Skyler was lying on a hospital bed with a hospital gown over her body. The beeping of the machine next to her showed that her pulse was strong. She started to stir, and her eyes slowly opened. The bright light engulfed her eyes. She groaned. “That's too bright,” she muttered.

  She used her hand to prop herself up. “What happened?” she looked around, disoriented. “And why am I in a hospital bed?”

  The door opened, and a nurse walked in with a cart full of food and savouries. “Ah, miss Amberlight, you're awake,” she said politely. Skyler groaned as she turned to face her; the bed creaked as she turned.

  “Why am I here?” Skyler asked. The nurse smiled softly and then frowned. “Don’t you remember the fragment attack?” Skyler’s face went pure white as she gagged, trembling in fear. The nurse saw this and quickly pulled out a bucket from the cart.

  She placed it on the soft mattress in front of Skyler. Skyler picked it up and placed the cool bucket on her lap as she hurled into it. The smell of it was intense to make her feel that her nose was burning “shit my nose”

  Skyler threw the bucket at the nurse, and she caught it without any spillage. “Careful, miss amberlight, you shouldn’t do these things.” A person with a cloak around their body and a collar on their neck came in holding a trash bag “You summoned,” the nurse smiled pleasantly but with a hint of disdain.

  “Ah, yes, prisoner 553”, she said in a cold tone as she looked at them with visible disgust on her face. Skyler gulped “Why is a prisoner here?” Skyler shakily said. The nurse sighed and shook her head “Don’t worry; they aren't going to hurt you.” The aura from the nurse was immense “They are going to be used for healing for their sentence,” she said as she took a deep breath.

  “Now, Skyler," she said, turning to face Skyler with a smile and a face that took Skyler’s uneasiness away. “I'm going to take your blood. She walked closer. Her hand was cold but soft on Skyler’s arm. She whispered gently into Skyler’s ear. Her breath made Skyler giggle “Because we fear that you might have gotten touched by one of the fragments.”

  “Prisoner, bring me the ointment” he nodded and got a bucket with a yellow paste cream in it. “Just to make sure that your ether isn’t leaking into your bloodstream” She dipped her finger into the ointment. The cold sticky substance went onto Skyler’s arm as she shivered “Alright with you?”

  Skyler nodded as she blushed, but it wasn’t noticeable “Yes, that's fine.” She grimaced in pain as a sharp prick of a metallic syringe entered her soft skin, breaking it. “Good, you're doing so well,” the nurse said sweetly. The hot crimson liquid exited her body through the tube and into a glass vial labelled with her name on it.

  “Done good job, Skyler”, she smiled softly and gently pulled out the needle from Skyler’s arm. “Prisoner, bring this to my colleague quickly”, she said with coldness in her voice and put Skyler’s vial on the tray gently.

  “Oh yeah, Skyler, there's a gentleman here for you,” the nurse said. Skyler looked confused. Who?” Skyler said. Then, a thought popped into Skyler’s head as her eyes lit up “Is it Dad?" The nurse stood up and bowed at her as she exited. The doors slid open and then closed after she went out.

  A few minutes later, the door opened again slowly. Skyler looked at it excitedly. But to her dismay, it was a trench coat wearing, blue haired man in his late twenties. He also had deep crimson eyes. “Skyler Amberlight?” he asked with a tired tone. Skyler nodded with a distraught expression on her face. “So it wasn’t a dream.”

  He nodded as she hid her deep blue eyes under her red hair. “So my father is… a” she took a shaky breath “a statue” he sighed and stepped closer. His footsteps made the floorboards creak. “Yes, your father is a statue.” she clenched her hands together on her lap as she looked at him with a depressed look on her face “so who are you? You don’t seem like a hospital staff?”

  He coughed, clearing his throat “My name is Justin Moonlight. I'm a protector in the Lux sector” She looked confused. “Why is a protector from the Lux sector here, not the Terra ones?” Skyler asked with suspicion.

  “Well, you piqued my interest because…” he grinned “look at this” he pressed a button on his watch and a hologram of skyler with a smokey rapier in her hand (which were claws) appeared. “No Umbra user”. He looked straight into her eyes, determined to find her buttons. “Can use this many shadows at once!” he pointed at the image and sighed.

  “But this is the only footage we could salvage before the security cameras shut off.” Justin said, annoyed from the lack of information. Skyler looked at the image, and her heart raced. She was breathing heavily and shook desperately not to remember.

  Stolen story; please report.

  The heart monitor beeped rapidly. Skyler continued to freak out, pulling her hair roughly. “Is t-that me?” she said. Skyler looked down at her hands. They flashed into a black fog and back. “N-no thats not me!” She shouted at him and stepped out of her bed. She looked down at him with disgust.

  Her eyes flashed purple and she growled. Justin shivered and saw his shadows rise and fall behind him. He slowly reached for the bone gun on his hip “Miss Amberlight, calm yourself,” he sternly said. “No I will not!” She stepped closer and Justin stepped back. “you’re a fucking stranger in my hospital room!” she shouted.

