Chapter 3: Rhian Smyra

I was a prestigious surgeon. One that worked in New York. Respected and loved by my peers and patients, I was content with my life. I thought I was able to live a long life. Unfortunate that I had no partner, but I was still happy. I love my job and my friends but I guess that's all feelings can do.

I don't exactly remember it vividly, but it was in the middle of surgery. We were working on a heart transplant and I already had the old, failing heart removed and ready to implant the new, healthy one.

The operation was going smoothly. Everything was going perfectly. The patient was going to be saved and everyone would have been able to go back home on schedule. But.. not anymore.

"What's wrong? What's happening?!" I was panicked. I still had the heart in my hand while I heard the entire hospital descend into chaos. The blaring red lights and the numerous, messy footsteps alerted everyone in the operation room.

BANG!

The door was slammed open, with a nurse clearly distressed stood there, breathing heavily with sweat flooding her clothing. She quickly blurted out: "D-DISASTER! EVERYONE NEEDS TO LEAVE NOW!" Everyone was taken aback, of course. We were hesitant.. especially me. I still had the heart of the patient in my palms and I could.. I CAN SAVE HIM!

"LET'S GO ISABELLA!" A colleague grabbed my wrist, quickly dragging me out of the room with the other surgeons and nurses. Not anymore i guess.

The entire hospital was in panic. Visitors, nurses, doctors alike were all running towards the emergency exits, some falling and even trampling over the fallen. But.. where are the patients? Were they still in their rooms?

I shook my arm aggressively, freeing myself and running to a room with open doors. I swore I had my friends calling my name but that could be my mind telling me to survive. I couldn't tell at all differentiate the noises at all.

"COME ON, WE NEED TO GO!" I rushed inside and exclaimed, darting to a patient's bed as I urged them to go, but they weren't going to go.

He sighed. "No.. We don't have the time nor the strength." He was looking out the window with the other patients, wearing solemn faces. I was directed towards the window and I understood. The world was ending.

The sky was falling.

The ground was quaking.

"Save yourself." They advised me.

Course, fear was running through my body then. It was rampant. My fingertips felt cold and far, my feet seemed to be imbalanced and my heart? My mind? It wasn't- I wasn't ready for any of this.

I ran. Dashing out the room as the entire building shook, almost knocking me down, but I hung on. The corridors were practically empty, excluding some mangled bodies and the vandalized carts. I and the remaining patients were the only ones left on the floor.

The flashing red filled the dark corridor and the panicked screams somehow travelled all the way up here. The only thing I vividly remember then was the constant questioning of how the patients were so calm and just.. why did this happen? Has judgement day come?

But now, I'm here in this world. Somehow.

I'm grateful, very much so, but.. why am I even here?

Even if my life was cut short, I was content. I was happy, so why?

This could be heaven for all I know, I mean, Gaia looks and feels like Earth. If I thought I was transported or even reincarnated in another world, I wouldn't notice any difference at all. The grass.. The trees, everything. It just feels.. so familiar, like the same grass I've always trampled, the same trees I always use to hide from the glaring sun.

Not to mention the architecture and people. Where I currently am, the Gaia Exploration Association, have structures and buildings that are just directly taken out of American architecture. And this.. weird, odd.. feeling that keeps me attracted to this place. I don't hate it, but as I've said, it just feels so weird.

But, there are various differences. The most notable one being the sheer size difference. Gaia, compared to Earth, is like a basketball to a baseball. Not to mention these Sanctuaries, which- I think are as big as Asia. Isn't this world too big?

Nonetheless, they house the five major races. With me being a Dragoon.

Oddly, this information just spawned in my head. I have no parents. I have no home. This world has magic, I got one that lets be manipulate vibrations. It feels like a game after I skipped the tutorial or like someone just drew a stickman in an entirely foreign environment, except.. I feel like I've been in this world before.

It's- It's just so damn weird..

I- I know I keep repeating the same thing but- I just can't shake off this feeling! 

And now, I'm being recruited by this 'William' guy. He found me in the woods, outside of this specific Sanctuary and, judging my his confused face, was interested in me, deciding to just 'adopt' me.

It's all so suspicious.. but I need information. I am, currently, literally a newborn baby and this place is where I can find some valuable information. Hopefully.. I can get to the same point of content in this world too.

POV: Acheros

Rhian Smyra stands beneath a giant warehouse with a blue, transparent wall separating it into two halves. This was the standard entryway for all Sanctuaries. Grand and, to her, frighteningly colossal. From the entrance of the Sanctuary to the entrance of the association took her a good hour to arrive.

The association, outside and inside, worked like a city. Cars entered and exited the association using countless roads directed into the entrance while she assumed the members who were in the other two divisions resided in the apartments outside the association building.

The Main Hall of the association was, you guessed it, equally as colossal. Granted no apartments were built in here, there were tens, possibly hundreds of floors above her. And the ground floor was a bustling market, spanning several kilometers. Conveyers wrapped around the corners of stalls, trees and other structures.

Arriving at the reception desk after minutes on the conveyer, she had a look around. 'Looks dystopian..' Rhian thought. Hundreds of little booths, manned by one or two people lined the back wall of the Main Hall, leaving a space for another giant doorway in the middle of the wall which she deems to not be important for now.

Coincidentally, there was a booth with no one queueing. 

"Excuse me, lady." A raspy, though clear voice, one that belonged to a wise old man. The Avian receptionist she wanted to reach out to blurred out of her vision as she spun her body around.

'He looks so young..?' The man who called her to had a cane supporting him with skin and hair so pristine, even the top models would be jealous. Though, his posture and voice said differently. He had a slightly hunched back and seemed to leaned towards the right, where he held his cane.

He was old, Rhian could tell, but his appearance contradicted her thoughts.

"Scarlet hair.. Alarmingly stubby horns. You are the recruit Dyeus spoke of." He identified Rhian, cracking a soft smile.

"...Who are you?" Rhian cautiously questioned the man, not recognizing him nor 'Dyeus'.

"Ah, right." The man moved his cane to the side, allowing him to strike a slight bow before saying invitingly.

"Kouki Kurayami, I'm here to greet you."