She heard a groan before she realized it escaped her lips. Her body was tense, stiff and difficult to move. There was a stabbing sensation in her abdomen that cracked through her entire body like glass breaking into thousands of painful shards. It was a tangled web of torment that spread mercilessly, cutting deep like a thousand venomous spider bites inside her own stomach.
Each breath prompted a wave of agony that made her wince with each intake of air. The mere thought of movement sent ripples of protest through her muscles, sparking a pervasive burning sensation that wouldn't let up. The act of shifting even slightly seemed insurmountable, as if her body was in open rebellion against the very concept.
Painfully she opened her eyes and found an incomprehensible scene before her. Blurs of color sped through the air as she slowly regained her senses. The light hurt her eyes and she closed them in desperation, the subtle beeping of the heart monitor relaxed her a little. She breathed a little easier, aware of the morphine the nurse had told her she would get. Slowly her eyes opened and she could look around, Groaning at the painful effort.
She relaxed, safe in the hospital room. The sterile white of the hospital room calmed her down with the bright light that allowed her to see no sinister shadow shifting around her. Then her veins cracked once more. The glass tearing her from the inside. She closed her eyes as she began to scream internally.
Her consciousness flickered, the air was suddenly filled with a sharp smell of iron and ash. This surreal shift was abruptly cut short by the piercing beep of the EKG machine, dragging her back to the reality of the hospital. The pain eased. She breathed a sigh of relief. The breath painfully spitting at her side.
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She gained enough sanity to fume angrily. How could she be stabbed like that? It wasn't like she wasn’t going to give him the money. She… Money? What money, she was poor. There was nothing to her name, that’s why she trusted the stranger, that wizard. Was it trust or just simple desperation? In the end, all she craved was escape. To run from her family as they continued to drag her down. Of course she had to pay the price… but… no - her family was fine. Her father had even paid for her college, the sole reason she persevered despite her shortcomings.
Another groan, more like a sharp yell, slipped out as she involuntarily shifted, the pain rekindling, searing the memory afresh in her mind. Between her fluttering eyelids and disoriented state, she could only stare as a shadow examined her wound. Shadow? There was no shadow, the surgery room was flooded with bright light, and the green scrubs of the doctors were perfectly visible. A thought raced across her mind, ‘Am I supposed to be conscious for this?’ lost again in the next few seconds.
The words melted inside her mind as she felt a pull twisting deep inside her. This drew out a moment of realization, one should never be aware of what it felt like to feel their own insides. If only she hadn’t overslept, she wouldn’t have been late. But classes were getting harder. It was her mother's dream, not hers… that's why she had to keep going.
But her mother was dead, wasn't she? A long time ago… leaving her all alone with that… Yet… no, that's not right… is it?
She sank into a dark sea of confusion. Her senses numbed slowly as the world faded further and further away. The doctors seemed to be saying something but their words were muffled… distant. The operating room’s lights started to glow a little brighter… no… that wasn't light but a spell. A mage? Ah… she understood… she was being saved… with that realization, she relaxed. Finally aware she was still struggling to escape she allowed the warmth of her spell to lull her back into the bliss of unconsciousness.