Chapter 2: Memories

‘So. Close. Yet. So. Far.’

I hear the familiar voice inside my mind. I have no idea what has happened.

I died.

Simple as that. No question about it. I died in the arms of the one I loved most. Hopefully she was able to move on and live a happy life…

Holy S***, that is way too depressing for me. But…

I died.

I can’t move my body, not even my eyes.

Even though I cannot move, I still have full awareness. A woman in a tight white clothing with white gloves forces my eyelids open and shines a light in every now and then.

She smiles every time my eyes are forced open. She says something different every time.

“Wonderful weather today, eh Mr. Ryu?”

Ryu? Is that my name? What a strange name. What even was my name?

I lightly laugh inside my head. I was called supreme emperor for so long that I do not even remember the name that my parents had given to me.

Oh yeah, my name was Ryusei.

It seems close enough.

… What seems like another day passes. No control over any of my body still.

I wonder what I look like. All I’ve seen for a while now is the white ceiling and the woman who stands above me to shine a light in my eyes.

Her hair is jet black, with almost a green metallic luster to it. Her eyes are pale blue. Her eyelashes are abnormally long. Some sort of mutation? Anyways, her lips are always a bright red color. Her chest… well… my wife’s were larger.

“By tomorrow the anesthetic will wear off and you should be move again. Isn’t that wonderful Mr. Ryu?”

Oh, indeed it is… but what is an-es-te-tick?

Whatever. I will be able to do things on my own.

The odd bodily function is a little… yeah. Anyways…

FREEDOM!

… I regain most basic movements… but when I try to speak all that comes out is a rasping sound.

I go into a coughing fit as I sit up, and the woman rushes in to help. She hands me a clear container full of a grayish liquid, “Drink this quickly.” She had no sign of panic in her voice. She sits down comfortably beside me.

I do as she says while spitting out some due to the coughing.

I stop coughing after a few more seconds. My throat feels incredibly warm.

The woman smiles cheerfully, “It seems like you are now able to move around a bit. Can you try saying your name?”

“R…….” and I cough.

She sighs and shakes her head, “Still can’t talk yet eh?” She stands up and turns towards me, “Let me introduce myself. My name is Chelsie, and I am the nurse in charge of your recovery.”

I nod as she grabs my left hand and gently shakes it.

She smiles as she lays me back down from sitting position, “Please relax. I’m going to ask you a couple of questions, just nod yes or no to them. Do you know why you are here?”

I shake my head. Where even is this?

She sits on a chair beside the white bed I was laying in, “You have this look on that says ‘I don’t even know where I am.’ Am I right?” I nod slowly and she sighs, but she continues anyways, “We are currently in the northwest of the state of Montana. We are in the city of Verandus.”

I nod slowly. I have no idea where I am.

She laughs, “Of course you don’t know where this is.” Chelsie smiles gently, “Now let me tell you why you are here.” She closes her eyes gently as if trying to remember the whole story. “From the report that I was given on the accident it seems as if you were hit by… something… and fifty percent of your internal organs were damaged beyond repair. Kidney, small intestine, colon, liver, and your stomach were crushed to the point they didn’t exist anymore. You also lost you right arm from just above the elbow down.”

I look to my right. Where my right hand should have been there was empty space. I laugh slightly. Great! I am sent to a new world, but what I get is an incredibly weak body missing its f*****g right arm! I was right handed!

Chelsie tilts her head, “Why are you laughing about this?” There is a very serious expression on her face.

I shake my head quickly and frown.

She shakes her head slowly, “Whatever. Must just be how you cope with it. Let me continue.” She takes a deep breath. “You were immediately taken to a hospital… but you were pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.” She smiles slightly, “You were ‘Dead’ for several hours. After which, you were secretly taken to this city, which is ‘off the map’.”

I nod slowly, not understanding half of the content that was being told to me.

Chelsie continues, “The doctors here were shocked to see that you were breathing when you arrived.” She lightly hits her own head as she remembers something, “I almost forgot. Tomorrow, you are being transferred back to the hospital in the city you were injured in. If anyone asks, you were recovering in that hospital.” She coughs twice to clear her throat, and continues yet again, “Anyways, the doctors here saw that you were breathing and were able to replace the damaged organs with artificial ones. You should be able to survive for at least three years with the artificial organs.”

I make a shocked expression. I only get at least three years!? Some rebirth this is! Kill me now! It’ll be faster!

Chelsie pats my head, “Now, now. No need to be so shocked. You should know something relating to this already.” She stands up while smiling and walks out of the room while saying, “See you again.”

Even as the door closes I continue to stare at the door that Chelsie left from. Not a single light was shining in my eyes, if you didn’t see that I was breathing you would think that I was dead.

So… what now?

I am missing my right arm from the elbow, I have at least three years to live, and an incredibly frail body.

Could there be a worse rebirth? I think a newborn child is in better condition than this body!

I’d actually prefer to have been reborn into a newborn because then I’d have an excuse for not knowing anything about where I am, or really who I am.

I smile after a long time. I have to reach the ninth realm as soon as possible.

