Renaissance of Chaos

XII

The first thing he felt when he opened his eyes, was the strong, chemical scent which filled the room he was in. Then, it was the ache in his back, the tension in his muscles from lying on the cold, hard mattress for who knew how long. There was a strange, searing pain in the back of his neck, making it hard for him to focus on his surroundings. His right arm didn't fare any better, pins and needles running through every cell when he tried to lift it. Even moving a finger was out of question. When he looked at it, he noticed the perfusion attached to it and the bandages wrapped around them, their very sight of them making his head spin more than it already was.

He let himself crash back into the pillow, staring at the ceiling for a few seconds. He tried to regain his calm and go over what he had to do now that he was awake. Anything to distract himself from the fact that there might be, most likely there actually was, a needle in his arm.

First, he had to call the nurse and see how long he had been asleep. Then, he had to phone home and talk to the Pale King. and the others and let them know everything was alright. The human didn't even want to imagine what the Wyrm was going through at that moment. The Pale Light might look like a put-together being, but beneath the composed and regal façade was a man who constantly worried about everything going on around him. His foresight didn't make things any less stressful, as each time he saw something, it was always tragedy and sorrow, forcing him into a constant worked-up state. It made the man pity the monarch, and he didn't want to add more fuel to the fire.

When he finally felt like he could get up without his stomach's contents rushing to his mouth, he fumbled around for the button to call the nurse. He spat a curse after a few minutes in which every attempt was met with failure. Finally, he found it, and after pressing it, he began searching for his phone. Again, after a few minutes of fumbling around, he found it. The first thing he did after the screen flashed to life, was check the date and hour. Much to his relief, it was the same day, only five hours later. With the fear of having been gone for years out the window, he checked his messages, and his stomach sunk.

There was 1 missed call from Gertrude and a total of 17 messages, all from Alfred. He fought back chuckles as he read them, the werewolf jumping from one topic to another with a comical frenzy. One minute, he was asking about his condition, his niece, why he was taking so long at the hospital, then he went on about the bugs, about Queen Vespa, the fact that some of the insects almost burrowed themselves into Alfred's fluffy tail. James almost lost it when he reached the part where they had to ask the White Lady and Pale King to "fish" them out. He was about to reply when the door to the room opened and in came his sister, followed by another nurse.

"Hey James. How are you doing?" she asked, coming by his bedside, and examining his complexion.

"My head is spinning a little, but other than that, I'm fine." he said, mentioning nothing of the searing pain in the nape or the nausea caused by the thought of a needle in his arm.

A grown man in his early thirties still trembling before a needle. Now, wouldn't that make him the laughingstock of the village?

"Hm. I see. You fainted due to lack of rest and starvation. You must have been overworking yourself to the point you hadn't even eaten. I'm amazed you've been able to hold on so far in this condition." she continued, looking over his detail sheet. "If you can, I recommend you take at least one week off to recover."

He nodded along with each of her recommendations, but he already knew that it wouldn't be possible for him to relax, even if he were to take any time off. There were so many things he had to do, from running errands for his friends to tending to a bunch of restless bugs. About his eating habits, he couldn't deny that he wasn't the best at keeping up with his meals. Now that he thought about it, he didn't remember when the last time he ate something was. Perhaps, yesterday? When he had coffee with his brother?