She set down the painting and chased after the figure as it glided into a room at the end of the corridor. Liz stepped in moments later, but it was pitch-black inside. The figure had just gone in, yet there were no signs of anyone’s presence.
“Come on! What’s happening?!” she cried out as if psyching herself up against the icy darkness.
Drip.
“Huh?”
A sound. Drip. Drip.
A sense of foreboding rose within her as the sound echoed in the air. “N-No way,” she stammered. She didn’t want to look, but she had to see for herself. With trepidation, she hesitantly raised her gaze to the ceiling.
And there it was. In the everlasting darkness, an upside down face, pale as death, peeked out from the ceiling. From the corner of its mouth, a red liquid dripped down to the floor. Drip. Drip.
Suddenly, its eyes snapped open. “I...will...never...forgive...yoooooou!”
“Eeeyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”
***
Meanwhile, Lily and Zenos, who had met up on his way back, were both hurrying toward the clinic.
“So, what’s the condition of the patient Lynga brought in?” Zenos asked.
“She’s a young woman. I conducted a simple examination, just like you taught me. Her breathing and pulse seemed okay, and her pupil reflexes were fine too.”
“And she still won’t wake up?”
“No,” Lily murmured with an anxious nod.
Zenos patted the elf’s shoulder. “I’ll have a look at her, then. The clinic is just ahead.”
Finally, they arrived at their destination and pushed open the door.
“She’s right here,” Lily said as she walked in, with Zenos following after.
A purple-haired woman was lying on the bed in the examination room. Her long bangs covered her face, but the whites of her eyes were visible in between the strands of hair.
“Huh?” Lily tilted her head. “Was she rolling her eyes back like that before?”
Zenos rolled up his sleeves. He checked her pulse, her breathing, and cast Diagnosis.
“She’s...”
“What? Is it serious?” Lily asked worriedly.
Zenos shook his head and replied calmly, “No, she’s just fainted.”
***
“Auuugh!”
After seemingly dreaming about a talking severed head, Liz jumped up from the bed. Breathing heavily, she looked around to see the room’s old-fashioned, yet calming, interior design. It was apparently nighttime, given the darkness enveloping the view outside the window.
“Wait, what?” she mumbled, her memories hazy. She took a moment to catch her breath and organize her thoughts.
She remembered plotting to manipulate the ruler of the slums for control over the surface. And then, as she recalled, she’d pretended to be unconscious in order to infiltrate the man’s lair, at which point she’d been thoroughly examined by an elven torturer, who had then left her alone to fetch “the doctor.”
Then...what else? She couldn’t find the entrance to the underground, and... Trying to remember anything else gave her a throbbing headache.
“Oh! You’re awake!” said a voice coming from the kitchen.
Liz turned her head to see the young elf girl, peeking at her with a pleased expression. “Th-The torturer!” she yelped.
“Torturer?” the girl echoed in confusion.
“Er, um...”
The young elf called out to someone in the back, “Zenos! The unconscious lady’s awake!”
“Oh, is she?” came a reply. Shortly after, someone walked in from the room with a dining table.
“A man!!!” Liz exclaimed loudly.
“Huh?” the man replied.
“Uh, no, nothing.”
A man! A man had come! Finally, the man she’d been waiting for! At long last, a potential pawn!
