It felt like walking into an entirely different world as we stepped inside into a long, gleaming hall. The air was thick with perfume, and it smelled expensive, even to my untrained nose. Purple hued light drifted through an ornate frosted glass doorway inlaid with gold, leading out to the main floor where the customers resided. The walls not only shimmered with the same flecks of light as the exterior, they also glinted with veins of glowing blue crystals that weaved beautiful patterns throughout the design.

  The sheer amount of wealth on display vastly outstripped anything I’d seen on Earth. It was both awe-inspiring and terrifying, and this was only considered the back rooms. I couldn’t even imagine what was sitting out in the open on the main floor. Not even the mansion we were kicked out of was this over the top.

  “Keep up.” The woman interrupted my thoughts without looking back, her tail flicked in annoyance at our delay. “And don’t mind the mess. We have a resident mage who knows some cleaning spells. Quite necessary when one runs such a business, after all. I can personally guarantee she has dealt with far worse than some mud tracks.”

  “I-I see.” I stuttered, my mind a jumble of nerves. I hadn’t thought about using magic on such a mundane thing as cleaning. But it made sense the more I thought about it. It seemed I would eventually need to update my common sense to the standards of this new world if I was ever going to fit in.

  Valerie’s silence in all this worried me. The way her jaw was clenched in concentration, it was as if she was holding herself together through sheer force of will. I hoped her magic didn’t have any dangerous side effects.

  We passed several doors as we traveled deeper into the building, the hum of machinery replacing the laughter from above. I expected the woman to step into one of these side rooms, but she simply strode past them without even a glance until we reached a staircase leading downward into a sub-level.

  A more calming light drifted across the sterile white walls, bathing the hallway in a blueish green glow. Privacy glass doors lined either side of the hall painting a picture of clean, organized medical facility.

  One of the doors was slightly ajar and I managed to sneak a peek inside as we passed. They looked almost exactly like the room I originally woke up in. It made me wonder if there was a universal standard to the rooms since they were so similar.

  “Those rooms are for recovery,” The woman explained after noticing my gaze, “We are going to the medical bay. After your sister is patched up, I will escort you to Mr. Forester. He prefers the new employees to be… presentable.”

  The way she said ‘presentable’ made my gut tighten. If this was a legit business, her demeanor wasn’t doing it any favors.

  The woman reached out and pressed her palm against a small, circular scanner beside a large door at the end of the hallway, and a soft, electronic chime sounded before the door hissed open.

  Inside was four misted glass cylinder rooms, they resembled decontamination chambers straight out of science fiction.

  Our guide opened two and gestured for us to step inside. I was hesitant to enter this strange device without fully knowing its purpose, but Valerie seemed to have no such issues as she quickly stepped past me and into the leftmost chamber.

  I huffed silently but followed suit, entering the one on the right, stumbling a bit without Valerie’s support.

  The glass door hissed shut behind me, cutting me off from the outside world.

  “Undress please,” The woman’s voice chimed from above from an unseen speaker. “Your clothes will go in that bin embedded in the wall. We shall bring a change of clothes while you are being decontaminated.”

  I hesitated at her words, my hand unconsciously clutching the last bit of dignity I had left. So much was being torn out of my control, and now I was being asked to surrender my clothes?

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  I took a breath and steadied my thoughts.

  This was for Valerie’s sake, I didn’t have much choice if I wanted to see her healed. Causing a fuss would only delay her treatment.

  Delaying only decreased Valerie’s odds, so I complied and got started on the long task of undressing. I had to pause more than once to rest my arms as they trembled from the relatively light strain they were put under. My body barely up for the task.

  It was a small comfort that the misted glass wasn’t entirely transparent. I could see the hazy form of our guide waiting outside, messing with a control panel filled with blinking lights.

  “Glen, call Nyreen down to the medical ward, please. We have a few new patients that need medical care. Oh, and tell her to bring Zerava with two sets of clean clothes while she’s at it.”

  I yelped in shock as cold water suddenly shot out from above, instantly sending chills down my spine, sapping the remaining body heat from my frail form. A sharp tang stung my nostrils as the steam from the treated substance filled the room.

  Thankfully, I didn’t have to bear it long. The freezing torrent ceased after only a few seconds, quickly followed by a blast of warm air funneled in from vents. I was completely dry within moments, though it did very little to ease the shivers now running through me.

  Time seemed to stretch on forever while we waited in cold, dark chambers, shivering in silence. But eventually, two new figures entered and stopped in front of the woman who led us here.

  “Good evening, Seres.” The smaller of the two figures said in a quiet, feminine voice. “I assume they are in the Decom-Pods?”

  “Yes, they finished the cleansing cycle a few minutes ago and are all set for treatment. I recommend working on the elder sister first, as she is missing nearly her entire right arm.” Our guide, Seres, briefly gestured to Valerie’s chamber with a dismissive wave.

  “Wait, what?! She’s missing an arm?! Why didn’t you say so?! I would have come sooner had I known!” The small outline of the small woman rushed to Valerie’s pod and it hissed open. “Zerava, help me get her to the MedBed! Quickly!”

  My heart pounded in my chest as I pressed my face against the misted glass, attempting to see how Valerie was holding up… but my view was unfortunately hindered by the glass.

  All I could manage to make out were hazy silhouettes as they rushed my sister away until all I could see was the sterile, misted glass in front of me.

  Urgent shouts and the hum of machines powering up filled the room soon after, and all I could do was lean against the glass wall.

  I felt completely useless, completely alone.

  ———

  *click-click*

  I startled awake at the tapping sound, briefly thinking that the cave monsters had returned, before I remembered where I was. Safe. For now.

  *click-click* The sound repeated.

  “Hey kiddo, you still alive in there?” I looked at the silhouette of a taller woman as she tapped a finger against the glass.

  “Y-yeah,” I called out as I blinked the sleep from my eyes. I must have dozed off.

  “Great!” Her cheerful voice chimed over the speakers. “I left you a new pair of clothes, they’re in the bin you left your old ones. They might be a little baggy, but we can’t have you running around in your old stuff until we have a chance to deep clean it.”

  I glanced toward the bin and, sure enough, there was a simple pair of gray sweatpants and sweatshirt as well as undergarments folded neatly in the bin.

  Now fully awake, I walked up to the clothing and started slipping on the clothes.

  “Doctor Nyreen was pretty exhausted after working on your sister, so after we made sure your wound wasn’t serious, we decided to let it heal on its own.”

  I blinked in confusion. Not serious? Sure, I could understand that compared to Valerie’s injuries mine were minor, but to let a large puncture heal on its own seemed… neglectful, at the very least.

  Since I hadn’t put on the long-sleeve shirt yet, I raised the arm up to get a good look at the puncture where the rebar had passed through.

  But what I saw shocked me. Instead of blood-caked hole, there was only… a small scab? That couldn’t be right. The piece of metal that went through was far larger than the wound I was seeing. What was going on? Magic maybe?

  “Anyway,” She spoke up, interrupting my thoughts. “Once you are dressed, you will have to meet with Mr. Forester. Your sister is already there.”

  “Okay, I’ll probably need some help getting there though.” I answered, putting my confusion to the side for the moment.

  “Yep, that’s what I’m here for! My name’s Zerava, by the way. Your sister was pretty adamant that you needed help too. It was honestly really cute how worried she was. She must have been in shock to imagine a full piece of rebar going through your arm. But I guess getting attacked by a tunneler would do that to anyone.”

  “Uh, yeah… I guess so,” As confusing as the situation was, I knew that now was not the time to dwell on it. The clean clothes and warm air did very little to clear the unease tightening around my chest as I stepped out of the chamber.