Mark gradually wakes up in a strange place. His blurry vision and thoughts become more and more clear as he asks himself "Where am I?". Mark is placed uniformly on a bed in what looks like a building made of stone. Upon hearing movement and talking, two people rush inside the already small room to Mark"s surprise. "I know you", he says and then in a sudden fit of remembrance he exclaims "Vlad! Your name is Vlad!"Two very different expressions appear on the two men who entered the room. Vlad has a bemused expression because of Mark just now remembering his name and the other man who walked in had a much more anxious and serious expression on his face. Vlad smiles and grunts in affirmation of his name and how Mark is no longer unconscious and seems to be getting better. The other man then asks in a much more worried voice, "Are you okay Mark? You were hit in the head pretty badly… What else do you remember?". Mark"s smiling face turn into a somber visage of thought as he thinks about his current situation. "I wanted to become a doctor and we were going to enter Stone City and Vlad was telling me about it. Everything else after that is a blank…" The worried man then asks a question that he seems to place the utmost stress on, "Do you remember how you got your ne eye color? Did "someone" give them to you or did you have to commit some sort of act to get it?".
Mark almost froze in hesitation. His first thought was that someone knew about the effects of the pool already and thus his peculiar eye color. Mark"s eye slightly narrowed in suspicion as he replied, "I only remember waking up and having this eye color, I a.s.sumed that a bug or something bit me that gave me this eye color." The worried man"s expression gradually softened. That"s a relief, "We wondered if you had made some sort of contract or sacrifice to receive power. It is something that is very common in our holy text and that everyone needs to be aware of those who have given into temptations of the material world."
Mark then asks the most prominent question on his mind, "Who are you and what do you mean by we?" The man then smiles in reply to his question. "My name is Percy and I am the head pastor of the church of Time and Healing in Stone City. We are a group unaffected by things in the material world because we are all just dust in front of time and how also Time can heal wounds that no medicine can." Vlad looks at his talk of their ideals in exasperation and tells Mark that they were the ones who saved Mark and treated him after the incident. A red robed man who was a regular rank doctor and part of the Healer"s Guild wouldn"t treat Mark once he saw Mark"s eye color and called him Devil sp.a.w.n. The Healer"s Guild had a strict set of rules that made everyone around Mark helpless, the young lord Derek then suggested the church of Time as a next best subst.i.tute and prevented any reprisals from the Guild due to Mark"s unique circ.u.mstances.
Mark smiles at Derek"s kindness and says how he will have to pay Derek back later on. Percy then explains some worrying news to Mark. His injury seems to have affected him mentally somehow but they are not sure what the consequences will be. Percy also explains how Mark has been unconscious for two days now.
Mark"s eyes widen in shock and anxiousness at this revelation. Mark then realizes it has been a week now in game and it is due for him to exit the VR capsule. He replies his thanks to both Vlad and the pastor for their help and support, with Vlad nodding his head and grunting about going back to Brambleton soon.
The pastor and Vlad then leave the room as Mark finally has a chance to think about what happened. His thought quickly turn to anger when he thinks about the gate guard and what they said happened to him. His opinion of the Guild is also worsened but not to the same extent. The superst.i.tions of both village people and medieval society in his world in general make Mark let out a sigh of helplessness. "My most important thing to do right now is to check on my body outside and then come back and learn all I can about starting as a apprentice doctor here and learning the required information."
"With a determined look and a plan for the future Mark closes his eyes. The system AI then beeps that his maximum capsule time allotted has ended and he will now be sent out. The world around Mark fades to black and the surrounding sounds and smells fade to nothing as a strange transition occurs. After what seems like a few hours but is probably only a few minutes a loud beep startles him awake and Mark opens his eyes to bright florescent lighting.
A groggy Mark looks around at the familiar Testing room and its 3 VR capsule pods. The one that was occupied is no longer occupied with someone leaving a badge with the name "Olaf" on a hook next to the previously occupied VR capsule. As Mark leaves the pod he was placed in, A blue light starts flashing over his head and a very worried and uncharacteristically looking Carl rushes into the testing room. With a pensive and guilty expression that looks very weird on the normally confident and sneering visage of Carl he says a sentence with visible trepidation. "We have some bad news and worse news for you Mark, what would you like to hear first?"