The Consequences

I opened my eyes with pain only to experience more of it spreading from my head and my heart in all directions. It was horrible, within moments, my whole body was aching, I was unable to move, I saw only blackness for I was obviously blind, and I did not know where I was. You could easily see the resemblance between me and a blind, disoriented demon in sunlight. I could hear some whispers in my mind that felt very distant and remote. My voice wasn't there, I was completely mute. It was for the better, I think, because I would just have screamed anyway. The pain had now completely engulfed my being, it felt like my body had been dead and was now awakening. How ironic that it actually was the truth. I was writhing and shaking in my bed as sweat started pouring out of my skin in streams and flooded the sheets; it was literally a deluge produced by one body. At the same time I felt a deep disturbance inside my stomach and suddenly it began to convulse and spread and that made me feel terribly sick so I was soon forced to throw up. After that, the rest of my bodily fluids followed; they were being pumped out of me by the awakened metabolism of my corpse. I don't know how long it all lasted, but I do know that after it, I faded out, again.

The next time that I came about, the pain had finally started to wane and the feeling of my body was slowly coming back to me. I heard my master's voice, the first sound since my awakening and I couldn't help to notice how beautifully it resonated. I remembered that I have actually endured all that agony in total silence, I had been deaf as well as dumb and unable to see. Now, I could hear him mumbling something in a cheerful tone, but I was still not ready to hear well enough and understand what he was saying. My vision was coming back and I began moving my hands, checking if my fingers were still there. When some time had passed, I could feel my body again and see my surroundings. I saw that I was in a room, lying on a nice bed; it was probably a castle but one unfamiliar to me (at least from the inside of this room). I raised my head by almost a thumb-length to see master Nawor and another mage-like man standing beside him. Yes, it was definetely a mage, I could now see his pale blue eyes, color of the sky. They were radiating stronger than master Nawor's eyes which, of course, meant that he was more powerful. And that meant he was really, really powerful since Nawor was a magical monster himself. I couldn't speak yet but I mustered my strength to attempt a smile. It didn't work, but I felt better; the pain was gone, I could see and hear... wonderful! «I should appreciate these «skills» we take for granted much more», I thought to myself. My master opened his mouth and this time I could actually understand what he was saying to me:

«Welcome back to life, old friend. You know you have to rest now, but when you get better, and you will, I'll have a long story to tell.» and he smiled to his mage companion who said:

«Rightly so, my lad, you are still quite a young chap. Healthy as a tree and strong as a tree. Heheh! We'll be seeing you up and about in a swing of a canopy in a mid-summer's breeze. Hehey!» He definitely was a good-spirited character. They whispered a few more words between themselves which I couldn't hear and were off to attend to other matters, I suppose, and I fell asleep.