Mysterious return

The atmosphere turned deadly. A dark substance filled the whole room, overshadowing the white walls. At the moment, nothing could be seen. The sight was temporarily blinding like a switch had been turned off.

In a flash, the substance began condensing into a thin slimy line. The line stayed afloat a specific direction — the patient on the bed!

Slowly, the line began making its way into the patient's body. Through the chest, it dissipated. The scene was equivalent to a spear being forced into a person in a slow motion in attempt to cause a slow painful death.

Minutes passed.

The numb body showed a sign. A slight shake at first before a vigorous one began. It lasted a whole minute before stopping and the next minute, something happened.

He opened his eyes slowly. As he did, a glow emitted from them. The eyeballs were entirely darkened in the first five seconds but went back to the normal white balls and brown pupils.

His vision was blurry. He tried getting a hang of it but it seemingly adjusted as seconds passed.

Where was he now? He looked around to take a mental note. Plain white room, IV stand, electrocardiogram, smell of antiseptic, a bed with white sheet... this was undoubtedly a hospital!

'I am back!'

He lifted himself to sit upright. Something could be felt inside his nose, restraining him from breathing properly. He tried raising his arm to take off whatever it was and that was when he realized something was also attached to his forearm.

His eyes landed on what it was. A drip inserted into his body. With his left hand, he tore the thing off forcefully. He proceeded to use his hand to take off the thing inserted into his nose, a nasal cannula. He took in a long drag of air through his nostrils as well as his mouth.

The sheet was taken off his body and he got his legs out of the bed to sit by the edge. Even though it has been long since his body was in motion, he still felt strong like it wasn't numb at all. An unexplainable energy could be felt within him and he seemed to like the feeling he was experiencing at the moment.

He had to look at his body again to confirm what he was thinking. He wasn't dreaming. He was truly back after many days. The earthly world probably might have been through a lot within the short period he was absent.

"How do you feel?"

He heard a voice from behind and he turned his head to look at whoever it was.

"I feel good, Rasmus," He revealed a sly smile as he replied. "I can't believe I'm back already,"

"In time, your soul will completely adjust to your body, making you capable of infusing the flow into your system." the being stated.

He nodded his head in understanding. "But, what are you doing here? What if someone comes in and sees you?"

"You should be more worried about if someone comes in and sees you..."

The opening of the door could suddenly be heard. He turned his gaze to the entrance and he could see a lady, dressed in a nurse's uniform, walk in with a tray in hand.

She had her face down as she walked in and by the time she looked up, the tray dropped from her hand resulting in a loud clattering noise. She impulsively shrieked in fright and landed on her butt to the floor. What was she seeing? Her whole body revealed how scared she was.

"S– s– sir..." she stuttered while unknowingly pointing a finger at the man sitting on the bed.

He turned to look at his companion standing behind him. "Why is she acting that way? Can she see you?" He asked.

"Of course, she can not..."

"Devi, what are you doing— Oh my goodness! Mr Ruben!"

By the door, a man with glasses, dressed in a white robe over a white shirt and black trouser, stood in awe as he stared him. The situation was beginning to get him annoyed.

"Is something wrong with me? Why are you both staring at me that way?" His expression suddenly turned cold as he asked both the surprised doctor and nurse.

The surprise on both the doctor's and nurse's face widened. Seeing him being able to sit by himself after being out of action for over two weeks now was shocking. But being able to talk clearly... that was more shocking.

"Yo– you are okay now, right?" the doctor inquired.

"Yes, I am. Get in touch with my family right now." He waved his hand to dismiss them.

"Sure thing, sir. I'll be back to check on you soon," the doctor replied. "Devi, get up..."

On hearing the doctor, the nurse quickly stood up on her feet, bent to pick up the items on the floor, and together they left the room.

He turned back to look at the being. "What's the first thing I need to do?"

"You need to begin the project as soon as possible. And you also have to ensure you find out who was reborn alongside..."

He stared in silence as he recollected the information he was given during his ascension stage...

_____________________

"There is one thing you need to know before you ascend back to earth," Rasmus had said.

"And what is that?" He asked.

"Someone else was reborn before you did..."

He went silent for a second as he contemplated on the info. "I don't understand."

"Do you remember when I told you that you missed the first twenty days of ascension and only completed twenty-nine, resulting in your soul being summoned here?"

He nodded his head in response. "Yes I do. What about it?"

"There was someone else who completed the whole forty-nine days beforehand. And you need to find out who it was when you get back,"

He confusingly stared at the being. "What has that got to do with me? And why don't you know about it? Aren't you supposed to know about everything?"

"The ascension of the person came from the original source..." The being stated.

His expression suddenly turned distant as he glared at the being. "And mine came from what?"

"We were misinformed. It took a long time before finding out that the ascension process had begun and this resulted into your late summoning."

Seeing there was a reasonable reason behind the situation, he became calm. "Why do I need to find this person out?" He inquired.

"You need to know the purpose behind the person's rebirth, to find out if he is a friend or foe."

"And when I find out, what do I need to do?"

"When that time actualizes, I will definitely inform you on what to do...."

_____________________

"I don't think I will be able to do it alone..." He stated. "I'll need your help in this."

Silence went through for some seconds before the being gave a reply.

"My help, you shall get."

.

Meanwhile, as the doctor and nurse left the room, the nurse suddenly spoke just before they got out of the unit.

"Doctor, I think there's something wrong with Mr Ruben,"

The doctor looked at her confusingly. "What do you mean? He's obviously fine from the look of things,"

She shook her head in disagreement. "No doctor. Before you arrived, he suddenly turned his head to the back and began talking to an unknown person. There was no one else in the room asides me and him at that time but it looked like someone was standing behind him."

The doctor suddenly stopped walking as he became more confused. "You sure you are not imagining things?"

"I'm perfectly sure of what I saw..."

"Hmph... that sounds familiar. It looks like a sign of slight mental imbalance, probably an early sign of dementia, but we can't be entirely certain. I'll do a check on him for any signs of such,"

"Okay, sir."

"Let's put that aside. I still need to inform his family about his surprising wake from the coma. To be honest, I really do not understand how he managed to pull through in a short time despite the glitches experienced in his system..."

They picked up the pace and continued heading out the unit.

"Should we call him lucky?" the nurse asked him.

"Lucky? That is an understatement. He should be called the most fortunate survivor on earth." The doctor gave a firm reply. "And If I find out there's nothing wrong with him after running a check and a full body scan, then he really deserves to be called that."