Jack stirs in his sleep, his body feels confused, he feels confused. There is something missing, as if a chunk of his brain is gone, nothing there. He's conscious, but he's paralyzed. His eyes flutter violently underneath closed lids, his fingers twitch, as if reaching for something.
Red, Black, Purple. Spines, Eyes, Veins. A Flower, sitting idly in moss covered depths. An ancient building extending into the depths of the world, skulls watch from the shadows. A beating heart, running cold. Its all a splash of memories, before being drained away.
"Gah!"
Jack lunges up, the wooden bed he lays in groans, a stone ceiling fills his vision. He immediately clutches his head, colors and images swirling around in his thoughts. Like a dream, the more he tries to focus on it, the deeper the visions bury into his blank mind. He grits his teeth, frustrated. Emotions of anger and persistence shove their way in, Jack doesn't know where they come from, it frustrates him further. He leaps to his feet, completely engrossed in his adrenaline rush, his whole body convulses his vision blurry and sporadic.
He drops to his knees, before shouting out at the top of his lungs, straining his throat.
"NNNOOOOOO!"
His voice scrapes against his skull, he slams his fists into the ground, cracking the boards. Sweat beads from his head, his breaths are ragged and distorted. He stares down at his knees, wanting to scream again.
Calm down, you aren't in danger.
Jack begins to calm down, slowly panning his head up to observe his surroundings.
But, where am I?
...
What am I?
He looks down at himself, finding his entire body covered in bandages. He watches confused, glaring at his hands, chest, legs, feet. Small splotches of red bleed through the white straps, they look dry and old. He touches his face, finding patches attached everywhere. He looks over at the bed he slept in, its sheets disturbed and carrying a similar color of red dotting its outer sheets. A small nightstand rests next to the bed frame, an assortment of bottles and a bowl rest on its base, tattered and cut pieces of cloth hang dow its side. Now that he looks around, the entire room he finds himself in is full of tables and cabinets.
Potions and herbs everywhere, syringes, bottles, scalpels. He knows what they all are, despite him never having any recollection of every seeing such medical devices.
Wait, something is wrong.
Jack stands up, staggering around, finding a mirror.
Where are my memories?
A patch covered face stares at Jack through the mirror, his eyes look tired and shocked. He leans in, his mouth opening.
"Whose face is this?"
He can tell what his name is, what things are called, how to speak, how to walk. But nothing except for a murky sensation is left of his memories, its all gone. He cant tell how he got here, who he was before, who his friends and enemies are.
Jack twists his head around, observing his features in the mirror. Something catches his eye, off the the right corner of the mirror. He looks around, pinpointing the location of interest. On the other side of the bed he woke up on, a purple sword is rested againt the wall, its blade tip sticking a little ways into the board floor. He staggers over, something about the blade looks familiar to him.
He reaches his hand out, picking it up. It moves fluidly through the air, making an aquatic noise as it passes by his face.
A door swings open, someone steps into the room in a hurry. They run into the middle of the room, their, her voice sounds worried.
"Hey, are you oka-. Oh."
Abigail sits back, trying to relax. Her new blouse will take some getting used to, the old one is caked in her patient's blood. Her chair feels uncomfortable, her posture is uncomfortable. She feels way too tense, she was finally able to put her skills to use. She became a nurse to save lives, but the town she decided to live in is the farthest from any danger. Monsters of the night never get through their walls, they are never drawn into wars or conflicts with neighboring settlements. Until last night, the most severe wound she had to treat was when the local merchant cut one of his fingers off while trying to impress a potential buyer with throwing knives. That man Trevon tripped over and Abigail brought here was the most extreme case by a long shot, so many things were broken, She thought he was dead before she checked his pulse, people don't survive injuries like those.
When she got him into a bed, she did a full examination of him while cleaning and bandaging him with potion. It looked like he fell off a mountain, and hit every object on the way down. His body was also dotted with a bunch of small holes, looked like it was caused by something hot. Some of the holes went through the entire body, it was all so mind boggling. But despite it all, her patient was still breathing, so he could be saved.
