"Michael? You're there?" Lucia called out, finally arriving at the location where she and Michael had promised to meet, an abandoned Lumite processing plant, after at least three days or so.
Unfortunately, it had been a week since the incident. She initially wanted to meet up much earlier, but, the place was brimming with activity, with HIA personnel conducting regular excursions to find Michael alongside NEDF soldiers.
It didn't help that Lucia caught a glimpse of HSO Section 6 on the news, which in turn drew even more attention to the matter.
Only after a week did the situation calm down somewhat, allowing Lucia to slip back into the Hollow undetected.
"Michael? Where are yoouu... MMPH!" Lucia was suddenly yanked to the side, her mouth covered by a rough hand.
She looked to the side in panic, only calming down upon seeing that it was Michael looking at her with a shushing motion before ducking his head and looking back.
Glancing to where he was staring, Lucia understood why Michael was being hush-hush as, not far from them, a group of Investigators escorted by NEDF was conducting an investigation nearby.
"Hmm?"
Both of them barely managed instinctively to duck in unison as one of the Investigators turned his head around in suspicion.
"Is there something there? Should we investigate?" One of the soldiers asked, now alert.
"No need. The Miasma must be getting to me. Let's regroup with the others; I think we're done here."
Only when the sound of stomping boots stopped did Michael and Lucia peek their head up again, the Investigators and soldiers now gone.
Michael gestured to Lucia once the coast was clear. "Follow me. This place is way too hot right now."
Lucia nodded, following Michael from behind.
It took almost the better part of two hours for them to reach where Michael was guiding them, on account of them having to dodge investigators, patrols of soldiers, and the regular workers in Lemnian Hollow.
Coupled with the need to keep silent and sometimes even having to hide in an enclosed space for minutes on end, the journey was tense, but after going through a tunnel, they eventually made it.
"And we're finally here."
The place was a large mining area with large deposits of Lumite Ore all around them. Most importantly, however, was the fact that it had long since been abandoned.
"Whoa... How did you find this place?" Lucia put her hands over her eyes as she marveled at the sight. She squinted her eyes when she noticed a glaring feature of the place. Aside from the unmined Lumite ore deposit, this place was also absolutely covered in Miasma as far as the eye could see, with the sole exception of an on-site office container.
Michael shrugged his shoulders. "Don't really know myself. Just kinda stumbled into this place by accident. Although, it does feel like something was guiding me here..." He whispered those final words.
"What did you say?"
"Oh, uh, nothing." Michael quickly changed the subject by pointing at the office that was free of Miasma. "That's the place I've been staying. Come on."
Lucia followed after Michael, and both of them entered the office.
"Welcome to my crib. Do you like it?" Michael welcomed Lucia as he went on to sit on a couch that he had found nearby and painstakingly dragged in. "Don't worry about the Miasma; I've made sure to thoroughly purge all of them."
"No kidding, I thought we were out of the Hollow for a second by how clean it is," Lucia said as she took in the sight of the place. It was clean, probably thanks to Michael.
Aside from the couch, there was also a single bed with an office desk and chair right next to it. On top of the table itself lay a bunch of weapons ranging from a simple handgun to a rifle, all she recognized from before the fall of Eridu.
"Ohh... What do we have here?" Lucia exclaimed when she saw a crate full of shiny Lumite ore. Getting closer, Lucia held one and inspected it. "What are you going to do with all of these?"
"Easy. Sell them." Michael casually answered. When met with a confused look from Lucia, he explained further. "Umm... How do I explain this, but I want to leave the Hollow?"
"What!? Isn't that impossible for an Ethereal?" Lucia asked with worry in her voice.
"Normally, yeah. An Ethereal can't leave the Hollow, but I think I have a way to." Michael answered, opting not to say how he almost died confirming the fact so as not to worry Lucia further. "It's just a theory for now, but if I could minimise my Ether expenditure and even draw in Ether passively from the surroundings while outside, it would finally let me leave the godforsaken Hollows."
"Really? What about your... uhh..." Lucia wildly gestured to Michael entire form, not really wanting to finish her sentence.
Michael pointed at himself. "Oh, this? Come closer, let me show you something I've been working on."
Lucia moved closer to Michael. When she was close enough, she saw the Ether crystals on his body turning into small hexagonal shapes. Almost imperceptibly, they moved around Michael's body like an ocean wave as they changed colour along the way.
Lucia watched on in silent awe as Michael's form changed into a human form in real time. The mesmerizing sight of the Ether crystals turning and twisting into something no longer recognizable as an Ethereal but human made her speechless.
When it was done, what was once a winged Ethereal the others called a Fallen Angel was no more; instead, it was replaced by a pale human body wearing a plain white shirt and pants with only an Ethereal's Core where a head should be, making it clear that he was still an Ethereal.
