Awake

The first sensation I felt after I woke up was a shooting pain that arced from my eyes to the back of my neck. The room was lit only by a couple of candles, but even that soft glow seemed too bright for me to be able to keep my eyes open for more than a second. I groaned softly and tried to gather my thoughts into a coherent enough string to actually do something, but I stopped when I realized that there was someone, or something, laying next to me, holding my hand. I cracked my eyes open again, careful to squint against the candlelight, and saw the shape of a girl who I couldn’t recognize. She had long blonde hair and was dressed in a nurse’s uniform. Her breathing was steady and next to her head was a piece of paper that had my name on it.

What the hell is going on?

I tried to move my arm to shake her awake and realized that I was tied down. My arms were strapped to the bed at the elbow and wrist, and my legs were strapped in at the joints as well.

“The **** is this all about?”

I managed to mumble out the words, my head still groggy. I decided since I couldn’t move that I would try and get her attention with my voice. I cleared my throat loudly, twitching my fingers in her hand while I was at it, but there was no response.

“Hey… Lady…”

She shifted slightly at this, so I figured she had woken up partially.

“Nurse… Nurse… Nurse!”

She bolted awake when I raised my voice, looking around for a moment to find the source of the noise. At first, she didn’t realize it was me, as my eyes were still barely open.

“I’m awake. Can you untie me?”

The nurse stared at me, the confusion from earlier dissipating, getting replaced with something between fear and concern.

“Ren?”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Well, you’re awake at least.”

The nurse ignored my annoyance with being called Ren and instead started to look at the sheet of paper.

“Why the hell am I tied up?”

She looked at me again, the fear on her face returning for a second.

“Do you not remember?”

“Remember what?”

“When you were brought in for treatment you attempted to break away, shouting for your weapon and telling your friends that they weren’t real, that they were already dead. It took six silver cultivators to restrain you enough for the healer to apply an anesthetic and put you to sleep. It’s amazing you weren’t dead yourself with those injuries you had.”

She checked the sheet, listing off everything that was wrong with me.

“The back of your skull is broken, along with a fracture around your left eye. Your arm is as close to being broken as it can be without actually breaking, and that isn’t even counting all the bruises and cuts you have. You’re lucky to be alive.”

I muttered something under my breath, careful to make sure she couldn’t hear.

“Wouldn’t be so sure about that…”

“In any case, Renmur, I’ll have to wait for the doctor to come back before I start untying you.”

“Ok, I get all of that, but why were you holding my hand?”

“You wouldn’t stop trying to get out of your restraints, even in your sleep, unless someone was holding onto you. I guess I fell asleep holding your hand.”

I paused, trying to process as much as I could. The pain in my head was starting to fade away, turning into more of a dull throb than like someone was shoving a pike through my skull. I opened my eyes a bit more, slowly letting them adjust to the light.

“Thank you errr…”

“My name is Lu Fei.”

“Thank you, nurse Lu.”

“You’re welcome.”

She smiled slightly at me and then turned to the curtain. A second later, a doctor in white robes opened them, his eyes taking stock of the nurse, and then me. He sighed and shook his head when he looked at the papers that he’d been handed.

“Renmur of the… Iron Wolf family? Is that right?”

“Yeah. That’s me.”

“Good, you can remember your name. Well, let me just tell you, you’re lucky to be alive right now. I’ve seen cases similar to yours among much more powerful warriors and they didn’t survive. So, do you mind telling me exactly how you ended up like this?”

His eyes regarded me coldly, and I could feel him trying to use a soul search to find my intentions. Luckily for me, the ability to block that sort of probing was a mental one, and not a physical one, which meant that when I’d come back to life, it had transferred back with me.

I’ll have to remember to find out exactly what came back with me, best case scenario I could get in a lot of trouble for doing something I shouldn’t be able to. Worst case scenario, I try using one of my demons and I raze the city.

“I don’t really remember much sir. I was in a back alley on the way to my dormitory with Ye Jin and Lei Yun, and next thing I knew, I was here.”

I’d already figured out by the fact that the doctor was trying to search me without asking that he wasn’t really interested in my side of the story. He was more interested to know about how much he’d have to cover up for Lei Yun and Ye Jin. What they’d done was a serious crime, but given their family backgrounds, it would be brushed off like a feather.

“Is that so? Well, in any case, there will be a small trial for you and the other boys involved, as not only did you fight, but someone was harmed using true soul essence, which is banned under sect rules.”

“OK. When is it?”

“The elders told me that they would start as soon as you woke up.”

“Have they?”

“Indeed. You have recovered from your injuries, for the most part, so I see no reason not to bring you before the Disciplinary Guild.”

I couldn’t stop myself from narrowing my eyes at this, and I saw the healer’s eyebrows raise at this. I knew he was making a mental note of that, but for the moment that was fine.

After a millennia of pain and hatred, there is nothing they can do to harm me. There are only things I can do to harm them.

I suppressed the wolfish smile that I knew was trying to form and hopped off the bed. There was a moment of dizziness as I stood up, but it quickly passed and I was ready to start getting clothed.

“Some privacy?”

“As you wish.”

The doctor ducked behind the curtains that secluded me from the rest of the hospital, and I started to change out of the tunic they provided me with. I shrugged on the clothes they had provided, which, on closer inspection was a set that I had kept in my room. I found some wrappings that were probably used as bandages and wrapped them around my fist and up half of my forearm. Finally, using a silver bowl as a mirror, I tied my hair back and walked out.

“That’s a rather dark outfit young man.”

“It was what was provided.”

Nurse Lu from earlier had returned, and when she saw me she also commented on my attire.

“Black and red do suit you quite well Renmur.”

I nodded at her, turned heel, and headed for the door to the outside, and beyond that, my trial.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***