Vernisha struggled to stand. She was tired and in immense pain, her head hurting the most.

  She groaned and gazed inland. All she saw were tall trees—coconut trees, mostly.

  Brenda was still unconscious, so Vernisha picked her up and carried her away from the water.

  The last thing she wanted was to get splashed by burning hot water. She also needed to know where the hell she was. She just hoped it wasn't something dangerous like a pirate haven or a monster territory.

  Vernisha struggled inland. Her feet felt like they were made of lead, and her mind felt close to splitting.

  A headache plagued her and was growing worse by the second. It damned her options. Using Forwing to scout the area would’ve been nice if it didn't risk breaking her mind.

  Vernisha couldn't even heal herself. The healing elixirs she spent a fortune on would've come in handy.

  Thinking about all the money she had left behind her would've angered her if her situation wasn't so fucked up.

  It was 'humbling', she supposed.

  Vernisha nearly tumbled. She bent over and breathed heavily. A couple more steps, she told herself. Her body didn't listen and she was forced to take a break.

  Vernisha rest on the dark sand. Brenda slid off her.

  She needed sleep—a lot of it. She looked at Brenda and thought about the situation she had placed the poor girl in.

  Vernisha had nearly gotten her killed. How she had survived long enough for Tarnisha to heal her was a damn mystery.

  But it wasn’t too strange, she guessed. Back on Earth, there were many people who survived incidents that should have been impossible.

  While it was good that there was one less thing weighing on her conscience, the fact that she had taken Brenda away from her home and thrown her onto a probably abandoned island didn’t make things much better.

  Not to mention the Darsean cultists would probably target her so they could get to Vernisha.

  Vernisha’s fingers clawed into her hair. Bad thoughts began to fester, and it became harder—much harder—to stop them.

  The truth always hurt, didn’t it? But the truth didn’t matter if you could twist your perception of it.

  So twist she would, like she had agreed to.

  Hours passed and the sky darkened until it was almost completely black. The sea illuminated the beach with red light. At night, the sea looked red rather than orange.

  Vernisha remembered reading about a water body that became red. But she couldn't remember much of it. She assumed she had come across it when she was skimming through a boring book.

  Brenda stirred awake and groaned. “What…”

  Vernisha’s eyebrows flew open. “You’re awake? Already?”

  Brenda tried to sit up but the pain quickly reminded her she was still badly injured.

  She asked, “What happened to me? Everything hurts like hell.” Even talking appeared painful.

  Vernisha explained, “We got away from the Darseans, not without a fight. You got injured during it.” She paused before continuing, “We’re not in Terrafall. We’re far from it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Vernisha gestured to the red waters. “Take a look.”

  Brenda turned toward the water, stunned. She stared at it like it was wrong. As if it couldn't be real.

  She asked, “Why… why… why are we near the Blood Sea?”

  “I thought it was the Pyro Sea.”

  “When have you ever seen the Pyro ocean become red at night?” She bit down on her lip. “That can’t be right…”

  Oh right. Ocean.

  Brenda forced herself up, grunting with each movement, then limped toward the sea.

  Vernisha was confused, wondering if she had lost her mind. “What’re you doing? It will kill you!”

  Brenda didn’t respond. Vernisha pushed herself up and reached for her. “You’re not thinking right.”

  Brenda walked across the damp sand as the water pulled and pushed.

  “Brenda. Brenda!” Vernisha’s head exploded in pain, causing her to hold it.

  Brenda stopped right at the edge of the waves’ reach. She gazed at the water and then said, “You brought me home.”

  “You lived here?”

  “I’m talking about the sea. We’re at the edge of it.” The words felt empty and dry, almost robotic.

  Brenda’s body tensed as she began muttering, “I messed up… I messed up. I messed up.”

  Vernisha didn’t reply. She watched Brenda limp toward her before she asked, “Why here? Of all places. Why?!”

  Vernisha answered, “I chose somewhere far. I didn’t specify where.”

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  Brenda looked at her, then gazed at the sea again. She muttered, “Is that so.”

