“Ok, Ok, to save us from the usual back and forth of you asking the stupid questions like, ‘are vampires real’, or ‘are there aliens’, I’m just going to dump everything Bastard just told me. This might be pretty hard to believe, but a lot has happened, even compared to. I’m trying to get logged into a data base we have set up for June. This is the Mountains, admittedly low tech, way of counting the causalities, though it’s only for the Units, I’ll have to find out if the guys under me are alright. Of all people, Tayanita’s alright. It’s for the best, for both of us, she’s been shipped out to- to Sudan. Bastard was in contact with her, apparently, it’s not just militias and natural disasters, some monsters have emerged too. Bastard says he’ll be getting into talks with the Internationals, but we both doubt they’ll be interfering with the territories bordering Egypt.”

Clover swallowed, rubbing across an eye with her index and middle finger. I think it was more out of tiredness than anything else.

“It’s gone. Egypt is gone. The government structure collapsed a week ago, again, by Bastard’s prediction. The land mass has been reduced heavily, primarily the area around the red sea, extending south-west of the pyramids of Giza. Guess I’ll never have the chance to find out if they were any good now, because they’ve been sunk, or obliterated, the accounts are conflicting. At best, around a third of was lost. At worst a half. I’m talking about both population, and land. Those Units I was talking about are probably part of that figure by the looks of it. They haven’t signed in. The Internationals are going to be especially pissed off, one of their- I guess you’d call them super fortresses, got annihilated, so that’s a bigger reason they won’t be mobilising any relief, besides bureaucracy. They’re among the victims.”

I was still smiling as we walked back down into her living room, “Heh, what are you talking about? I think I’d hear about the destruction of a country.”

She looked back at me; the life gone from her eyes. It was a glazed over look that reminded me of Lechoslaw. She blinked, looking back at her laptop.

“I’m sorry-” I stammered, “-but what? No, seriously, what? I thought you said that normal people, people who can’t wrap their heads around all this crap, that they were exempt from this.”

She was scrolling through the list of names quickly, “But you aren’t one of them. They’ll receive the knowledge on the event, reinterpret it in a way that fits their understanding of the world. Your mind doesn’t take in information like that, for you to be exempt from June, you probably completely blocked it out, locked the doors and barred the hatches subconsciously. While they were talking about a nuclear warhead going off or an earthquake, whatever explanation they go with, you were probably busy thinking about what you were going to have for dinner. That’s what I’m assuming, again, I haven’t met anybody excluded from June, so I’ll have to use what I do know about all of this.”

I got a little heated, “And what do you know about this, how do I know you’re not keeping anything else from me?” It was the outlandishness of what she was saying, that she was accusing me of simply turning a blind eye to something so…

“Human beings are just ignorant bastards. What happened isn’t your fault, nor is it mine. Hopefully.”

That was her reply. And it was at this point that I realised why I had this burning in my chest. I was angry. No, I wasn’t angry at Clover, not even at myself for not doing anything about this.

What kind of world is this that something like that could just happen? Like- like that’s not- that doesn’t follow any sense of logic, does it? That only after the event has ended, when the deed has been done, do people recognise that horrible things are happening outside of their daily life.

What made me even more mad, was that I we’re just expected to move past this? I don’t know how many people live in Egypt, but how can I call myself a human being while living on after so many people were-

“You only hear the lightning after the thunder falls, and when it falls, it’ll bring a flood. Don’t get swept up in it, if you want to actually get stuff done.”

Clover said that, as she was standing at the opposite side of the room trying to phone somebody. I hadn’t even noticed her move, let alone standing right in front of me. What type of face was I making for her to say that out of the blue? It was like she was reading my mind, could that really be chalked up to a lucky guess?

She took the phone down from her side and cursed, redialling the number.

I leaned forward, furling my hands and holding my head.

She dialled once more, “Come on!”

How to describe the feeling in the room… It was like wadding through swamp water. There’s a bubbling and churning to it, it’s a rotten situation that you never want to find yourself in. That’s what I was feeling from Clover. That she was in the process of pulling herself out of a rut, even if she didn’t know it herself.

“What??” She asked her phone why it wouldn’t connect her through.

She rubbed at her face before asking, “You want to do something insane?? Because that’s that’s were I feel like going right now.”

