Mana couldn't see. Her eyes were open, but the world was dark. Her breathing began to get more labored as an extreme amount of pressure began to weigh down on her chest.
Her arms wouldn't move, they were tied down, in cement, but the rest of her body felt like it was on clouds.
She was dead.
But she still felt pain. Had she been cursed?
Then she remembered.
This is what it feels like to be rotted.
After she had passed, mobs of rotted must have entered hearing all the commotion. The high leveled protectors of the city, inside and out, were either dead or elsewhere.
Then Mana felt knives begin to scrap across her chest, first lightly, then digging into her flesh only a moment after. She let out a high-pitched scream, and suddenly the pressure and the knives were gone, and... she could see; though it was all a bright, blurry haze.
"Hey, hey, hey," she heard a familiar voice quickly repeat to her as she felt two, soft, yet firm hands push gently onto her shoulders. She couldn't make out who it was, but she felt at ease in their presence. She heard whoever it was, grab onto the side of the bed she was in, and saw their figure lean over her. "Mana?"
Mana blinked a few times quickly before her entire vision came back, and she finally saw who welcomed her back from the dead.
Viktor Klora. "Glad to see you kicking, but you have at least a day left in here, so you might as well calm down a bit," he smiled down at her, as she lay in a hospital bed once more.
She sighed, peering down at her arms as she remembered the brutality they had gone through. Her arms looked like stumps. The doctors had put them in thick, heavy white casts that were tied to either side of the bed to prevent Mana from moving them.
"The doctors said you'll make a full recovery, you just have to be extremely careful with how you move," he reassured her solemnly, as he watched her pained look. "But because of having to regrow your muscles, veins, yada, yada, they want 24 hours of Ms. Mana Fujino," he made a motion of a banner in the air with his hands, "The Heroine of Koro!" He tried to sound chirpy to lighten the mood, and to get her to focus on getting better.
"Heroine of Koro?" she repeated, snorting into a hysterical laugh, relieving Viktor's inner worry. "Sounds a bit cliche, no?"
"Hey, I didn't make it up," he laughed. Mana peered at his arm; it was healed completely.
"The doctors really are powerful," she thought aloud, staring at it, amazed that it had once looked like a snapped and twisted twig.
"Only took 3 hours, believe it or not," he leaned in closer, "gave me the good stuff," he winked, before straightening up. "That pain was awful; it never gets easier. You're a tough cookie, Mana." He grabbed the shoulder of his healed arm and then rolled it a few times while stretching his neck. "You've been out for 5 hours, yourself."
"What'd they give me to come back from the dead?" She finally asked him.
"The dead?"
"Yes, I couldn't see a thing, I couldn't breathe..."
"Oh!" He quickly leaned down, before picking up a large, obese, short-haired, orange tabby, letting out a loud grunt as he did so. It had a flat, smooshed face, though not of injury, and each ear was small and pointed. Its tail was only half of one; between a stub and a regular tail.
"Me-ohhhhhh" It let out, in a deep meow.
"Yeah, he doesn't know how to meow well," Viktor said, setting him back down onto the ground. "He's my cat, and he's supposed to be magical, but I haven't had any luck with him. Had him damn near 4 years and have yet to see it." Viktor leaned down and unclipped Mana's arms from the bed, and she shot up into a sitting position just as quick as he did so. "I told you to be careful," his joking demeanor changing to seriousness immediately.
"I'm sorry, but I feel much better," she informed him, lifting her arms into the air.
"Careful!"
"No, I'm serious," she held her arms out to him, "either you cut these off, or I'll..." she looked around for a moment, "...bang them against the wall until they break or something."
"Start banging like that you'll end up in a different hospital," he said under his breath, as he walked over to the left of her, taking a small dagger out of his waistband.
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing; nothing at all," he answered as he began cutting frantically.
"Me-ohhhh!" Viktor's cat howled again, as it jumped onto Mana's bed once more beginning to rub its head against her feet.
After only a couple minutes, the first cast was finally off, her left; the lesser damaged of the 2. Completely healed. "Told you," She teased.
"Me-ohhhhh."
Then Viktor walked back to the right side, feeling a bit fearful for the outcome. "Your arm was skeletal, Mana. If we open this cast, and it's not healed as you say, you could lose it."
"Give me the knife and I'll do it myself," she replied, staring him in the eyes, unblinking with a glare. She extended her hand out to him, palm up. He squinted back, entering a standoff with the Heroine of Koro, sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Fine." He simply said, placing the knife into her hand as he quickly turned to look out the window.
"Me-ohhhhh."
Mana began cutting the cast open, and despite how she appeared to Viktor, she was scared as hell, but she had places to be. She couldn't afford to be in the hospital if she didn't need to be.
Then the knife broke through, and she felt a rush of pain, wincing as she immediately removed it from the cast. Viktor turned in a hurry, worried, joining her at her bedside. "Is your arm gone!?" Was all he managed to get out.
She paused, looking at him then at her arm, "no."
"Yeah..." he sheepishly said, as he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
"I accidently poked myself," she held the knife out to him, "please help me?"
Viktor reluctantly took the knife back before beginning to saw away at the remaining cast.
"Me-ohhhh."
Finally, the remaining cast was off, and every wound on her arm was healed. "Told you, times 2."
"Impossible," Viktor staggered, staring at her arm a little too long as he marveled at its recovery.
The fat tabby then jumped off the bed before joining Viktor back on the floor, rubbing up against his legs, lovingly.
"You fucking idiots," a deep, sophisticated voice sounded off.
"Fluffynutts?" Viktor questioned, looking down at his fat cat.