The sound of a bathroom door opening echoed in the room. Walking out from it was Kal'tsit, fully dressed in more comfortable attire, a rare sight for anyone to ever see on the Landship. Based on how there was water dripping from her hair, the leader of Rhodes Island must have just taken a bath. And if the steam that was coming out from the bathroom was an indicator of anything, it must be a hot one at that.

It may not seem like it, but Kal'tsit also enjoyed the small things in life. One of them was a hot bath after a busy day. Not many knew this side of her. The side that enjoyed a relaxing hot bath.

Although she did not do it on purpose, the people on the Landship considered her to be… cold.

One of those few people was Amiya.

And she found new people to be added to that small list of people.

Lin Ye.

Those two people made the doctor think.

As she expected Amiya was doing amazing with her being the head of Rhodes Island. Although she was given the position at a young age, Amiya showed everyone she was capable of leading a company as big as Rhodes Island.

Lin Ye on the other hand. He was anything but expected. Everything that he did, Kal'tsit never considered he could do. With just his help, Rhodes Island was better now. Two countries were now on their side and from the calls that she got these past days, Laterano might even be their third.

That same man was now their current Doctor.

Kal'tsit hummed as she made her way to the kitchen. She was about to get a simple coffee, but she remembered something that the Doctor told her while he was still there.

"Black coffee…" She muttered that to herself.

Now with that, she made her way to a drawer and dug into it. After a while, the doctor finally found what she wanted. Pulling it out stared at the small package in her hand.

Grind coffee beans.

Lin Ye gave them to her before he left for Laterano. He said that she might be someone that enjoyed black coffee. He explained that the beverage gave a lot of benefits to people.

It stimulated the nervous system, boosting the release of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and norepinephrine. Lin Ye called them 'happy chemicals that make you feel joyful and positive. Caffeine in black coffee increases excitability in the brain, improves mood and facilitates a more productive environment by enhancing cognitive skills.

He may be biased when he told all of this to her though. Lin Ye did admit that it was his favourite coffee after all.

However, with his track record of reading people correctly, Kal'tsit trusted his judgement.

With that, she remembered how to make black coffee. Lin Ye did teach her how.

She boiled about 600 grams of water. Adding a filter to your dripper, Kal'tsit filled it with ground coffee. After gently tapping the surface, she poured it into a cup.

And with that, she finished.

With her cup of hot black coffee, she made her way to her desk. Kal'tsit still needed to go through some files.

As she was making her way to the desk, she looked around her room. Although Rhodes Island considered everyone on the Landship equal, she did have some benefits of being one of the heads of the company.

Her room was far larger than most operators. The only room rivalling its size was Lin Ye's.

There was a wall dedicated only to housing rows of books. Their content all varied, although most of them were related to Originium.

As she sat on his chair, Kal'tist noticed a simple book on it. A book that Lin Ye gave to her.

[The Infected Heart]

He seemed to know what was going on in her mind when she first saw the book and chuckled. When giving the book to her, Lin Ye explained that it was not about the actual heart. Lin Ye placed a hand on his heart and said that this book helped him get a view of what was going on emotionally when a person was Infected.

The Doctor bluntly told her that this had no benefits in making the cure. It was just a window to be able to peek at how Oripathy affected a person on an emotional level.

Compared to the rest of the books on her wall, this book had little to no value in it.

However, she remembered Lin Ye giving her an… advice.

"Pain is not always physical. Emotions hurt, so as a doctor we need to know how to treat them. Understanding it would be the first step. People just need to be willing enough to take that step."

Placing the cup beside her, Kal'tsit hummed as she gently picked up the book.

"Can Rhodes Island be people though, I wonder?"

Remembering that cheeky challenge, Kal'tsit laughed to herself.

"When was the last time I laughed like that?" With a smile still on her face, she asked herself.

She landed back on the simple black book in front of her.

Maybe she should read a couple of pages into it before starting her work?

Kal'tsit opened the book and read the first line of it.

[Infected have emotions.]

What a hook.

Just as Kal'tsit was about to continue her reading, her phone that was on her desk started to ring.

With Kal'tist being a sociable person, she knew that this call must be related to work.

