Winter felt numb everywhere. His eye bags felt like a ton and all he could fathom was a rhythmic beeping sound echoing after his heartbeat. Trying to push through his current state, he gathered all his strength, just to cause a twitch in his pinky. Then, after a moment, he tried again, this time a few of his fingers twitched. Soon, the sound of his heartbeat became a bit clearer, his eyelids felt lighter. After an eternity, his appreciation of his own of his heartbeat was distracted when he heard an unfamiliar voice, "Dr Barne, the patient is showing signs of coming back to consciousness."
Two hours later, Winter finally managed to catch a glimpse of the world when he finally opened his eyes. "Oh, you're finally awake!" an unfamiliar woman cheered as she saw Winter's sapphire eyes peering through the tiny gap between his eyelids, clearly struggling to deal with the fatigue.
Winter looked at her, opened his mouth to say something, then only closing them again after realising that there was nothing to say. The woman looked at him and added, "When the paramedics arrived at the car accident, your legs were completed mangled and bones shattered and you were in a coma, however, within two weeks of coma, your body managed to fully heal your concussion and your legs, even your shattered bones. This is a miracle!"
'Could this be the result of that mysterious dream that I had?' Winter thought to himself.
Then, a voice echoed in his head, 'It's not a dream. And yes, you are alive and well as I promised.'
In a panic, Winter looked around him in confusion then asked, "WHERE ARE YOU?"
The nurse looked at him with a concerned look, "Well, it seems like you have only recovered from your physical state." the nurse sighed.
The voice echoed his head, 'They can't hear me, don't act like a fool.'
"Oh, sorry, I was meant to ask for where my parents were..." Winter tried to regain his composure.
The nurse look at him with a sense of relief, then her light smile faded away, "Oh, I'm sure they'll come pick you up soon."
"You've already said it's been two weeks, it seems like they won't be arriving." Winter said without a hint of emotion. "I'll go home now."
"But how can you leave like this?" the nurse questioned. "At least wait for a few more weeks."
"No need." Winter replied, this time, his voice was devoid of any warmth, if anything, it was fueled by a burning hatred.
The nurse shivered. 'The poor kid must be mistreated at home or something, considering how much he changed after mentioning about his family' the nurse thought.
"The doctor said you must stay for at least another week. No choices were offered." the nurse said.
Winter thought for a bit. Then, he just nodded and rested his head back on the bed.
'Now that I have a voice constantly murmuring in my head and a nurse forcing me to stay, how am I ever going to get back? How am I ever going to return back theirmisdeeds.' Winter sighed.
'Aren't you going to figure out how to take revenge in the first place?' the voice asked him.
'You can read my thoughts too? Honestly, why didn't I expect this?' Winter sighed again. The nurse beside dropped him a quick glance in confusion. Winter quickly noticed and acted with rationality.
'So who are you? And why are you in my head?'
'I am no one and I'm not in your head, I'm residing in your soul.'
'You know what. Just tell me what are you.'
'I'm a long forgotten blade wraith.'
'What exactly do you want from me?'
'I have told you my three conditions already.'
Winter sighed again in resignation as he acknowledged that this blade wraith is an individual that is very hard to communicate with. Noticing that Winter has sighed three times in the past two minutes, the nurse approached him and started a long interrogation on Winter and his family. Despite Winter's valiant effort to construct an illusion that he is loved, the nurse easily concluded that the truth is anything but that.
Two hours later, after the long interrogation, Winter idly stared at the roof and decided to initiate another attempt to start a conversation with the blade wraith.
'Hey Mr blade wraith, what is it that you can really give me in return of the three conditions? Just the revival and recovery?'
'I can provide you with a soulbound blade and my battle art.'
'What do I even do with them?'
This time the voice sounded different, as if the voice was emitted a hint of bloodlust. 'Murder'
Winter gasped, he knew that he would seek for vengeance, yet, he had no idea what madness he had invited in his soul, let alone the contract they signed. 'Well, technically, it was not signed so maybe I get somehow get away with it by politely asking him to leave his new home?'
'If one breaks their soul contract, their soul will forever perish, don't even think about it.'
'But you don't even have a soul, this is so unfair.'
'I do, in fact, this is what little remains of it.'
'What happened to the rest?'
There was no response. Winter was starting to worry. Whether he had crossed a line that shouldn't have been crossed.
'Perhaps it was rude to ask a armless man where his arm went...'
'I'm just not bothered to answer that question.' the voice was back, even if it sounded like it was experiencing a bit of irritation. Yet, it felt strangely reassuring to hearing this uncooperative blade's voice.
After time flew by, accompanied by the awkward silence, the shadows stretched longer, and the sky began to blush with the promise of dusk. The day slowly melted into gold as the sun drifted toward the horizon. And Winter was also overcame by his fatigue before succumbing to his dreams. However, what waited him in his dreams were a surprise, a pretty nasty one too.