In the afternoon, sunlight streamed into the hospital hallways, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. A female nurse with a kind smile, Adaline, gently pushed Edwin in the wheelchair, who was inspecting his right hand, which thankfully was no longer encased.
"Alright, Edwin, last stretch," Adaline said, seeing that they are almost nearing the destination. Looking away from his right hand and toward the road in front of him, he lightly nodded. "Thank goodness, I can finally rest properly."
"I swear, sadists design these physical therapies." Edwin then said, stretching his neck with a slight frown on his face as he felt exhausted from doing the physical therapy nonstop for one hour, and Adaline simply chuckled. "It's designed to make you strong again. And you're doing remarkably well, you know."
Reaching room 331, she pushed the door open and expertly manoeuvred the wheelchair through it. Adaline smoothly wheeled him beside the bed and locked the wheels. "Alright, let's get you comfortable."
She helped him carefully shift from the wheelchair to the bed, adjusting the pillows behind him until he was comfortably propped up. Edwin stretched, wincing slightly as he adjusted his bandaged torso, but he settled back against the pillow with a sigh of contentment. "Ah, pure bliss."
"Is there anything you need? Water? Another blanket?" Adaline asked, pushing the wheelchair to the side after pulling the blanket up to Edwin's waist, and reconnected the IV line to Edwin's left wrist, to which Edwin lightly shook his head in response. "No, I'm good for now."
"Alright then," Adaline said, nodding with a quiet smile playing on her lips as she watched Edwin, who was already completely engrossed in flipping through the pages of a thick fantasy novel he had pulled from the bedside cabinet. But then her gaze drifted to the IV stand beside the bed, and she saw the empty bag hanging there. With a soft click of her tongue, she moved towards it.
"What an amazing kid," she murmured to herself as she reached for a new IV bag. Her mind drifted back to the report her veteran coworker had left for her before going on leave. From what she can remember, the report described the terrifying number of gates that appeared downtown, and spewing out monstrous creatures that could level cities. Even with top-ranking guilds and associations reacting immediately, the catastrophe had claimed countless lives. Families, friends, loved ones—all gone.
What made Adaline more terrified about that information was that she had personally seen the aftermath firsthand—buildings in rubble, makeshift shelters overflowing, quarantine zones marked by hazmat suits. These terrible images were burned into her memory and caused such a psychological problem that she took a deep, shaky breath, forcing herself to focus.
"Get a grip, Adaline," she muttered, her hand steady as she quickly replaced the empty IV bag with a full one before stealing another glance at Edwin, who was still lost in his book. "I'm really envious of you, kid."
"You've got more guts than most adults I know." She then muttered, a wry smile touching her lips, considering in her line of work, she had seen so many patients in similar situations from being withdrawn, terrified, their eyes hollow, hands trembling, to some even resorted to suicide to escape the painful memories. But Edwin, despite the bandages around his head and torso, looked remarkably lively, almost quietly resilient.
"Please, I hope you aren't simply putting on a brave face," she whispered, a desperate plea escaping her lips as a pang of worry hit. The report had mentioned his recent post-traumatic stress, and it hurt her to think he might be hiding his pain. "You're… you're just a kid."
"Mikkey…" Adaline mumbled, a wave of hurt washing over her as he reminded her so much of her little brother, Michael, who was barely a year older than Edwin. But Michael hadn't been so lucky as she was the reason he was in a comatose state—Michael, who always had a smile and laughed in the face of darkness.
"Oh god, please, please…" she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes, blurring her vision. "Please don't let him be putting on a show. Don't let him pretend everything's fine while the world crumbles around him. Instead…"
"Give him strength," she murmured, squeezing her eyes shut as her voice thickened with emotion. "Strength to heal, both physically and mentally. Give him someone to talk to, someone who can understand."
"Hmmm?" Adaline mumbled, startled as her phone buzzed vibrantly in her pocket, pulling her abruptly from her troubled thoughts. She fumbled for it, her eyes still a little blurry from unshed tears. When she finally managed to pull it out, her eyes widened.
It was her mother.
"Huh? Why is Mom calling me right now? Did something bad happen at home?" she whispered, feeling taken aback as she knew that her mother rarely called in the middle of her shift unless it was urgent. Adaline quickly looked up at Edwin, who was still absorbed in his book, completely oblivious to her internal turmoil.
"Edwin," she said, her voice a little shaky, but she tried to keep it steady. He looked away from the book and toward her, blinking. "Yeah, Nurse Adaline?"
"I need to step out for a minute," she explained, already moving towards the door while pointing to the small white button on the side table. "If you need anything at all, anything, just press that call button, okay?"
"Got it," Edwin said, giving a small nod. "No worries, Nurse Adaline. I'll be fine."