I raised my head, desperate to get us out of this environment. “I can’t imagine it being worse than what’s already been said.”

“Right,” she tried to order her thought into a sentence, coaxing the words from her mouth, “-Portals are a thing, and I’m thinking about hiring one.”

.

.

.

This was yet another anomaly that I’m struggling to put into words, let alone understand. At least that’s what I was thinking at the time, while peering into this mess of blobs on the floor, spinning and dividing themselves. The first thing that came to mind while starring down at it was microscopic images of cells, but that wasn’t quite right, those are either erratic or stationary, this selection of blue circles was somewhere between the two extremes they were swimming amongst and through each other.

My mind told me that it was a flat surface, like a tv screen, just a projected image.

“You can touch it if you want. That’s a part of the setting up process anyway.”

I looked back at Clover, who was waiting on a confirmation e-mail from the company providing the service. She didn’t go into much detail about how this was being done. It didn’t feel like the right time to ask questions like that anyway, given the aforementioned tone of the situation. She’d given them a set of variables, like the coordinates, the width of the portal, whether or not she wanted it positioned vertically or horizontally-

“But be careful around the edges. I know your durable, but the ‘cheap and cheerful channel’ deal is razor sharp around the rim.”

I knelt down on the ground to avoid tripping and falling into whatever this thing was. Could be a portal through hell for all I know. I reached my hand out to the centre of the TV-wide revolving hole. Once my finger made contact with the blue, circles of green in the shades of my costume were added to the mix.

“Yo!” I called out, and she laughed a little.

A thought sprung to my mind, and I blurted it out loud in my excitement, “I just figured out what this reminds me of. Marbel paints, you know what those are?”

She gave a sigh and slight smile, “Yeah, my- Bastard used to show me all sorts of art work like that, back when we were-” She trailed off once the notification pinged.

After she typed in the code, I took a step away from the portal, still cautious of the puddle. She clapped her laptop down, tucked it under her arm like something precious, and turned fully to face the portal.

I felt like asking a question along the lines of ‘will this thing de-atomise me’, but felt that would be in poor taste. Come to think of it, anything could be beyond this thing, for all I know, this leads straight to a cage made of some super metal, she could be leading me straight into the heart of the Mountain.

I shifted my vision to her from behind my mask. She was again rubbing at her eye. If it is a trap, well, who cares? I can’t let my fear hold me back, it would be so easy to just grab onto the life I’ve been living for the past month, it would be so comfortable. But I wouldn’t forgive myself for living a comfortable life while a person right in front of me is…

The space in the floor, stretched downward, as if it had just discovered a third dimension. Like Clover had said, there was a razor thin area for the bubbles of blue and green, but now there was a redish background with shapes you could almost recognise.

Clover stomped over to the segmented ground giving me a quick explanation, “You want to go in by the head, sort of- roll through it in a quick, fluid motion. The difference of gravity will disorientate you, don’t worry, I’ll help you out the other side.” And with that, she crouched down on her knees, and rolled through, a little slow getting her legs through, and the portal had taken on the colours of her jewelled collar.

After watching her do it, I was a little more confident, but not enough to just jump straight in like she had done.

I texted my mum, telling her I might not be home for a while, that I was staying with a friend. After pocketing Sam’s phone, and Shamrock’s, I slowly poked my head through.

It was like I was poking my head out of the ground, the part of me that was within the thin area of the portal felt like it was being pinched, I suppose that’s what it feels like when your body is split between two different gravitational pulls, the blood would start to coagulate around that area if you were in that thing long enough.

I didn’t follow Clover’s advice, I looked around my destination before committing to this next misadventure. Most of the room was primarily coloured punch red, the walls and floor. I could see a part of a bed on top of which were Clover and a stranger. I don’t know if me coming through the portal made a sound, or if they were watching for me.

The stranger, not Clover, marched over to me.

He was covered shoulder-to-toe in a military combat armour, printed with black and grey camo. It was hard to gage his build, but with the amount of padding he had on him it wasn’t a leap in judge to say he was strong to carry it all. Or maybe it was just light, it was a fairly streamlined design from what I did see.

When his boot came to a clank a foot away from my face, I was further put on edge. I was looking up at him at a nearly a ninety-degree angle, he loomed over me.

Then he bent down and held his hand out. I took it.

I leveraged my foot on the edge of the wormhole, stumbling out, as I made no attempt to sturdy myself against his pull.

