I can show you a whole new world of dazzling fires and rainy showdowns

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dedicated to TheSwiftieJiwi for a) her lovely banner, and b) her dedication and love and comments she has given to this story

Recap:

Previously, on I'll Protect You--Alec Darkwood turned out not to be a traitor, but a fight broke out between Abigail's side and Park's. With an injured Logan by her side, Park tries to escape the mansion to get him away when she discovers that someone has set the mansion on fire. After leaving Logan with Sevastian, a fellow Dragon, she runs back in to get everyone out. Unfortunately, Alec was left trapped in the mansion trying to help Six and Sophia out. Park runs back in to save his life, but just as they make it out, they encounter Marila and Abigail, and Marila aims a shot at Alec, but not before Park is able to push him out of the way and take the shot instead.

* * *

I hated alarm clocks.

If I could, I would gather all of the alarm clocks I could get my hands on into a huge pile before rolling over the annoying contraptions with a war tank.

A soft, mechanical noise beeped off to my side, causing a deep irritation to blossom in my chest. At first, it was quiet, but as the minutes passed, the alarm seemed to crescendo, pulsing and blaring in my ears.

Beep...beep...beep...

So help me--if someone doesn't shut that damn thing off, I will throw it out a window.

However, no one turned it off. The sound carried on consistently. My arms were three tons of lead, and no matter how much I struggled to move them, it seemed as though every bone and muscle in my body lacked strength.

Then, I realized two things.

1.) The beeping suddenly started to sound an awful like a heart monitor.
2.) Due to my fiery hatred for them, I didn't even own an alarm clock.

Slowly, I forced my eyes to open and met a blinding light. I winced and, for a few seconds, squinted my eyes back shut in response. After a few seconds, I opened them again, adapting to the brightness around me. My vision was slightly out of focus, and the ceiling above me spun while I steadied my head.

The room was sterile, impeccably clean of dust and dirt. Everything was white and a soft gold, the light dimming down to a sweet shade of yellow. The room lacked a strong smell, save for the aroma of black coffee that I realized, after looking over to the right, came from a paper cup.

I turned my head a little bit more, looking out through the stainless windows, with their blue curtains pulled back to reveal the night sky and the city lights twinkling like stars on the earth. Staring at the scene for a while had me recognizing the layout of the city, the monumental buildings that rose out to touch the clouds.

Home, I thought. How did I get to Cimeria? Last time I had been awake, I had been in...

Ireland. Easkey. With the rain coming down and a fire behind me. A startling pain began to throb in my head as flashes of the event came back to me. Logan's unconscious body was pressed against mine, his blood seeping onto my clothes. My heartbeat was pounding against my ribs, Sophia's face was splattered with blood. Flames roared in my ears as a building came crashing down around me, and suddenly I couldn't breathe.

Pain spread through me as I remembered Marila's gunshot piercing my side, a numbness tagging along with the memory. I sat up, groaning as my hand inched towards my side, stopping where it was most agonizing and I felt a sturdy cloth bandaged beneath the hospital clothes. My fingers clenched from the discomfort. An alarm cry escaped me and I held up the bandaged hand, remembering the cut that had deepened when I had lifted the beam off of Alec's leg.

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