Placing the opened book to the side, Kal'tsit reached out towards her phone and answered it, placing it near her ear.

"Hello, this is Kal'tsit," She hummed, "Ah, Steward. Is something the matter?"

The moment Steward was done, Kal'tsit instantly sprung up from her seat and made the desk jolt up. With how strong the desk jolted, the coffee spilt out of her mug and spilt all over the book's pages.

The used-to-be white pages slowly become brown in colour as the coffee was sipped into the book.

Although it was a mess, Kal'tsit did not have time to care about something so insignificant.

"… What did you say?" Her tone was even when she asked this but the Caster on the other end could easily hear how she was trying her best to control her emotion.

"The Doctor…" After gulping down a stone that was in his mouth, Steward spoke, "His heart stopped."

She was not hearing things.

With being a head of a company for so long, Kal'tsit likes to consider herself a rational person. However, now?

Now she would like for all of this to just be a dream.

"…"

I don't have time for that.

She needed to act now.

After slapping herself in her head, Kal'tist regained her composure and barked out orders to him.

"Bring Doctor back to the Landship immediately."

"I understand but-"

"Get away from him!"

Steward was interrupted by the sound of a girl shouting in his background.

"… The princess, she might not be willing to let us do that. She is a bit… emotional now"

Kal'tsit forced her brain to work overtime to come up with a solution.

"Explain to her that the only chance for Lin Ye to survive is to send him back to the Landship. We have the most medical records of him in Terra. We cannot let Doctor be treated at any other place than us," Kal'tist explained, "And about his previous mission, he is already done. We got a call from the higher-ups of Laterano about having a collaboration with them after this."

She gripped her hand hard, so hard that her knuckles were now white.

"Bring Doctor back."

"Understood Ma'am!"

With that, he ended the call.

Kal'tsit stared at the phone in her hand in silence, not caring about the mess that she made at her desk.

No sound could be heard except for the sound of the coffee slowly dripping from the table to the floor.


{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}


Kieran was anything but a coward

As a Legati, he had seen things that would make any normal person faint just by the sight of it.

Catastrophe.

Monster of the sea.

Mercenaries that killed just for fun. It was safe to say, Kieran was braver than most people.

However, the thing that he was staring at in his room was something that he had no shame in telling people that he was afraid of.

No… it terrified him.

He did not expect to see this… thing after he just came back from his work.

Hearing the door opening, the thing perked. Slowly he turned and faced him.

His frame was that of an average man. A white robe covered almost all of their body, showing no indication of what race he was.

However, what made Kieran's whole body freeze was when he saw what was under the figure's hood.

Blue…

Two blue portals stared at him.

It was like the very night sky was staring straight at him.

"Ah, Kieran you're back."

The thing's voice sounded friendly but Kieran's very soul shook just by hearing it.

The thing glanced behind Kieran and noticed the door was still open.

"Could you close the door? Some privacy would be nice. And do hurry up, this body doesn't have a lot of time."

He knew the only thing he could do was just to ignore the man and run away from here but it seemed that his body had a mind of its own and closed the door behind him.

Kieran was now trapped with this thing.

The being slowly made his way to the light switch and turned on the light. He smiled when light filled the room.

Although there was light, the figured body was still hard for Kieran to see. It was like, the thing was sucking the very light out of the room.

"Ah, better," Its voice sounded pleased, "Let's talk about you then."

The things made their way slowly to him. Cold sweats slowly poured out from his head with each step they took, getting closer and closer to him.

The thing held out his hand toward Kieran. Kieran robotically lowered his gaze towards what was on its palm.

It was a simple black crystal.

"Throw this into the river of the damned."

Kieran's eyes widened at what he was being asked. Only a few knew the existence of the said river.

This being knowing it was something that he should tell the council. The Sankta should burst out of the room and report all of this to the higher authorities. However, like every action that he did during this short interaction, his body moved on its own and took the crystal away from the stranger.

"Good to know Lin Ye knows who to call as a friend," The person sounded delighted, "I don't want to kill you after all."

Kieran knew this was not a threat.

It was the truth.

Breathing was becoming harder to do for him now. It was like his own rib cage was crushing his own lungs.

