"Kyo, Wait!" Anikyan yelled as quietly yet as forcefully as he could. Inside, he knew he was slowing them both down but he also knew that his friend would never leave him, so this decision was hard on both of them. "Go on ahead, I'll hide somewhere..." He explained, trailing off. His friend--his brother--did not say a word for what Anikyan believed was three blocks. Finally, he concluded that Anikyan should go to the underground city James had informed them of, and when things were safe, he would join him.

Without warning, Anikyan plummeted down to the sublevels of the town. He heard his friend shut the manhole opening above and that was it. All was silent, and as it had been for a long while, all was dark. Guided only by the walls around him, Anikyan felt his way until he heard people. One was kind enough to direct him to a bed, but nothing was exchanged between the two. Anikyan lived in silence for what he believed was two or three days after that...

Completely unaware of the real time, Anikyan sat up in his cot. It had been two weeks since he had underwent the surgery to remove his malfunctioning thought chip, and he felt that he could now remove the bandages which covered his eyes. He had been rendered blind after the operation, but was told his sight would return in two weeks time--now. Everything was blurry at first, and Anikyan thought he had not removed the whole bandage, but he felt that his eyes were open, and sure enough outlines began to appear around him. A relatively dark room with beds spaced out but no people.

Carefully, he touched the areas around his eyes and let his fingers move to the side of his head where the scar was healing. His hair was short for now, and the scar that reached from his temple to the back of his head was still rather pronounced. These were things Anikyan did not care about, though. He was glad he had his sight back. It was true that in the weeks where he experienced blindness that his other senses had become more intense, but sight was something no one could forfeit--not in this world; not at this time.

Straightening his long black formfitting jacket, Anikyan stood up and glanced about the empty room, identifying the exits. He checked his left side to ensure his scimitar was in the hilt (and that no one had stolen the scimitar and left a decoy) and checked himself over to make sure he looked well enough to travel. Without any more though, he left the room and began to acquaint himself with the area which surrounded what was the National Taiwan University and Hospital. It seemed so barren, but Anikyan knew there were other lurking about...