Immortal

Immortal - Chapter Three

Chapter Three:

The Undying Will

            Edward survived, so did Mark. Both of them lost parts of their body, with Edward losing his hands and Mark losing his whole body. They will delve deeper into the secrets of magic and the mysterious Gates of Truth. What is the Gate’s function? Who is this mysterious man who guards the Gates? But before all of this, Edward needed to get new hands, and he knew exactly where to find them…

            Edward awoke, with immense pain coming from his arms. Blood was gushing out from the place where his hands once were. He felt like he already lost gallons of blood. He would not let it stop him from doing what he wanted to do, find out anything about how to revive his family or find out about the Gates of Truth’ meaning.

            He limped toward his neighbor’s house. The blood still would not stop flowing. He was barely a step from the door when the door suddenly opened. An elderly man looked at him with horror.

            “My goodness! What has happened to you?” exclaimed the old man, “Come inside quickly, before you lose consciousness.”

            Edward went inside the house, leaving a blood trail behind him. “Grandpa,” he said, “Transplant me with your hand-made prosthetic hands!”

            The old man was astonished. “What has gotten into you? Not even adults could bear the pain my operations give,” he said, “How could you, Edward, brave your way out of this?”

            “I must finish my goals,” said Edward, “Without hands, I will not be able to do necromancy, I will be useless.”

            “If you say so,” said the Grandpa, “Amalia, get my toolbox! Your friend Edward wants to get prosthetic limbs.”

            A young woman, the same age as Edward, went into the room. “Here it is, grandpa,” she said, “And to you, Edward, what have you gotten yourself into again? Last time you went here, you were crying after getting beaten up by our other neighbor.”

            “Hush! Do not disturb me while I perform the operation. If I fail to connect one of the wires to his nerves, his whole nervous system might shut down!” screamed the grandpa, extreme anxiousness being heard in his voice.

            Grandpa started the operation. He heated the wound so that it would get cauterized, then grabbed the prosthetic hand. He reopened the wound, enough to reach the layer where nerves could be seen, and attached the wires to the nerves. Edward was silent. He bore the pain, the extreme pain. For six hours or something, the operation continued on. Edward remained silent. He did not utter a single sound.

            Behind the curtains, Amalia wondered what was happening. She had been friends with Edward and his brothers ever since childhood. She was born as the only child of a family of mechanics. She had always loved tinkering with stuff in her grandfather’s laboratory. Right now, she was thinking whether her grandfather’s prototype prosthetic hands would work.

            Another six hours passed. Grandpa went out of the operation room, hands bloodied and smelling like a corpse. At his back was Edward, lying in bed, unconscious but alive. Grandpa smiled at his granddaughter.

            “It was a success,” he said, “Let him rest for a few hours and he’ll be able to use his new hands.”

            Amalia and her grandfather were both happy at the fact. Her grandfather had finally made a working prosthetic hand. Right at their back, Edward opened his eyes, still full of determination.

            Edward quickly rose up from the bed. “Pardon me, Grandpa, but I must now leave,” he said, with burning desire in his eyes, “I must finish the goals I have set for myself.”

            “Stop there, you still haven’t fully recovered,” Grandpa said worriedly.

            “I won’t let anything stop me now. I need to bring my family back to life,” said Edward, right before he left the house, “And thank you, for giving me new hands, Grandpa.”

            He left the house extremely sure about what he would do next. He planned on joining the military, the only way he could be able to study about the things he needed to study.

            The military has the biggest library in the whole country, and if you could not find the book you needed in the library, it could possibly be gone forever. The reason why Edward wanted to go there was to know more about the Gates of Truth. It seemed like when he entered the Gates of Truth, a lot of knowledge went inside him. Aside from that, he gained a nice looking tattoo on his lower back. He wanted to know why he suddenly got it. If he could find a way to go back to the Gates, he might discover knowledge about how to revive his family.  Thus, Edward was highly determined to join the military, even though it would mean a life of servitude to the great country of Kriegsland.