"Great," she said, forcing a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, and her hand already reaching for the doorknob. With a final, apologetic glance at Edwin, she slipped out of the room, gently pulling the door shut behind her. After hearing the gentle click, Edwin sighed softly, his gaze lingering on the closed door for a few silent seconds. "There she goes…"
"Back to reading, I guess," he murmured, looking down at the book pages with a faint smile as he was on a good part before adjusting himself slightly against the pillows and resuming reading.
*Knock**Knock*
!!!
Feeling startled by the series of knocks on the door, Victor turned his head towards the sound, as the door swung open, revealing two men in sleek black suits who entered the room with their faces etched with serious expressions."Good morning."
"I apologise if we took you by surprise, as we didn't mean to startle you," the man with close-cropped hair said, his voice a low rumble. Edwin, on the other hand, stared at them in complete confusion. He had never seen these two people before, even after going through the original's memories and couldn't help but ask, "Wh-who are you guys?"
As Edwin was about to ask another question, the man with the close-cropped hair approached his bedside while his right hand retrieved a business card from his front pocket. "Don't worry."
"This is who we are," he asserted, presenting the business card in front of his eyes, and Edwin quietly accepted before his eyes soon widened in surprise when he read what was written on it. "Daniel Iskandar, Section Chief of the Monitoring Division, Seraphina Hunter's Association?"
"Huh? Is this for real?" Edwin inwardly thought, feeling dumbfounded because a personal visit from this particular division was unexpected and completely caught him off guard, before immediately forcing his expression under control alongside his emotions and looking up at them while asking, "What does the Monitoring Division want from me? Did I do something wrong?"
From what he could vaguely remember, the Monitoring Division was a specialised department in the Hunters' Association that was tasked with managing the country's Awakened Hunters and given the nature of their work, it was no surprise that they would employ high-ranking Hunters in their payroll to oversee such a crucial role.
On top of that, after going through the original's memories several times, trying to figure out what was going on, Edwin couldn't recall doing anything that would warrant their attention and lead them to pay a visit to him.
Amid his complete confusion, the man with the close-cropped hair, who Edwin now knew to be Daniel Iskandar, pulled a nearby seat and sat down while his subordinate stood silently behind him.
"By any chance, do you remember what happened before you blacked out?" Daniel asked, with a serious tone, causing Edwin to be taken aback and stammer, "I'm sorry... what?"
"Ah, my apologies. There is a bit of misunderstanding here," Daniel said, sensing Edwin's confusion. "We're here because of a serious matter that involves you."
"Something that involves…me?" Edwin repeated with his eyebrows shot up. "What do you mean?"
"Let me explain," Daniel began, his voice low and deliberate. "You see, when a few agents from the Monitoring Division and a few members of the second division from the Silent Strikers Guild arrived at the scene to rescue everyone, including you, during the massive outbreak."
"Okay," Edwin said, nodding with his brow furrowed, looking confused, and Daniel then continued, "When they found you alongside the other survivors, you were lying unconscious on the ground, looking completely bruised and battered, but here is the weird part…"
"After looking around, they discovered there were no monsters in sight, nor were there any corpses lying around your unconscious self, except for the aftermath of destruction." He added, taking his sunglasses off and putting them way inside his front coat pocket. Hearing everything, Edwin's eyes widened with disbelief. "What…?"
"Are you serious now?" Edwin asked, looking at himself. "You're saying that I was fighting monsters…all by myself?"
"Yes, that's what the evidence suggests," Daniel replied, nodding, before his expression turned grim, recalling details from the overall investigation. "The claw marks on the ground and the scattered debris... it all points to a desperate struggle."
"I... I don't remember anything like that," Edwin said, shaking his head, still unable to comprehend what he was hearing. " After waking up here, the last thing I could recall was a jumbled mess of images and sounds."
"Are you really sure it was me? And not some random hunter that passed by and took care of it?" He asked, thinking there must be some kind of mistake, considering this whole thing doesn't make sense at all, to which Daniel sighed, "That's what we thought at first as well, but after doing a thorough investigation, the evidence became undeniable. You fought off a group of monsters, likely on your own."
"But how? I'm just a weak guy that couldn't even kill a fly," Edwin asked, feeling puzzled, considering that the original was a normal guy who occasionally does exercise, as well as his awakened ability wasn't even a combat category to begin with, which Daniel exchanged a glance with his subordinate. "That's what we're trying to figure out."
"I want to know if you remember anything that happened while being overwhelmed by the monsters that came out," Daniel said, scratching his chin. "But it is fine if you don't want to recall that moment, considering the horrible experience you went through."
"No, no, it's fine," Edwin replied, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He exhaled slowly, trying to recall those moments while quietly whispering, "Here's go nothing."
To Be Continued