Hey guys!

Am bak :3

I'd like to say, last chapter was a bit short and erratic, but I'm going to try and pace this better.

Mostly I'm going to put priority on Clark's past, and establish him as an actual character, so he doesn't give off the vibe of a self-insert/Mary-Sue.

Now I know this is , and people that read on here don't care a whole ton about the quality of the writing, (Unless it's just indecipherable-)

But I'm trying my best anyeay. :p

(After this chapter-)

You guys don't wanna hear from me. You're probably thinking, "GET ON WITH IT ALREADY!" and I mean a'ight, I will.

After one short interlude-

fahadhossain200007: I hope you soon find great fortune through window blinds. I don't know how but-

Ahem. That was significantly shorter than last time… On with the show!


I woke up to a musty smell.

Almost like wet cardboard.

Purple, gold, and green necklaces dangled from a makeshift roof formed from rotting wood and cardboard. I groaned, and attempted to sit up.

I found myself laying on a small pile of stained white pillows.

The floor was constructed of rugs and rags.

Velvety and torn cloths hung from the roof, catching the dazzling rays of light from outside.

The stone walls on the sides, and the exit ahead, I assumed it had been squished in a small alleyway. It lookef like a ransacked fortune teller tent.

Clenching my jaw experimentally, I felt no pain. Strange. I could have sworn-

"Hey! You're up?" A female voice startled me, cutting off my thought process.

My mind went blank as a figure entered the room.

I thought I had been delirious with some form of blood loss, and had been hallucinating, but…

Here she was.

Another Human.

For some reason, looking at her made me feel self conscious.

"I- uh- I guess?" I stammered out, feeling a little tongue tied.

She let out a nervous chuckle.

I felt a feeling of dread rise inside me, but I couldn't quite place why.

"They put out wanted posters for you." She said cutting off my thought process.

Heck, even looking at her cut off my thought process for some reason.

"I- uh- how long was I out? And what jaw happened- I mean happened what with me and jaw-" I groaned in frustration. "You get what I mean." I sighed, defeated.

"I didn't think Zinkari root had muddling properties. Yet again, I've never seen it in use…" She trailed off.

I barely followed as she spoke. Suddenly, it clicked. "Zinkari root? Isn't that stuff illegalized, and incredibly hard to find? From what I've observed, the chemical compound is like nothing I've ever seen! Was it…Wasn't it the herb that has a chemical that speeds up blood flow, and naturally uses the body's resources of glucose and hexokinase, creating Glucose-6-phosphate, and synthesizes it, rapidly stimulating the epidermis to produce Hyaluronic Acid with the synthesized resource, nearly halting inflammation and allow further stimulated cytokines and etcetera to flow in and naturally mend the wound? Yeah right, it was." I chuckled. "It recreates the process of streptococcal fermentation within the body, which is absolutely fascinating. I haven't been able to discover exactly how yet. I haven't tested it much myself, but it has never been tested on a human…" As I finished my rant, I felt heat rush to my face.

Whoops.

"Yeah… That." She said, a completely lost expression coating her face. I frowned.

"Magic healing herb." She said simply.

"Yeah, more or less. Sorry, I kinda nerd out sometimes." I felt really self conscious.

Something I never felt around Marse.

Maybe… I shook the thought from my mind before it could form.

Marcy was still number one in my mind.

Realizing I hadn't introduced myself yet, I spoke louder than I had probably intended.

"My name's Clark! Nice to meet ya!"

"I know." She deadpanned, "You're plastered on almost every wall from here to nightmarket."

I winced. "And you are?"

"Auberly. But you can call me Erly." She chuckled.

"Alright then." I found myself smiling, yet unaware.

I quickly regulated my expression. "I haven't seen another human other than Marcy and her friend. How'd you get here-"

I paused.

"OH SHOOT, MARCY!" I heard myself yell.

"Huh?" Erly tilted her head.

I stood too fast, seeing spots in my vision. But I didn't care. "I gotta find Marcy!"

"The girl? Wasn't she a shifter?-"

"No, she's my friend. That shifter just stole her likeness. I gotta find her!" I headed towards the door, aware of a dull pain in my jaw.

Erly moved herself in my path.

"Woah, slow down there. When I found you, you had a practically shattered jaw. Even Zinkari root doesn't work that fast... I think." She raised her hands

I clenched my jaw -A poor move on my part- and continued out the door, aware of the tangles of pain sneaking their way back up my chin. "Either way, I gotta find her."

"All right then, I'll go with you. We should probably stick together, as you're a fugitive, And I know little to nothing about this place." She crossed her arms.

"How long did you say you've been here again?" I found myself asking.

"I didn't. But I've been here for about a week now."

"How did you know about the root?" My head cocked.

"Found it growing in the gutter. The guards were talking about it the day before."

I blinked twice. "When you arrived, you wouldn't have happened to have either been crossing a bridge, or opening a magic box when you showed up here, right?"

She shuffled on her feet nervously, and sat.

I could tell something was wrong. Letting out a sigh, I sat down beside her. "Look, the reality is I barely know you. I just met you. But you can trust me. And I get the feeling I can trust you. So what happened?" I placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm from Oklahoma." She started, with a shaky breath. The sudden change in tone was slightly alarming. "My boyfriend, David, decided to break up with me on our 6th anniversary."

