I open my eyes, this action however is accompanied by an instant sensation of regret.

I'm... I'm alive right? Or else my head wouldn't be pounding this hard right now… Right?

I try to focus my vision, but the various shapes continue to evade being aligned together.

I try to push off my right arm to sit off the ground; however, I am met with… Nothing. Absolutely zero feedback on whether I actually moved my arm or not. I turn my head to the side and squint at my arm, trying to move it up and down with success, but despite seeing my arm move, I somehow could not feel it move. And also… Did my arm really look like this much of a twig before?

How long have I been out... I flail my other arm around trying to grab onto a counter of some sort, but accidentally knock something to the ground. I hear a hollow thunk sound; however, the sound was so distorted that it sounded like it was traveling underwater.

I let out a loud groan, half expecting my hearing to also be damaged alongside my vision.

I lean in, squinting at the object that dropped to the floor. I then reach down to the ground and try to feel its textures. I rub my fingers across the object, processing the identity of what it was… Ah, that’s what it is. I hold it against my face and sit up off the bed. My vision clears up, I could now hear some rustling from outside my room, after putting on my mask. I'm somewhat back to normal. Although...

I flex my arms and legs, I was using an insane amount of Anku just to sustain my normal state right now. There's no way I can fight or do anything meaningful. I sigh, then take off the mask in fear of potential side effects. I immediately lose all feeling in my right arm, my senses dull once more. I then put my mask back on, then I take it off, then on, then… continue to pointlessly repeat this process.

...God damn it! I slam my fist against my bed-frame as I gradually accept my current physical state. I hold my head down in despair; what was that entire last week for if I can't put any of that to use? I want to fight something! Yet I’m struggling with basic hand-eye coordination.

Hold on.

I look around my surroundings, where even am I? I hold up my right palm and stare at it. Even with the mask on I struggle to curdle the fingers on my right hand inwards, but the hole in my hand was gone. Am I in a hospital of some sort?

"Whoa! Who are you?" A man walks through the door unexpectedly, rearing away after seeing me in my mask.

"Ah this?" I place my palm on my mask. "Sorry for scaring you. This thing is just really important to me." I take off my mask and try to smile. I’m in a new environment again, this time I’m not going to panic.

"In any case, it's great that you've woken up; however, your body still needs to gradually recover." The man says.

"Are my injuries permanent?" I immediately ask first. I had a lot of questions, but this took first priority on my list.

The man's figure shifts around. I couldn't actually tell what emotions were running through his face like I normally would. With my current eyesight he just looked like a blob.

"At the very least... Part of your brain and nerves were damaged significantly, I don't know how you were even alive when you collapsed out there. It was like your entire body had shut down."

"What happened? How did it get damaged?"

"You lost so much blood that part of your brain wasn't getting enough oxygen anymore. In fact, most of your body wasn't getting enough oxygen, so it took almost a week of non-stop work to fix the damaged tissue."

I nod along to his explanation, not particularly understanding most of it.

"But I’m sorry, this isn’t my specialty. There may be others who understand neural injuries better than me, but they wouldn’t be in this town.”

"Can you recommend anyone to me?" I ask.

"Eh, I would go to Oliviand which is a large center for research into Sananku techniques. Hmm, there’s someone likely to know how to deal with the rest of your injuries. Dr. Huley, he’s a pretty big name among doctors like myself, much more skilled than I am. Although it would take a hefty sum of money for his time.”

I shrug the last part of his statement off. Money won't be an issue for someone like me.

"So you're a doctor too? Do you know who a mute woman named Torika is?" I ask. Curious if she had a reputation.

"No... Sorry to say that I'm unfamiliar with her, why? Is she—" The last part of his statement blurs together.

"...I'm sorry I couldn't hear that, could you repeat it?" I say, once again reminded of my impaired hearing.

"I said, is she also a doctor?" The man says.

"Yea, Uhhh... She's pretty skilled." I say plainly, I didn't actually know the extent of her ability as I didn't have anybody to compare her with.

"I see... Well, you stay here and continue resting alright? You lost a ton of body mass over the past two months, so you'll need to gradually—"

"Two months?!" I shout. What if Rudeus is already... I shake my head quickly before finishing that thought. I’m not responsible for him, there are no more ties between us anymore.

"To be honest, I'm surprised you woke up at all. Out of everyone I've ever treated who arrived from The Eye, you were by far in the worst shape." He puts his hand on my shoulder. "I don't know what your resolve for coming to The Eye was, but if it's urgent, you can leave right now. If it's not, you still need some time to recover."

