Chapter Text
The man woke up with a loud and gasping breath, as if he’d been submerged in water for a length of time. He wore simple clothing: a white t-shirt that seemed to be both ripped and stained, and jeans with holes in them. He’d been passed out in the park for quite a while; some people who’d traveled by earlier had assumed he was a bum, despite the fact that he was both young and good looking.
The man’s name was Severin Danse, and when he woke up, the first thing he realized was that he was wrong. He, as a very existence, felt misplaced. There was sadness and panic. Wordless questions with feelings of: ‘what am I, who am I?’ crossed his mind. The second thing he noticed was that he was physically ill: he felt sickeningly like one giant wound. The third thing he noticed was the murky and dark sky above him, full of stars. Trees tilted in and out of his view, swaying in the wind.
Head pounding ferociously, the man sat up and groaned. What he felt was a horribly dizzying, nauseous feeling. A musty and dirty smell hit his nose, coming from his own body. Some pieces of grass tickled his hand and he jumped at the sensation. He vaguely looked around him. He’d had the faint memory that someone else was supposed to be nearby, but he couldn’t remember who or why, or how long ago that had been.
Even his insides felt wrong. His lungs were different – they felt heavy, painful, and it was hard to breath. Severin held his breath because of the pain… realizing after several minutes that his lungs weren’t calling out for more air. It was as if the very function of breathing didn’t need to exist. Alarmed at this, Severin inhaled sharply before crying out with self-inflicted fear.
His insides began to feel like they were expanding and contracting, causing Severin to double over.
“Gaggght—!!”
A sensation came which gave Severin the overwhelming feeling that there was something inside of him that needed to be choked out. Balling his fists, he coughed into the grass, blood and stomach acid vomiting out of his mouth. Tears of strain ran down his cheeks. In his dazed state, he wasn’t as scared of the blood as he would normally have been. Seeing it made him feel like he was going to die. If it was going to happen this way, then there wasn’t much to do about it.
When his body finished filtering itself, a strange emptiness came. After a moment, Severin realized that it was hunger. It struck him as odd: being hungry at a time like this. When was the last time he’d had food?
Severin winced in pain. All he knew for sure in his turmoil was that he just wanted to go home. If he was dying, then his house must be better suited for it then then place, as he wallowed in his own fluids.
With this motivator, Severin attempted to stand, but his vertigo made mobility hard. When he tried to move his leg up, it went too far, and when he finally stood, his body shook.
In a sort of awkward reassurance, he attempted to raise his hands and look at them – but they felt too light, and he ended up hitting himself very hard in the face. Startled by his own lack of coordination, he wobbled backwards. One leg moved to catch his balance, but it turned too quickly, causing Severin to fall and twist it in a very unsettling way. There was a small crack as he fell. He let out a cry as the pain shot through him, immobilizing him temporarily. He wondered if his leg was broken, and tried to scoot himself into a better position to make sure. His kneecap was a bit swollen, but when he touched it, it didn’t hurt as much as it should have. He tried to gingerly touch it again, and the pain was even less prominent. It seemed to be healing—
But that was impossible, wasn’t it? Things didn’t heal that quickly. Yes, it simply had to be less damaged then he’d first thought. Severin tried flexing the leg, and it moved just fine.
The second time he stood was harder then the first, but he was able to do it. He was much more careful about the way he moved. His leg, which throbbed in protest, felt even better as he tried to walk on it.
Although Severin had no name for where he was (his mind throbbed too painfully for that), it seemed like a familiar place to him nevertheless. He knew how to get home from here.