She looked at the young man that just came into the hut.
"M-my name is Miri" she answers his question
"It's a pleasure to meet you Miri. My name is Swor, and I'm the blacksmith and owner of this little place" he says to Miri with a smile.
Swor goes over to where the young man is sitting.
"Demo I need to see how much it has progressed, will you let me?" Swor asks the young man in the cloak sitting in the chair.
Demo gives him a nod as takes off the cloak to reveal his whole body. He wore black techwearpants and no shirt. his upper body from his belt up to his neck he seemed decently fit. His entire right arm was wrapped in bandages. that were spotted and stain faded with black patches . The leather glove he wore came off as well.
The bandages covered his entire right hand as well, the only difference being that the bandages on his hand were completely blackened. He then raised his left pants leg and boot and showed the same thing as his right arm and hand.
Swor sighed as he checked his left eye, that still seemed to be switching from clear to cloudy.
"Well, from what I can see Demo... if we go through with this treatment" Swor began with a grim tone.
"You will completely lose your whole left eye, right arm, and left leg. Your Regeneration only managed to slow it down so it didn't get to the rest of your body." he continued
Demo covered himself up again and sighed as he processed what his friend had just told him.
"E-excuse me Demo how did you get hurt?" Miri asked him.
"As you know in this world that we now live in, each person is either born or developed a special ability" he continued with the common knowledge.
"Abilities that allow us to perform tasks we would never have been able to do back where we came from.... my ability doesn't allow me to die" Demo explained to Miri.
"But plenty of people have abilities that prevent them from dying like Regeneration and restoration" Miri said to Demo somewhat confused as to how that tied into his current condition.
"What he didn't tell you is how his ability doesn't allow him to die, and what a certain organization figured out what else it can do" Swor chipped into the conversation.
"This is about your ability Demo, you have to explain it to her otherwise she won't understand" he said to him sternly.
Demo sighed as he adjusted himself in the chair and turned to Miri and looked her right in the eyes. His right white eye she could see was filled with sadness and his left black and purple eye still switching from clear to cloudy was full of pain.
"My ability is called Soul Retention... it's always active and it doesn't let my soul or any part of it to leave my body whatsoever" he said to her his entire dimenor calm.
"My heart could stop and my body die, but my ability will remain active and wouldn't be able to pass on" He continues.
FlashBack 5 years ago
Lights flashing through the darkness, several noises passing by fading in and out. Frantic voices in different places, one giving out orders to the others.
"We need to get him to the OR fast or well lose him" voice 1
"But Sir, the bot screen is showing that his vitals are in fast decline. Even if we were to operate there is no guarantee that he will survive" voice 2
"Theoretically we have until the soul leaves the body but its never been proven" voice 3
"Well today is the day we prove it can or cannot be done" voice 1
Suddenly the flashing lights grow brighter as my eyesight was just barely able to adjust and my hearing came back. I felt a sudden horrible burning pain throughout my entire body.
A scream of pure agony attempted to leave my mouth but what came instead was a fountain of blood. I gagged and coughed horribly checking on it, as I looked around frantically. Intense pain filled my head from just below my throat down to my hips.
"Calm down and don't move, you were in a very serious explosion" said the first voice.
I saw that they had a face mask and glasses and a white uniform. A doctor and from what I could see from the partial reflection in their glasses part of my chest and stomach had been torn open. My intestines were visible, my beating heart could just barely be seen as well.
"Don't worry we are going to patch you right up" the doctor said to me
A long sounding beep went off and the others in the hallway pulling me through had adopted disappointed faces. The doctor in charge swore right when he noticed something else.
"Wait, his heart stopped but the bot screen still shows signs that his souls hasn't left yet" he said to the others.
"How is that possible, usually as soon as the body dies the souls passses on" voice 3 says.
"Let's not waste this chance, we can ask questions later" the doctor said to the others.
As everything fades away to nothing once again and it all goes black.
I open my eyes and blink a few times as the ceiling light seems a bit strong. I slowly looked around, I was in a hospital bed with some sensors taped to my chest and temple. They were hooked up to a set of screens that were showing my vitals and on a monitor that showed the blurred image of a pure white sphere.