I immediately think about Rudeus again, much to my chagrin. "No... I can stay for a while longer. Although, why are you doing this for me? Do I have to pay a price?"

"I mean, if you had some on you.” He gestures towards my pockets. “But I’m a doctor, which means saving lives above all else, including lining my pockets.”

"I see..." I then lay my head down back on the pillow. This was maybe the 6th or 7th time I've ever slept in a bed before.

I couldn’t help but laugh. Damn, I don’t know how people manage to get out of these things. I could lie in this fluffy heaven all day.

The doctor turns around and begins leaving the room. "What's your name?" I ask.

"Jarso." He leaves the room.

I look at my right arm. Nerve damage huh? I wonder if Torika can fix it...

I roll myself out of bed; however, I immediately collapse as I try to put my weight on my two feet.

"Ah shit..." I brace myself against the side of the bed and pull myself up, then reach out for my mask and put it on once more, energy returning to my muscles.

I find a mirror in the room and take a look at the state of my body.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Jeez, maybe I will need to stay here for a little while longer." All my muscle mass had disappeared. It was like my skin had wrapped around my skeleton like a tight fitting shirt.

I take off my mask and promptly fall to the ground.

Ow ow... I think I bruised myself.

"Very nice, I didn't expect you to be able to recover this fast." Less than 2 days later, I was able to shakily walk on my two feet. I wobble across the floor, following the straight line he had drawn on the ground.

"And look at your muscles! They already have a little bit more volume!" Jarso exclaims.

I chuckle wearily. "Thanks, I've been told that I'm pretty good at adapting." And to be honest, I've been getting a little sick of it. Couldn't tell if any compliment was genuine or if they just wanted to use me at this point.

I take my walking stick and hobble over to my bed. "Is there any proper clothes I can wear? This gown is a little bit... embarrassing." The clothes I had worn since coming from Earth were nowhere to be seen, they were torn to shreds walking through the storm and then presumably discarded once I came here, ending the last connection I had to my old world.

"Why now? I mean I definitely can find some spare clothes for you but don't tell me..."

"Yea, I want to head outside for a bit, alone."

Jarso looks to the side. "I wouldn't recommend that but... I won't stop you."

"Thanks."

I button up a speckled tan tunic, with long loose fitting grey pants.

"Damn..." I mutter. "It's tragic how little civilization has progressed here. These clothes are so damn tight and scratchy." Although I didn't particularly care, losing out on modern comforts is going to be annoying.

Alright. Time to explore this new world. I put on my mask and push the door open. I need to establish a baseline with how long I can last with my mask anyways. I need to know if the continuous Anku use is going to reduce the amount of time I can keep my mask on. I measured exactly 6 hours and 23 minutes before I could visibly feel the side effects, with a recovery period of 2 hours.

I take a look at the sun, let's start with trying out two hours. I squint at the sun's position in the sky and visualize how far it would travel in two hours. Hold on, would the sun's position even be the same? This is a different world after all...

I vigorously shake my head. I'm spending too much time thinking about useless things, I tear my attention away from the sky and look at the bustling street, giving me a warm nostalgic feeling, like I was back in the streets of New York.

Seeing the same five faces over and over again definitely got a little bit tiring, although... I get a couple of strange looks as people stare at my face. Don't really like standing out like this.

I then begin walking with the crowd, holding my hands in my pocket. Ooh, what's that guy wearing? I sneakily reach out and slip off what was presumably a piece of jewelry from a man's finger. I get the familiar rush as I observe his reaction, seeing if I got away with it or not.

God I missed this so much.

"Hey you in the mask!" The man I stole from suddenly looks down and turns around. I immediately slink down and begin running. A massive smile creeping up behind my mask.

The ground here was made of dirt instead of pavement; the buildings were very flat, only two stories at the most; the air was clear, free of smog; the street was thin, just a single walkway, rather than bustling full with cars.

Yet, I was at home again.

I look over my shoulder. Oh damn, he’s a sprinter alright. Guess things can be somewhat different here.

Thirty minutes in: Six people report missing items to the guard. Four of them report seeing a masked boy whom they believe to be the culprit. Guards are on high alert.

First hour in: Three men are found beaten up in an alleyway. Guards are now actively searching for the culprit, description of the suspect is a figure with long hair, suspected to be female and wearing a pure white mask with lightly colored gray and tan clothing.

Two hours in: The suspect is spotted after deliberately taunting the guards; however, was soon lost after a short pursuit, the suspect has demonstrated Anku manipulation techniques. Now considered highly dangerous, reclassified as a male.