Yet, for Lucia, the more she looked at it, the more uncomfortable she got. It wasn't the fact that Michael's body changed; it was the fact that it was perfect, too perfect.
With perfect symmetry, no scars, deformities, muscles, or any standout feature to speak of, and paired with his exposed skin being unnaturally pale and smooth with not a speck of hair? It made Lucia uneasy, like she was looking at an imitation of a human.
"Pretty creepy, right?" Michael questioned as he too examined his own body. "I've been practicing my transformation ability, and even after a week, I still couldn't get it right. I shudder to think how scary my face would have been if I tried to create it."
Lucia also agreed, her body shivering at the thought of how creepy it would have been.
Michael quickly changed his appearance back to normal. "So yeah, I'm selling the Lumite ores to save enough money to live comfortably for a couple of months. Two problems though."
Lucia, wanting to forget what she saw, listened intently as Michael listed off the problems.
"One, I don't know anyone else outside who I could sell these to. And two, I don't have an ID." Michael listed off. "The first problem has a simple solution. You." He pointed at Lucia.
Lucia pointed at herself in confusion before understanding what Michael meant. "Oh, you want me to act as a representative to sell these, don't you?"
"You got that right. Now, of course, we won't be selling these in huge amounts; that'll garner a bit too much attention from the authorities, and I don't want you to get in trouble because of me."
Michael looked at Lucia. "Unless, of course, you want out. This business ain't exactly 'legal' or 'professional,' you know? In which case, I won't blame you; I'll probably just find other ways to earn money."
Lucia was rather touched by Michael's care towards her. "Who should I sell these to then?"
"I've read about Failume Heights. Do you think a few residents there are interested in buying Lumite ore for cheap?" Michael asked.
"Hmm... I haven't really been there myself. I'll probably need to ask the residents there in secret if they're interested. But what about Hollow Raiders? Can't we just sell to them?"
"No, no, no. While I know there are probably decent people wanting to make a living among them, it's too risky, and I'd rather not supply any random person with valuable items unless I know what their intentions are."
Lucia nodded in understanding. "I see. Alright then, when I get back, I'll ask around to see if anyone's interested in buying."
"Great. As for the second problem..." Michael rubbed the underside of his Core.
Lucia looked on in anticipation of how Michael would solve the problem of having no ID or documentation.
"I'll cross the bridge when I get there." Was Michael's rather disappointing answer. "Anyway... Since you'll probably be going to ask the residents tomorrow, what do you want to do today?"
Lucia then remembered that she had wanted to give Michael something. "Actually, I noticed that you had a music player of some kind when you handed over your bag that day, so I bought you this." She quickly took out something from the little bag she had been carrying.
It was a rectangular metal object slightly bigger than Lucia's hand, which Michael instantly recognized as a power bank or a portable charging device with a solar panel at its side and a charging cable.
"Wait, you looked into my bag? You didn't see anything else, did you?" Michael curiously questioned.
Lucia quickly answered. "N-nope. I only got a quick glimpse because of my curiosity."
If Michael had eyebrows, he would have raised them at how suspicious Lucia was sounding. Still, he accepted her answer and her gifts.
Inspecting it, it was not particularly heavy, and judging from how shiny it was, it was definitely brand new. Unfortunately, there was a single glaring problem.
Lucia must've noticed. "Yeah... I can't find any compatible charging cable. Sorry." She apologised.
"No need to apologise. It's not your fault. I'm already very grateful for this gift. Although..."
Taking out his music player, Michael then pulled out an old, damaged phone and various tools he had found at the place.
Lucia watched as Michael tinkered with both devices, disassembling both of their charging port. He then carefully reassembled the charging port of the old, broken phone onto the music player.
By the end of the procedure, the music player now had a compatible charging port. Whether it'll work was another matter entirely, and considering how sketchy it looked, Michael didn't hold out much hope. For all he knew, he just made a homemade bomb.
Plugging the charging cable into the power bank, Michael hesitated before plugging it into his MP3 player. He looked back at Lucia, who looked on in anticipation. "Here goes nothing."
Closing his eyes, Michael plugged the charger into his MP3 player.
Bleep
An electronic beeping sound indicating that the device was charging caused Michael to sigh in relief, opening his eyes and seeing the tiny screen lighting up, showing an indicator of the percentage of battery charged.
1%
"Phew... That was rather stressful." Michael said. He then turned to Lucia. "So, Lucia. While we wait for this thing to charge, wanna help me refine my appearance?"
