Awakening

Being deceased was a peculiar experience. It was tranquil, yet at the same time, it felt like an eternity.

There was no boredom, no eagerness to act, just a sense of being left alone. However, it wasn't as terrible as the feeling of betrayal.

As time elapsed, I could feel that I had a corporeal form. It took several years before I could establish a connection with it.

Then, after a few more years, I achieved partial compatibility with the body. I could comprehend its emotions - its love, hate, despair, and everything in between.

But suddenly, that connection stopped. It felt like the emotional state of the body I was experiencing had now died.

I gradually opened my eyes, and the first thing that struck me was a repugnant stench - a stench of death. As I attempted to move, I realized my limbs were not my own.

"Where am I?" I muttered, but my voice sounded different. It was an old man's voice.

I raised my body up and surveyed the room, trying to make sense of my surroundings. The room had an unfamiliar white theme, and there were metallic chambers and tools that I had never seen before, but I had heard of them.

They looked like some sort of apparatus primarily used for incising and suturing human flesh, but I couldn't comprehend their exact purpose.

Bewildered and disoriented, I noticed white beds and sheets, and my nostrils and ears were plugged with something strange.

I flexed my hands and examined the old man's body that I was inhabiting. His skin was pale as snow, his stretch marks and loose skin a testament to a long life lived.

"So this was the person whose emotions I was sensing," I murmured, contemplating what kind of life had led to such darkness in his heart.

With a shaky step, I rose from the bed and hobbled towards the mirror, using a nearby tray of equipment for support.

"Fascinating," I whispered, taking in my new appearance.

Despite the emaciated frame, with visible ribs and dark circles under the eyes, the features of this body were striking.

Golden eyes, black hair turning white, broad shoulders, and a menacing look that could send shivers down anyone's spine.

My hand instinctively went to the gaping hole in his chest, tracing the edges of the fatal wound. It was clear that he hadn't stood a chance against his attacker, a weapon like a shotgun having obliterated his chest at point-blank range.

"The life force remaining in this body can sustain me for a maximum of four hours," I mused to myself.

Suddenly, the sound of the room's gate opening caught my attention. A nurse, with a notepad in her hands and her coat sleeves folded up, entered the room and came face-to-face with the empty bed where I had been lying dead only moments ago.

Her face contorted in fear, her eyes darting around the room in confusion, until they finally fell on me, standing at her left side in front of the mirror.

"Greetings, My lady", I said with a smile on my face but that came out really worse.

My voice seemed like the old man who scares kids in their dreams and the smile made it even worse with the current condition of my body.

Hearing me and seeing me move something happened to the nurse, her eyes rolled up and she fell to the ground unconscious.

"Oh dear, I never meant to scare you", I said.

"I really need some life force at the moment, but I won't borrow from you, I don't want you to lose that stunningly beautiful touch you have in your features", I said as I crouched towards her prone form.

At that moment, a voice from outside pierced the eerie silence, calling out in urgency.

"Betty!"

"Betty, come on, don't be such a child," A really fat woman entered the room, but her voice trailed off as she saw me standing next to the unconscious nurse.

Her eyes darted between us, and she mustered the courage to ask,

"W-who are you?"

"Forgive me, but you are the most unsightly creature I have encountered in my current existence," I replied with a sly smile on my face.

"Aaaaa-" Her scream echoed through the room, piercing my eardrums.

I decided to calm her down and released a small burst of energy, causing the door to slam shut and the lights to flicker.

As I approached the woman, she stumbled back, tripping over her own feet and falling to the ground.

"Shhhh," I said, putting a finger to my lips and gesturing for her to quiet down.

"Stay still, I'll help you lose that weight," I said, taking hold of her barely visible neck.

I began to draw out her life force, a painful process that caused her to writhe and scream in agony.

Her skin started to shrivel and blacken, her bones becoming visible as she lost the light in her eyes. After five minutes, I had extracted all forty years of her life force, leaving her as light as a feather.

Her weight had indeed dropped, from a hundred kilograms to a mere ten kilograms.

The wound in my chest began to mend as my body commenced regenerating. My slender form gained some mass, but it had no effect on my age.

"Hmm, it seems that was not enough," I muttered to myself.

I lifted the nurse, Betty, and placed her on the bed where I had lain. Then I used a bit of my energy to alter her memory, and I burned the remains of the second nurse, igniting the clothing with a flicker of my energy. The only evidence left on the floor was a pile of ashes.

I was still without clothing to cover my form, so I took the sheets from the bed and wrapped them around me as I walked out through the door.

I found myself in a long, white gallery with lights installed in a row on the ceiling. I strode straight to the end of the gallery and encountered two pathways, choosing the left one.

This path appeared to lead to a staircase. I opened the grey gates and descended the stairs.

I noticed that there were no windows in this area, and every corner of the structure was excessively clean.

The stairs led to an exit, and I found a glass door at the back of the building. However, the gates were locked, so I pushed with all my strength, and the locks on both sides of the gates broke, causing some cracks in the glass of the gate.

"Who goes there?" someone shouted as I exited the building.

I hid behind a pillar to observe who was calling out and saw a guard on patrol. He appeared to be no more than thirty years old, with a slight beard and in excellent physical condition.

I stealthily walked behind him and asked, "Are you searching for me?"

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, turning around and stumbling backwards. His hands began shaking, but he managed to maintain his composure.

"Who are you? This is not a place a civilian should be," he said.

"Do not worry, I am not a civilian," I replied, immobilizing him with my energy.

"But I will soon be one," I said, grabbing his neck and draining his life force. Since my condition had improved, it took me only a minute to acquire his life force.

I burned his remains and walked out of the area, covering my body with the sheets.

There was another guard stationed at the exit, and he suffered the same fate as the others inside the area.

I turned around to face the structure I had just left and read the words in glowing red letters.

"Mortuary"