  She lifted her hand, and tendrils of icky black traveled up Justin's leg to pin him in place “Shadow bind!” Justin widened his eyes, whipped out his gun and placed it next to his head. The bony substance was rough on his skin. His eyes glowed dark green violently. “Speed contract- blinding speed,” he shouted.

  The surrounding area shattered like glass, and Justin smirked. He saw that Skyler’s eyes were dull, with no soul. He slogged throughout the inky substance and went behind her, grabbing her arm and twisting it behind her back.

  He groaned, but knew that this was the only way to calm her. “Damm it”, he thought. “I should have known this might happen” he muttered out loud. His breath steamed in front of him. The cold air of the broken time was getting him to lose focus. He gently slapped his face with his free hand, then put it back around her waist.

  He counted down from ten, and then the shattered glass-like scenery returned to normal. Skyler looked around for a second and then felt a cold hand on her arm. “Huh, what?” she said confused. Then her eyes were covered by a hand “sorry for this skyler but you were a bit out of control” justin said softly.

  Skyler struggled in his grip “let go of me, you prick!” Justin’s eyes widened and calmly said “Skyler, it’s in your best interest to calm down” he was getting annoyed.

  “I will let you go if you promise to stop using your magic” his voice tired from speaking. Skyler nodded reluctantly and took a beep breath “fine.” justin sighed and let go her. Skyler blinked rejusting to the light. “Sorry.” she stuttered and Justin went in front of her. “Its okay i would do the same if I was in that situation.”

  She crossed her arms “so mister protector how did you get behind me?” he put his gun on the table beside the bed. “Whats that gun? Ive never seen it before.” skyler walked closer to it and picked it up and pointed it around “be careful” justin said worriedly and grabbed the end of it “its for my necromancy magic.”

  Her eyes widened and stepped back “oh i only knew necromancy users eating their contracts” justin nodded and when she let go of the gun. Justin spun it until it he gripped the handle and put it back on the table. “Thats true that but tell me.”

  He looked into her eyes and stepped closer. “How do you feel when you see those people when they have to eat paper to activate their magic” he said sadly and smiled. Skyler just nodded acklodging that necromancers have it tough but far less her “yes people see it as disgusting right?” justin nodded. “but its not bad as being called the devil everywhere you go!” skyler shouted with envy. And her eyes flickered purple again but took a deep breath. To calm herself.

  “So Justin,” she hummed curiously “how do you not accidentally kill yourself?” She sat down on the bed and put her leg on top of the other. “when you shoot your gun against your head?” she asked. Justin saw her eyes sparkled with intrigue.

  Before he could explain, Skyler got up again and came closer. She looked intensely at the gun which was on the bedside table. Skyler grabbed Justin's shoulders and squeezed them harshly. “Tell me!” Said excitedly “I need to know I love how things work!”

  She pushed him onto the bed and gently stroked the rough bone gun. “It’s simple, so I put the cartridge in the slot on the side of the gun and use my magic to force it out.” Justin said amused when Skyler barked questions at him. She smiled and crossed her arms underneath her chest. “But technically you haven’t answered my question. So Justin how do you not accidentally kill yourself from the force of impact of the projectile?.”

  Justin huffed, and stood up from the bed. He walked to the wall, leaned against it with swagger. “Well, these capsules would disintegrate before impacting with my head” and the aroma would act as the catalyst” she hummed, interested in his explanation. He nodded and walked to the door “Skyler, before I go, what are you going to do now?”

  “Well…” she exhaled and smiled sadly. “Before the fragment attacked,” Skyler started to struggle to say “I dropped out of the university I attended.” She got up from the bed. Went over to the bedside table, picked up the bone gun gently.

  Skyler walked to Justin. putting the bone gun on her open palm in front of him. “Because I wanted to become a protector.” Skyler whispered while Justin reached for it, picking it up from its handle.

  “to show that umbra’s aren’t the devil.” Skyler looked straight into Justin’s eyes, fire burning within them. Justin grinned “And to…nevermind” Skyler said nervously. Justin put the gun on his waist. “It’s alright not to tell me everything,” he said softly.

  He walked towards the door and was about to reach for the handle. “Miss amberlight, you’re 21 years old right? He asked not to offend her. Skyler nodded and replied “yes I am, why?” Justin l chuckled and shook his head. “Nothing, just that I thought you would be more informal.”

  Skyler stuck her tongue out at him in response “how’s this” she stopped and sighed as she smiled sadly “is it possible to see the statue of my dad?”

  Justin just hummed and opened the door slowly. “It’s still a crime scene. He stepped out from her room to the hallway “but you're the foster daughter so you probably can.” Skyler nodded and Justin said “Skyler, I will be back on Friday, so do your application and get ready.”

  Skyler nodded and said “okay I will!” “Oh yeah, your bike is in the car park,”Justin finally said before closing the door, leaving Skyler alone in the room.

  Skyler sighed and thought “being alone it’s a curse.” She walked back to the bed and climbed onto it. Hid under the covers and started to sob while her tears stained the covers. She clutched her stomach while it rumbled. Her new reality was starting to sink in.