"̷̫̱̊̒̂̈́R̷͍̝̈̂̀̊̑ẽ̷̪f̷̣͉̼̆i̸͗͜n̸̜̦͎͕͍͖̏̊̎̋̑̍͠e̵͚͍̩̳̻̯͊̐m̵̥̺̰̓e̵̛͇̼̅͌͑̒͊ń̷̘̭͎̖̘̀͌̈t̵̢̰́̿̓͝.̶̨̥̭͆"̸̮̰̭͔͇̫̊̎͜
Another voice passed through his head, this time, and even the image accompanying it, which had started for a few days now, an almost vine-looking thing, became ever clearer. Lucia thankfully didn't notice.
He should really investigate why it's happening.
.....
Caroline looked at her son, her sweet, precious little Lukas sleeping. She gently caressed his head, her son leaning into her touch with a smile.
Even with the proof of her son's condition being better than ever.
She still couldn't believe all that had transpired over a week ago: an angel sent by the Creator had descended from Hollow Zero to save them and led them to the safety of a squad from the Defense Force.
They had questioned everything, and she had answered truthfully, but unfortunately, she and her son were unable to return to their old life partly due to fears of retaliation from the Exaltist and partly due to the fact that the Ethereal nature was supposed to be classified.
Thankfully, they had generously provided her with a residence near Scott Outpost along with a free private tutor for her son now that he's homeschooled.
They had even provided her with a new job as a cleaner for Scott Outpost, which pays extremely well. Even if she's had to leave her old life and be under constant monitoring, she couldn't be happier.
And then the news came. A group of workers trapped in Lemnian Hollow was rescued by an Ethereal.
She had seen the news, and without a doubt, the Ethereal was the same one that had saved her and her son back in Hollow Zero.
Fallen Angel was the name given to it, and she thought it couldn't have been more fitting. An angel falling down from the heavens to rescue the damned,
And then she saw it: an online group dedicated to giving Fallen Angel reverence called 'The Saviour's Emissaries.' It was formed by an individual claiming to be one of the workers saved in Lemnian Hollow.
Already, the forum had garnered many followers, some from other workers of the incident and others she immediately recognized as former members of the Exaltist who, just like her, were manipulated into joining them either through giving them false hopes for a cure to various Ether-related ailments that they or their family had, or just people with nothing left in their lives and had grown dispirited and frustrated at the group.
They must've found the opportunity to leave the cult, which she was secretly happy for. The Exaltist deserved to rot for all the lies and harm it had caused. She was a bit worried about this new group and its leader's intention.
While she wasn't really keen on joining any cult anytime soon after her last experience, she hoped that this one's goal was different.
And, reading the founder's message, it was different. While the Exaltist was more so focused on the evolution of humanity or whatever it was, the Saviour's Emissaries were more about helping those who had been affected by Ether, just like Fallen Angel had, which she found admirable.
She did find some disturbing messages of some member expressing interest in seeking out Fallen Angel by themself or even bringing in family members and friends suffering from Corruption, but thankfully, the more level-headed members prevailed. They managed to dissuade them from going through with their plan, instead offering assistance by any means possible.
Still, the frequency of these types of posts was definitely worrying; she only hoped that no one was stupid or brave enough to attempt it.
.....
If there were one word to describe Michael music playlist, it would be, to put it bluntly, random. Hundreds of songs from vastly different genres and even languages scrolled by as he repeatedly went down the playlist.
It's a shame that it only showed the song's names and the genre it belonged to and not the artist, as, just as he suspected, some damage did occur, whether during his transportation to this world or during which it was Corrupted. In this case, it was the data of the artists. Guess you win some, you lose some.
Rock, EDM, Pop, Vocaloid. Almost all genres of music were present, and all of it brought back feelings of a life he had forgotten and was actively forgetting. Sure, the memories were gone, but at least he had these songs and the name of his family to remember them by.
Lucia had predictably asked him where these songs had come from; he had answered that they were probably from the Old Civilization, which he had learned was a catch-all term for civilizations that had fallen long before the founding of even Eridu.
Lucia accepted the explanation without any question; she herself was excited at listening to some 'old music' as she called them, which hurt him inside, to be honest. She even had the audacity to call him grandpa. He was 20 for crying out loud!
Whatever the case, she huddled closer to him to hear the songs better.
"Now, which song should I pick first?" He asked himself, the choice paralysis getting to him.
"What about this one!"
Faster than he could react, Lucia pressed the button at the bottom and then the middle, selecting a song.
"Bury the Light?" For some reason, a picture of a plastic chair appeared in his mind. 'Where is it from again?'
.....
Miyabi's ears perked up for some reason, causing the rest of Section 6 to stop in their tracks.
"What is it, Chief? Is something the matter?" Asked Yanagi.
"Nothing. Just suddenly felt more motivated than usual."