Timeless Monarch: Astora

Chapter 5

Hiro awoke in an infirmary bed that he didn't recognize. His eyes are blinded by the darkness of this unfamiliar place, and he waits for his eyes to adjust. The process of gaining his vision was ridiculous. Ridiculous, like how ridiculous this bed felt. Sheets, who even makes sheets, you know? Who makes them? Maybe people who want to hug me. Hiro thought about how otters hold hands in the water so they don't get lost. He liked that idea because that's how the bed made him feel. Hiro continued to think to himself.

This line of thought continued for about a minute. Hiro Telisommer slowly became aware of the fact that he had been sedated and bedridden. The mental gymnastics he proceeded to flip and walk himself through didn't solve his mystery any quicker. Hiro Telisommer still had the survival instincts to stay quiet, at least. Ascertain where and what situation he was in. No, Hiro started to sweat. He was remembering...

Trauma had a way of ruining highs of all kinds. The kinds of highs the rich relish and the poor only dream of. Sweet fogged clarity of a distorted self-perception. Hiro was a warrior with dulled senses; his greatest fears manifested. But not to cripple him, to sober him, create paranoid alertness to survive. His trauma manifested, and so did the Gray. He looked around the darkened room and tried to understand where he was, more than just knowing he was in an infirmary. There were other people in the infirmary as well. He just heard the moaning of the other people suffering or writhing in their beds.

Hiro looked to his right, saw another patient, and whispered to them. He figured whoever had put him here wasn't against him; otherwise, he'd be in a cell alone, much less comfortable. The person turned over in their bed, and he recognized her as Bira, one of his 5 commanders, his five fingers. Her missing right arm and bruised face made Hiro's heart sink.

"Oh, Bira." Hiro started to say, and tears fell from his face. "My Biro-Bira, no, no, no, no, no." Hiro was saying... he began to have tears fall from his face. His raspy voice was cracking from the realization of how injured she was. Bira's short tomboy haircut was slightly grown out, her black hair still oddly sexy. Her skin was C6924D in color, but the bruses and cuts to her face took some of her natural beauty away from her. No... it was the losses that sapped her of her enchanting appearance. The depressing pressure of the infirmary. Not the battle damage. The emotional sorrow in Hiro's atoms permeated the Gray itself.

Bira tried to calm him down by saying, "Hey now, Hiro. I missed you too. You were looking pretty delirious over there."

"Your arm." he started to say, but Bira's eyes were at the foot of his bed. They just stared there, and instinctively, Hiro looked down and noticed that his left leg was half as long as it should be. Hiro started to breathe erratically, and he had to remember the Gray, his trauma, and his training. Before he knew it, he could hear Bira saying, "Good job, Hiro, I know, I know it's tough. You're safe here; we took the entire compound; the planet is basically ours."

"That woman," Hiro said with a raspy disgust. It was like he didn't even hear or comprehend what she had said.

"The one with the Red Blazing Blade and big black hair?" Bira asked with a soft, textured voice. Bira's voice vibrated, mimicking how soft Sherpa felt to the touch. "She floated (Floated - a slang term... a way to say that someone has died) and maimed most of our teams. It was insane. The wealthiest man in the world bought a Ser-her-ney. (A Ser-her-ney is a monster from Gian Folklore, a monster paid by lords to collect the body parts and lives of people who owe a debt. They stalk through reflections and sometimes take the debtors into their mirror world to work as their slaves. The critical piece of information here is the contract to collect a debt by taking limbs.)

Bira looked away from Hiro and Stared at the ceiling, realizing she had just fought and lost to someone so skilled; Hiro, the man who had taken so much from Keegan, the wealthiest human in the universe, and yet, she just called her the equivalent of the boogeywoman. Bira sighed. "That is so fucking ridiculous..."