The Goat wrapped an arm around my shoulder for support. He was way too injured to even walk straight, so I had to dirty myself in his blood.
We trudged through the red-carpeted corridor until we reached the room behind the receptionist's desk.
Beyond that desk, the previously chaotic bank lobby: without a single hostage on the ground, without a single car out on the road, without a single noise.
"What happened here?" I squinted.
"I wanted to ask the same thing." The Goat responded.
I set him down in a corner first before advancing. Carefully, I snuck a brief glance onto the ceiling of the lobby. Still, no one was there. The robbers were also gone.
"Are they gone too?" He asked, squirming in pain in the corner.
"Was it your doing?"
"No..."
...
It only gets weirder.
We had left the bank lobby and was following the direction our spirits pointed: the direction towards the specific someone.
But the city streets? The city streets were empty, not having so much as a tumbleweed. Well, cities never has tumbleweeds, but I would've expected at least a flying flyer. Wait, is that why they're called flyers? I digress.
"Is my head a fuzz from all the bleeding, or is there no one else aside from us?" He asked, now leaning on me for support again.
"The latter." I answered simply. Then, I turned to Amelda, who was still a red cloud by my ear, "What's happening?"
"I think I know what's happening. But I don't know if the specific someone would like it if I say it..."
"I don't know..." The Goat answered, unaware that I was talking to Amelda.
"We're here!" Amelda declared.
"My spirit says this clinic is it." The Goat also weakly pointed to the store on our right: an independent clinic by Dr. Wong?
Nonetheless, there wasn't a reason for me to not believe Amelda.
No, there is one, "This is C-17."
"Oh, there's no confusion here. You're definitely at the right place." The red cloud nodded confidently. "Be quiet in there by the way, the specific someone hates noises."
"What did you say?" The Goat questioned.
"Nothing. Let's head in."
Ring!
There was bell hung by the doorframe, it told the nurse in her cube our arrival.
"I—"
"Shhh!" The nurse aggressively shushed me.
Yes, there was finally someone, presumably a nurse considering the location, but she was dressed very casually. With a high messy bun for hair and drooped eyes, it looked as if she just woke up.
She was also spinning on a rusted revolving chair. After the bell settled, the creaking of that chair was all the noise left in the clinic.
Her body was spinning, all except one arm and its straightened finger, pointing towards the metal bench in front of us.
The instruction was clear enough. We took our seats and waited. Neither of us spoke even though I really wanted to; the Goat was literally bleeding to death, goddamn it, and she's shushing me?
"Oh my god! I found him." A faint noise from the outside.
We turned to look, and through the glass walls of the clinic, we saw that the city was lively again.
A woman outside was pointing at us, the flashlight and camera of her phone already aimed, and her face was pressed against the glass like an obsessive fangirl.
Others heard her and also turned heads, "Holy shit! It's him!"
"Oh my god... Oh my god..."
"And there's another one?"
We could only endure the attention, murmurings and cameras.
"URRRGHHHHHH!" The nurse sighed so loud that it sounded visceral.
"Wait... where'd they go?"
"They just vanished?"
The murmurings suddenly switched topics, from finding us to losing us, when both me and the Goat was still in our protector form sitting, unmoving.
"Thank you." The Goat suddenly spoke.
I kept quiet in case he wasn't talking to me.
"Dragon?"
Oh, he was, "What?" I turned to him.
His deep emerald eyes were pensive in gratitude yet twitching in pain. Nonetheless, he mustered up the biggest smile yet.
"Thank you... You saved my life..."
"Sure." I replied succinctly.
"... Uh... I..." The Goat stuttered while scratching his head. I see I've found someone as socially awkward as me, "You're..."
"The Goat goes in first." The nurse cut him off with a lazy finger pointed at the consultation room.
"Sorry, my spirit is telling me to go in quick." The Goat apologized with a shallow bow before getting up... attempting to get up, "... Argh..."
"He can't walk." I stood up to offer support, and to scold the nurse, "If you're willing to spare us a glance, you'd notice he's half-dead!"
"I don't care. Goat goes in first." The nurse still had her back against us.
"Don't deny the specific someone's will, Angela." Amelda shook with disapproval.
"But..."
"Just don't do it. Everything the specific someone do is for the greater good, for the bigger picture."
"What bigger picture? He's gonna die!"
"I can walk..." The Goat suddenly pushed me away, "My spirit insists, and I would guess yours did too."
"But—"
"It's okay, I'm fine." He waved with a faint smile.
Hesitantly, I let go.
He trudged with effort, staining the floor with blood every heavy step. "Argh... Urgh..." He eventually did reach the consultation room, which I was apparently not allowed in yet.
The door shut behind him.
I watched the view outside the clinic again: everything was normal now, passers-by was strolling, flyers was flying.
"What's happening?"
The nurse didn't respond, of course she didn't. Her chair only creaked more.
I sighed.
"Don't look so frustrated, Angela." Amelda comforted.
"That's asking for too much." I plopped back down onto the metal bench with my arms crossed, and my nose emitting steam; I don't like this nurse.
I stared at the door with the sign that said 'Consultation'.
I wonder what's going on in there...
——————
Everywhere still hurts, and the sticky feeling of the blood disgusts me too. But nonetheless, with determination, I trudge a whopping five metres without the Dragon Warrior's help.
I shut the door behind me, then turned to see the most ordinary consultation room ever. Clean, a desk, marble tilings, and one bespectacled Dr. Wong, supposedly.
The supposed Dr. Wong sat at his desk, seemingly unaware of my presence in the room. He was jotting down notes with pen and paper. It's the digital age, doc, use your laptop.
"Are you the specific some—" Before I could finish, something happened beneath my feet.
A neon blue ring circled me, then, a void appeared.
"What the—" I couldn't mutter the 'fuck' before I fell straight down into the void.
...
I landed quite gently on a soft mattress. It wasn't a void, it was a portal. I was now in a very Chinese style room, where most furnitures were wooden, paper or bamboo. It was a perfectly square room, no doors, no windows, only gorgeous oil paintings of a serene background on the walls, acting as fake windows, making the room feel bigger than it was.
My eyes wandered everywhere, starting from the portal above me, which closed and subsequently vanished quickly. Then it reached an intricate ceramic teapot, then several clay sculptures of animals, then a row of bamboo bookshelves but not with much books, then—
"You?" I pointed at the 'specific someone' before my eyes.
"Yes, you know me. Goat, separate."
He somehow commanded Alex. My protector form vanished in an instant, restoring myself and the last clothes I wore before transformation. Alex appeared again as herself.
"How'd you do that?" I questioned, with shock in my tone.
"I'm the Guardian of the Emblems. And you, must be Ivan Lerring."