Once I was up on my feet, I could see that we were around the same height, though he might have actually been younger than me, Asian, and just a little pudgey faced.

“Good?” He asked, an obvious accent even from the one word. “Yes, good.” I replied, looking over to Clover.

“Introductions are in order, I’m Mongkeh Baturbah, I’m in Korea on behalf of the Mladenets, as I’m sure you can tell from the uniform. I was here before the June, and I am here after it.”

He looked back at Clover, as if he was waiting for a response from her. “Yeah, I know who you are. Ae was talking about you; has been for the past year or so.”

He smiled, and looked off to the side, like he was going to put that knowledge to use, “Good to know.”

“Well, I know who you are, ‘Bastard-crowned’ Clover.” He motioned over to a photo on the wall, “…She talked about you too.”

They were melancholic for a minute, lost in their memories, before Mongkeh motioned to me, “I think she mentioned you as well, I’m guessing you are the one who fought those robots?”

After taking a second to appreciate that somebody knew I was doing hero work, I happily replied, “Yeah, yeah that’s me!” Then he continued, “The one who got beaten up by a mannequin!” My smile faded, as Clover let out a laugh, a semblance of her usual self peaking through.

The portal closed over at this point, glowing faintly as it went.

She carried her laptop, now open, around the room, “Neither of you ever told me how that went down exactly. Though I’m sure you charged forward, probably did some neat trick with that bull shit secondary ability, but still got overpowered. Then Ae comes in with the save, she says something to distract or convince ken-doll to give up. Am I right Rocky?”

I turned to Baturbah, then back to Clover, almost pleading with my expression. Both of them were smiling fondly, I noticed that Baturbah was looking away again.

“Yeah, that’s about right.” I admitted.

Clover laughed way to hard, even for her, focusing her gaze on the stocky figure. He scratched at his black hair, as if he felt her gaze on him. It came back down into a giggle, the longer it went on the more uneasy I felt. It didn’t match her eyes; those tired eyes.

“Uh-huh-” She segweyed, “-that’s a great retelling Rocky, but I think she’ll tell it better. Come on Baturbah, we’ll get her cooks to set something up, and we can talk about it over lunch- or dinner- whatever meals next over here!”

As she was speaking, she giggled, and the military man stiffened, keeping that reminiscent smile on his face. He turned a little, and I noticed now that he had a few lines of stitches stretching from his lower lip down his chin.

As her voice was tiring out, choking off, I looked between the two, until he focused back on Clover.

“Clover… Ae’s not with us anymore.”

She let out a sore breath of air, “Yeah. Yeah, I had a feeling. Just a feeling.”

…

We were walking around the place with the Mladnet. He’s the first one of them I’ve met, though I have heard a little about them. What I heard from Clover, is that they work for the Russians, and have around the same number of Units as the Mountain.

Baturbah expanded my knowledge. He’s told me that they’re an extension of Russia's military, a black ops group that are called in for situations involving the supernatural, usually monsters. The strange part? Or really, the screwed part, they’re children. All of them, below the age of 18. That makes it a little more understandable how this guy can be in this condition 10 hours after finding out that his friend is dead.

“Well- uh…” None of that made it any easier for him to talk about it. “I can speak to somebody about getting you some food if you’re hungry.”

Clover shook her head, as we followed him through the halls of the hotel that was once owned by Ae’s family. Back when I met Ae, I assumed she had connections to the underworld like Clover, and it seems like she does. Her family were gangsters, operating under a hotel and casino business. We were under both now, their casino which provided rooms for guests. I thought it a little strange that Ae had lived here, at work, but then I overheard her story from Baturbah. Her parents and older brother had died when she was a kid, so this place these people, were the closest thing she had to a family.

Now I’m wondering what happened to Clover’s. Where were her real parents?

I looked over to her as she muttered, “I’m really not that hungry.”

I felt sick hearing that, so I said, “We haven’t had anything in hours, we really would appreciate it.”

Baturbah looked back at me, smiling just a little. He understood Clover’s condition. I turned to her, her eyes on the floor.

“In that case, I’ll get Kim to sort something out for you.” He addressed Clover; “we’re passing by him now, so there’s really no point in not, yes?”

She smiled, “Yes. Fine.”

