Synthetic Intuition

Chapter 5 - The Awakening | Lazlo

A deep inhale of oxygen jumpstarted my mind, and a stroke of heat shot through my body as my neurological processes resumed function. My brain sparked to life and like a tangled mass of Christmas lights, my mental processes popped on one by one and with no logical order. 

I was alone in the dark, only aware of my mind, a vague tangle of neurological pathways that sat in the middle of an abyss.

I felt my finger twitch and a fuzzy feeling crept up to my head. A sudden wave of pressure traveled through my chest. It was the first heartbeat of what seemed like a new life. It felt like several minutes until my heart beat again, this time not as dramatically. Soon after that, my heart beat again and again, faster and faster every time. 

The continuous beating of my heart and warmth allowed me to finally comprehend and feel my torso. I concentrated on my arms and tried to shakily move them behind me in an attempt to push myself away from whatever was on my back.

I was overwhelmed by the acceleration that followed. like I was being thrown forward by a monster of a sort. A loud shattering noise reverberated through my ears and I felt another immense force, this time pushing me in the opposite direction. I felt a painful stinging sensation along multiple points across my body, most notably my face, my left shoulder, and my right thigh. I tried to make sense of my surroundings with my limited senses. A cold flat object lay across my entire body, or maybe my body rested on it? It remained difficult to comprehend my position in space relative to my senses.

I tried pushing on it, but every time I did my hands accelerated away from my torso no matter how hard I pushed. I was beginning to feel my legs and I thought that if I couldn't push on it I could try and roll over. I tried to twist my body to the left with as much effort as I could give, and I slowly and shakily managed to turn myself onto my back. 

Until now, the only sense I had been able to make sense of was touch and sound, but there was a familiar taste of iron that was becoming ever more present as my tongue thawed. It was the taste of blood. I shakily pulled my right hand towards my face and tried to feel for my mouth. I pulled my hand away from my face expecting to see scarlet liquid stained across my hand but I saw nothing. I was completely blind And it finally came to my attention. 

I tried to focus on the feeling in my eyes. My eyelids wher sealed together so I pulled my hands up to my face once again, trying to pry my eyelids open. I massaged and rubbed with cold brittle fingers for several minutes. Slowly, a slit of light began to grow in my right eye and spread to my left before I was overwhelmed by light. It was all coming from one direction. I was compelled to force my eyes shut once again, rolling over onto my side to avoid the light.

Slowly I opened my eyes again and was surprised to see an icy smooth reflection of my face on what I now realize was the floor. My face was pale, my eyes were dull and my messy dark brown hair appeared to be covered in a layer of frost. There was also a dark long red gash across my left cheek. I felt the wound with my hand and felt a smooth blade-sharp object that was jutting out of it. I looked down at my chest and saw that my entire body was covered in a layer of glittering frost and there were dozens of shards of glass littered around me. Further down I could see my legs. my thigh had an even larger crystal clear shard of glass jutting straight out of a red stain in my gray cargo pants.

I started to once again feel the wound on my face and tried to move and dislodge the piece of glass from my cheek, but then the sanest thought occurred to me and it seemed like the first thing I could recall from before I woke up from whatever situation I was currently in. "Don't remove the blade or the bleeding will get worse," a voice from inside my head said as I moved my hand away from my face.

I looked over my shoulder, squinting at the light behind me. My eyes had adjusted enough and I could now make out more detail through the light. The light seemed to be coming from two white strips on a wall behind me. I still had no idea where I was. As I began to comprehend and focus on the feeling of my body the pain in my wounds grew and so did my confusion.