“Emily, you’re still in here?”

I lift my head up and look to the washroom door to see Yhanna in the doorway. After seeing my face, she steps in, takes a towel, then hands it to me without looking. I grab it, then realize I lost track of time in the bath. The water is already gone and I’ve been sitting in an empty tub for... I don’t know how long. After drying myself off, I cover myself with the towel and look at my reflection in the mirror. The skin around my eyes is red from crying and my eyes are bloodshot. I begin thinking about what happened again, and I forget what I was going to do.

“Emily, come on,” I hear Yhanna again. I turn and nod to her, then pick a robe off a hook before following her back into her living room. I change into one of her t-shirts and shorts, then she comes back into the room to give me a comforter. Time slowly passes by while we watch the television together. We see the news about what happened and the reporters assure their watchers that the perpetrator would be caught. It’s been days since Sella attacked and Arielle died, but it feels like only minutes.

A buzzer goes off at her door and Yhanna goes for a while, then comes back with food. She offers me some, but I decline. I’m not feeling that hungry, after all. On my Lightbeam, I have too many missed calls from Lucelle, Iyo, Allu, and Elyse. I have a few messages comprised of words as well, mostly from Eleanor and Rix, but they were just to let me know that they are also keeping an eye out for Sella. I’ve been staying with Yhannason for the time being because she doesn’t want me going off on my own. Secretly, I’m glad to be here with her, especially because of times like this.

“Ohh,” I groan, putting a hand to my face. Yhanna looks over, then leans forward and pulls me back. I let myself fall forward with my head on her stomach and she strokes my hair while tears drop down my face. She tells me it’s going to be alright, but I feel like I’ve lost a part of myself. For a while, I stay still and drift in and out of sleep until I finally manage to stay down for the night.

I see myself in a forest. In my mind, I hear an announcer start the show, the Creuzetz. I’m nearing my first competitor and I hear their rustling through the grass, so loud. My steps are silent and my gaze is piercing. The cold air chills me, but my blood warms me with its boiling rage. I watch myself pull into the shadows and I emerge from the side of my opponent, then lash out, watching my blade enter their back and exit through their chest. I withdraw my weapon and shove my enemy to the side, then catch a glimpse of their face while they’re falling. I kneel to them and push them over, then fall back in horror, seeing Lucelle’s look of terror aimed directly at me. With minimal movements in her lips, I hear one word before my mind falls into the Abyss: “Murderer.”

I awake with a jolt and heavy breathing. I’m still in the living room of Yhanna’s apartment and I’m still lying with her, but she’s asleep. I lift myself up and get off the couch as quietly as possible, then go to her window and open the curtains. I take a stool from the kitchen and set it down to watch the Ascentian skyline during the night. The sun is barely beginning to peak over the mountains in the far distance and I see an orange glow start to cover the land. I wish this could be the life I can give my friends, but I don’t think they want it. I want to live where I feel like I am making a difference for myself and those around me, but they want things that are wholly different. Lucelle, my best friend, the one who I felt like I could go to for anything, is now like a stranger to me. Allu, the one I felt so close with after over many decades of living in the same body, now has no clue what I do every day away from home. Then there’s Iyo, Elyse, Eleanor- three people who I can’t say I’ve thought about for a few days now. I wish I could bring myself to going back and living adventurous lives with them. I wish I could ask them to come live with me in Ascentia. Most of all, and most selfishly, I wish I could ask them to not change their lives so that we could all be with each other again.

“Em?” I hear Yhanna wake up a few feet away from me.

I turn my head, now looking into a sunlit living room. “Right here,” I say.

“How long...?” she groans, still groggy.

I slide off the stool and walk over, my footfalls quiet and subtle. “Only a little bit,” I assure her. She doesn’t like if I space off too much and I don’t want to worry her. I put a hand on the back of the couch and lean forward. “You stay here, Yhanna. I’ll make some breakfast, okay?” She nods and turns onto her side, probably falling back asleep. I smile and watch her for a moment before going to the kitchen. She’s so pure and benevolent, it’s painful to think of anything bad happening to her.

I spend a good bit of the early morning making breakfast for us, which consists of eggs, pork, and toast. I only use butter for my food, but I make sure to use different spices and jam to make hers taste just how she likes it, which is something I’ve figured out over many times eating together. She may not particularly need to eat, but she loves it, so it’s a good thing she doesn’t put on extra weight. After finishing the plates of food, I fill up a glass of wine to give her first.

“You’re too kind,” she says with sleepy eyes as I put a tray with her food on it on her lap. I sit cross-legged at the small table with mine and nod, keeping quiet. We eat in silence and when she is finished, I let her stay and I clean up the dishes. I use my magic to create a sort of line where water roughly floods over a plate, the plate floats over to the other basin, and the water gets stripped off to fall into the drain. Finally, the dishes go to where they are supposed to and I finish within a minute or so.

When I sit back down on the couch, Yhanna is asleep again. “Tired today, huh?” I say out loud, though she stays still. I turn on the television and see pictures of my Void form all over the news. Plenty of the reporters talk about how much my appearance contrasts with the purity of Ascentia, which is a bit of a joke, to be honest. Nothing about me is changed, yet they see me as something other than what I was. A full change into a Void creature isn’t even that big of a deal, I think. I’ve never actually seen it from the side or behind, and I’ve got to say, I look good. My long, barbed hair, my elongated claws, and the way my calf separates to form a jutting spike behind my foot? It looks great, but I guess others don’t seem to like it that much. If they don’t like how I look covered, then I’m sure they would gag at how I look uncovered. That’s not something I’m going to just reveal to them, though.