"Don't disappoint both me and Lin Ye," The man reminded him and turned around away from him, "You don't want that."

"…"

Now that was a threat.

Just as the person was about to take a step, he stopped himself.

"Oh, and do bring every council to see this," The person glanced back at him with one of its eyes, "We need to share this whole experience. You understand?"

"…"

Kieran could only slowly nod at the figure.

"Good, I need to go now," The man sounded excited, "I have a show and tell to see."

With that, the man blinks out of existence.

Now gone, Kieran fell onto the floor and gasped for air.

His lungs felt like they were screaming in agony.


{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}


"Thank you, Yue, for sharing that. Your parents must be proud of you to have a dream like this. A marine expert quite suits you. Class, please clap for her."

The class was now filled with the sound of claps from the students.

The only boy that was standing had a light blush at the applause that he was getting and a light boy in front of the classroom.

Today was a show and tell for the kids. Although it was a normal thing for a class of children to do this, today was a bit special. The classroom was not only filled with children but also their parents, all lining at the back to see each to show and tell their topic.

The topic for today was a simple one. Dreams.

Yue went back to her seat and sat back like his classmate. The teacher, now sure that she was back in her seat, continued with the activity.

"Now, it's Ye's turn now."

The sound of a chair being pushed echoed in the classroom. The children in the classroom all had their eyes on the only child that was making his way to the front of the room with a simple piece of paper in his hands.

Everyone was interested in what this boy was going to present. After all, he did just get into the class.

To put it simply, he was different.

Not a bad way. It was just, he was far more mature than his peers. Something that the teacher was worried about. They thought he wouldn't get along with the others.

Ye proved them wrong when the whole class basically adored him. He acted like a pseudo-caretaker when the teacher was not around. It was to the point that when a teacher was not in the class, Ye was enough to act as their replacement.

He is also smart, far above the rest of the class. When the teacher offered for him to jump grades, he denied it instantly.

His reason?

He did not want to lose his new friends. What was even more surprising was that his parents supported his decision.

The other parents also heard a lot of good things about the boy from their children.

A boy that was braver than a lion.

Kinder than anyone.

So when the black hair and eyes stood in front of the class, everyone's eyes were all on him now.

Who wouldn't be interested in a boy like him?

Although there were so many people in front of him, he only paid attention to two people.

One was a woman with long black hair and eyes that matched. Anyone could see where he inherited his trait from. The woman gave a small wave. She was as excited as the rest at what her little Ye was about to share.

No, she was far from nowhere compared to them with how her eyes were sparkling as she stared at him.

The tall man beside her was the complete opposite of her.

Brown hair with dark hazel eyes. The man had an aloof aura around him. With how tall he was, this made him a bit intimidating to approach. That did not stop him from sending a small smile his son's way. Thinking that he was nervous, the best he could do was support him with a smile.

If the woman was like the sun, this man was like the moon.

Lin Ye smiled at how different they were. But one thing that they both shared.

They loved him with all of their heart.

So with the thought in his mind, the boy started his presentation.

"Dream. I can't say I have any really." This made the people in the room quiet. Uncaring of this, Ye continued, "I already achieved my life goal. To be healthy. To be able to have friends. To go to school."

Everyone did not say a word. They knew he had more to say.

They were right.

"But, after I went to school and played with everyone, I think I have an idea of what I want to be." Lin Ye slowly put down his paper and smiled at the classroom, "I want to be as kind as Mom. I want to be as strong as Dad. I want to be able to have fun."

Ye gently placed his hand gently on his chest, where he could feel his heart beating loudly in him.

"I want to be happy."

The sound of clappings could be heard from the window. A man hummed at the sight of Ye smiling sheepishly at his classroom through the window.

He turned his back and walked towards a box just not far from the school building.

He looked inside and saw a cat. It was small and its fur was silver in colour. Looking closer at it, the man noticed how the cat was not breathing.

He pulled his gaze away from it and looked at where the boy was.

"He doesn't really need Hope now, does he?"


{Rhodes Island's Psychologist}


Draft: Jaq

Proofread: Discord

Edit: Jaq