Kamar-Taj

After discovering that she was all set to stay in the hospital, she decided to stay until Dr. Christine discharged her. It was the most practical thing she could do.

However, the fact that an unknown person did this for her still bothered her. She was on edge the whole time, thinking that someone's gonna ambush her. There's a big possibility that Kim has sent someone to finish the job. Rin couldn't trust just anyone.

So she kept her knife in her hand the whole time. Because of past experiences, she was able to hide the knife perfectly without anyone noticing. She kept it very close to her in case she might suddenly need it.

As nobody was in the room and she was bored to the core, the only thing she could think of doing was to play with her knife again. It serves as her fidget thing, giving her a sense of calmness whenever she flips it around. Though, it didn't bring the same satisfaction as her other knife did.

Then suddenly, she heard the door open which made her quickly hide her hand under the sheets. She pretended to watch TV to not be seen as suspicious. Footsteps were heard abruptly stopping.

Rin turned her head, expecting to see a nurse but instead saw a strange man. Her body instantly tensed up as she made eye contact with the man. Her hand tightened the grip on the knife.

"Who are you?" Rin asked as she stared intensely at the man.

The man didn't say anything and just made his way towards her which alerted the female. Rin quickly popped open the multi-tool in her hand and threw it towards the stranger without any hesitation.

The man was quick to dodge it but just barely. He looked back and saw the knife stick on the wall, which brought fear to him. He never thought she'd have such strength to be able to pull that off.

He slowly looked back at Rin to see her holding another weapon. A scalpel this time.

"Stay the hell back!" Rin exclaimed while threatening him. She made sure that he knows she will fight back in any case he attacks.

The man quickly got the message and decided to introduce himself to be less of a threat. "My name is Jonathan Pangborn."

"And you were sent by him?" Rin rhetorically asked.

But before the Pangborn man could even respond, Rin got up from the bed and spoke out, "Tough luck man, but I'm not going down easy."

Rin proceeded to rip the IV injections off her arm and stood up. She spun the scalpel around her fingers to show off some skill then got into a fighting stance.

However, Pangborn backed up after seeing her stand up. He put his hands in front of him, gesturing to her to calm down.

"I am not here to hurt you," Pangborn assured.

Rin wasn't taking that and continued staring him down. The moment he moves, she will strike.

"I'm the one who brought you here."

After hearing that, confusion struck Rin. She scanned the man's appearance and at that moment she noticed that the man had whites in his facial hair, 6 foot tall, and was clearly in his 40s. A match in the description of the desk lady.

"What's your deal?" Rin asked.

"I found you and saved you just in time before-"

"Save me? What BS are you trying to achieve!?" Rin angrily asked. "You took me here to save me then you come and kill me? Are you guys dumb?!"

"But I didn't come here to kill you," Pangborn revealed.

Rin was once again struck with confusion as she looked at Jonathan. Words could not come out of her mouth because of so much confusion. Stress kept building up in her as she tried to figure out the reason why.

"If you'd just stay calm and let me explain. I promise I'll tell you everything."

Rin slowly lowered her guard down but not completely. She wanted answers. One way or5 another she's going to get them.

"This will not sound good, but I've been watching you," Pangborn revealed.

Rin gave him a questioning look. She didn't know how to react to his revelation. Being creeped out was the least of the emotions she felt. Oddly, she wasn't bothered at all. The only thing she's concerned about is the reasons.

"I, too, was a victim of your boyfriend's family," Pangborn revealed. "They must've mistaken me for someone else, but they went to get me. I was kidnapped."

"I was tortured for hours and hours in every way you could think of. I'd be dead now if it wasn't for a good man. He helped me escape and took me to this very hospital. I was paralyzed from the neck down. Not even the doctors could help me. I thought I was dead." Pangborn continued.

Pangborn looked Rin in the eyes. "Then I saw you, you were being used by them. At first, I didn't want to meddle but after remembering the hell I went through, my conscience won't let me leave you. Especially after Sean's girlfriend disappeared."

"When I saw you being dragged, I fought them off and rushed you here. I honestly thought you wouldn't survive." Pangborn admitted.

He then gained the confidence to approach her once more. This time, Rin didn't threaten to stab him. He continued approaching her until he reached her. Pangborn reached for something in his pocket. Rin almost attacked him until she saw that he wasn't pulling out a weapon, but an envelope.

Pangborn handed her the envelope. Rin took it and slowly opened it. Inside, there was a plane ticket and some cash.

"Take that and escape. It's suicide if you stay here." Jonathan advised. "Once you land, search immediately for a place called Kamar-Taj. They will help you."

"Why should I trust you?" Rin asked.

"It's your only chance of surviving."