I squinted. "Okay I said you can trust me, but I don't mean that much!" I let out a small laugh.

The look in her eyes told me that was insensitive.

I shrank, nodding for her to go on.

"Well, we had been together since elementary school. And we hadn't ever fought. And then one day, he told me he didn't love me anymore, and that was that. He didn't think much of it, but he didn't realize that…" She seemed to be measuring her next words carefully. "He didn't realize that I put everything I had into our relationship. My mother died when I was six, and my dad was imprisoned on charges of pedophilic acts. I was adopted by my neighbors, the Jacobsons. They were nice, but their oldest son was abusive. And would often come home from work drunk."

I nodded, feeling my heart sink.

"David didn't know that he was all that I had. And so he left me, and I… Well my adoptive parents were gone one night, and I tried to hang myself." Her voice broke.

By now I was feeling awful.

"I failed, and The rope came loose, and I fell and hit my head. When I woke up, I was here. I had a strange dream though, when I had passed out. There was a figure, surrounded by darkness. He offered me his hand, and told me he would bring me somewhere where there wouldn't be any more pain. At first I thought I was just dreaming. Then I woke up here."

My vision drifted to the floor. I didn't understand how she was comfortable sharing this with me. Or anyone for that matter.

"I found myself here, but the pain was still lingering. I didn't know what I was doing. Everyone here was so strange and different, that I just hid in an alleyway all day for the first two days. I considered throwing myself off the wall, and was on my way to do that when I found… you." She took a deep breath.

My vision snapped back towards her.

"I found you in the alleyway, bleeding out. My adoptive parents were in the medical field, so I understood a fair amount of what to do. I took you back to the abandoned tent I was staying in, and nursed you back to health. You weren't awake for this but… over the course of 4 days, I took care of you. While you were out, oftentimes I would find myself talking to you. Telling you about my problems, telling you about… everything."

"I was out for four days?" My eyes widened.

She chuckled. "Yup." Seeing my confused expression, she digressed. "You might be wondering why I'm telling you all of this. It's because I already told you once. I know it wasn't your choice to nearly die, but if you hadn't, I wouldn't have realized how valuable my life is. And I would have thrown it away. Because although I may have burdens, and I may have pain, if I had simply thrown away my life, I would have condemned yours."

I found my eyes resting once more on the blanketed floor. "I… I don't know what to say." I honestly felt torn. I didn't know what to do.

"You don't have to say anything. I'm saying thank you. And that I'm going to go with you."

I honestly felt horrible yet glad. I was glad that I was able to help her in that way, but again I barely knew her.

My only choice at this point was to get to know her. Otherwise I would end up hurting her.

"All right, well I suppose it can't be helped." I scratched the back of my head, letting out a nervous chuckle. "In that case, let's go find Marcy."


She was sick of the sound.

Drip, drip, drip

Marcy had heard of Chinese water torture, where one is chained up, and a single drop of water falls on the same spot on their head consistently, until it feels gradually worse and worse, the point where it feels like their head is getting hit with a sledgehammer.

She didn't know that happened with one's ears as well. Marcy had a massive headache, from all the blood pooling in her head.

She had to warn them.

Marcy had no idea how long she had been here but every attempt to escape her bindings failed. Every time, she fell back upside down.

Drip, drip, drip

She swung herself back and forth, attempting to flip around.

Upon a failed attempt, she tried lifting herself up to bite her restraints. Yet found the rope far too tough. She fell back, defeated, viewing the cave from a distorted upside down angle.

She could see eggs, lining the walls. Each one providing an eerie luminescent glow.

They almost looked like alligator eggs.

But they were unlike anything she'd ever seen.

Marcy hadn't gotten a good view of what had jumped her. All she knew was that it was roughly the same size as a human.

She began tossing herself up and down on the rope, despite the reoccurring and sharp pains flashing through her skull.

Hearing the cracking of stone, she felt a sudden drop.

She fell to the floor with a painful thud. And in the dim lighting of the cave, she barely rolled to the side as a falling stalactite shattered the cave floor where her head was only seconds prior.

"Sweet mother of molduga!" She exclaimed "That was close-"

Despite still being restrained, her hand grazed a free piece of rock. She felt a sting on her thumb, followed up by the sensation of blood welling.

Wincing, she felt around, eventually snatching the sharp stone, and began to cut her bindings.

I have to warn them. Something big is coming.


Hey guys!

Thank you so much for reading, I really appreciate it.

Same thing applies as for previous chapters, it really makes my day when you follow and/or favorite my story.

I'm sorry for getting deep there, I just have had a few friends at this time that are struggling with issues of suicidal thoughts, and depression. This chapter is dedicated to them.

Because although things are really tough at times, perhaps things can seem completely hopeless, if they can just struggle through, If they can make it to the next day, their simple actions can have a beautiful and wonderful impact on so many others.

I really appreciate you, dear readers, and although you may be few in number, I appreciate y'all taking this journey with me.

Catch y'all on the flip side! :D