A Warlock's Ascent

In a dimly lit room, Suzie softly. Just a couple of days ago, Shizuka Minamoto, or Suzie, lived a very happy life. She worked as a nurse in one of the biggest hospitals in New York. Her pay was not that great but still was enough for her and her daughter.

But somehow she ended up here, a land where there are dragons and beasts, something straight out of horror books, and they roam freely in these lands. And the worst part was the fact that she had absolutely no idea about how she could get out of this place. She misses the comfort of her home and most importantly she misses her daughter.

The natives of this place were of no help either, they captured her and other people that were stuck here, and straight away they started torturing them…

It has been a very terrifying experience for her to watch Dave, the guy that she just met, and the guy that saved their lives, being beaten close to death. As a nurse, she had seen many bizarre and brutal scenes in her career, but it was her first time seeing someone being beaten so close to death.

And the worst part was that she didn't even understand why the natives were doing such things. After they had stopped, the soldiers dragged all of them and put them in these rooms for tonight.

The room that she was in had two single beds and was pretty small. There was a reinforced window in the room, and the only source of light was moonlight's glow, coming from the window. The door of the room was locked from the outside. Currently alone in the room, Suzie just sat on her bed and cried her heart out. She was scared. She didn't know what was happening or why it was happening. And the worst of all she was worried about her daughter.

Her parents kicked her out of the house when they found out that she got knocked up by a one-night stand, the man that knocked her up didn't want anything to do with her or the baby. Since then she hadn't been in contact with either her parents or any of her relatives.

She didn't know what was happening back on Earth, if she doesn't go back then authorities might give her daughter to some social group, which in turn would give her daughter to a foster house. She couldn't let that happen, so she had to return, as soon as she can.

Many bad thoughts were plaguing her mind that night, her inability to do anything was making her cry more, finally, she became so tired that she fell asleep in bed…

She didn't know for how long did she sleep, but when she heard the locks of the door of her room being opened, Suzie suddenly opened her eye and jumped on her feet. It was then she saw 4 soldiers march into her room, they were carrying what looked like a makeshift stretcher with them. And on that stretcher was an unconscious man, whom she instantly recognized, that person was Dave.

She was scared of those soldiers. After all that the old man in charge of their interrogation had made it pretty clear, they could do all sorts of stuff to their prisoners. So she kept her guard up. But the soldiers didn't look like they were interested in doing anything to her. They just came in, put Dave on the free bed, and left while locking the door behind them.

As Suzie saw that the soldiers had left, she went to Dave to check on him. And as she looked at him, she was shocked. She could still remember the scenes of him being tortured very clearly. And as far as she could remember, there were many cuts and bruises on Dave's face when she saw him last time. Some of the bruises would have disfigured his face permanently if it were a normal case. But right now, his face looked perfectly fine.

There were no cuts, swollen tissue, bruise, stitches, or anything in particular about his face that could tell that he had been in a torture session with some brute men. The only thing weird about his face was that it was pink. Most of his face was dark pink while some parts of his face were white, which was his normal color.

She could not tell much about his condition. After all, the only source of her light in the room was the moonlight that was coming in from the small window. She tried touching his pink skin.

Dave groaned a little bit, from the pain. Seeing this she quickly retreated her finger. She then understood that maybe they had fixed him up with the help of little magic. And the pink skin is just a side effect of the magic that was cast on him.

His pink face, reminded her once again that she was in another world. And she was stuck here…

***

THUD

AAAHHH!

Suzie woke up when she heard the sound. It was daytime and the room was now fully illuminated by the sunlight. She then looked around and saw that it was Dave who had screamed. He was currently on the floor, groaning with pain. She then looked at the door of the room and saw that it was locked like the last time she saw it. She instantly realized that maybe he had fallen off his bed in his sleep.

She instantly jumped on her feet, and she then grabbed his shoulder to pick him up. But this made him wince with pain. Seeing this she realized that this was part too mended with magic last night. She then tried to grab his other shoulder. But this too made him wince in pain.

"Hey! Don't be a little bitch. Be a man!" Suzie yelled and then grabbed his shoulder once again despite him groaning with pain and pulled him up. She then made him lie on the bed, putting him way into the corner of the bed…

He had his eyes closed. He didn't even realize where he was or who was with him. But when Dave felt the softness of the bed once again, he opened his eyes slightly and looked at the woman that was helping him. It took him a few seconds but then he realized who she was…

"You…. You are the woman from the forest." He said softly.

"Yeah. My name is Suzie. You are Dave right?"

"Yeah… What happened?"

"Well after you saved our lives in the forest, that red-haired woman kidnapped us. Then she had her men beat you up and made us watch. She wanted to intimidate us for some apparent reason. Then she suddenly stopped and let her men throw me in this room. Then they patched you up real good and left you here."

He took some time, trying to process all of her words. "What did they want from us?" he asked.

"I don't know. From what tit-bit information I got, something or maybe someone attacked their city. And they thought that we were one of the perpetrators of the attack. That is why that woman captured us."

"What happened to others?"

"Don't know. Maybe they are also being held in similar rooms such as this."

"So what do these guys want with us? I mean what are they going to do to us?"

"Don't know about that either… But enough about that. How are you feeling? You were beaten pretty badly last night." She asked with concern.

"Honestly. I feel like shit. There isn't any inch of my body that is not in pain. While my head feels like it would explode at any moment now."

"Well, you look fine. If I am right then they mended you with magic last night. There aren't any scars or any sort of damage visible on your body. But the same could not be said about your internal body. And without the proper equipment, it is hard to tell whether everything is fine with your body internally or not."

"Woah… You seem like you know what you are talking about. Are you a doctor?"

"Nurse. I am a nurse."

"Well Suzie, I am feeling a little lightheaded. I will go back to sleep. So why don't you do me a favor? Just wake me up, if something happens." Dave said slowly and then he closed his eyes once again.

Suzie then got up and went to her bed again. She was feeling hungry, but then she clenched her stomach and lay down on her bed. She then started thinking about her daughter once again. And slowly she fell asleep once again.

***

KNOCK KNOCK

Suzie opened her eyes when she heard the knocking sound. She then looked up and saw that the door of their room was wide open. And some soldiers were standing by the door and were looking at her.

"The City Lord of the great city of Ravenshade, Miss Carlin Nornorin had sent an invitation to both of you to have supper with her. So wake up." The soldier spoke.

Suzie didn't resist and got up instantly. It was then she noticed that Dave has also gotten up on his feet. But his legs were wobbly, thus he fell on his bed again.

"Wait a second." The soldier spoke and then moved aside. It was then another soldier came into the room while pushing an empty wheelchair. The wheelchair in question was made of wood and was making a squeaking noise when he was pushing it. But it would do for now.

The soldier then helped Dave get into the wheelchair. And after that, the soldier started escorting both of them to Carlin's manor…

They took their sweet time getting out of the facility, Dave's wheelchair was not the best in existence. But as they got out, they were greeted by Sanjay and Soo-Young who appears to be just fine as well and were waiting for them in an armored carriage.

When they were reunited, Soo-Young practically jumped on Suzie and started sobbing while hugging her tightly. While Sanjay on the other hand just smiled and started shedding tears while looking at Dave in the wheelchair. Seeing this Dave also smiled back at him.

After their reunion was over, soldiers started making them sit in the armored carriage. And after soldiers had successfully put Dave in the carriage, they locked the carriage door from the outside, then they finally started moving.