3/26/2019

  11:50 AM

  Daniel entered the walk-in shower first. Empress Cai and Lian followed in. He turned on the shower, activating the full rain experience. He sat down on the bench as the water soaked his entire body. The effects from the massage and bone-breaking chiropractic-like procedure were honestly brutal and merciless. His longer and larger body was a little awkward to adjust. He felt his hands trembling. It felt loose, and he couldn't voluntarily move his fingers.

  Inside his mind, Daniel was frustrated and stressed. He wanted them to move, but it was not working. The moment he turned on the shower moments ago was fine. Only when he sat down, symptoms began to emerge.

  He looked at Empress Cai, who was standing in the center of the shower, embracing the hot water. "My hands. I can't move them…"

  Lian put the shampoo bottle on the rack. She was putting some on Empress Cai's back. She stopped what she was doing and went to check Daniel's hands.

  Daniel watched her, putting his right hand into a fist. Her gentle palm was placed right on his knuckles. The hot shower was ninety degrees, and his hands remained cold. Only until Lian released a spell, sending heat directly into his fist.

  "How is it now?" Lian asked, letting her hand go.

  He tried moving his fingers. It was like a malfunctioned robotic arm. His thumb, index finger, and pinky extended as they should, but the other two refused. Lian went aggressive and pulled the middle and ring fingers up. She poked right at the two corresponding knuckles with her fingernails. Merciless before and now. Afterward, his hand was drenched in blue blood.

  Lian did the same process with his left hand. It was worse than his right as it was only his thumb that responded.

  The entire time, Daniel held in the painful grunts, trying to focus on something else. He hung on until she said try again.

  When he moved both hands, all of his fingers obeyed, much to his relief. Lian stood up and rejoined with Empress Cai. She was about to invite him as a way to test the movement of his legs. Daniel got up. Nothing wrong.

  As he was walking to the two, his knees and ankles surrendered. He crashed right to the hard floor. To add insult to injury, he coughed up a cup's worth of blood. The two stopped showering and lifted him up to the bench.

  Empress Cai summoned a comfort for his back. "I read your mind when you told me about your former comrades. You hid the fact from me that you had prior symptoms after discharge."

  "Busted…" Daniel murmured as his vision became blurry. His entire body became fatigued. One small movement brought bone cracking and heavy discomfort.

  "Do you have any prior symptoms that you wish to tell both of us?"

  "No, that was all."

  "Okay…You need to stop taking all of them. It won't be effective for much longer as your body is adapting to our physiology."

  Lian summoned a few medicines. "I'm going to make more later, but take these."

  A one shot cup and three round pills. The drink appeared to be like water. He looked at the two, and Empress Cai assisted his weakening arm. Lian put the three pills in the cup, and Daniel took a big gulp, swallowing the pills down his throat.

  Empress Cai turned off the shower, and everyone sat in silence.

  After a minute, Daniel's vision regained. The bone cracking slowly faded as he moved his body. He gave another minute, and his strength indeed returned. Heat energy developed, discarding the coldness he had ago. It got so hot that gas emitted from his skin like an activated stovetop steamer.

  Expressing relief, Empress Cai switched the shower on. Lian, acting like Daniel's handler, guided him up from the bench.

  “You ready?” She asked as they reached the central spot of the shower, where Empress Cai resumed her enjoyment of the hot water.

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  “Yeah, I am.”

  Lian slowly let go of his hands. She watched him as he stood, taking a shower.

  After letting the water soak his hair, Daniel turned to Lian, who was still watching. "I'm fine, thanks."

  Empress Cai was trying out the shampoo, and she didn't like it. She immediately scrubbed it off her hair. Red steam emitted from her hair, removing the shampoo in its entirety. "Are you feeling better?"

  "Yeah, I'm better now. So I don't take those pills anymore?"

  "No, stop them today. The ones we gave you are entirely unique to your situation. It will keep you stable for the time being."

  "For how long?"

  "We don't know. It's case-by-case. Some people can last longer or less before having to take them again."

  Daniel took the shampoo that Empress Cai didn't like. It was his. He took it off the rack and rubbed some on his hair. Afterward, he let the shower rinse it off. "Thank you."

  "Don't hide it next time, will you? If I hadn't read your mind then, you would be dead by now," Empress Cai said as she wiped her face from the water. She turned around, face-to-face with Daniel. "Now…Let's talk."

  Lian sat down on a different bench, opposite the one Daniel had sat on earlier.

  "Talk about what?"

  "The future. We talked a bit when I first arrived, but nothing really important…How do you feel about this planet that you call home?"

  Daniel gargled water, rinsing his mouth before spitting it out. "Well, it's been struggling. Most parts of the world are fighting for those runes. Every nation is on a truce, but I can tell at least one is tempted to play with fire, starting fights and wars again."

  "Hmm. So far, it seems peaceful."

  "Because of that truce, yes. Peace is just a facade. Everybody is stressed that the truce might break and hatred will come back in revenge."

  Lian got curious. "How true is that?"

  "Highly at best. It's not just the global war. Their daily lives are bound…They want more freedom to pursue what they want with less weight on their shoulders."

  "What's stopping them, though?" Empress Cai asked. "Are we on the highest service the shower is offering?"

  Daniel shook his head, telling her to pull the tiny lever from center to left. "The economy is not at its best right now."

  "But you and some are looking well off, right?"

  "Sure, but that's only a few on this planet. Most are just living day by day. Nothing fun to compensate for their hard work."

  "Cruel…I need to try something. Is there any body wash you recommend? I hope it's not like the hair wash soap I just tried."

  Daniel looked at Lian. Next to her bench was a built-in space where all the hair care products and shower gels were located. Most were all gifts and not opened. "I don't know, you're the first guest. I'm not an expert on care products."

  Lian stood up, taking a bottle with the word printed body wash on the sticker. "I suggest you start doing so. You don't want a fucked up skin."

  "Rebecca told me the same thing one time when I had acne."

  "And you're not being consistent?"

  "Nope."

  Lian gave Daniel a little side eye.

  "I'm just being honest here. It's just not my priority."

  "It will come. Just letting you know early."

  Empress Cai tried the body wash Lian grabbed. Her reaction was more pleasant this time, letting it embrace. Daniel took some of the same gel and used it. Unlike her and likely Lian, he didn't care as long as it was doing what it was supposed to do.

  The conversation moved on after the three finished showering. Daniel sat right back on the bench from prior. Lian sat next to him this time in case anything went wrong with him unexpectedly.

  Empress Cai sat where the latter sat earlier. She unleashed her qi steadily, demonstrating her masterful control. Daniel watched as the qi turned into hot steam.

  "Is this how you define a sauna?" she asked.

  "Yes, very much so."

  "Good. We talk now as we relax."

  The three talked about Earth. Empress Cai thought of Earth as a breath of fresh air. She wanted to confirm a pact verbally. There were some conditions, and she listed them out.

  One was Daniel had to be on their side. Specifically, many actions must benefit the people of Raal first. Second, he would have to guide them, Empress Cai, Lian, and others, on how to adapt to a new life on Earth. Lastly, the third was to spread magic and the knowledge of qi.

  Empress Cai didn't ask for confirmation right away. She wanted to give him a little time to say yes, but not a no.

  When the conversation finished, Empress Cai exerted a cold mass of air and wiped out all the hot steam. Daniel watched her unleash bucketloads of water on her and the two, concluding the shower time.

  Daniel stood up and headed out first. He carefully followed the steps, not wanting to embarrass himself by collapsing again.