  Vernisha asked, “What’s the big issue? You have trouble with home? Is that why you were in Terrafall?”

  Brenda changed the topic. “I think this place is inhabited. There’s a rock road over there.”

  Vernisha didn’t respond right away, still caught up in how strange Brenda was behaving. But now wasn’t the time for that, she supposed.

  “That’s a good thing or a bad thing?” Vernisha asked. “How friendly are the islanders? How much do you know?”

  “It depends.”

  “On?”

  “A lot of things. We’ll see.” She said this before struggling to pull Vernisha to her feet.

  They both breathed heavily as Brenda led the way toward the road.

  It didn’t take long for them to approach the road, but it became much harder to see as they moved away from the illuminating waters.

  However, hearing the buzzing of a creature and noticing multiple shapes in the darkness wasn’t difficult.

  Vernisha said, “Something is in front of us. Several things.”

  Brenda paused. “I realized. Who’s there?”

  Vernisha’s brain began spinning. How much extra strain could she handle? How close to breaking could she get? It didn’t matter. She would need to push herself to those limits. It was that or die—

  An individual said, “Relax, kids. We’re Neipaiians, not cannibals.”

  Brenda and Vernisha did not relax. But Vernisha instinctively appeared friendlier like a scared dog.

  Before she could say anything, the same person continued, “Guessing you guys didn’t mean to come here? I can see the fear surrounding your bodies. What happened? Don’t see your parents either.”

  Vernisha asked, “See? Is that one of your monster's skills?”

  “Its vision." he said, "You're still scared. Yeah that makes sense. Me and the other's are on nightly duty, surveilling the shores.”

  The buzzing creature began to glow brighter until everything in the vicinity became visible. Standing in front of them was a man and a woman, both armored. They were both Vlandos and Holvion.

  Vernisha asked, "So... we're not welcomed?"

  "What? Every vlandos that wants a free life is welcome."

  Vernisha asked, “A Free… Island? This is a Free Island?”

  “Guessed right, kiddo.”

  The woman told Vernisha and Brenda. “We’ll get you patched up soon. I’m sure your journey must’ve been hell. You two can sit and wait for the healers to arrive.”

  Vernisha didn’t trust them, but she also didn’t think they were suspicious. It was merely survival instinct.

  Judging by how stiff Brenda remained, Vernisha wasn’t the only one on guard.

  Brenda's reaction made Vernisha worried, considering Brenda surely knew this region much better than she did.

  Needless to say, Vernisha had to seemed relax until she regained her strength.

  Vernisha sat on the sand, and eventually Brenda did the same.

  The man asked, “Are your parents not with you?”

  They both answered at the same time, “No.”

  He muttered, "Sorry to hear that."

  He didn’t continue with his questions. It took some time—maybe fifteen minutes—for more people to arrive.

  They were two completely white beings. They lacked hair, eyes, and had rectangular box-like organs for ears.

  As they moved, their fingers continuously snapped and rapidly. The woman turned toward them and said, “Sorry to wake you two up.”

  The one with the longer neck spoke with an oddly musical tone. It reminded her of heavy bass music. “Very funny. I’ll happily remind you that I have been working for twelve hours straight.”

  “And we appreciate you.”

  The two approached Brenda and Vernisha. They released monsters. One was a swarm of tiny red beetles with jelly-like bodies. The other was an odd creature that stood on two legs while its other two legs remained crossed in a meditation pose above the ground. Four additional arms were pressed together in prayer.

  The yellow mediating creature leaned over Vernisha and its eyes began to glow blue. The blue energy became tears that fell on her skin.

  Her skin absorbed the liquid. The healing process was slow, but Vernisha could feel her muscles relaxing and her pain dulling.

  The jelly beetles, on the other hand, settled on Brenda's skin and began… sucking something from her flesh.

  Vernisha didn’t know what it was. There was no visible material being drawn from her flesh, yet she was growing more relaxed by the second.

  As soon as the healing process began, the healers pulled chairs out of their Personal Space so they could sit. It looked like it was taking all of their will power to not fall asleep.

