CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT DAYS LEFT BEFORE RARE CLASS CUTOFF DATE: (2/15)When Richard came to, it was lying atop a fluffy cloud, so unbelievably soft, that he honestly contemplated falling back asleep for several long seconds. Just closing his eyes, and drifting off to dreamland. Of course, that was when all his myriad aches and pains began to make themselves known in no uncertain terms. And after that, his memories of the last few… hours? …days? Began to resurface in full.For the briefest moment, he panicked. Tried to lurch from… wherever it was he now found himself. Paradise? Heaven?Why does it have to be so darn soft?! How am I supposed to save the world when I know comforts like this exist?! I’ll never get anything done, I tell you!Tried, and subsequently failed when a gentle but firm hand pressed him back into the waiting arms of nirvana. What could only be the embrace of Opon herself. Richard let out a soft groan of contentment.Well… if you insist.Except… Richard let out another groan. This one of resignation. No, he really shouldn’t. He had questions after all. Primarily, where exactly he was, how exactly he’d gotten here, and whether the kids were-The kids!This time, when Richard sprang to a sitting position, that firm hand from earlier was just the slightest bit too slow to react. His vision swam as a sudden feeling of vertigo overcame him. Those same hands reaching out to steady him before he fell. In a few seconds, however, the strange vertigo passed. It still left him feeling weirdly hollow and extremely weak, though it was nothing he couldn’t power through, he told himself.Only now did he finally get a good look at his surroundings, as (...)