Chapter 3

The two brute Shifters tossed Elijah onto the hard dirt floor of the thatched hut. They didn't even spare him a second glance before turning to leave.

Kaylee stood by the door, her face an emotionless mask, and waved them away dismissively.

The second the heavy wooden door clicked shut, the strength vanished from Kaylee's legs. She collapsed onto her knees in the dirt, gasping for air as if she had been holding her breath for an hour.

"Quest Complete," Alex's voice chimed in her head. "Soul-detonation successfully prevented. Reward: 100 Essence Points."

Kaylee stared at Elijah's ash-gray face. His chest was barely moving.

"What good are points? !" she screamed in her mind. "He's bleeding to death!"

"Host has unlocked the Nexus Dimensional Store," Alex replied, completely unbothered by her panic.

A virtual storefront, glowing with soft blue light, expanded in the air before her.

Kaylee's eyes darted across the holographic shelves. She saw broad-spectrum antibiotics, sterile surgical kits, and even modern firearms. But the prices were astronomical-thousands of Essence Points each.

She looked at her pathetic balance of 100 points. Despair clawed at her throat.

She frantically swiped down to the clearance section at the very bottom.

Quickly, she spent 50 points on a bottle of "Basic Hemostatic and Anti-inflammatory Powder," 40 points on a bundle of two clean, woven linen robes," and 10 points on a bar of "Lavender Essential Oil Soap.

The three items materialized out of thin air, dropping onto the rough stone table in the corner of the hut.

Kaylee grabbed the bottle of hemostatic powder and crawled over to Elijah. She reached out to pour it on his chest, but stopped.

His wounds were completely packed with black mud, dried blood, and filth from being dragged across the plaza. If she applied the medicine directly over the dirt, she would seal the bacteria inside. It would cause a massive, lethal infection.

Kaylee looked down at her own hands. Her fingernails were caked with black grime. The animal skin she wore smelled like rancid meat and old sweat.

If she touched his open wounds now, she would be the one to give him sepsis. In this primitive world, basic hygiene was the difference between life and death.

She had to decontaminate herself first.

Kaylee grabbed the lavender soap and walked over to a large stone vat in the corner of the room, which was filled with freezing, murky water.

She stripped off the foul-smelling animal skin, shivering as the cold air hit her bare skin.

She looked down into the water. Reflected on the surface was a face covered in soot and dirt, but beneath the grime, the bone structure was breathtakingly stunning.

Kaylee cupped the freezing water in her hands and splashed it onto her face, gasping at the shock of the cold. She rubbed the soap between her palms.

Thick, white lather formed instantly. The sharp, clean scent of lavender exploded into the air, aggressively pushing back the stench of rot and blood that filled the hut.

She scrubbed her skin raw, washing away the filth of the original owner. She washed her long black hair until the water ran clear.

When she finally pulled the soft, clean linen robe over her head, Kaylee felt like a human being again. The fabric was rough by modern standards, but compared to the rotting furs, it was heaven.

She ran her fingers through her wet hair, taking a deep, grounding breath.

"Elijah's vital signs are dropping," Alex warned.

Kaylee snapped back to reality. She looked at the stone vat. The water inside was now gray and soapy. She couldn't use it to clean his wounds.

She grabbed a chipped clay pot from the table. She had to go to the stream outside the settlement to get clean water.

Taking a deep breath to brace herself, Kaylee pushed open the wooden door and stepped outside.

It was late afternoon. The tribal Shifters were gathering in the open spaces, preparing to distribute the day's hunted meat.

Kaylee kept her head down, trying to make herself as small as possible as she walked quickly toward the sound of rushing water.

But she couldn't hide.

The powerful scent of lavender cut through the smell of raw meat and unwashed bodies like a knife. Every male Shifter in the vicinity stopped what they were doing.

Heads turned. Eyes widened.

Kaylee, scrubbed clean and wearing a strange, pristine white fabric, looked like a glowing goddess walking through a slum.

The low hum of male voices instantly died, replaced by a heavy, predatory silence.