I rarely put myself through fictional books, simply because I found them overdramatic. Almost every one of the ones I had suffered through involved a coma, or someone fainting, or a hospitalisation, and reading about them waking up was always pure agony. Their eyelids would flutter open, and they would suddenly be awake, saying the name of a loved one, or realising how lucky they'd been. I had suspected that was pure nonsense, and I got that confirmed once I was put in that exact same situation.

I didn't remember waking up at all. I remembered fractions of scenes playing in my mind's eye, and one day, suddenly, I just realised I was awake, sitting up in my own bed that acted as my hospital bed.

When I became aware of my awakedness, I had already been awake for five days.

I was thankful to be in my own salon, its soft terracotta walls and indoor olive trees enlightened by the windows encircling the entirety of the vast, round room an incredible source of comfort. I had a needle in my arm, a purple liquid in a crystal bottle next to my bed slowly dripping into it, and a healer elf was standing next to me. He had long, blonde hair that was completely straight and cut in a razor-sharp line, and was clad all in white with bronze details. He told me they'd been called by the Great Planetarian, and when they'd arrived at my side, I was in asystole. It had taken three hours of resuscitation to get my fluid balances correct, and the healer told me I was lucky my brain was still intact.

I didn't feel lucky; my tissues felt as though they were bathing in acid. I told the healer this, who immediately gave me another needle, this time with a cherry red transparent liquid. The relief was instant. I didn't ask him what it was; I didn't want to know.

After a couple of days, they deemed me well enough that they dared to leave me on my own for a couple of hours, and I could endorse myself in my own throughs in a way I couldn't when I wasn't alone.

I thought about everything the amethyst planet had shown me. I didn't understand anything of it. "Take it!" I had demanded. Take what? "But I don't want it!" The meadow. The water. The skin-to-skin. Who is Izuna?

I shuddered. Suddenly, a headache came over me that was so excruciating, I screamed. Immediately, the healer came, injected more of that cherry liquid into me, this time quickly via a crystal syringe. I fell back on my pillows, eyes closed tight, brows furrowed. Was the amethyst planet showing me my dreams? My goals? My future? I wanted to speak to the great stone again.

There was a knock on my door. My healer looked at me. I nodded.

"Come in", he said with his dark voice.

In came Erika, my female captain with the almond eyes.

"Thank God you're well", she said warmly.

"Thank you", I said. I looked at the healer. "I'm sorry, could I ask you for a few minutes alone?"

"Certainly, my king. Just call me if you need anything."

He bowed and left, and I turned to Erika.

"Did the great stone say anything to you?" I asked. "Because I just assume you were part of the group who retrieved me."

"The Great Planetarian apologised for not speaking more strongly against your desire for the sacrifices."

"It cannot disobey me. It's not a rule but an objective impossibility. It had no choice."

"Tobirama, are you out of your Goddamn mind? Four sacrifices? You're the greatest warrior we have at the brim of war, yet you took such a great risk with your life. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how foolish that is."

"Is that a proper way to speak to your king?"

"I'm not speaking with you as my king, but as my little brother, whom I love dearly."

I was a bit taken aback by this. Ever since I chose her as my captain, we rarely spoke of our siblingship or our familial love for each other.

I succumbed.

"I am aware. I was in no state of making a decision. I had already made three sacrifices."

"Was it worth it?" Erika asked.

"I... I think so."

"What did it show you?"

"The Great Planetarian couldn't tell you?"

"It said it was confidential. That it wasn't something the planet told it, but that it showed you, and the Great Planetarian could see it as well. It had never happened before, the great stone said. It didn't know what it means."

I did not like this.

"Did it give you a hint as though whether it was the future on display, or anything of the sort?"

"My king!"

One of the guards of the castle came in, a male elf with short, blonde hair. I immediately noticed he was lacking his entire forearm. It wasn't bleeding, as if he'd had it amputated by a skilled surgeon.

"What happened to your arm?" I said, and it took every ounce of my willpower to not display the shock I felt.

"We need orders. We have a... A visitor."

I raised an eyebrow. "I'm not expecting anyone."

"It's that boy who killed all the captains." So he actually came... "The one from the village. He's come to see you. Says his name is Izuna."

Izuna...

The water. The small hands around my bicep. The white sheets in the steamy room. Those warm, dark eyes. "I love you SO much."

I forgot how to breathe as the ground opened up and swallowed me whole.