ITALY, ROME. HOSPITAL.
In a room, we see a small girl. Her eyes are gone entirely, just two black hollow sockets where they used to be. She struggles to breathe, each breath coming hard.
A voice speaks softly. "Giulia, don't worry. We'll get out of here soon. You're going to be okay, alright?"
The little girl turns toward the voice. "Sister, when are we going to leave? I want to go get ice cream. I know it's winter, but I really want some."
Her sister answers, "I promise you." She turns her head toward the window, tears sliding down slowly. She's holding a piece of paper, but she refuses to look at it.
Giulia calls out, her voice soft and sweet. "Rema, what's that paper you're holding? Umm, let's play a game; let me guess what it says. What did you say?"
Rema grips the paper tighter, the anxiety plain on her face. She stands up abruptly. "Giulia, I'm going to step outside for a bit, okay? I won't be long."
"Rema, don't leave me here," Giulia says. "Dad said the exact same thing, that he was going to get milk, and he never came back. Please. I feel so scared. All I can see is just... darkness. I just want to hear your voice."
Rema places her hand on her sister's head. "I hear you. I'll step out, but I'll sing from right outside. You'll be able to hear me the whole time, okay?"
"Okay," Giulia says.
Rema sits against the wall, unfolds the paper quietly, and begins to read.
MEDICAL CERTIFICATE
Following extensive clinical, laboratory, and imaging examinations, including CT scans of the chest, abdomen, and eyes, and in coordination with the Infectious Diseases department, the patient has been diagnosed with an unknown virus. One that has never been recorded in any medical literature, one that has never been documented before.
Tears fall onto the paper, one after another. She presses her hand over her mouth, holding back the sound, trying to claw it out of her; the pain, the wound, and the shock all crash at once.
She keeps reading.
The patient's condition is classified as extremely critical and severe, with immediate risk to life.
Rema starts crying harder now, reading the final line.
NOTE FROM THE HOSPITAL
The hospital has decided to transfer the patient's body to the World Health Organization for research into the new virus.
Rema tears the paper apart. She buries her face in her hands.
Rema lifts her head toward the ceiling, tears still falling, and begins to sing.
Tears become rain, falling endlessly onto the earth,wrapping around everything I've lost.My trembling heart still holds the pain that hasn't faded yet;I just keep wandering, searching for the light.Thoughts I'd almost forgotten dance on the wind,wrapping my family in the warmth of the sea inside my heart; that hope,a journey through the endless night.I keep searching for you, Giulia. I keep searching for you, Giulia.
Suddenly, from the end of the hallway, comes the sound of clapping. Warm, deliberate. A stranger, smiling strangely. "What a voice. That sweetness practically killed me, hahaha."
Rema stands up, wiping away every last tear, her voice turning cold. "Who are you?"
"The guy. Your savior. The one who's going to save your sister. Hahah."
Rema clenches her hands into fists. "Who are you? What do you want? And why do you keep calling yourself a savior? Why do you want to save my sister?"
The stranger steps fully into the light, his face coming into view. "Farzo. Damn, you ask a lot of questions. You sound exactly like my mother, the way she'd grill me with a hundred questions if I was one minute late getting home. Like I'd killed someone or something."
Rema grabs him by the throat and slams him against the wall. "I won't say it again. Who are you?"
Farzo, dripping with irony, lowers her arm off him. "You can call me Farzo. See, I'm not a fan of too many words." He pulls out a small green bottle, liquid sloshing inside it. "This is the medicine for your sister."
Rema stares at it. "What kind of garbage is this supposed to be. As if I'd believe some mangy dog that smells like it's been living on the street. There's an asylum a little further down the road. You should really go check yourself in there."
"Ohh, you don't believe me," Farzo says. "Let's run a little experiment then." Before she can react, he's already inside the room, standing right beside her sister.
Rema freezes in shock, her hands clenching, her body snapping into a defensive stance.