We stopped outside a wide double-door, Mongkeh called out after knocking, “Mr Gi-Yeoung, you have more guests, you were expecting one, you’ll find the other a welcomed surprise, I’m sure.”

After a woman came to open the door, we were ushered into the room. I recognised the man in the corner, having some wounds wetted by more- I think they were servants? Anyway, it was the man who accompanied Ae to Ireland when I was being haunted by that ghost. And that’s when I realised how they got there so quickly, they had most likely used that portal service, Vortech. Though, they would have had to get a higher tier travel package than us, simply to fit this man through it.

Just like the last time I saw him, he was shirtless, but now I could see a grey tinge to his skin around the wounded areas the helpers were rubbing alcohol into. And by observing the art on the wall, I came to the conclusion that the hat he was wearing was a traditional korean helmet.

His body let out a groan as he stood up from his seat. For a second, I was afraid Han was going to march over to us, it seemed silly for me to have been startled by Baturbah with such an imposing figure in range.

“Ooh, the Mountain’s girl! Clover!” The voice took my attention away from the possible threat.

I turned to the middle of the room to see a man sitting beside a tree-like potted plant having a drink of water. He must have been well past seventy, judging from his wiry frame and puckered face. He wore a white Panama hat which matched his shirt and trousers. He hobbled to his feet, rubbing his back.

“How long has it been? Five, six years? Ahh, I remember when you were… Shorter.” He looked at her with wincing eyes. He held a weak hand out, which she reciprocated.

As he was holding her hand, I was reminded of the marking on Clover’s, a pinkish clover, the difference being that when I last saw it there were only three leaflets. Now it had four.

As I was making mental notes, the frail looking man questioned, “I’d ask if you were doing well, but… I already know what it’s like to lose a close friend, so maybe you can introduce me to this young man.” He let go of her hand and wobbled over to me.

“He’s not with the Mountain,” she rubbed her hand, “-calls himself Shamrock.” She looked up to me, and I felt a little embarrassed as all eyes in the room were turned on me.

“I can see why you’d bring him here- or maybe why you would come here? Yes, he, me, and Han Chul-Moo all lack the same thing. At least, I’m assuming that’s why you’re here?” Han shifted in the corner, the muscles on his back stretching, as he glowered at me.

Clover spoke up, “No, we aren’t here because we think Ae stole his soul over the break. He’s been like that since before he met her.”

He said to me, smiling a worn-out smile, “Ahh, you’ve been through a lot then, haven’t you?” I didn’t answer him back, being more than slightly weirded out by this old guy.

I think Baturbah knew what I was thinking, because he stepped in, “Mr Yeoung, there’ll be plenty of time for talk, but they’ve came all the way from Ireland, I’m sure they’ll answer your questions over dinner.”

He slowed to a smile before agreeing, “Of course, look at the time! Haha! So much has been happening today, tending to the wounded few, and of course the business of arranging the young miss-” He seemed to catch himself, momentarily forgetting the weight of his words. “I’ll have something prepared right away, I might be old and defunct, but my word still carries weight under this roof!” He said something to the carers and they moved into action.

“So it’s still being arranged. The funeral, I mean.” Clover sturdied her stance a little.

Mr Yeoung mumbled, “Sometime this week, yes. Sooner, rather than later. She has been kept on the premises for some time, in good condition. We won’t be able to bring her to a morgue, due to the level of decomposition and…” He wavered between Baturbah and Clover, “-Let’s just say it’s going to be a closed casket. I can’t imagine what the mortician’s would think if a bunch of gangsters approached them for embalming a two-week-old corpse of twenty-year-old girl.

My initial feelings about this man were proved right, he was a creep. I thought he was a family friend; how could he keep that smile on his face while describing something so horrid? What’s even more concerning to me personally, is that he compared me to himself and the powder keg in the corner.

“Head still intact?” The question made my jaw drop.

I turned to her, the same tired look drooping from her eyes, disfiguring her usually glowing face. I felt my heart begin to beat in my ears.

“She’s recognisable if that’s what you mean.” The old man had succeeded in keeping his composure, where me and Baturbah were too shocked to speak.

He continued, “I can understand your… scepticism, I’ve always thought your Mountain was an organisation that has favoured conniving tactics to ascend to the peak. But I can tell you right now, your hopes of this being a convoluted lie, a conspiracy to… I don’t know, for Han Chul-Moo to steal the Seoung-Soo syndicate for himself...”