I remember a skill that I learned when I had reached the ninth realm, [Regrowth]. This wonderful skill allows a person to regenerate internal organs… dammit! I have nothing to completely fix my arm!

I sink back into despair. What a lovely time to be alive!!!

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Okay, I just need to calm down and think about what to do from here on out.

I sigh deeply. I just need to pretend that I don’t remember who I am and maybe that will solve things. Well, it won’t really be pretending. I got no information from this body.

No information? I’ll just gather it myself then. Meditation. Let’s see what element this body uses.

As the supreme emperor, of course I was able to learn of almost all the methods of meditation.

Meditation consisted of two categories: Heaven and Earth. The heaven is for mages, and the Earth category is for fighters. Most meditation methods were divided by element also. Red, Blue, Yellow, Brown and Green. These corresponded with the five elements. Red is fire, blue is water, yellow is wind, brown is earth, and green is lightning. Meditation methods were plentiful, however, not all of them are good. Some methods will let you quickly rise in the realms, but would be weaker than others at the same realm because the foundation is not as solid, as not as much time was spent on the basics.

Some methods allow you to be incomparable to those in the same realm as you. However, it would take ten times longer than average to raise in rank using your own power. The only downside is a hundred years would pass and you would still not be higher than the sixth realm.

Then there were the average methods that would place you somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. You would have an average training speed, with average strength. Nothing special.

Then there are special methods. These methods are superior no matter how you look at them.

But the requirements are fierce.

Some require you to already be at a certain realm.

Some require a specific element.

Some require you to go through tremendous pain that would make you wish you were no longer living.

Some even seem ‘sentient’ because if you do not seem ‘great’ enough, you will be killed on the spot.

I know three of these special methods. Two fall under the intense pain category, then there is the method I used before I died.

The method I use can’t be used. Well, not by normal people. It absorbs the power of the heaven and earth together. If a normal person were to practice this method, they would die instantly.

The requirements were crazy for the method.

Second realm, without using any other method. Then after the first minute of practice, enough pain to cause a person to faint immediately, but you are forced to stay conscious.

If a person manages to do all that. Then they can practice this method.

This method can take a person from the second realm to the ninth realm in ten years…

Not fast enough. I need to be in the ninth realm in three years if I don’t want to die.

Whatever, I’ll worry about that later, I need to find out what element affinity this body has.

First things first. Mage or Fighter?

I close my eyes and start to breathe deeply. I feel for the energy floating through the air. If it’s heaven power, I am a mage. If it is the power of earth, I am a fighter. If neither, I’m a piece of trash. If both, I’ll be the same as I was before I died.

Focusing for three minutes, I started to feel the power of heaven, so I was about to decide I was a mage… when the power of the earth followed up with its appearance.

I smiled with my eyes closed.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, “I’m coming in.” It was Chelsie’s voice.

She smiled as she walked in the room. I quickly opened my eyes, dropping my concentration on the power of heaven and earth. I smile at her and tilt my head a bit, as if to ask her why she was here again.

She pulls out a board with a few sheets of paper on it, “I have to give you this for now just to make sure that you are well enough to be returned to the regular hospital.”

I nod as I accept the board. She hands me a small writing device I presume.

She smiles again, “Please do not hesitate to start while I’m still here.”

I nod as I look at the sheet of paper. S***, I have no idea what these characters are.

I thought I would be fine because I could understand what she was saying. I have no idea what these characters are.

Chelsie smiles and sits down in the chair, “What’s wrong Mr. Ryu?”

I point at the characters and tilt my head, my throat still to raw to speak.

She smiles yet again, “Oh, you can’t read this.” She has an evil look in her eyes, “Good thing we brought you here.”

I weakly smile.

Chelsie shakes her head lightly, “Welcome to another world. The trip must have been tough… hmm… let’s see. You should have been roughly fifty to sixty in the other world.”

My eyes open wide and my mouth opens a little.

Chelsie just continues to smile, “Seems like I was right. Let’s see, it’s been about five hundred years since I was there, so I’ll do some light trivia.” She claps her hands together, “The twelfth generation fighter emperor, do you know who that is?”

I nod slowly, even while confused about how she was alive after five centuries. Hmm, it seems there have been ten more emperors since her time.

She laughs lightly, “I was his head ‘Battle’ maid.”

So that’s where the battle maids came from! Also, super light trivia too!

She pats my head, and hands me two pills, a red one and a blue one. “Take both these pills, you should regain that body’s memories when you wake up. That’s the red pill, the blue one puts you to sleep within thirty seconds of ingestion. Normally, you’d get your memories back after a month or so, but we were told to hurry things along.”

Chelsie leaves the room as she sets a glass of water on the table beside the bed.

I smile with dead eyes. I’m so confused.

I look at the colorful pills in my hand. Normally you get one or the other in this kind of situation.

I grab for the glass of water… but a stump floats in the corner of my vision…

Oh yeah.