The reporter with her ‘perfect’ looks (probably caked in makeup), continues talking about what happened. “It is no secret that this woman whom many beloved gods and goddesses have all welcomed into Ascentia originates from the unholy Void. However, our leaders should take a look at who else is trickling in behind her. With an attack certainly designed to terrorize those of power, the woman, also from the Void, known as ‘Sella Divelle’ has allegedly once been very close to Everlock. We should be asking ourselves not only how to get rid of Divelle but also whether or not it is safe to have either of them in our world.”

The remote slips from my grasp and floats to Yhannason’s hand. She changes the channel and says, “You shouldn’t listen to that, Emily.”

I shrink a bit, realizing that I was lost in the news story. “Well, she isn’t wrong. I’m not really fit for this place.”

“Don’t say that. No one is going to kick you out for defending that group of people. They, including Argoncin, know that you were acting as you were to keep them safe, not to inflict harm.”

“Though it takes someone like you or Lucelle to calm me down. What happens when neither of you are around and I’m forced into that situation?”

She sits up. “We’ll figure something out together, alright? Maybe someone else can help us.” I quiet down, then she puts on a softer tone. “Em? There was something I wanted to talk to you about.” With my attention, she continues, “So, I know ‘home’ is a little unlike what it should be for you right now, and I understand you don’t really want to be with your friends right now. Well, I pulled a few strings, talked to some people, and found out that I could let you move in.”

“Move in? Like, here?” I shake my head vigorously. “No, no, no, no. I’m not going to invade in your personal space any longer than I need to, Yhanna.”

“I thought about that, and I don’t mean in here, but across the hall. You know there are two apartments on this floor, right?”

I consider her. “There are... So we would be... neighbors?” She nods, then I say, “I’ll think about it. I don’t have the money to just get up and start renting a place like this.”

“Wait, they didn’t tell you?” Her confused look just befuddles me, then she says, “We have somewhere we need to go today.”

“Huh... alriiiight.” Sure enough, Yhanna later prods me until I get up and get dressed. We go out into the beautiful streets of Ascentia and we make multiple stops, the first to a flower shop so she could enjoy the different scents. After leaving with a flower in her hair (Yhanna was given one for free by the infatuated shopkeeper), we go to a bakery and get some rolls for later, then to a video store for a movie she wanted, a market for some wine, and another open-roofed market for a couple new dresses. I end up carrying everything, but we eventually arrive at where we would do something for me: the bank.

We step in and wait in line for a few minutes, but people begin just letting us forward when they see us, probably because Yhanna is kind of a big deal in Ascentia. At the front, she asks the teller for an account in my name, which is odd because I have never been to a bank before. While it is a luxury, I don’t need food to survive because of my origins. Plus, I can just live in the Void, so I realistically don’t need money at all. However, the teller finds one in my name right away and Yhanna asks for a receipt as well as a ‘card.’ We wait a short amount of time, then the man comes back with a sealed envelope for me. We take it and go on our way, heading back to her apartment.

“So, what is this?” I ask her.

“You’ll see how much you have in the account and you now have a currency card, but most people just call it a card. With it, you can pay for things without needing physical money.”

“Does real money even exist anymore?”

“It seems like it doesn’t, huh? Most people in bigger cities use cards instead.”

“Huh. Who set this up? I certainly didn’t.”

“I did,” she says. “You have winnings, Emily, from the Creuzetz. People bet money on you and a lot of it goes to you. Also, you get money just for winning, somewhere around a lot.” I nod, then use one hand to open the envelope. I use magic to make the sheet of paper inside float out and rest between my fingers. Plenty of writing I don’t understand litters the receipt, though I see a total balance at the very bottom.

“What?!” I exclaim. I realize that I rose my voice, then quiet down and walk slightly closer to her. “That is a lot of money, Yhanna!” Next to the words, right on the dotted line has the number ‘25,684.’ “I don’t need this much, do I?”

“Well, you might,” she smiles. “Depends on how high maintenance you want to be.”

“High maintenance?” I ask.

“You’ve never actually paid attention when we go shopping, have you? Emily, we have a lot to do to get you settled in now.”

Back at the apartment, I speak to the ‘landlord’ with Yhanna and get the key to the one across from her. We look through it and see that it is almost just like hers, except there is nothing in it. “You’ll need to start purchasing furniture,” she tells me.

When walking back to her side, I question her multiple times. “How do I do that? Are there different kinds? Can I pay with the card?”

“Calm down,” she laughs, then grabs my Lightwave. She navigates the Internet and shows me a ‘website’ on the screen. “This is where you can get anything you want for yourself. They will send angels to bring it in for you, all you have to do is pay.”

“That’s all I have to do?” I ask, my eyes wide like a child’s.

She nods. “I’ll leave you to this for a while and get some lunch prepared. Don’t spend too much, Emily!” I smile and let her go to the kitchen, then look to my Lightwave and begin scrolling through the many pieces I can purchase. I find a way to categorize by everything I may need and start with couches, then move on to chairs and a bed. By now, the point where Yhanna and I are getting ready to go out for dinner, I’ve spent over 5,000 coins (which in this day and year is kind of an understatement to call them ‘coins’) on things for my apartment, more than I would expect to spend in my life. Maybe I am high maintenance...