After his consciousness recovered from chaos, Shade felt as though he had slept for a very long time, to the extent that he had forgotten the passage of time. His cheek was pressed against the cold floor, and when he tried to brace himself and crawl up, he felt aching pain throughout his body.
Only when he opened his closed eyes did he feel the swelling in them. As he looked around, the blur before his eyes lasted at least three seconds before clearing. Fortunately, as he stood up, the discomfort throughout his body quickly faded. When he reached up to touch the two bloody snakebite wounds on his shoulder and neck, he found that the wounds had vanished.
He casually tossed the black [Destruction] Bent Arc into the Fate Manual, then looked around again. This was clearly not the sea surface outside the docks of the City of Time Wheels. It seemed to be the corridor of some manor.
The corridor lights were off. One side held a row of windows, with the curtains on either side left open, while expensive-looking antique oil paintings hung on the walls between them. The other side held tightly shut wooden doors, each bearing an exquisite gilded plaque. Yet Shade did not even need Thaumaturgy to sense that there were no living people behind any of them.
Moonlight shone into the corridor through the windows. The silent stillness reminded Shade of Night Manor, where he had first encountered the God of Vampires.
But he quickly recognized the scenery of the manor grounds outside the window. This was Aurora Manor in Coldwater Port. He remembered this place deeply, after all, it was his only mailing address in this Northern Cities city.
"How did I end up here? What is going on now?"
Only then