Crow Blade - Chapter 0
He opened his eyes and saw a crimson sky. Around him, there was nothing other than the dry, deserted ground. He didn’t know what that place was, or how did he reach it. He tried to find the memories in his head, but he found nothing. He didn’t even remember his name. He tried to get up, l but his right arm failed to hold him: it slipped through the ground. He looked at it, and saw he didn’t have his arm anymore, only a shadow of it, a shadow with strange bones, and claws on his fingers. Using his left hand only, he managed to get on his knees. In front of him, there was a sword and a gauntlet.
The sword was long and wide, with some strange runes engraved on a golden decoration which ran through the middle of the blade and joined seamlessly with the handle. The gauntlet was like a bigger image of his shadowed arm, and when he looked at it, he felt the need to wear it. As an impulse, he used his right arm to grab it, and to his surprise, his right hand didn’t slip through it. Then he helped himself using his left hand to put the right one inside of that gauntlet. It fit perfectly, like if it was done specially for him. Then he tried to grab the sword with his left hand, but the moment his fingertips touched it, he got burned and had to take his hand away from it.
He knew what that meant: he had to use the right hand. The moment he grabbed the handle, a warm feeling went through the gauntlet into his arm, and ran up into his body. It made him feel good, as if it was what he was supposed to do.
Welcome, master. I have been waiting for you for so long…
- Who are you?
I am your sword and your life.
- I don’t understand…
You will.
Suddenly a strange pain filled his body. He wanted to cry, but his eyes were dry. He wanted to scream, but nothing came out of his mouth. His vision faded away and then everything was black.
Suddenly, he started to hear voices around him. He saw lights and shadows, people moving around him, giving orders. He felt the need to breath, he had to. He opened his eyes and his mouth and took in as much air as he could. He was confused.
When his eyes managed to focus, he saw he was in some hospital. He saw the typical lights of an operating room, and doctors around him.
- Can you hear me, sir?
He nodded.
- What’s your name?
- Jonas… Jonas Crow.
- Well, Mr. Crow. It’s a miracle, but it seems you are alive.
- What happened to me? I can’t seem to remember…
- We are not… entirely sure. The man who brought you here left as fast as he arrived. The only thing he said was “save him”. He seemed injured, but refused to stay. You had some really bad slashing wounds, like if you were attacked with some kind of sword. By the time you reached the operating room, your body was in shock and you had lost a lot of blood. We didn’t have too many hopes of being able to keep you alive. Actually… you did die, for a moment. The reanimation didn’t seem to work, but when we were almost giving up on you, you suddenly came back and woke up. And here you are…
- My arm… feels strange.
- It is indeed strange. It looks somewhat like if it was reattached, but it was already like that when you got here. You also have this strange scar in the back of your right hand, like a cross, or a sword…
- I can’t remember any of this… the last thing I remember is I was talking to a girl… I can’t remember who she was, or what did we talk about. But I don’t recall having a reattached arm or a scar in any of my hands.
- Well, you were in shock until recently. Your head might need some time to get back to working properly. You didn’t seem to have any damage in your head so don’t worry, you will remember at some point.
- Thanks.
- You are welcome. We need to finish fixing you, so you can just let your body rest for a while.
- I will… I feel sleepy anyway.
