Who are the Lifers? Bastard Kraej is what they are.

—Anonymous, handwritten scrawl on an underground magazine

Asteria

They made a terrific fuss over me.

I woke up on a hospital bed with Katja and Sofia screaming and hugging me while crying hysterically. A man in a white doctor’s coat scolded them to keep quiet.

“Asteria! I thought you were dead,” said Katja. Her eyes were red from weeping and she had to use a handkerchief to wipe her tears and blow her nose. “Why are you so dumb?”

“How could you sacrifice yourself? I was so worried!” said Sofia. She put one arm around me and buried her head on the pillow beside my head to stifle her sobs.

“Cease this wailing! The patient needs to rest,” said the man who must be the doctor in charge.

Oren and Sariel were also there, but they just stood silently behind the girls. I think they were crying, too but they’d both turned their faces away.

Oren looked tired and dirty but, otherwise, he seemed fine. He’d even put on a lot of muscle.

Sariel looked like hell. There were dark rings around his eyes and he’d lost a lot of weight that he couldn’t afford to lose given how lean he’d always been. His hair and eyes were black and he was in a truly bizarre outfit - a black leather kilt, red jacket, yellow ruffled shirt, and fluffy violet house slippers.

“Water, please,” I said.

A nurse bustled in with a bottle of water with a straw. She must have been waiting nearby. After I finished drinking, they wheeled my bed up to the temple room where the medical staff had set up the medical facilities. Sariel and the others were forced to wait outside while the doctor and nurses checked my temperature, pulse, oxygen levels, and so forth.

Sariel asked one of the staff to call Seraphiel and Uriel, but the doctor glared at him and told him not to order his people around.

“Doctor, please,” I said.

“Fine,” he said. He ordered a nurse to inform them that I was awake. “Now, how many fingers am I holding up?”

Uriel and Seraphiel arrived together. Uriel looked as though he’d just gotten out of bed. He looked okay apart from his messy hair and rumpled clothes.

Seraphiel…

“Why do you look half-dead? Have you been injured?” I asked.

His eyes were sunken, and his hair had lost its glossiness. I’d thought Sariel had lost a lot of weight, but that was nothing compared to Seraphiel, who looked positively skeletal.

Seraphiel just stared at me.

“Doctor, how is she?” asked Uriel.

“I must run more tests. All of you, leave,” said the doctor.

I held my arms out to the girls, and we hugged before everyone, except for Seraphiel, filed out of the room. He stood in one corner of the room, silently observing us. The doctor and nurses ran me through a battery of tests, but they all came out normal since my body had been completely healed.

“Amazing,” said the doctor. “I should have taken a sample of that flower.”

The Crimson Pearl Flower had helped me a lot, but I would have healed without it. On the other hand, seeing how thin Seraphiel was, it was a very good thing that the panacea had accelerated my healing.

I sat up. Nurses rushed to help me get up from the bed.

“Why don’t you take it easy? Rest a bit more,” said the doctor.

“I think I can walk. I want to move since my body feels a little stiff.” I suddenly realized that I was still wearing the same dress and it was covered in blood. “I should change.”

The doctor left to give me privacy. Seraphiel wouldn’t leave until I threw my pillow at him.

“Go away, I wanna change,” I said.

One of the nurses giggled. I sent Seraphiel a death glare until he finally left.

“Men,” I said.

They gave me a simple white dress to wear but refused to let me shower before changing. I had to be content with wiping my body with warm water and a towel.

“Slippers? I’d like to go out,” I said when they gave me a pair of padded bedroom slippers.

There was a commotion in the hallway then two Lifers entered the room first, followed by Magnus and three more of his bodyguards.

Magnus was looking exceptionally polished today. The creases on his suit were sharp enough to cut and his caramel blond hair was slicked back like he was an evil businessman from a cheesy gangster movie.

“How do you feel?” asked Magnus.

I flopped down on a chair dramatically and said, “Oh happy day! A gentleman caller! Quick, offer him tea and crumpets.”

One of Magnus’ bodyguards had to cover his mouth to stifle his laughter.

Magnus turned to the doctor. “Has she been babbling nonsense all this time?”

“I believe that was a joke, sir. She seems normal and healthy, just as I predicted,” said the doctor.

“What’s a crumpet?” Magnus asked me.

“It’s a type of pastry I invented.” My mistake. They must not have crumpets here. “How could you come to visit a sick person empty-handed? Don’t you know your basic etiquette?”

“I didn’t come empty-handed.” One of his bodyguards gave Magnus a check which he tried to give to me.

“I meant flowers or fruit.”

“It’s the reward for saving the city,” said Magnus.

“Give it to charity.”

Magnus gave the check back to his bodyguard. Then, to my surprise, he crouched down in front of me and looked into my eyes. “Tell me the truth. Are you really alright?”

I laughed. “I’m fine. You, of all people, must know how good a magician I really am.”

Obviously, someone who could teleport at age twelve was a genius magician. That was probably the real reason why Magnus kept tabs on me.

“True.” Magnus straightened up. “You do seem fine. Doctor, what do you recommend?”

“We should keep her under observation overnight. I’d like to check up on her every day until I’m sure there aren’t any aftereffects,” said the doctor. Behind him, the nurses were all bunched together, glancing over at Magnus over their shoulders or staring at him with wide eyes and flushed faces.

“I don’t want to stay here overnight,” I said. “I want to sleep in my own bed.”

“It’s only for one night,” said Magnus. “I have to go, but I’ll leave some of my men here. Let them know if you need anything.”

“Alright.” It was useless to argue with him. Besides, I knew Ely would nag me to do as the doctor said. “Bye.”

“I’ll be seeing you,” said Magnus.