While Angelica and the others tried their best to save Zane from his injuries, and awaken him from the coma he lie in, Zane was trapped within his own mind. In fact, the moment he shut his eyes, thinking that the Horde King would inflict death upon him, he found himself in a dark and colorless world.
But more peculiar, Zane found himself lying in the lap of a woman. A woman whose face he could not see, as she was covered by a black cloak and a matching veil. Nor could he even see the woman's eyes as they were covered by her ragged hood.
Yet beneath the veil, Zane could see that the woman was smiling, as she brushed his black hair with her thin and dainty fingers. There was something deeply familiar about this woman, even if Zane had never met her before. It was simply something he knew on an instinctual level.
However, before he could question just who this woman was, or how he knew her, she spoke in a voice that he knew all too well. As it was the voice he had repeatedly heard throughout the past few weeks, warning him of danger around every corner, and compelling him to do things he would not otherwise do.
"My c- Friend.... Are you alright? You came awfully close to death just now..."
Zane tried to get a better look at the woman, but still her features eluded him. He was about to sit up when the woman pressed him back down into her lap with a single finger. Yet the power in this finger was immeasurable. No matter how hard he tried to resist it, she kept his head in her lap, smirking beneath her veil as she did so.
"Don't try to move so suddenly. You have suffered grievous injuries, and it would be unwise to stir in your state. Just relax, as I stated, I am a friend... If not for my guidance, you surely would have lost your life a dozen times over by now.
But more importantly, how are you feeling about Zane? Emotionally, I mean... Have your newfound powers been affecting your thoughts at all?"
Was there anything he wished to ask of her? Of course there was! Hell, there were a million questions floating in Zane's mind right now, but every attempt he had tried to give voice to them, they were suppressed by this woman and her seemingly overwhelming power.
But if there was one question Zane wanted to know an answer to, he supposed it would be that... Something he was quick to give voice to.
"Who are you? And why are you protecting me?"
Despite appearing as if she was willing to answer Zane's questions, the mysterious woman simply shook her head, and smiled beneath her veil and hood, once more refusing to elaborate, and responding only with a cryptic message.
"Now is not the time for you to know such things... Soon enough will meet again, and perhaps then you will be ready to know the truth. But for now, just know that I am a friend, one who will continue to look after you, and ensure your development in this brave new world. I am afraid our time has come to an end. This is goodbye Zane... For now."
After saying this, the woman leaned down, pulling her veil down just enough to reveal her lips, yet the upper half of her face was still shrouded by the hood of her long and weathered black cloak.
In the instant her luscious lips made contact with Zane's forehead, the man awoke to find his lips being kissed by none other than Angelica, terrifying him in a way which he had never felt before.
"What? What the hell is going on? Where am I? Why is Angelica kissing me?"
It took Zane several moments to recognize that he was in the real world once more, and no longer with the mysterious woman, one who felt deeply familiar to him. And when he finally realized this, Zane understood that he had awoken right into a catfight. One which he appeared responsible for.