He nodded, “The truth is that your friend is dead.”

She didn’t seem angry, “If it’s all the same with you, I’d rather not take the word of a man who has sworn to destroy his own country.”

He smiled, “And the difference between destroying your own country, and one that you’re as good as a stranger to?”

She tilted her head, “One tells you that the destroyer has no loyalty, the other implies that the destroyer’s just doing a job.”

…

As The four of us, Me, Clover, Baturbah, and Yeoung descended through the elevator, the clacking of the wires meshed with my racing pulse. What the hell were we doing? Clover wanted to go into a meat locker to check on her friend? No amount of suspicion can make that a logical decision, she isn’t thinking straight, I thought to myself, and this is only going to make things worse.

I hate to point out the argument that was creeping around in my mind.

This was Clover, the luck girl. If there was some sort of danger that would be narrowly avoided, or there was something to be gained, then it’s likely that her choices will result in it coming to light at least. Once again, these super powered scenarios only serve to complicate things unnecessarily, and I’m left with this gnawing wish that none of this had to happen, if the world was just normal...

I was brought back after our group stopped in a hall I hadn’t even realised I’d been walking down. The old man swiped a card over scanner, and the bolts holding a heavy looking door unlocked, the crackling of frost audible.

“Wait!” I suddenly spoke out, catching Clover as she was about to pull the handle back, “W-well, I mean…”

I tried and failed to think of a way of convincing her that this was insane.

I watched helplessly as she pulled the handle down.

“She should be somewhere on your right, beside the jeyuk... can’t quite remember what it’s called in English… that's right, it's pork! Ha!”

The horror of what he described zapped me into action once more.

“I’ll go!”

Again, all of the eyes turned to me. And I was just as surprised with what I’d said as everyone else.

Baturbah remained quiet, Yeoung let out a noise.

Clover asked, “Why?”

I didn’t waste any time trying to put together a coherent argument, I blurted out everything that was on my mind.

“C-Clover, you can’t do this, think about what Bastard said, you’re in the process of grieving, you can’t trust yourself to make decisions like this. You need a good meal, rest, time, you don’t need to go proving that there’s some plot to steal your friend from you. But I know you, you’re pig-headed, once you’ve set your mind on something, you’re going to see it through, but you don’t have to see it through personally. That’s- that’s what I’m here for. I’m here to help.”

She loosened her eyes, I felt like she wasn’t convinced, that I needed to say more.

“I’ve seen her before, I’ll know if it’s her, like I’ve said, I’ve saved your life twice before, you know I wouldn’t try and- and lie to you. Not about whatever’s behind this door. You were talking about loyalty, remember? Well- well I’m loyal to me- to this,” I tugged at my mask.

She shook her head and ruffled her dark hair.

She whispered, “I know. I know you. I know that you hate to see me like this. There’s your sympathy, sure, but that’s not what I’m on about.”

As if she was falling over, she leaned over to me.

“I have killed people. You understand that, right? I’m a horrible bitch that has murdered people, younger than me when I’ve had to. It might not be in the forefront of your mind, but you don't want me to be sad, you want me to feel bad. You want me to realise I've done the same to other people.”

She gritted her teeth.

“I am not a little girl. I never fucking was.”

The blood drained from my face, and I said soon after, “Yeah.”

I corrected myself, “NO, Fuck, I- I don’t- I want you to be better. It- It’s just- I'm asking that you extend your sympathy to other people, so- fuck, I want you to understand that none of what you just said is a healthy way to look at this. You don’t need to fight me; you need to stop and look at yourself. You’ve been different since we got here…”

She shook her head harder, cupping her temples in her hands, “Shut up.”

“Just go. Just go in then.”

She tossed her head back and stepped away from the door.

I looked at her, the only sound the crackling tension of the ice in the other room, and the ac whirring.

I wiped my face, realising that I didn’t help her out, I just rattled her when she was too tired to argue.

I walked in.

I kept walking.

Then I stopped.

God, if there is a god, a good god, then I begged them for the strength to keep going. That’s what I would need to keep going in such a situation, to stop myself from hyper-ventilating. I leapt head first into this mess, what was I expecting? That we’d go on an adventure or something? I’m in fucking Korea. If we aren’t counting the given worlds, then I’ve never even left the country, what made me think I could handle any of this? Because I worked out? Because I watched some movies? Because I’m wearing a dumbass costume? How the hell does any of that make me any better at helping someone out of this shit?

