An Unfamiliar Ceiling

Joe woke up under an unfamiliar ceiling. He checked over his body with his eyes and found that his thigh was bandaged and his face had traces of medicine on them.

A man walked in, seemingly a doctor of some kind, and spoke to him upon noticing he was awake.

"Hey. Do you feel alright? You've just woken up, so do you have any questions?"

"Yeah. Where am I? Who are you, and where is the person who took me here?"

"Well, you're in a safe place. That's all I can really tell you. I'm a friend of Amelia, the one who took you here."

Joe looked around the room upon hearing those words. He was in an unblemished room with pure-white walls. There was nothing else of much notice.

"Well, why did she take me here?"

"Do you remember? You said you would do anything in exchange for her help."

Joe's memories slowly resurfaced, albeit barely.

"I guess I do remember something like that..."

"Great! Although I don't know much about what she wants from you, since she agreed, you must have something of value to her."

Joe finally took in the doctor's facial features. He had a thin build with a sunken face. He seemed to be of Asian descent. His eyes radiated tiredness, yet he was putting on a happy smile for his friend.

"You seem like a nice guy."

"Um. Thanks? Anyways, I'll go get Amelia for you."

The doctor took the compliment with a strange face and walked out to get Amelia. After a few minutes, the very same long legged, flat chested woman whom he hitchhiked on walked into the room. She sat on a chair next to his bed.

"The doctor mentioned your name. You should be Amelia right?"

"Yes."

Silence ensued after the initial question. Joe decided to reinitiate the conversation.

"... So, what did you want from me?"

"I wanted to learn from you."

"Learn... what exactly?"

"Magic."

"I... can't exactly do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't have the Scripture."

"What Scripture?"

"The magical Scripture that grants us power or whatever you want to call it. There are also certain prerequisites to learning."

Amelia went silent for a moment, a perfect opportunity for Joe to think.

Joe wouldn't tell her that she could become a Qi Cultivator instead of a Wizard. He would be losing out if he were to tell her, as she may not count it as returning the favor.

'Wait... Can I tell her to become a Qi Cultivator for the favor? Maybe... but since I can't directly help her with it, will she count it? Why am I even trying so hard to repay this favor?'

Amelia began to speak again, so Joe pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind.

"What are the prerequisites?"

"Virginity."

"That's it?"

"You'll have to keep it unless you find all sixty-nine Scriptures."

"Sixty-nine? That's not too many."

"You make it sound as though you plan on losing your virginity."

Joe tried to joke around but he failed, and silence ensued once more. He cleared his throat before speaking again.

"Well, anyways, gathering all the Scriptures will be harder than you think. Not all of them are on Earth."

"They're in space!?"

"Maybe, but I'm sure most are on the Wizard continent."

Joe didn't mention cultivators yet, as he was unsure of how Amelia would react. Would she give up on having him teach her magic and let go of the favor, or have him do something else?

"Wait, this is besides the point. All I want is to learn magic! Where's the Scripture?"

"It's where I asked you to take me. I live down in Boulder City. I left the first original text there."

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"

Amelia stood up at that and walked out of the room. The doctor walked in again.

"Hey. Amelia is preparing a car. It should take a few hours to get there once we get started."

Joe was a bit surprised at that.

"You're coming? Why?"

"I'm coming to take care of you. I'll have to change your bandages every once in a while."

"Uh, sure. Thanks..."

"It's Ethan. Common name right?"

"I guess it is. Thanks Ethan."

Ethan nodded at that before walking out the door.

Upon staring at the ceiling for a while, Joe fell asleep.

…

Joe woke up under another unfamiliar ceiling. He felt as though he were moving. He was in a car.

'I guess it can't be called a ceiling anymore right? What is the roof of a car called? Just the roof of a car?'

Random thoughts flashed through Joe's mind before someone began to speak to him.

"Hey you, you're finally awake. After drifting off earlier, you wouldn't wake up. We had to put you in a wheelchair and push you in."

Not focusing on anything but the first sentence Joe replied seriously. He finally remembered where he heard those words before.

"Did you just pull a Skyrim reference on me?"

Ethan scratched his face awkwardly.

"Yeah. I just wanted to say it once. How was it?"

Joe changed the topic quickly.

"Anyways, how close are we?"

"We should be there in a few minutes. Just bear with it."

The minutes passed by as Joe began to get drowsy.

"Hey! We're here!"

Joe was snapped out of his short reverie by the rough voice of Amelia.

"Wait, shouldn't you be driving, Ethan?"

"No. I'm just here to change your bandages. I'll be heading back on my own after you're done."

Joe nodded to express his understanding. He didn't really want to talk anymore.

Amelia walked over to the side of the car.

"Ethan! Can you push out the guy?"

Upon begin addressed as "The guy", Joe realized he had never told them his name before.

"My name is Joe."

"Ah. Alright Ethan, push Joe out of the car."

Ethan nodded in affirmation as he wheeled Joe out of the car.

"Alright! Where's the Scripture, Joe?"

"I think I left it in my house. We should probably head there first."

Joe gave Amelia the directions to his apartment. After a few minutes, they arrived.

Chad wasn't inside the apartment at the time. Amelia pushed Joe inside while he attempted to remember where he put it.

"I think it's in my room. Just check in the drawers."

Amelia nodded, before going in to check.

"I think I got it! Is it the big old book?"

"Yeah! It should be!"

Amelia took it out of the room to show to Joe, who then confirmed its authenticity.

"Alright. Now we just need to find the second volume."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Maybe. It might be where I last left it, or somebody may have taken it."

Joe pointed out the directions to the bookstore. It wasn't too likely that somebody had already taken the book. It had only been a day since Rhad died, and so they would probably get it without a hitch.

On the way, Amelia started a conversation.

"Hey Joe, you know I could leave you right now and take the Scripture and run right?"

"Yeah. I know that."

"Then why do you still trust me?"

"Because I don't think you would do that."

"But how? You've only known me for a few hours."

"Because it's what I believe."

Silence ensued the rest of the way.

Upon arriving, Joe had Amelia push him to a counter.

The second volume was still there. It was surprising. Even if the store had weak business, there should still be the occasional person coming inside. With nobody around, a brazen thief might have stolen some books. Even more so, the conspicuous book on the counter.

Joe reached out to the book, before flipping through it. There seemed to be some important information.

'System, learn!'

[Implanting data. Data implant complete]

Knowledge flowed into Joe's mind. The entire second volume's contents were about basic Wizards' growth.

It said there were two paths to take as a Wizard. Internal and External Wizards. Internal Wizards stored their specific magical elements in their cells. External Wizards created a type of field. Within said field, the element type of their heart magnet would congregate, allowing for element gathering to become much easier.

Each had their pros and cons, but Joe had yet to review them before someone began shouting.

"Hey Rhad! Get out here! You haven't contacted us for a whole day now! We're getting worried!"

Upon hearing this, Joe whispered to Amelia.

"Hide!"

Amelia pushed him into a dark corner.

The owner of the voice walked in. It was a young man.

"Oh? Hey there. Have you seen an old guy around here? He looks pretty sharp."

"No. I haven't seen anybody. It was empty since I came in."

The young man fell silent. His face seemed to darken.

"Well then. Thanks miss. See you around."

He squinted his eyes at her before walking away.