Though Lu Se Ying was closer and saw the moment Nastasia's body lost its strength, Li Yu Rong was faster. He quickly gathered the girl up into his arms; his face marked by a worried frown. He slid a look to Lu Se Ying, that narrowed red eye upon him made his body shiver involuntarily.

"What's wrong with her? Why did she faint?" He demanded.

"Lay her on the bed and I'll-" or not. Seeing his master's unwillingness to put her down, Lu Se Ying decided to conduct his examination as is. Whether she was laying out on the bed or in his master's arms didn't really matter. He'd be able to examine her all the same.

Reaching out to grab hold of her wrist, Lu Se Ying released his energy as he closed his eyes to concentrate. The green energy penetrated her skin, ran through her veins, and took stock of all her major organs. As his energy touched upon everything and sent back information, his lips drew up into a frown.

Her body showed signs of fatigue from overwork. This, coupled with the sudden calling out of her energy that she had never used before, seemed to be the reason for her sudden blacking out. Yet, while her body had such signs leading to this conclusion, Lu Se Ying couldn't help but feel it was wrong.

It was as if someone had interfered with his examination to force him to reach a such a diagnosis.

When he stayed longer, attempting to feel out and find the culprit, if there was such, something shot out to blanket everything. Rather than just blanket the inner workings of Nastasia's body from his view, his energy had been rejected and forced back into his body. The recoil came with a fierce stinging pain that he gave his all to mask from view.

Not wanting to worry his master, Lu Se Ying said. "Her mind is fatigued from overworking itself. Because of this, when her energy was called out, it sapped her remaining strength causing her to pass out. After a few hours of sleep, she should be fine."

Within his sleeve, he took out a vile of medicine he kept on hand and dumped the contents as he spoke to his master. Taking that empty vile he stuffed the residual energy, that had forced him back, into it before replacing the stopper. After studying it a bit he should be able to determine whether the energy belonged to her and was some sort of subconscious defense mechanism or if it was something else entirely and to what entity it belonged.

From there, if it proved to be something else, he would use the energy as a base and concoct a medicine to expel it from her body. At that point, he would also inform his master of his findings. For now, it was best not to unnecessarily worry him when he was already so worried.

"I'll make a nutrient supplement to help strengthen her body and bring it by later." Lu Se Ying added.

"Hmm." Li Yu Rong hummed his acknowledgment. Being that it wasn't anything too serious he felt his heart ease a bit. Brushing aside some errant strands of red hair that fell across her face, he stood from the bed and moved to leave the room.

Rather than wait for her to wake here, he felt that it would be better to have her rest in her own bed as it would be much more comfortable for her there. Her sleep would be all the more restful.

Lu Se Ying watched his master go with a worried frown. This was the first time he hadn't told his master something right away; even if it were a trivial something. As he finally moved to research the energy in the vile, he honestly hoped that it turned out to be nothing.

-----------------------------------

Darkness.

She couldn't see her hand placed in front of her face.

There was no up and there was no bottom.

It was as if she were floating in a vast space of nothingness.

Her heart pounded hard in her chest.

Nastasia, before waking to this nightmare, had been sitting in front of Li Yu Rong and Lu Se Ying. She had felt herself fading to darkness. She was aware that she had fainted.

There was no sound.

Even the voice she tried to cry out with could not make a dent in this silence. It was absolutely frightening. Though it was scary, she tried to keep her wits about herself as she thought of ways to escape this place. However, no matter how hard she screamed for help, no matter how she tried to force her self to wake, she remained in this darkness.

Panic was beginning to set in.

Once, when she was little, she gotten herself locked in a small storage closet. The door was heavy and had a tendency to shut itself on you. Not being careful as she rummaged around for an old toy she wanted to show a friend, she was locked in. As she was left home alone, there was no one to hear her banging on the door and screaming for help.

She had been stuck in there for about half of an hour. Even though it wasn't too terribly long of a time, the damage had been done. Since then, she had a terrible case of claustrophobia. Right now, as she tried to ignore the similar feeling of being locked in the closet, the panic was clawing at the edges of her mind.

Luckily, before it was able to take hold, a voice called out.

"Don't be afraid. Xianmei just has to stop this guy real quick and then we'll have our good long talk." The voice was feminine yet very cute. There was an innocent childishness to it.

For some reason, hearing that voice helped her to calm herself down a bit. Even though Nastasia could not see the person, it helped to know that she wasn't alone in this darkness. She tried to open her mouth to ask a question, but her voice still could not make a dent in this silence.

what seemed a long time later, the voice returned.

"You should have listened to Xianmei when Xianmei said not to do it."

Nastasia was confused. She didn't ever remember hearing this girl, who referred to herself in the third person, telling her anything. However, she soon recalled the gut feeling she had earlier. The one that told her not to go through with that test.

Hesitantly, she asked. "That... that gut feeling I was having... it was you."

"That's right, that's right," the girl said happily, "it was Xianmei."

"Why?"

"Because that guy is really strong." Xianmei fell silent for a moment and then said. "He'd definitely be able to tell that Xianmei is with you."

Nastasia didn't understand. Her head hurt. She tried to rub at her temples yet felt nothing. It was very unsettling, but she tried to pull down that feeling as she asked. "Who are you? And Where is this?"

Suddenly, Xianmei's way of talking changed and she sounded older as she answered this part. Her voice still held its feminine charm, but it didn't sound as childish. "This place is your subconscious mind, that's why we can converse freely and without trouble." This was why they were able to talk without Nastasia having any difficulties in understanding what had been said or speaking what she wished. "I tried to bring you here before that man could see your energy, but it was really difficult. The energy I have to stay here is quite faded after all.

"I can't quite tell you who I am, but I am responsible for bringing you here. When you fell into the Shang Youhun river, I used the mass amounts of spirit energy contained there to remake your body. I did it to stop that guy's plot and to save my-."

That last part, she couldn't hear it, so Nastasia asked. "To save who?"

"The energy of the people from your world- unique, it- so it'll be useful to-"

The words began to cut out. The feeling of being roused to consciousness in layers rose to the fore. She couldn't waste any more of her energy keeping Nastasia in this unconscious state, so Xianmei shouted out in panic. "Don't let that guy in the picture you- find you! -help you when- can!"

The voice faded and Nastasia's eyes opened to a familiar view of the room Li Yu Rong gave her.