Rift Walkers

Hysteria

(Third person for the rest of the story)

    Joel's eyes wake in the empty shell of a building. The room shakes lightly as his eyes rupture awake. The rooms chill sends shivers across his spine, causing him to shoot up at his whereabouts. The room is unfamiliar, hard to recognize in the night by which he is captivated by.
    His eyelashes are crusted from the slumber he had just awoken from. The chill of the room sets in but not as intense as his original state, out there, in Elemental like a rotting corpse.

His eyes fixate on the darkness of the room, trying to adjust. His breathing is unsteady, flicking his eyes to every corner for possible danger.The earth symbol upon his shoulder had slightly eased on the pain, tingling as he touches it with his rough finger tips. He sucks in the air as the pain fires up again. The radiation of the pain spreads all across his face, the nose region thumping with his heart beat. He holds it momentarily before moving himself off the bed.

This room is empty, only having the mattress on the floor. He sits on the edge of the bed, the mattress adjacent to the window that shines subtle light. 
He hadn't registered that the light wasn't the sun, it was electricity. Even after all that happened, they prosper with electricity in every apartment.
Joel moves himself to view the scenery, only to be met with tall buildings across and around his. They are all apartments.

Joel finds himself exhaling roughly upon the sight. The heat in the apartment was just enough to keep him warm, even if the chill of the carpet had made his shoulders jump with every movement.

He touches his hair, running his hand through it as he looks down to himself.

The placement of where that necklace had gotten him is surprising. He laughs lightly at how far he's come in this barely civilized world.
"Ow." He vocalized as the air he exhales from the chuckles had caused pain within his nasal cavity.

"You're awake." A familiar but quieter voice rang from behind him.
Joel spins around immediately, meeting the face of Morana. Her features blend in with her surroundings, shaded by the night.

"Uh, yeah." He responded lightly. He is here because of her, he recalls, she's the one that wished for Atlas to stop. "Thank you." Joel chokes.

"What for?" Morana now closes the door behind her, standing within his space. Her voice is sweet, like she's talking to a feral child.

"Stopping him... from killing me."

"HA!" Her sudden burst had made Joel jump farther than he had when the cold wrapped around his already exposed nerves.

"In this place, Atlas doesn't know shit. All he knows is talk. Without it, he's weak. Don't worry." Morana rests her back against the door now.

"Why are you here?" Joel touches the reams of his shirt, playing with it.

"Just to fill you in on your new position in this city, even for where you stand with all four commanders." She began and started to walk towards him, accompanying him at the window.
"Just for being a trespasser, you are already disliked."

Joel looks to his feet. He felt a part of himself bubble up, to argue with her on why he's even here. He was so lucky with his position after all, he is forced to be here. Awoken in the most unfortunate of places. But he held back. The need to speak up was held back by the remembrance of Faye, the way she held back the knowledge of her ability to tell Noel her ability. How he got here is only his business not anyone else's.