Arran woke up to bright lights overhead and a wet and sticky feeling all over his body.

Looking all over at his surrounding, he saw all sorts of machines and apparatus that he did not know the functions of and some that while they were in various weird forms, he could still infer the functions of.

Arran came to the conclusion that he was in what seemed to be a hospital ward. After checking his surroundings, he decided to check his own condition. That was when he was surprised to find out his own situation.

Arran found out where the wet and sticky feeling came from.

As it turned out, Arran was wrapped up and submerged in a small liquid bubble that was floating suspended in the air. It was through this bubble that Arran was seeing all that he had seen.

Arran could also make out a group of people in uniforms who were making their rounds in the ward he was settled in. One of these groups came to check up on him, only to find out that he was awake.

Surprised, they talked excitedly amongst themselves before one of them rushed away to the exit in a bid to inform her superiors of the recent development.

Arran tried to enquire about his situation only to find out that he could not speak because every time he tried to do so, the thick liquid bubble would start making its way down his mouth.

Arran stopped and instead tried to listen to them to find out any piece of information. Thankfully he was able to make out what they were saying.

That was when he realized that the group of people was not speaking in any of earth's known languages. Instead, the reason why he could understand them was that they were speaking in a kind of language that until now only he and his parents ever spoke as a form of code whenever they were alone or in front of others.

While he was stunned, he managed to make out a rough understanding of his situation.

He was currently located in a certain outpost that he was brought to after he had fainted but everything after that was simply gibberish to him. Something about the lower realms and upper realms and other dimensions and stuff like that.

As Arran was filled with confusion, the door to the ward opened up and Arran managed to catch a glimpse of what was on the other side. All he saw were soldiers standing guard outside.

The person making her way into the ward was a woman who was wearing a pure white, close-fitting uniform. Her steps were brisk and her hair was tied to the back of her head in a tight bun and her small delicate face was devoid of any makeup.

Compared to the winged woman that Arran remembered, this woman had a different kind of air that kept people away due to her strictness.

Arran had seen women like this before, women who held a lot of authority and carried themselves with confidence but compared to the others he had seen, this one also radiated a sense of power.

The woman made her way towards where Arran was and immediately started asking for their reports.

Captain Mei had been very frustrated lately.

When she had made the call for immediate response after the report she had gotten earlier, she had reported to her superiors only to be told to wait for reinforcements before making any other moves.

Even after the operation was over, instead of taking this matter over to the headquarters, she was told to take care of the mortal who was admitted into her custody. It was very obvious that no one wanted to touch this bag of hot potatoes.

While she was listening to the report of the group of doctors who were spewing a bunch of technical terms which she did not understand, she turned her attention to the person who was the cause of all this commotion in the first place, Mei had a very inexplicable feeling... like he was able to understand the words they were saying.

Shaking herself mentally, she removed that thought from her mind because it was impossible for a mortal to understand the language of the upper realms.

Even if there were records that had been left in the lower realms, records leftover from the age of exploration, such records should not contain any form of information concerning this particular language considering the region in which he was found in.

But as time passed, she was finding it much more difficult to dismiss this thought. In order to confirm her suspicion, she signaled for everyone to keep quiet and asked,

"Mortal, are you able to understand what we are saying?"

Arran had been trying to gather more information so as to further understand his situation when the female officer asked him this question.

Seeing as he was not able to quietly obtain any more intel stealthily, Arran nodded as a form of confirmation since he could not make a sound.

Captain Mei was shocked to confirm her suspicions and so was everyone else in the room. This only served to further cast a veil of mystery and doubt over the entire affair.

Captain Mei had another suspicion and if was found out to be true, the implication of it would be very serious for her to bear.

It was at this point that one of her men came to inform her of something and she had to rush out and make her way elsewhere and forget about the entire ordeal.

Arran watched the officer make her way out of the ward in a haste and had questions of his own, like how he was able to understand these people through a code that his parents taught to him, who his parents really were, where they had disappeared to and what arrangements they had planned for him.

….

Elsewhere, in the same dark and fiery world.

A very loud roar echoed through the entire world scaring a lot of creatures who scrambled around to look for a place to hide away for a long time.

Kasack had just emerged from a dark cocoon made out of blood and black miasma. His expression was vicious as he rampaged furiously throughout the small world in smoldering rage.

After some time had passed, he finally calmed down while muttering viciously to himself.

"Bullies, they are big bullies."

"If it were not for the treasure that I had kept to save myself in case of an emergency, I would have surely perished this time."

"I lost out big this time around but you'll pay. You'll all pay for sure because ill record this debt and come back to collect it with interest."

Kasack thought for a while before continuing, "I'm still severely injured and it's going to take me a very long time to recover."

"I had better stay in hiding for a while before those vicious guys come looking to hit me while I'm down."

"When I'm fully recovered, then I'll pay a visit to him because I'm sure he would be very interested in anything that has to do with them."

Saying so, a cloud of dark and viscous miasma gathered around him and carried him away to somewhere far away.

….

Ever since the time that the captain came to the ward, the doctors who attended to Arran had always been careful with what they said around him and it became difficult to gather any more intel.

But everything was not all that bad because there was a way to distract himself.

She was a girl, unlike any other girl he had ever seen before. Compared to the captain and the winged commander, she was on another different level altogether.

The first thing Arran thought when he saw her face was sunshine. A ray of warm sunshine that was giving off a gentle glow on a cold winter morning.

It was not only her face that was gentle but also her entire being. From the way she carried herself to the way, she treated everyone else.

From the behavior of the staff and from her overall bearing, Arran was very sure that she was from a very important background and that someone of her status would not usually have come to such a place like this especially not to tend to a mortal like himself. The only explanation for her presence here would be to take a look at him… like an animal in a zoo.

But for some reason, Arran could not find it in himself to be annoyed by the thought.

And so while enjoying her company, he waited for the people on the other side of the door to decide what they would do with him.