A New Life in a Parallel World

Chapter 1, A New World

Rick did not know how long he had been drifting in and out of consciousness, for him, it is an eternity. Every time he would regain his consciousness, he would find himself in a different place, and surrounded by strangers, and the only thing that is constant on every event was the excruciating pain on his back that seems to stretch from his left shoulder blade and travels down to upper right hip. Aside from that he had some trouble breathing as each breath he took was labored and painful, especially around the left chest ribs. And every time he would move, the pain would drove him back to unconsciousness.

The first time he woke up, he was lying on some wooden floor, that much he remembers before he lost consciousness, and there were lots of men talking around him, and he felt the floor was moving as if they were traveling, and he remember smelling something pungent, animal odor but he really cannot remember, but what caught his attention was that aside from all the noise around him, he could not hear any familiar voice.

The second time he woke up, he finds himself lying on a straw bed and the smell of hay was strong, the pain was still there. He tried his best to move his head around, it was painful, but he did find himself inside a stone room, and he could hear voices talking outside of the room. After a while several people walks in and he could hear a female voice dominating the room along with a gaggle of other voices, mostly female and some male voice, and the next thing he remember was something was gently applied at his back, but despite that gentleness, the pain exploded and drove him back to darkness. He did not know how many times he woke up in that semi-lit stone room, but as always, whenever someone was going to tend to him, he would quickly lose consciousness.

Until finally, one morning he found himself lying on a linen covered straw bed, with the whiff of hay wafting around, along with something delicious, and staring at the wooden ceiling. The first thing he notice was the pain on his back, it was not as intense as he remembers it, and the pain on his chest has also gone down to just a twinge.

He tried to wiggle his feet, and to his delight, he could feel it moving. He then tried to move the fingers of his hand, this time, he was struggling but after a while he finally felt his fingers move, and he kept at it until he could clench his fist.

He smiled triumphantly at that, and then he decided to move his head around, slowly at first as his body seems to be resisting his will, even a slight movement was a struggle. He then closed his eyes as he willed himself to move, until after a few moments he could he feel his head turning. It was not painful, but his body seems to be resisting, and every movement seems a struggle. He does not know how long he was struggling but slowly his body resists him less and less that eventually after quite some time, he was able to move his head around freely.

As he opens his eyes again, he found himself staring at a wooden ceiling again, he slowly moves his head around and saw a small and unfamiliar wooden room, with a small table just beside the bed, and he could see a tray with a large cloth covering it, and the delicious smell was wafting from it.

That moment, he could feel his stomach grumbling and felt a sudden fang of hunger. Just like before, he tried to move his body to no effect, then he tried to force himself to move until he could feel the pain on his back growing.

With a sigh, he closes his eyes again and began to will his body to move. It was like he was fighting himself that he could practically feel every fiber of his muscle tensing with the effort, until finally he could feel his body nudge a bit. He groaned from the struggle, but eventually, bit by bit, his body began to move, first his arms, then his torso, followed by his hips and finally his legs.

Drawing a deep breath and with his eyes still close, he started to force his body to sit up, and like before he felt his body was resisting him that he struggled with every ounce of his strength, and he could feel a throbbing pain at his back from all the efforts he was doing. And like before, bit by bit, he slowly sat up as he used his hands and arms to support himself up, until finally he was sitting by the edge of his bed, while his hands held the edge of the bed tightly and barely keeping himself up.