But before she can move, Farzo pours half the liquid straight into Giulia's eye. Within seconds, right in front of Rema, one of Giulia's eyes grows back, whole. Rema stands frozen, her entire body shaking.
Giulia turns her head toward her and asks, "Why does it smell like garbage next to me?"
Farzo looks at the bottle. "So, what, you want me to just pour it out? Let the virus finish her off?" Rema still can't process what she just witnessed. "What do you want?"
"Ohhhh, now you're getting it," Farzo says. "You know exactly how this works, right? We trade. See, you're strong, really strong. You've got the Mirror Hunger technique. I need you to go to Tokyo, Japan, and kill two people." He pauses. "What do you say?"
Rema yanks him with every ounce of strength she has, hauling him straight out the door. This time, she ignites energy in her hand, her voice turning feral. "You're one of them. One of those Sorcerer trash, the ones with no mercy, huh? Let me be clear. I'm not doing it. I'm not going anywhere. Either you hand over that bottle, or I kill you right here."
Farzo laughs, way too hard, way too long. "In this world, sweetheart, nothing comes free. I give you what you want; you give me what I want. I have something to gain from those two dying, and you have something to gain from saving your sister. One of us holds the key to the other's problem. You hold my key; I hold yours." He tilts his head. "So? What do you say?"
Rema says, "You're the worst person I've ever met. I don't know why my life keeps throwing pieces of garbage like you at me. But I know, I know exactly who told you where to find me."
Farzo smiles. "You mean Amiko. He's already in Tokyo, hunting them down as we speak. Though it looks like he's about to fail."
She turns back to her sister, brushing a hand gently over her hair. "Listen, I'm going to go on a short trip, okay? I won't be gone long, an hour, maybe two. I promise, when I get back, I'll take you to the best ice cream shop there is."
From behind her, Farzo says, "I could stay here and keep an eye on her, if you want."
She doesn't even answer him. She tucks a small wooden boat into Giulia's hand instead. "Soon, we'll be on this boat together. I'll take you somewhere amazing."
Giulia says, "Please come back. I don't want you to be late. You promise?"
"I promise," Rema says.
She steps out of the room. "You dog," she says. "How exactly do you expect me to get to Japan that fast?"
"Erm," Farzo says. "With a little something called the Portal Technique."
Rema looks outside and sees the street below, trash scattered everywhere, chaos in every direction. "So that's why you smell like that," she says. "Just so you know, if this turns out to be some kind of lie, some kind of trap, I will turn you into a dog myself, the same way you crawled out of that garbage."
Farzo just smiles at her, saying nothing at all.
Rema climbs onto the roof of the hospital. She gathers energy into her hand and takes a deep breath.
She closes her eyes.
"Tokyo. I have to get there fast," she whispers.
She strikes her own heart three times.
In an instant, Rema disappears.
TOKYO, JAPAN.
He drops fast from the sky, plummeting down until he crashes straight into a swimming pool.
Rema takes in the chaos surrounding her, darkness stretching in every direction, not a single person in sight. "Why the hell did he drop me in a ghost city?" she mutters. She climbs down the stairs.
She walks through the wreckage, buildings collapsed and shattered all around her, and freezes when she sees it: a massive crater stretching a hundred meters deep, the mark left by Akos's earlier strike. "What the hell happened here?" she says. "Where did he even send me? And who exactly am I supposed to kill?" she sighs. "My luck, honestly."
A car suddenly comes hurtling toward her, crashing down beside her.
Rema looks around, trying to figure out where it came from, when suddenly dozens more cars start raining down from the sky.
"What the hell? Who's throwing cars at me?" Rema shouts, breaking into a sprint, tearing away from the area.
After running for a while, she finally slows down, catching her breath. "No one's here," she says. "Looks like this part of the city hasn't been destroyed yet." She looks around. "My targets must be somewhere above all this. This has to end fast."