Trevon has been doing his best to help her, but he still looks bummed out about last night. He now sits adjacent to Abigail, messing around with his seat. They worked with the wounded man all night, trying to stop the bleeding and set his bones straight. They are both exhausted, and Abigail is pretty sure she pulled a muscle trying to heave that cumbersome sword back to her office. But the man is in a stable condition, the healing potions she bought off of the merchant did well to heal up the skin. But the bones will take some more time to mend themselves, and those scorched holes will probably never leave.
Footsteps sound out to Abigail's left, she slowly pans her head to look.
"Morning nurse, why ya lookin so down?"
Abigail sighs, wanting nothing more than to have her bed back and get a good nights rest.
"Good morning Dolgen, Morning Bill."
The demolitionist slows to a stop stroking his red beard. The Tavern keep walks with him, his bushy eyebrows raise with curiosity.
"What seems to be the problem missy, you and your loved one looked tuckered out."
Abigail gives off a small smile.
"I finally have a patient."
Dolgen looks surprised, he leans in.
"Oh? Who's is it? Did Hanno finally snort his whole supply of dyes?"
Bill snorts a laugh, Trevon smacks his arm rest.
"Shut it baldie."
He turns his attention to Dolgen pointing a finger.
"And you, keep you wart covered nose out of this!"
Dolgen doesn't react to the insult, only letting out a small chuckle.
"Aw whats seems to be the problem? Nurse here cut yer fuse too short?"
Trevon rockets up, shoving his fatigue off.
"Short huh? Thats a lot coming from you."
Bill barks another laugh, finding all of this very amusing.
"Guys, stop being so childish." Abigail tries, but the two get in each other's faces.
Dolgen pops one of his knuckles, a shining smile breaks through his beard.
"I may come in a tight package, but at least I don't go walking around, cheating on me loved one."
Abigail stutters, this is news for her. Trevon's eyes widen, his jaw clenches.
"EXCUSE ME!?"
"NNNOOOOOO!"
Everyone stops, Abigail stands up, looking back toward her office. Maybe a second later, a loud bang resonates from behind her office walls, the cracking of wood rings through the air. Trevon looks over Abigail's shoulder.
"What the."
Abigail doesn't wait for whatever Trevon says next, she storms off, running for her office. Trevon reluctantly follows, Bill and Dolgen look at each other, before deciding to follow. Abigail runs to her front door, swinging it open.
"Hey, are you oka-. Oh"
She stops, taken back. Her patient stands perfectly still, standing upright as if nothing was wrong. He holds that crazy heavy sword in the air with one hand, observing its flawless edge. He looks much different from the bloody and beaten man she found last night, his body looks untouched, his legs mended and strong. The noise Abigail makes entering echoes through the room. The man perks up, before looking over at her. Abigail is stuck for a moment, letting the gears turn in her head.
"H-Hello."
She stands upright, loosening her grip on the doorknob.
"Are you feeling better?"
The man looks around the room, studying everything.
"Where am I?"
Abigail slowly walks into the room, Trevon gets to the doorway.
"Do you have a name?"
She doesn't know how to talk to this man, she was expecting him to be out for at least another week. The man places his sword on the ground, with the blade almost immediately gouging deeper into the wood. He turns to face her.
"My, name?"
Abigail nods, before tapping herself in the chest.
"My name, is Abigail, whats yours?"
The man reacts to the words she just said, he tenses up. But he quickly calms back down.
"My name is Jack."
"Okay Jack, do you know what happened to you?"
Jack shakes his head, Trevon slowly creeps into the room, Jack watches him with suspicious eyes.
"I don't remember anything before waking up in this room, I have no recollection of the events that got me here."
"Nice story." Trevon says flatly, Abigail signals him to shut it.
"Jack, Trevon over there and I found you badly wounded in the forest last night, with that sword resting next to you."
Jack looks over at the purple sword, before glancing down at his bandages. Bill and Dolgen get to the door way, from the noises outside, it sounds like other towns people came over to see what the ruckus is about.
"Wounded huh?"
Jack grips the bandages covering his chest, before violently ripping them off.