Ronken's fists unclenched and slowly he lowered his arms to his side. He was scared shitless right now, and the woman's crystals weren't helping. But she [i]did[/i] save his life. And- wait hold up. He almost died. He was right on death's door. If it weren't for some crazy magic mumbo jumbo, he'd be dead. And what had he had to show for his life? He was a junkie who managed to win an above average number of bar fights. Goody. 

Come to think of it, as he was slipping away into sleep, that last sleep, he wasn't sure if he saw... [i]anything[/i]. Shouldn't he have seen [b][i]something![/i][/b] Didn't those 'Fathers' and 'Sisters' in their churches always preach about some peachy afterlife? What happened to that!? Ronken was no religious man by any stretch. But on his darkest nights when all he had was a bottle and his own thoughts, the idea of heaven comforted him. That comfort was no more. 

His conversation, his newly healed body, the burning buildings and screams of friends, all of it was pushed away as the world closed in. His breath quickened to the point of hyperventilation, he wrapped himself in his arms, and backed himself into the corner of the alley. 

So what if Switch had saved him? The whole city was burning. And as she has so [i]eloquently[/i] said, everything was poisoned. No food, no water. Even if he was able to make it out alive, he didn't know how to survive! He didn't know anyone that had ever been outside! He didn't know anything about the wilderness. 

He would die. Again. And for good. And there would be no heaven, no afterlife, no reincarnation. He would die, and his corpse would rot. Maggots would eat his bowels, the birds would pluck his eyes, worms would burrow into his stomach. But first he was gonna throw up.

As he hunched over about to heave from panic, his eyes spotted a pair of hands. His hands. After so many years of fighting the skin on them was nothing but scars and calluses. But now, after the magic, it was like he was in someone else's body. He was looking at new, fresh hands. No scars, no calluses. There wasn't even grime nor blood under his fingernails. And the gash he had gotten from the monsters, gone without a trace. Smooth as the day of his first fight. And his arms. Some of the harder stuff he used had given him serious track marks and, again, gone. Scars where he had been stabbed and cut in fights, gone. It was all gone.

No. No he can't lose it, not now. He's survived this long, put off that endless sleep this long, he can go longer. He got a second chance, something no one, [i]no one[/i], had ever given him. So the city was on fire, [b][i]who gives a shit?[/i][/b] He was Ronken Vusettan! World renowned brawler, beguiler of women, master of beer, and occasional user of drugs! This city threw its worst at him every day and he survived and thrived. Today it just upped the ante. He would not die, and he would [i]not[/i] throw up!

Ronkens straightened himself and looked back to Switch. She was talking to him. He had missed some of what she was saying but he caught her  say, [i]"It's slowing down the spread of the Crystalline. Don't take it off."[/i] He didn't know what that meant, but he would ask once he was safe. So, not now. [i]"You're Welcome"[/i]

"I'm sorry." He said. "Thank you. Truly." Those words may have been the sincerest thing Ronken had ever said. He meant it. Though he was pushing thoughts of afterlife from his mind, he was still aware that were it not for her he would be dead. No one in this city would of even tried to save his life. Except her apparently. Words didn't really do justice how he felt.

[i]"There's stuff that people like us are pretty good at. You can say we walk the edge between dreams and reality. I brought you back 'cause I think you're capable of a lot more than you like to let on."[/i]

"I'm not gonna pretend to know what all that means." He said. Looking past her shoulder for danger. "But if it means you'll get me out of all this-" He gestured out to the the burning city. "Then yeah, I'm in."

She offered him a cigarette, and he took one with a grateful nod. He waited for her to light it when he remembered. "Shit!" He muttered. "That person, that I was supposed to get the letter to. They're in danger. Like, more danger than we are. Arrow-y type danger."