Doctor Galina Zuyev was having a long day. Her shift had begun, as usual, that morning - but two of her colleagues who were on the next shift called in, there was a car accident and the flu was going around... She'd missed lunch, and by the time dinner would have rolled around she was exhausted.<br/><br/>So exhausted, she didn't register the odd sounds at first, the<span style="font-style: italic">whooshing</span>noises in the air. What she<span style="font-style: italic">did</span>notice, however, was the series of crashes and screams in the corridors of the hospital, next to the one she was in. Lina ran toward the sound, stopping dead to see the roof in pieces, the walls and floors now only rubble, fire beginning to lick its way up the remnants, people trapped beneath it all.<br/><br/>Instinct kicked in, and Lina began to pull anyone she could reach away from the spreading flames, desperately trying to save as many as she could before the flames could get too far. She didn't know that other corridors had been hit, other sections on fire, and had nowhere to go once it had surrounded her and the elderly man she'd been trying to rescue.  The smoke began to fill her lungs, and coughing, the edges of her vision grayed. The last thing she remembered was a pair of glowing eyes, a sense of safety, and then darkness.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">__________________________________________________________________________</div><br/><br/>She awoke outside of town, in a rocky cave. The air was clean, and she coughed a few times as she sat up, looking around in confusion. That dream she'd had, that strange place... She shook her head and tried to figure out where she was and how she had gotten there. She began to crawl out of the cave, but was met by a lean, glossy black form with touches of teal edging on her ridges, face, and tail.<br/><br/>"Aspir, where are we?" she asked, as if it were the most natural thing in the world. She paused, then. "Wait... how do I know your name? What happened?" Lina's eyes went wide, sitting down, stunned. The vision flooded back to her, suddenly cutting off the need for part of the explanation. Aspir padded into the cave, setting down a bottle of water before her. Lina wondered where she'd gotten it, but her mouth still tasted like smoke and ash, so she drank it down gratefully.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">We're just outside of your city,</span>Aspir told her, sitting down at the mouth of the cave.<span style="font-style: italic">I saw you trying to rescue your patients, and after I pulled you out, I continued to do so with as many as I could reach before the building was destroyed. I'm sorry, I did all I could.</span>Aspir's tone was filled with regret for the destruction that had accompanied her arrival. Lina wrapped her arms around Aspir and hugged her, before they made their way outside of the cave. Lina could see smoke rising from the town, craters nearby. "What do we do now?" she whispered.