necessity considering her position as the middle floor manager, where the teleportation array would bring in injured hunters with severed limbs and starving citizens from the Bastion of Hope.

Willem was currently occupied with the restoration of Paradiso Rosso, and entrusted her with receiving anyone who managed to find the teleportation array.

"From the moment they arrive in this Private Sanctum, their destiny has changed. They chose to live." Willem had said to her previously.

She knew better than most what that meant.

"Three cracked ribs, breathing is shallow, blood in the mouth. We need an intermediate water mage for the internal bleeding!" The old woman gently pressed the bruises on the young girl's side.

After a few minutes had passed, a young water mage appeared and began immediate treatment of the bruises. She could not stop the internal bleeding but she was able to slow it down by quite a lot just by pressing deeply on the wound.

A more sterile environment was prepared for when the intermediate mage would arrive, so after the bleeding had been stemmed, the girl was moved to an enclosed room. The girl's top clothing around the wound had been removed while the intermediate mage entered the room.

With respect to the young girl, a female water mage was chosen over her male counterpart to do the healing. In terms of skill alone, the female mage was just as capable with regenerating any internal damage as the curriculum for healing such wounds was the same.

The mage used the prepared basin and washed her hands before carefully handling the knife that had been set for the healing. The unfortunate downside of healing magic was that unless you were on the level of a Grand Mage, most healing required direct physical contact with the damaged body part.

"I am beginning." The water mage pressed the knife into the girl's supple flesh, leaving a long incision mark around the bruised area. The blood had already begun to coalesce and pool, a clear sign that something had been ruptured. "One of the broken ribs has split open the left lung. I will now begin by healing the lung, followed by a trace of magic to ensure there are no other punctures."

The intermediate mage pressed her index finger into the open wound, forcing the pooling blood out, while tracing along the open wound on the lung. The water magic created a protective film along the open wound, pushing out the blood that had gone in and once that was completed, began pushing the two sides together and fusing them back into one.

The beginner water mage watched as the intermediate mage moved with surgical precision, making no unnecessary movements. Not only was this a great learning experience for her, but she was still stemming the bleeding by using water magic to keep most of the blood within the ruptured vessels, making the operation alot easier to perform.

Once the intermediate mage was finished healing the large puncture and tracing magic to ensure there were no more damaged areas, she began repairing the broken ribs one by one.

After the completion of the surgery, the mage gave her a once-over to ensure there would be no complications, then advised the helpers to tell her to rest for three weeks minimum when she awakens.

"The traces of magic inside her will dissipate in one week, but it would be best for her to not move around." She wrote the recommendation on a piece of paper and signed it, along with detailing the steps taken to fix the injury. "Please excuse me."

The intermediate mage passed the paper to the middle floor manager, whom had been supervising the entire events, then bowed politely. The beginner followed suit and then closely followed behind the other mage like a fledgling duck, taking in all the information around her and committing it to memory.

"Thank you for your time." The middle floor manager nodded her head in thankfulness.

When the mages had left, the middle floor manager pointed to two of the helpers.

"You two stay here and look after her, if you need anything let me know. Someone will arrive to relieve you in six hours." She ordered.

"Yes!" The two helpers bowed, and everyone else cleared the room.

The middle floor manager resumed her post and began directing traffic around the teleportation array without skipping a beat, a smile growing on her face.