"HANZ?! HANZ?! Darling, it seems our dear boy is finally awake!" Hanz's head hurts as it races with his thoughts.
Hanz tried to reach for something, yet his limbs feel wobbly. He even tried to get up, but his body is too weak.
"Goodness, I didn't know you would even survive!" Someone tapped his chest, then again, then raised his limbs.
He opens his eyes to see the ones causing the ruckus, but all he can see are blurry surroundings. With dark figures.
He clenches his fists as he tries to remember his last moments, which can't explain how he still breathe.
"He's responsive, but weak. We can call the doctor and see if he can get any better. Honey, don't worry, he's alive."
"Who would even poison a child? Such cruelty." Hanz hears a sob.
Then a loud sob... not from those around him, but from himself.
'This memory. This isn't mine. Yet, how come I feel it. How come it hurts. The weight, the betrayal.
And that beautiful scene...'
A city.
'Where was that?'
Ferrier City. It's beautiful. Yet, isolating. Functioning despite all despairs. It live with the life of those who failed.
Hanz utter weakly, seemingly out of the world. His weak body barely functioning yet his mind searched for every possible reason he still... exist.
There's a memory of a man who failed in life within his head. A weak, lonely man who was consumed by emotion.
Weak... weak... yet, it feels as though the man was him, who walked the same path, who died similar ways.
Hanz slept for the next 3 days.
---
Chirp chirp
The sound of bird singing.
Foooshhh
The sound of wind breeze from the window.
He still felt weak, yet his eyes could now function well enough for him to see around him clearly.
And his thought first...
"I died."
He sit up from the bed, still weak to get up on his own, but his maid assisted him.
"Where's mother?" He asked the maid, stationed to assist him in any form.
"She is currently at the garden, should I—"
"No, that's fine." The maids look at him with initial worry, however, the sight of him staring at the windows calmly gives them a relief.
This is his usual demeanor. The reason why he is the heir, not the firstborn.
To the maids, he is troublesome, not in a way an adult would see a child as troublesome but as a person. He questions everything, he would even scold them if they try to do something wrongly.
Yet, they enjoy his company. Especially with those philosophical ideas he utter to them. And so often, they would forget they are serving a child.
The maid bow and returned to the side along with few maids on standby. As they observe his every little movement, they noticed him looking at his hands and touching his face.
He had woken up with someone else's memory included.
Justine Douglas. That is his name. He was a weak man, yet he seem to be... smart. He handled that emotional breakdown quite well. If it's Hanz, he would've burned the entire city down to the ground. Leaving nothing but ashes of pain, memory included.
Hanz is a pragmatic man, yet the visual in the rooftop etch in his mind. Such beautiful, haunting scene. Quite painful to experience. The contrasting beauty of living with despair. That scene evoked his emotion full.
"Can I get some quill and paper?"
"Certainly, young master." The maid bowed and left.
He heard the door clicked, and so is the image in his mind. The city, those towering concretes with lights. The 'bus', the 'television'.
Even the 'computer'. They are all technology far beyond his world's reach. Yet, in his mind, it's all too plausible.
Hanz reaches for the glass of water and drinks it, only to be disappointed of its tasteless content.
'Wait... did I just think of this as a coffee?'
Hanz returned the glass and showed a face of confusion. His face already questioning his self.
"Helen, help me walk to the window." Hanz remove the sheets from his body and set it aside. Slowly, he grabs the bed and pull his body to the edge.
Helen hold his legs down gently. Then, she put his hand to her shoulder as a support and raise both of their body.
Consistently, they walk towards the window seal as another maid grab a chair and place it behind Hanz.
"Thank you." He smiled, gently. But almost as fast as it fade when he realize what just happened. He covers his mouth as he tries to make sense of what just happened.
Even the maids noticed it too. Helen, in particular is happy about it. But they didn't press it further, so Helen simply bowed and take a step back.
Hanz is turning 12 this year, his physique is still growing but he is already tall enough to see through the window while sitting.
As much as make sense of it, the familiarity of unfamiliarity. It all feels...surreal.
It feels as if he is detached here, and this life of his are... given. He dies, yet he lived as well. Quite... confusing, truly. Even the pain of being alive still lingers, it's fresh.
Also...
The person inside him, it's a person from a different realm, something else entirely... not magical, nor mythical. It's soulless, magicless, and perhaps, godless.
Yet, they thrive. But those successes are due to the sacrifices of the failed ones.
Hanz touches his chest, a slow, yet rythmic beat is reverbrating from it. Evidence that he is still alive.
He looks toward the sky, no pollution but remains... primitive, stagnate. He once again saw the contrast between the mountain, a similar scene of his, and the city lights, an otherwordly image.
Even his city never felt hollowing.