The Outskirts (ITZY Shin Ryujin)

6

Luke awoke at midnight the next morning from his slumber abruptly, gasping and panting for air as he shot up into a seated position. The whole world spun and wobbled before his eyes like the nauseating aftermath of spinning in circles, only more intense. He could feel the swelling of his veins and organs doubling by the second. Accompanied with the suffocating effect of the yellowish-green mist, he felt as though his whole body was on the verge of exploding.

Luke barely managed to glance at his arms due to the migraine coursing through his head but when he did, he noticed the bruises, blisters and scabs planted on his flesh. Much like the girl he had seen the other night. He attempted a scream but the only thing that emitted his mouth was a ghastly screech.

All of a sudden, he felt a sharp pain in his left arm, as if a needle was piercing through his skin. To his surprise, when he glanced in that direction, that was exactly what had happened. A vaccination syringe stuck out of his arm which an unknown hand wrapped around it, pumping an odd, thick, gooey mint green substance in him. He tried following the hand up to find the person's face however, right before he got the opportunity to, he felt himself collapse back onto the bed he had been sleeping on.

He was sure he had been out for hours the next time he awoke. The eerie darkness of the night was quickly dissipating as the sun peaked over the horizon.

"Can you hear me?"

Although his ears were still blocked off with the loud, high-pitched screech of white noise, he knew he heard the four words. They were muffled and barely audible but he heard them.

He fluttered his eyes open and gazed around with his hopelessly blurry vision. Luke only just made out a slender figure in the distance but the picture wasn't enough to figure out who it was. He tried fixating his eyes on her but it was all to not avail. Giving up, he decided to focus on the changes he felt from the last time he awoke.

The yellowish-green mist? Gone. The dilation of veins and organs? Gone. The suffocating feeling? Gone. Everything seemed to have gone back to normal but Luke knew otherwise.

"Can you hear me?"

The words echoed through his head again, louder and more pronounced this time.

Luke immediately turned to the girl. She was closer now, glancing at his face with an expression he couldn't read. He continued to watch her, blinking his eyes more frequently to get rid of the blur.

"Can you hear me?"

This time he actually witnessed her open her mouth and utter the words slowly.

He nodded hesitantly.

"Yes," his voice came out a croak. "But I can't necessarily see you."

Despite the blur, he could see one side of her mouth curl up into a soft smile.

"Your vision will clear up soon enough. It's just the result of your body rejecting the poison," she told him.

"Poison?" He repeated as she handed him a glass of water. "I have poison in my system?"

"You know you looked and felt the first time you woke up. If I didn't inject you with it, you would have died. Or worse, live an eternal life that way. I saved you."

"In what world is injecting someone with poison saving them?"

The other side of the girl's mouth lifted too, completing the smile.

"In the Outskirts."

***

She left him to catch a couple more hours of sleep as she made her way out of the room. Luke was sceptical to begin with and tried escaping numerous times but the window were locked. Besides, he couldn't make it as far as the door without feeling as though the ground was about to swallow him. He stumbled and tripped and crawled, like a child learning how to walk. Eventually, gave up.

A couple of hours later, he awoke for the third time, his sight perfect now, even better than it had been before. Everything was ten times clearer and he didn't feel like he was on a ship going through a violent storm anymore. Everything was normal.

He stood up and made it stealthily to the door. It was slightly ajar, unlike how the girl had left it shut when she left before. Glancing around the room, Luke's gaze feel of a pair of clothes and an envelope with a cute lion cartoon drawn on it.

Approaching it cautiously, Luke felt a pit in his stomach. It growled loudly, making a few birds outside fly away from his window. How long had it been since his last meal? How long had he been in this place?

"I see you are awake," a voice came from the door, making him jump. Not taking the time to scan the girl, he grabbed the glass of water she had given him earlier and threw it at her. The glass simply shattered against her face before falling to the ground. The girl, on the other hand, sustained no injuries.

"Who are you?" Luke yelled, staggering backwards out of fear.

"Forgotten, are we? No one remembers what significance we were in your lives?" A sudden look of pain washed over her before she scoffed. "Humans. What could I have expected? They were right about you."

"Forgotten? We? They? What?" Luke questioned.

The girl simply shook her head.

"I profoundly apologise. I shouldn't have said that. It's not your fault. I'm Lia, by the way. If you don't remember, I was the one you talked to two days back."

Luke furrowed his eyebrows.

"Two days back?"

"Of course, you lose track of time while asleep. You've been unconscious for a week."

"A week? I can't be! I have to get back to my parents, my siblings, Max, Iris."

"Iris?" Lia chuckled. "Oh honey, you're far from there. May as well forget it. You're in Hara now. Do you even know what Hara is?"

Unfortunately, he did. It was the capital of ancient Ferne. Or now known as the capital of the Outskirts.