A sharp pain pounded against Liora’s skull.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly, vision blurry and filled with light. Everything around her was bright—too bright. White walls. White ceiling. White floor. It wasn’t just bright—it was empty and silent.
She tried to move, but her body didn’t respond.
Her arms were locked in place, bound by thick tallic cuffs that glowed faintly with a strange energy. Her legs were restrained too. She was seated on a silver chair floating a few feet above the ground, suspended in midair without wires or support. The chair didn’t wobble. It didn’t shake. It simply... hovered.
Panic crept in slowly, like ice crawling beneath her skin.
Her head throbbed again—waves of dizziness crashing down on her senses. For a long mont, she couldn’t even tell who she was, let alone where she was. It was like soone had pulled a curtain over her thoughts. Her throat burned, dry and scratchy like she hadn’t had water in days.
She licked her lips but her mouth was too dry. Her breathing beca shallow.
"Wh... where am I..." she whispered weakly, her voice barely audible.
Her chest rose and fell faster as she looked around the strange room. There were no doors. No windows. Just seamless, glowing white walls. The air felt too clean. Sterile. It reminded her of an artificial chamber, like a lab—ant to hold sothing, or soone.
Suddenly, her heart dropped.
She tried to pull at the restraints, struggling against the cuffs around her wrists, but they didn’t even budge. No matter how hard she fought, she couldn’t move an inch. Her strength was gone. Her power felt like it had been sealed.
"What... happened?" she whispered, trembling.
Then, a mory flickered at the edge of her mind.
The wall.
She had been at the wall—fighting, leading the base.
Yes... she rembered standing tall, shouting orders, her system guiding her, warning her of movents and breaches across all four directions. Her team was fighting hard, but things had been under control.
Until—
"Warning: Malicious intent detected toward the host."
The voice of her system had echoed in her head, sharp and urgent.
Then—
"Host is in danger—!"
That was all she rembered before a searing pain struck her neck. It was sudden. Sharp. Like a needle. But she hadn’t seen anything. No shadow. No breath. Not even the sound of footsteps.
She hadn’t even had ti to defend herself.
And then, everything had gone black.
Liora’s breathing grew heavier.
That was the last mont she could rember. That one warning. That one instant of pain.
And now, she was here.
Trapped.
Her head was spinning. Not just from the dizziness—but from the rising fear. She had been taken. Silently. Without a trace.
Who could do that?
Even her system hadn’t fully reacted in ti. Which ant... whoever attacked her was far beyond normal power.
"System?" she called out weakly. "Can you hear ?"
No response.
Her heart sank further. It was as if she’d been cut off. No notifications. No screen. No voice.
She was isolated.
Liora clenched her fists, even though she could barely feel her fingers. Her arms were numb. Her whole body felt drained, like her energy had been sucked out while she was unconscious.
"This isn’t right..."
And then she rembered the strange beast tide.
She gasped as the realization dawned on her.
Before she was knocked out, the system had told her the beast tide wasn’t a big issue. According to its predictions, the number of beasts would be manageable. A small battle. So injuries, maybe, but nothing serious.
It had even said there would be no major casualties.
So why?
Why had the attack been so massive?
Why were there beasts everywhere?
She rembered what little she had seen before collapsing. The sky was dark. The roars were endless. The air had trembled. The number of beasts had far exceeded any normal tide. It wasn’t just an increase. It was a flood.
"Sothing’s wrong..." she whispered, eyes narrowing.
The system had been confident. But this beast tide—it wasn’t the one they expected. It couldn’t be. The predicted number had been under a thousand. But from what she had seen before losing consciousness, there were tens of thousands. They ca from every direction—east, west, north, south. The walls were crawling with them.
Her hands trembled again, not from pain, but from fear.
"Who... could’ve changed the tide?"
It wasn’t natural. This kind of tide—so large, so coordinated—it had to be orchestrated.
Soone had done this.
Soone had triggered the attack.
And whoever it was... had also taken her.
Suddenly, a cold thought entered her mind.
What about the base?
She froze.
The people. The residents. The guards and her peoples.
Were they still alive?
Had they survived?
Or had the walls fallen while she was locked in this strange room, powerless?
A horrible ache tightened in her chest. Guilt. Fear. Helplessness.
She had built that place with her own hands. She had promised to protect it. Her friends were there. Her people had trusted her.
And now?
She was gone.
And they were fighting alone.
"No..." she whispered, her voice cracking. "Please... don’t let them fall."
Tears burned at the corners of her eyes. Not from the pain. Not from the restraints.
But from the terrifying thought that maybe—just maybe—they had already lost. That maybe her disappearance had caused everything to collapse.
She bit her lip hard, trying to stop the sob forming in her throat. She had to be strong. She couldn’t fall apart now. Soone had done this to her for a reason. She needed to understand. She needed to get out.
"I need to go back," she muttered. "I have to go back..."
But no matter how many tis she struggled, the chair didn’t move.
The walls didn’t respond.
And the silence remained.
Her head throbbed again, and slowly her strength gave out. Her vision blurred once more. Her body slumped slightly in the chair, but her heart still burned.
Even if she was trapped—She would find a way out. Because her people were waiting.
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