Fuck! Fuck!

I half scan the right of the room.

Then there’s that. What exactly was I thinking here? I’m in no way the person who should be doing this.

I try to edge closer, my teeth chattering from the cold.

Did I seriously think I was ready for something this real again? I spent a month held up in my bedroom because I failed to stop those people from being buried, freaked the fuck out when Grey died, and he might not have been real, I don’t fucking know!

Then there’s this, so help me God-

The only thing I’ll tell you about- about her is that she was in a body bag, laid down on a table.

I approached the head, a zipper a fixed to the top.

I told myself, over and over, just breathe. Just. Breathe.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

I lifted my right hand to the zip, an inch away.

In.

Out.

It jingled as I picked it up in my jittering fingers.

In. Out. In…

I think I pulled it about a foot before I twitched back, grabbing my hand

Out, out. In, out, in, out, in, out, in out.

I crashed to the floor.

In, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out, in out in out in out in out.

I scuttled across the scratching ice floor, chilling me to the bone.

In out in out out in out in out out out out out- out-out-out-out-

I grabbed at my heart. I told myself to breathe, but my body didn’t listen, I kept exhaling in short bursts, as if I were crying; I wasn’t. My eyes were completely dry.

When I got back, Clover’s mood remained the same, despite my findings.

…

I’ve been racking my brain in the hours since we were lodged in separate rooms, free of charge, asking myself the same question, why was I here? Why did I follow this girl half way across the earth? I came up with a few answers, none of which satisfied me. The hero part of me said I tagged along so I could get involved with whatever was happening in the world. The human side of me said it was to look out for Clover. The darker part of me said it was because I wanted to face situations like this.

There’s a part of me that seeks these situations out, that’s why I became a ‘hero’, to give the world someone who’s looking out for it, to give myself the peace of mind knowing that at least one person is definitely doing their very best for others. I just wish it was easier.

I looked around the room before sitting down at the foot of the bed, reminding me of my time with Feoli. I looked at my cracked phone, checking the VPN I installed on it. I seriously didn’t think I’d be using it this soon. After Clover bought me this phone, my first thoughts went to her being able to find out who I really am by looking at stuff like roaming charges or something.

One thing I’ve definitely learned after living in this world for half a year, is that I’m made of three parts. Hero, human, and Street-trash. I need all three to be myself, I’m weaker than the average person, so I need to put in three times the effort if I want to be content with myself.

Clover was right, it bugs me that she and everyone else have been so flippant with human lives, especially ones they have no connection to. It’s selfish, to say the least. That part of me is loudest when I stick this thing over my head, but it’s not the full picture. I don’t want her to feel bad. It’s silly, but true. I know she has the capacity to understand the weight of her crimes, she just needs time.

I take off the mask, pinching it by the back and pulling to break the line of glue, rubbing at the bits that remained. After disconnecting it from my neck, I wedge my thumbs under the eye holes, peeling it off my face from there.

After my head is out in the open, I pull at the hairnet I’ve been using to hold my messy scalp down. It falls out over my face.

And now I’m Sam, near enough.

Sam in Seoul. I laugh at myself softly as I wipe away the bubbles left on my face. I’d have to get gorilla glue somewhere, who knows how long I’ll be in this rabbit hole for. For all I know, I could have missed a secret camera in here, they could be recording my real face right now. The anxiety jabbed me, but it wasn’t enough to stop me from letting out my human side.

It was necessary.

I looked at my phone, Sam’s phone, thinking of what to send.

“Hey Sorsh, you’ve been quiet for a while, I don’t know if this is really a place for me, but I was a little worried about U.”

I left it for a few seconds, before I sent another.

“You don’t have to say anything, I’ll be content if you leave me on read.”

The hero in me cringed.

“I mean, if you leave me on read, then I know you’re alive, so…”

I’d almost forgotten how bad I was at this.

I laid myself back.

That girl, Ae, she helped me out twice already, I never got the chance to pay her back. Really, the least I can do is make sure that the living can keep it all together.

A ding came from cracked slab of glass.

I slowed my breathing before I checked.

“Thanks lol”