  That only made her more anxious. Who in their right mind wanted a tired vlandos's monster hovering over them?

  It was surprising they weren’t asking questions either. Vernisha wondered if the healers had simply grown accustomed to treating washed-up strangers.

  Several minutes passed before the one attending Vernisha asked, “You two were in some fight?”

  God damn it.

  Vernisha answered, “A big one.”

  “I can see that. Not supposed to ask questions. It’s the Immigration Investigators’ job and all, but your brain damage and internal bleeding were hard to ignore.”

  The other healer said, “Same for this one here. Almost every bone is incompletely healed, like everything was snapped or cracked recently. Insanely lucky to be alive. Unnaturally lucky. Y’all must’ve had a powerful healing monster at your side.”

  Vernisha said, “Something like that.”

  More individuals appeared, another duo. It seemed this society heavily favored pairs. One was a punchio with a long scar on his throat and the other was an old Holvion man.

  The two wore metal gauntlets with yellow circular tags in the middle. Above that tag was the image of a seashore.

  The Holvion introduced himself. “My name is Bernhard. He’s Re’kurls. We’re Immigration Management. We check whether you’re working with an enemy, your intentions, and so on.”

  “I’m guessing we’re suspicious?” Vernisha asked.

  “Very. We don’t have many people, but we have surveillance boats surrounding this part of the island. You completely bypassed them and ended up on the island.”

  Vernisha assumed all that information had been communicated through telepathy.

  She responded by showing him the Sealed Token. “Sundawn was attacked by Darsean cultists. To escape, I used a Sealed Token given to me by a close and powerful friend. It teleported us somewhere far away—to here.”

  Vernisha figured they had the ability to detect lies on some level, so she didn’t lie about the situation, nor did she have any reason to.

  Everyone stared at her, then at the investigators, waiting for a response.

  “Darseans?” Re’kurls asked. “Actual Darseans? You’re sure?”

  “I’m more than certain. I survived by luck and my fellow, but powerful—vlandos.”

  The two investigators looked at each other before speaking. “Interesting. This friend of yours must’ve been very rich.”

  “Her guardian was.”

  “Okay. What about your level? Your friend’s level is somewhat high for her age. But yours… yours is ridiculous. Explain that.”

  “I… was trained personally by Abella Starlight and spent time with her children. During that time I got into conflicts I had to survive by fighting and growing stronger. Her son, Ferzan, also power-leveled me.”

  Vernisha gestured to her torn armor. “I was given this by Abella.”

  “Okay, what the fuck? Now that’s got to be some bullshit,” said the long-necked healer.

  The investigators didn’t respond to him and instead asked something else. “What are your opinions on Free Islands? Are you an asset of any country?”

  “I was a Free Bird in Terrafall, but I only got that because of connections with Abella. I got it so I could level up and use monsters without working for the government. And I don’t have strong opinions on Free Islands. I like the idea, but I also fear it.”

  “And a fucking Free Bird too? A Terrafall Free Bird?” said the other healer.

  Vernisha quickly said, “I said it was because of my connection to Abella.”

  “She’s telling the truth,” Bernhard said. He turned his attention back to Vernisha. “What about your friend here?”

  “I wanted to protect her, so I took her with me.”

  He looked at Brenda and asked, “Were you an adventurer?”

  She hesitated long enough for Re’kurls to interject. “You can answer me instead. Lying is pointless, and it’s barely relevant to our sector.”

  Brenda responded, “Yes. I needed to… feel closer to home.”

  Vernisha raised an eyebrow. It appeared Brenda had a lot more secrets than she thought.

  Re’kurls then asked both of them, “So what are your intentions? To leave and return to Terrafall as soon as possible?”

  Brenda responded, “When its safe to do so. Yes.”

  Vernisha felt horrible. After all, she was the one that brought her here.

  “I don’t want to go back right now. Not for a long time. A very long time,” Vernisha said.

  They asked why, and she responded, “I’m afraid of the Darseans.”