“Where am I?” asked the young man, still keeping his gaze toward the guard closest to him. His voice was calm, but his tightly gripping hands showed otherwise.

“Y-You’re in the Amaranth.” The guard tried hard to assert his authority and hopefully calm himself down as he answered the prisoner’s question. It seemed to him that the young man was just likely scared, and wouldn’t harm him if he was nice enough, or seemed nice enough. “And yes, you are going to be sent to rehabilitation…”

He could have continued with saying that he would need to comply with his orders, but he felt that he was in a delicate situation.

“Sent to… rehabilitation…? Did I…?” The prisoner looked like he was at a loss, but instead of looking everywhere, his eyes seemed to search the guard’s face for answers.

“It… T-The reports said that you’ve caused an incident that killed all your immediate neighbors and destroyed property within at least a block from your residence, causing injuries as well as deaths.”

“I… see…” The young man seemed to have regret in his eyes as he heard the statement from the guard.

“Despite that… They’ve deemed it best to put you in rehabilitation instead of death row. Consider yourself lucky.” The older man decided that it would be best to get on the younger man’s good side, and not explain why exactly he was there. He thought it might become a sore spot, and they would be forced to confront him head-on.

Silence filled the room for a moment, and everyone, including the other guard, who remained near the door, was almost still.

“What about… her…?” asked the prisoner, his voice tinged with pleading.

“Her?” The guard close to him was not informed of anyone else connected to him.

“Lavender… She…” As the young man was flooded with memories of this unknown lady, the light inside the room and even outside began to flicker more. The temperature also dropped even lower, and the guards were frightened by all of this.

“Damn it… I’m sorry but I have to-”

The older guard was going to finally use the tranquilizer, but he was violently pushed back by an unknown force, making him hit one of the cell walls. His companion was also blown away into the wall of the corridor, and they were both unconscious as a result.

“NO!” shouted the young man on the table, whose bindings were ripped apart by that same force that launched the guards towards the walls. He then shakily sat up and looked slowly at the unconscious men, checking if they would still get up.

Still wary of the guards, he carefully got off the table and stood up, making sure that he was stable enough before he attempted to walk. He didn’t like how the cold metal floor felt under his bare feet, but he didn’t have a choice except to move on.

“I… I feel… a large stream of them…” he said to himself as he walked along the corridor, still somewhat shaking. “Is she… here…?”