I lifted my hands to see that they were somewhat bandaged. I attempted to shift myself to be comfortable but I stopped quickly as when I shifted I felt a sharp pain.
I looked down to see that I had been heavily bandaged and that he also wore a respirator. With each breath the clear plastic would fog up a bit and then clear up.
I looked out the window to see that it was already getting dark outside and the street lights were starting to come on.
The room door slides open and the doctor comes in with 3 nurses.
"Well it looks like our mystery man is finally awake" The doctor said as the 3 nurses began checking on my vitals.
One had a clip board and wrote down a few things after looking at the monitors next to my bed. Another nurse changes out my IV bag for a fresh one, while the third one changes my bandages.
"There was a lot of damage to deal with. Your injuries were fatal yet you managed to survive..." The doctor said.
Upon the removal of the used bandages to replace with fresh ones I could see the extent of the damage. I had a massive wound that reached from the middle of my left collar bone all the way down to my right hip. It had been cleaned and stitched closed. I noticed that my right arm as well as my left leg had also been bandaged, but not as much.
"Which brings me to my question... how you were able to still come back from practically being dead like that?" the doctor asked me.
"There are no abilities that I know of that can bring back their user like that. Especially when the surgery we performed took around 30 minutes." he continued as I listened while the nurse that changed my bandages threw away the old ones.
"The soul vanishes as soon as the host dies along with whatever ability they had, and the bot showed that your soul never even left your body... no healing or restoration ability can pull that off" he finished as he leaned against the wall right next to the sink.
I let out a deep sigh and looked at the fresh white bandages. I looked out the dark window overlooking the street illuminated by the street lamps. There was a man in a dark suit with a black top hat on the sidewalk, he was petting a large brown dog. the dog happily wagged its tail as it received this rare comfort.
"To be honest" I began to say to the doctor as I looked back at him.
"I am not really sure why it's possible for this to happen, for as long as I can remember it's always been like this for me. I've always had the bad luck to end up with fatal injuries" I continued.
"But as if by some fucked up joke I won't pass on. Almost as if something keeps my soul tied down to my body even after I die" I finished as the doctor held his chin focusing on every word.
"Well... again no abilities I've seen from anything living has ever pulled anything like this off, and to be honest I would love to study you to hope to learn what is going on" He began after a few moments of silence.
"It's common knowledge that in this new world that we live in, unlike our original one each living thing developes an ability that stems from their very soul" he continued
"However your situation is unique, and if you were to allow a study, there could be a way to help you" he finished.
"Honestly I've tried everything sir, and nothing works" I said while finally relaxing myself back into my bed.
"Well, there are some people here that would like to meet you who may have a way to help if you let them" he said after I lay back down.
Seemingly on que the door to my hospital room slid open, and 2 tall figures in pitch black suits walked in. One carried a black leather briefcase and they both wore faceless white masks. Tall slim looking, with black fadora's that had a grey ribbon around them.
"Good evening we hope you are feeling well after your surgery." the one on the left said in a medium monoton dull voice began.
A report about your accident and surgery was received by the organization we represent, upon reading the information within the report our organization has taken an interest in you" he continued
"We listened to the discussion from outside your room and concluded that with our resources there may be a way to help you if you agree to join us and go through tests" he finished as his partner stepped forward and lifted the briefcase and opened it and turned it so that its contents were facing me.
The only thing in the case was a single tablet with a white screen.
I looked up to them.
"To join, just place your hand on the screen, if not that we will leave right now" the man said as his partner held the case up to my bed.
"The choice is yours" he finishes.
I take a deep breath and let it all out, as I look at the screen.
I take a moment to let it all sink in, they wait patiently for my response.
"Alright, most likely won't work but I'll give it a shot" I said as I placed my right hand on the screen and it went static as symbols and code appeared on the screen in rapid succession, then blinked out.
(Authors note: hello creature of the living I hope you're all doing well. Thank you for enjoying my stories so far. I am currently trying to stick to a schedule of one chapter per month. So I am grateful for your patience. I have a patreon now so you can help support my stories, by offering as little as 5 dollars at a time. I write stories as a hobby because I love to write, and I hope you all enjoy what I create.
Either way be safe and I'll see you next time -The Demo)
patreon= The Demo https://www.patreon.com/TheDemo