The Zodiac Empire

Chapter 13 - Humility

"Wait a sec-!" Naito exclaimed, but the mist around him faded away and he began to sink underground as if he were being hauled down by a thousand invisible hands. He screamed and grasped at thin air as he was dragged further and further beneath the surface.

"Hey, calm down."

Naito jolted up and was met face to face with a woman in a white nurse coat. He was on a bed in a white room. A TV hung from the wall in front of him, above a table decorated with vases of roses. To his left was a window, and outside it he could see snow on the ground, evidence that he really wasn't conscious that whole time. He looked down at himself and saw that he was dressed in a white gown, rather than his own clothes.

"How are you feeling?" the nurse asked.

"I'm fine. How did I get here?"

"You were rescued by the firefighters. They found you unconscious inside, but you seem to be just fine. No burns or anything." she said. Naito let out a sigh of relief. If the firefighters had got him out in time, they must have saved the girl's mother too. "You have some visitors waiting to see you. Is it alright if I let them in?"

"Must be my sisters. Please, let me see them."

The nurse opened the door, but whoever was on the other side must not have been the visitors the nurse was expecting, "Your mother is in the other room, dear." Naito couldn't hear what the visitor said, but he felt that strange resonance again, and already knew who it was. "Alright, you can come in." the nurse fully opened the door, and the girl from earlier walked in. "I'll be back in a bit." the nurse walked out and shut the door.

"Hello..." the girl said a bit shyly, pulling a chair from the table besides his bed and sitting down.

"Hi." Naito replied, wondering where Alsen and Cosena where.

"Uhm, my name is Makayla...Kayla for short." she offered him her hand, which he shook.

"I'm Naito."

"Naito? That's a nice name." Kayla looked down and kicked her feet as she spoke, "Thank you for trying to save my mom...that was really brave of you."

"I couldn't save her though, it's the firefighters you should be thanking, not me." Naito felt a little disappointed that he failed, but he was relieved that her mother was saved regardless. "How is your mother anyway?" he asked.

Kayla glanced off to the side."She's...uhm, not good. The doctor says she's in a coma."

"A coma?" Naito gasped. Kayla's mother was unconscious when he found her, but he thought she had simply passed out from the heat, or all the smoke, or something! "I'm so sorry...if I had got her out of there, maybe..."

"No, it's not your fault." Kayla shook her head. "The fire isn't what put her into a coma. She had a panic attack. Nothing you could do about that." she said. Naito was left speechless. "Can I ask you something?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you try to save her?"

"It's simple. I know the pain of living without a mother, so I could only imagine what you must have felt, imagining your mother trapped in there all alone. I couldn't let someone else suffer like that." Naito explained.

"You don't have a mom?"

"She was murdered while I was a baby." Naito gripped his necklace, trying to remain calm while talking about such an emotional topic.

"Oh...I'm sorry, that's really sad..."

"It's alright...there's always someone out there who has it worse."