(Author Note: Verandus is not a real city in Montana. Please do not try to find it on a map. But if you are curious where this place would be on a map. [47.844189, -113.335092] Copy and paste those coordinates into google maps)

I wake up with my head hurting more than anything I’ve ever experienced.

If it was a scale of a small muscle cramp to death… this pain was meticulous torture.

I held my head using my left hand and massaged my left temple to try and ease the pain.

Information quickly enters into my head from an unknown location.

It was the life of this body.

This body was seventeen years old.

He was a below average kid with no peculiar hobbies.

He had interest in things like novels, oh man is it a lot of information on novels. I’ll ignore it for now, there’s no way this stuff will be useful.

He went to school with just above failing grades. He studied as hard as he could but could not seem to remember anything… as if something was occupying his mind already.

He was incredibly weak, he could only lift fifty pounds without injuring himself. He could run for ten seconds before running out of breath. It didn’t seem to bother him, it was as if he was holding back.

This body was teased by his peers, but he seemed to never take it to heart, as if he knew that it would change soon.

His parents left him alone since he was twelve. He wasn’t bothered, as if they would be back soon.

Emotionless.

This is one word to describe it all. This body had no feeling… it was numb.

My jaw hangs open slightly, “What a troubling way of life.”

My own voice surprises me, it is the voice of my current body.

I sigh and continue to go through the memories.

This body had one friend that he talked to. It was a short girl named ‘Claire’. She had blonde hair and was only five feet tall despite being seventeen. She had hazel colored eyes and was short tempered when it involved anything with himself. I sigh lightly, no matter how one looked at it, this ‘Claire’ was in love with the person whose body I now own.

This is troubling. Until I get to the ninth realm, I do not have any time to be in a relationship.

Should I reject her?

Nodding slightly I continue upon my search.

The written language of this world is needlessly complicated. So many rules that are only followed half of the time… why don’t they use an easier system with set rules?

I sigh once again. Then there was the ‘internet’… I’m done already… I should clear my browser history when I get back to my living space though.

What else is there to know… basic history of the world, I have a bad feeling about this so I’ll just skim it. Also cooking and cleaning skills… navigation… locations of various places… food storage… technology……… my god this world is so needlessly complicated.

I look around the room, there was nothing but me, a bed and the window.

I slowly stand up using my left hand to steady myself.

The room was about ten by sixteen feet. The window was on the opposite side of the room from the bed and the door was on the wall to the left of the window. Everything in the room was white.

After a lot of stumbling from weak legs that barely worked, I made it too the window.

The sky was a dark red… sunset? No, Sunrise?

No… This red was almost the color of blood, too unnatural for a sky color… there was nothing in this body’s memories about this kind of thing! This is like something from a ‘Fantasy’ novel!

Outside was a grassy courtyard devoid of all life except for the grass and a single tree. It had a bark that shone a golden color. Its leaves were blue with a metallic red luster.

A soft knock comes from the door, “Are you awake yet?” It was Chelsie’s voice

While leaning on the windowsill, I reply, “Yeah.”

Chelsie enters the room, “We are going to move you to the Hospital in a place you should be able to recognize.”

I smile lightly, “Thank you Ms. Chelsie. I have a question for you.”

She nods, “Of course you can ask… also, please return to bed for now, and you should not really be able to move considering how weak that body was before the accident.”

I slowly stumble with Chelsie’s help back to the bed, “Thank you”

She smiles, “Not a problem, it’s my job after all.”

I take a deep breath, “As you know, you being a cultivator yourself… of the lightning type nonetheless, should know the importance of your dominant arm. Is there any way I could have a temporary prosthetic made?”

Chelsie frowns slightly, “Well, it is possible… but why do you say temporary… and how could you know the element I train?”

I tilt my head, “Isn’t it common knowledge that when someone reaches the fifth realm their hair gets a metallic luster with color corresponding to the element they use in their hair? I have no way at the moment to tell if you were a fighter or a mage however. Regarding the temporary arm… I have methods to make a replacement that will move almost identical to the real thing… I hope.” The method was just a basic manipulation of energy that relied on knowledge of internal power to manipulate joints on an object. It was the same concept used by practitioners that used snake swords.

She scratches her head, “Well, that is in fact common knowledge, but the way you said that lets me believe you have a method to tell if someone is a fighter or a mage just by looking at them? Also, creating something like that would be an artifact, no?”

I laugh slightly, “It’s more an educated guess than anything else, but a method nonetheless. Regarding the arm, just imagine the concept of a snake sword… I think it should be simple.”

She laughs wryly, “Well, that being that. I can have a temporary arm to you by the time you arrive at the regular hospital… however, for security reasons, you will be put to sleep so that you do not know the location of this facility.”

I shrug my shoulders, “That sounds fair enough. So when do I leave?”

She pulls out three green pills, “Right now. These wonderful pills will allow you to sleep for a specified amount of time. You will wake up in the hospital on a bed similar to this one like you never moved.”

I frown, “That sounds like a dangerous pill rather than a wonderful one.”

She shrugs her shoulders and sets the pills in my left hand, “To each their own.”

I grab for the water on the side table…

I did it again.

Chelsie giggles.