The Demon Sword: Sorataki

Chapter 22: Disconnect

Spriiko woke out from his blackout to the constant but steady sound of beeping echoing around him. His eyelids squeezed tighter to the aching pain he felt when he attempted to move his body. Every joint in his frame clicked and rattled as if he just awoken from a long dirt nap.

Sensing his body parts in the black void he could note something cold stuck beside his left shoulder blade, a kind of numbness resonated round his left arm like a phantom. 

Trying to understand this sensation felt as baffling to him as remembering how he came to this predicament in the first place. Having enough of seeing the void of his eyelids he carefully opened them just after hearing footsteps coming towards him.

He was greeted by a nurse who immediately beams a pocket flashlight into his pulps. He was urged to keep them open as best he could which giving the nature of things pulled him into a sudden rush of shock.

Once she was done Spriiko repeatedly blinked the forming tears away from his eye-lids before trying to make sense of where he was. The nurse started throwing around medical jargon that was barely audible due to his diverted concentration. It was not long before he was caught up on his surroundings deeming them safe.

The constant beeping and smell of disinfectant were a dead giveaway. 

The nurse finalised her jargon with a layman conclusion.

"-In other words: if you don't push yourself too hard then you will make a full recovery rather quick," She smiled gracefully. 

However, her comment and smile were missed by Spriiko who was still somewhat spaced out. Seeing this the nurse eyes shifted from her workplace persona to a more personal, softer one of sorrow.

"May was here until an hour ago. I think she wanted to be around for when you wake up so-"

"May came to visit?" Spriiko responded a little surprised but it came out flat due to his sleepy vocals.

The nurse getting a response at last perked up.

"She's been visiting you nearly every day except for times where she's gone on missions. Nyumi visits too but since the operation a few days ago nobody's seen him."

Spriiko's tired eyes narrow to the last sentence. What operation? Was she really talking about him? He was coming to terms that he was badly hurt but he just could not imagen it was that bad surely. Things were moving too fast for him. Unaware of the effect of her words the nurse continued.

"When I saw him after the surgery he looked... different somehow. Dishevelled perhaps, like he was really worn-out." A woeful hum seeps out of her voice.

Spriiko wanting to make sense of it all clenches his eyes trying to summon his last memories but only to receive a haze of cryptic fragments and a splitting headache. With the monitor beats increasing to his pain the nurse hurries on over again advising him to take it slow.

"What happened to me?" he picked up after leaning off the bed and resting his hand on his forehead.

The nurse seemed perplexed by the question but seeing how straight-faced he was about it went on to answer his question.

"You were on a mission to retrieve the new host of the gatekeeper from the old eastern city," She started. "Needless to say, things got... out of ha-" she freezes seeing the cruel irony in her chosen words. "Things didn't go so smoothly."

Finding her use of words a bit off Spriiko glanced at her sideways. He remembers the mission briefing somewhat enough to not feel surprised by it.

"More scattered was having to fight and protect a city from a demon host?"