>>Time pass<<

After a 14 hour long flight, Rin finally arrived at her destination, Nepal. She managed to get through and out of immigration with some not very legal help from people she knows. Thanks to them, she is now walking around the streets of Kathmandu.

Still, Rin wasn't sure about where the Kamar-Taj place was. It's not like it was displayed in billboards all around the place, there weren't any billboards at all either. So she started to ask around for directions.

Some people helped her out, some couldn't some were rude, and some flat out ignored her. There were even people who misled her. Rin was getting pissed as she was being constantly led back and forth and in circles.

Rin continued to walk some distance before stopping to rest. She was hungry, tired, and jetlagged. She was barely out of the hospital and it won't be unlikely she'll pass out.

This is hopeless. She thought as she watched the people pass by. The realization came that she's going to be stuck in this place. She barely has any money for food left so buying a plane ticket back to New York was out of the question. If she doesn't find that place, she will not survive.

After that thought, Rin started to walk again and ask people for directions once more. This time, she was able to break the circle and head on a different path. Her journey took another half an hour before she stopped for a minute to look around.

Rin was now in an empty street. Unlike earlier where the streets were very crowded, absolutely not a soul was seen around the place. She didn't realize this until it was time to ask for directions again.

But Rin didn't turn back and instead moved forward. She put her trust in her sense of direction and hoped that she'll eventually find Kamar-Taj.

A few turns later she saw a strange hooded man walking in the opposite direction of hers. Rin felt a slight relief as she thought she was getting lost in an alternate dimension where nobody exists. She then made her way towards the guy. Though he looked shady, Rin didn't have much of a choice and she was getting desperate.

"Excuse me," Rin said as she reached the hooded man which made him stop his steps and look at her. She gave out a nod as a greeting before starting to ask.

"Kamar-Taj, you know where?" Rin asked, trying her best to make him understand her.

The man took off his hood, revealing his appearance. "You're looking for Kamar-Taj?"

Rin was a little taken aback by how good the man's English was as most of the people she asked for directions had a hard time communicating with her.

Rin gave him a nod of confirmation.

After receiving that confirmation, he turned around and started walking without saying anything. Rin took that as a sign to follow him.

They both walked in silence for a while. The whole time, Rin was doubting whether he knows where he's going or if he was actually leading her to the right place. But she thought it wouldn't be necessary to back off as she was already here for long.

Just then the man stopped walking after arriving in front of a door. Rin stopped as well and looked at the building as a whole. It wasn't what she was expecting it to be. Come to think of it, she didn't know what Kamar-Taj exactly was.

"This is it?" Rin asked. "Is this a rescue shelter? For... rescues?"

The man smiled after hearing that and shook his head.

"A lot of people have come here, thinking the same thing." The man said. "I'll offer you some advice. Forget everything you think you know."

He then opened the door for Rin to come in. She was lost about the advice he offered. Everything was shady and frankly, she was hesitant to even move. But she's come this far, there is no way she's going to back out. So she went inside just like that.

The man walked her in, leading her somewhere. The place looked overall odd. There were pots that released smoke from them, the interior consisted of wood with woven-like designs. It looked like a temple.

Then they reached a room that looked like the main area of the whole place. It was quite spacious.

Two people made their way towards her and grabbed her shoulders. Instantly, she was sent into fight or flight mode.

But before things could escalate, the two people pulled down her coat and took it away to hang it. The long haired male one took out a teacup seemingly out of nowhere and gave it to Rin. Soon after, the other one, who was bald and a female, poured liquid on the teacup from the teapot.

Rin could only make a puzzled expression. Everything happened so fast that she couldn't give out a reaction. She looked back at the man who took her, hoping he'll give some sort of context.

"Our teacher, the Ancient One." The man said.

"Oh." Rin looked back at the bald person. "Greetings, the Ancient.. One?"

"Greetings, Miss Sidra." Ancient One greeted. She then turned her attention to the man. "Thank you, Mister Mordo."

The man, Mordo, nodded as a response to her and stood by the door

"Huh, that's not creepy at all." Rin nervously took a sip from the teacup after hearing her name being mentioned.

The Ancient One walked away to put the teapot down. "It may seem a little odd, yes."

"Not at all." Rin sarcastically said, while also nervously laughing. "By the way, do you know anyone by the name of Jonathan Pangborn?"

"Ah yes, he was just here a few months ago. I'm guessing he sent you here to escape from an ex-partner of yours?" The Ancient One asked while pouring another cup of tea.

"Yeah, he said my only chance of survival is if I come here.." Rin took another sip from her cup. "What does that mean?"

Ancient One stopped what she was doing and looked at Rin, giving her a soft smile. "I'm more than happy to show you."

*** Authored by: remuwuchan ***