Shadows

'So comfortable…' was his first thought after gaining awareness of the surroundings. Feeling utterly content and pleased with this newfound comfort, he rolled around a few times in childish delight; if he could, he would've purred like a cat. Hmmmm… What's a purring cat? Something edible?

He rolled around a few more times trying to remember where he heard of this thing called a purring cat when he started to feel slightly uncomfortable.

'Forget it! Who would care about that– whatever it was!'

But then…

'Where am I? How did I get here?'

He thought harder on this when another more urgent and important problem cropped up– sooo, who was he anyway?

'...'

Wait! Why- why can't he remember who he was? What happened?

Not just who he was, he apparently can't remember anything at all!!!?

He thought hard and long on this with not just a little bit of agitation– and that was when it started; a feeling of discomfit followed by quite a lot of pain. And this agony seemed to be forcing him to stop- stop thinking about his identity.

But, how can he just give up on thinking about that ah! If he gave up, wouldn't– wouldn't that make him into someone without a self? He didn't want that!

This struggle between him and that annoying pain went on for who knows how long, and just when he was beginning to feel like he couldn't take it anymore and was gradually starting to lose his senses, he heard a sound. Or felt it was more like it– now don't go asking him how he felt a sound because he also doesn't know. But, after this weird sound/feeling, he remembered!

He was…Yang Jingshen. And, Yang Jingshen was... From then on, the rest was a blank and when he tried to think further, that pain that had ceased for a moment came rolling back like a tidal wave, nearly smothering him in its wake.

And, Yang Jingshen quickly stopped trying to remember and decided to stay still, too afraid to think of even a single thing, much less wonder about who he could have been.

'So scary ah!' Q^Q

The previous warmth slowly returned, but it took him a lot longer to get over the scare; the pain was too intense and scarring, and felt like it came from the very depths of his soul. So, it was after quite some time has passed that he realized something else– something he has neglected amidst the withering pain. He seemed to be a lot more… clear-headed!?

Admittedly, when Yang Jingshen first came to himself, he had felt quite comfy and pleasant, but as for his awareness? Uh-huh… Not so much. Only now that he was feeling much more lucid did he realize how muddle-headed he had been earlier.

Apparently, the pain seemed to have done him at least one good, despite his lost memory not showing signs of returning any time soon. But with this newfound clarity came doubt and fear.

The reason for his suspicions was that, by now, Yang Jingshen has realized the peculiarity of his situation. No physical body -not one that he's aware of- and no memory except for that of his name and some bits and pieces of information here and there -that of course were not about himself- and no idea about what this place was either.

Most importantly, the shadows! The humongous shadows seemed to cover his perception; sometimes they were moving around but at other times, they would be motionless.

He had been aware of them since earlier, but had been feeling too weak and dazed to form an analytical thought process to study what they were.

And, now that his mind was clearer, Yang Jingshen had this vague suspicion that they were observing him. And not just observing, but assessing, analyzing, and drawing conclusions. And, he… didn't like it!

Sure, the shadows didn't feel threatening to him -not yet anyway-, despite the terrible power that he could feel they were harnessing. But their gazes -or whatever it was- felt intrusive.

'Could it be– I was a very withdrawn person before?' Someone who disliked others ogling him? Or, was he a person who was very suspicious by nature?

Yang Jingshen was still trying to get a clear picture of what kind of person/creature he had been when he suddenly felt it. It was a barely-there sensation, gone in a moment, but the air seemed to grow stagnant and a dreadful power erupted before flashing out of existence.

And, without a doubt, he knew that the shadows were aware… they were aware of the fact that he knew that they were observing him! And they didn't like it! Or… did they?

Yang Jingshen didn't find the answer to this question because he felt a blanket of darkness covering his mind and restraining it within its folds.

And, 'I don't want to die again!' was his last despairing thought before completely succumbing to its hold.

***

The smell was the first thing that invaded his consciousness; it gave a slightly bitter and astringent feel and definitely smelt like how a mixer of antiseptics and sanitizers would do, with a touch of an artificial fragrance from cleaning liquids.

'Hmmm?'

Then came the sound. It wasn't obvious at first -not to his still groggy mind anyway- but there it was; a monotonous 'beep' that incessantly rang in his ears.

'A hospital?'  Yang Jingshen thought while blearily opening his eyes, and after blinking a few times to get rid of the discomfit caused by the sudden glare of light, he was confronted with the sight of a pale ceiling over him.

Really a hospital– but why was he in a hospital anyway? What could've happ-

'Oh, that…' Apparently, even after that heavy decoration fell on top of him, he seemed to have survived. Looks like he was stronger than he thought himself to be. But, come to think of it, was there anything remotely surprising about that?

After all, Yang Jingshen had always been strong and in top shape despite his hectic schedule and there's probably no single actor in their circle who could rival him in this aspect ah! Only he could survive this kind of accident.

'Not that I'm bragging– but who told me to be this excellent?'  ≥∇≤

By the way, except for opening his eyes and blinking, why does it seem like he can't even speak– ah no, he finally managed to open his mouth and maneuver his tongue enough to lick his dry lips.

He was wondering if he should try and start moving his head and see how it goes when he heard the sound of a door opening followed by a set of rushed footsteps and then a flurry of activities. Looks like the medical staff had arrived after realizing he had woken up.

Yang Jingshen stopped trying to experiment on whether the other faculties of his body were in functioning order and settled on listening to the voices around him; not that he understood much of what was being said. But then, who would? Medical language is like– you know, Greek! At least that had always been the case for him.

'All in all, the docs are here and they'd handle the rest. I only need to wait patiently until I can properly move my body before getting a rough idea of the extent of the damage.'

To be honest, he hadn't been blessed with a lot of good fortune in his life, but no one could say he was unlucky either. His fate had this weird sort of balance between luck and ill luck, and Yang Jingshen kind of liked it that way. And this time too, he was sure it would be the same.

Probably a broken bone or two, but that would be the extent of it. It had always been the case so he wasn't too bothered.

So, our hero relaxed and started to wait patiently. He waited while a doctor shone a light into his eyes and then checked his hearing, and waited again until the relevant organs were proclaimed to be working properly.

And then, after another round of discussion -during which he felt himself growing a tad bit more impatient-, Yang Jingshen still decided to wait while the doctors and nurses did this and that and finally even croaked out his name after being asked for it.

His reply was followed by a moment of deafening silence which was then followed by another bout of hurried discussion among the people present inside the room.

But, by now, Yang Jingshen was too immersed in his newest worry to pay attention to his surrounding.

Why? Why was it that after waiting patiently for this long, he can't feel a thing below his neck? Sure, he could've sworn before that he felt a tingle shot up where it could've been his arm, but now he wasn't as sure about that. Panic clouded his mind while a monitor in the background started to beep loudly.

'No! It can't be– not that, right?'