Shit, I'm a lot more exhausted than I should be, I plop down on a rooftop and stare at the sky, feeling the wind on my face. This place is fairly close to the rift, so the wind here is quite strong. Must be why the buildings here are so low as well.

I place my hand underneath my mask and rub a bruise on my cheek. I silently curse myself for somehow letting them get a hit. Apparently I had angered a small gang, when I stole a necklace from a random passerby. Then those idiots tracked me down and backed me into a random alleyway.

And to make things worse, I absolutely knew that punch was coming from a mile away! These guys were soooooo bad at varying their timings! Actually, they just weren't good fighters at all! I can't believe how limited I've become with these injuries...

I sigh.

Guess I should see what happens when I take off my mask now. I hook my finger underneath my mask then flick it off to an instant bout of sickness, I immediately roll over as I gag and try to hold my stomach inside my mouth. After about two minutes, the feelings dissipate and I go back to normal.

I lay on the ground, gasping for air with tears in my eyes.

Damn. The time limit also got shortened. I would normally feel a response like that after 10 hours.

I soon lose all feeling in my arm once more, weakness spreading through my muscles.

I reach into my pockets and dump all my loot into a nice and neat pile on the roof, leaving my mask in the pile as well. I then take off my shirt and roll my pants up to my knees, exposing my gaunt rib-bones and decrepit state, surely nobody would expect a person like me to be the culprit. Back in New York, changing my outfit to the "homeless guy look" was usually enough to get any pursuers off my trail. So I'm going to bet that it's going to be the same here.

Now let's see, I wonder if my walking stick is still in the place I left it...

I walk back to Dr. Jarso's office with my head held high. I turn plenty of heads as I walk through the streets, although many turn their heads back a few seconds later. It's a little embarrassing, but it's worked before so why would it stop working now?

"Hey! Make sure you're eating well alright? Those bones do not look healthy. I have some leftover food at my place if you want!" A random stranger calls out to me.

"I appreciate it, but don't worry about me! If we ever see each other again, you might be feeling jealous instead!” I cheekily reply.

Damn, it's a shame I can't even see who just said that to me though, it's not often people say or do stuff purely out of good will.

I continue walking back.

A couple of guards run past my line of vision, not even pausing to look at me as I walk through the streets. I wonder if they found the stash of valuables yet? I arrive at Jarso's office without any trouble, as I walk through the front door, the doctor looks at me questionably.

"Did you lose my shirt?" He asks. "And what happened to your face!?" His tone of voice suddenly speeds up as he sees my face.

I reach into my pants and take out the shirt which was wrapped around my leg. "Don't worry about it." I groan and ease my way back into bed. "This is just the type of person I am." I say to him in a purposefully vague manner.

Jarso continues to look at me suspiciously, but I simply ignore him. Whether or not he'll have the courage to audibly bring out his thoughts, I'm not going to help him with it.

Oh yea.

"Sorry, could you do me a favor and open the window for tonight?" I ask Jarso.

"Sure... Why though?"

"Just do it, it's something small anyways."

Later that night I hear a sharp noise as something flies through the windows and cracks across the ground. I slowly stagger out of bed and grab the object, brushing the dust off of it.

From experience, it was either this, or some stranger knocking on the front door. I tuck my mask away, next to my bed. Still, I wonder how the mask got back to me this time. Perhaps the guards accidentally dropped it or something? Then some kids picked it up and happened to accidentally throw it in this room? Maybe an animal picked it up? As always, this mask was able to mess with causality itself.

"Welcome home buddy."

One week passed, two, three, and by the end of the month all my old strength had returned to my muscles. I never actually properly worked out before, so I was actually a little bit more fit than when I started. Jarso was incredibly surprised by my progress, saying that he expected a minimum of a year for my muscles to rebuild. Despite it all, my senses were still fogged up, and my right arm was still completely useless without the mask.

Jarso then left me with a big backpack of spare food he said wouldn't spoil for a long time alongside a change of clothes. Really nice guy, I don’t know if I’ll ever have the chance, but someday I’d like to come back and repay him somehow.

Now.

I stare at the road ahead of me. I was wrapped around in a ragged piece of cloth, from fighting with Rudeus I realized just how useful flappy clothing could be in disorienting the enemy’s perspective… And… I recall all my memories fighting against Rudeus, his cloth fluttering against the wind whipping around all fast-like. It just looks pretty cool don’t it?

My mask rests on the side of my face, tied on by a rope, easily allowing me to flick my head and put it on at a moment’s notice, and this sword I stole from a rich looking dude on the way out of the city. I pat the side of my scabbard. Still, don’t really know if I’m going to use this very much.

Well, I guess I’ll find out someday. I begin walking down the dirt road.