Kat shuddered, but before she could try and take stock of the situation, there was pain. Everything was pain. Her body screamed at her, she couldn't properly feel what was going on. She tried to order her eyes to open, but that only caused even more pain to slam through her body and mind… until suddenly, it all stopped.
There was still a dull ache that attached itself to her mind, but she could start forming coherent thoughts. Before it was only pain, and now only around half of her mind was filled with pain, and she could push that to the back of her mind and ignore it to some extent to help with that.
Her thoughts were coming together slowly though. She could think again, but only at a drastically reduced speed. She didn't have time to fully form any thoughts before a gentle voice seeped into her ears, or she thought it did. She'd later be proved wrong.
Anyway, this voice that reached her was very soft, it made her think things were going to be ok. It had a very slight lisp, causing certain sounds to be exaggerated, but even that seemed to further soothe her mind.
"Now Kat, I need you to remain calm. I'm currently ssseparating your mind from your body with an ability of mine to sstop the pain. I need you to sstay calm and try not to fight me. You have a sstrong mind and you might be able to fight me off before I get through the explanation.
"I'm sure you have many quessstionsss but just know that for now, you are sssafe in the demon hossspital. You'ffe made it back from your misssion and you can relaxs. Now, I'm going to open your eyesss and I need you to sstay calm. Pleassse don't fight me.
Kat didn't feel anything as the person speaking to her opened both her eyes. Then, all of her pain slammed into her for just a split second, enough for her to start trying to spasm, but she was held in place by something, likely ropes or straps, before the pain shut off. The strange thing was, she could still see even though the pain had stopped.
She stared up at the ceiling. The lights weren't on in her room, but the ceiling was bright white, and was almost as bad to her eyes. It made it feel like they were itching even though she couldn't feel them. In the corner of her vision she could see the slight movement of something but she couldn't quite make them out.
Until they moved to the end of the bed. Kat realised it must have been the nurse who was speaking. She was currently carrying a chair, and was moving so that she would be seated at the end of Kat's bed, well within her field of vision. That's when Kat noticed something that had been bothering her. Vision. Her peripheral vision was completely shot. She could only see the edges of her single bed and not a whole lot more. She started to panic, but the nurses soft voice came to her again as the nurse placed the chair down.
"Calm, pleassse Kat, sstay calm" said the nurse with a wince. Kat moved her focus to her, and wished she could drop her jaw in surprise. The nurse in question was certainly not human. More reminiscent of a medusa than anything else, the nurse had a bunch of snakes for hair. They were a dark green that Kat found somewhat appealing, reminding her off the grass around the old orphanage.
The nurse's face was very pretty. She had a soft round face with a small nose and a pleasant smile. The only thing that might have been off-putting were her eyes, both her own, and those of her snakes… which, were also technically hers. They were all the standard snake eyed slit down the middle with golden edges and a dark black line that marked the centre. At the moment though, each of eyes staring at Kat glowed, letting a faint golden light leak out. Each of them were locked onto Kat, making sure they never moved or swayed in position at all.
The rest of her attire was rather standard. Kat couldn't see past her midsection, as the bed blocked Kat's view, but she had heard footsteps as she walked so Kat was forced to assume she had legs and a skirt on. Her top was a plain white blouse that you would find in any human hospital, if slightly less form fitting.
"Ok Kat? Are you with me? My name isss a little hard to remember or sssay for the younger demonsss so you can call me Kara, ok?" said the nurse Kat now knew was Kara.
Kat tried to stifle her reaction. Kara had been very clear that doing too much might force her to break the technique, and Kat wasn't sure what was acceptable.
Kara tilted her head to the side, but all her snakes moved so that they stayed in the same fixed position relative to Kat, despite the movement of Kara's head. "Hmm, well dear, I think you've done a very well. It ssseemsss that you already managed to keep your reaction ssteady? Unless you went back to sssleep? Could you give me a ssslight twitch dear?"
*Um? I hope this is slight?* Kat tried to forcibly move her arm, and Kara winced, her right eye twitching rapidly as the glow sputtered a bit before returning to normal. "Oof, dear me. Thatsss some power in your aura right there. I know I asssked for that but it wasss more than I wanted. That'sss ok though dear. I'm going to let you know what'sss happened. Firsst though, just know you are going to be ok"
Kara let that statement hang in the air. Kat made sure not to react, but Kara got a slight smile and a nod, as if understanding Kat was still following what she was saying. "Ok, ssso, your regeneration has fixssed you all up. Physssically ssspeaking. It isss a rather ssstrange little ability. Usssesss a bit too much energy to be consssidered top tier and that almossst never changesss. Dessspite itsss inability to heal armsss or legsss or ssso I wasss told, it can heal organsss. Persssonally I don't think that makesss a whole lot of sssenssse but that'sss fine.
"It meansss that you will recover, and without any nasssty ssscars. It wasss a little ssscary at the ssstart but it turnsss out your regeneration rate is quite good, and that regeneration of yoursss can be very good at keeping you alive when it needsss to be.
"Now, you are probably wondering about the pain. I'm afraid that will need to be dealt with yourssself. Oncsse we finisssh here, another demon will come in and put you to sssleep. That ssshould help you through the worssst of it. Now, the reassson this happened, is becaussse you are sssuffering from sssevere energy deficssiencssy.
"From what we were told, you didn't actually ussse that much energy. The isssue was the desstruction of your main regulation sssystem in and around your heart, along with your lapssse in consssciousssnesss. Then repeating the SSSAME thing again dear. That wasss not good for you. All the ssside effectsss ssshould be temporary, but we do need to keep you here under obssservation just in cassse." Said Kara, keeping her voice soft and soothing the entire time. It was like she was applying bandages to Kat's mind with every word, lessening the pain she was holding at bay slightly.
With this, Kara stood up and walked over to Kat and started to stroke her hair. She couldn't feel it of course, but she could see the motions of Kara's hand and had to assume that was what she was doing. Kat wasn't exactly able to turn her head at that moment to check.
"Now, when you wake up next, we might be able to have a real talk. When you wake up though, try not to freak out too much ok? You've been wonderfully behaved ssso far plessse keep that up" said Kara before walking away and knocking on the door. What walked through looked more like a shadow than a person. Gangly stretched out limbs, entirely black body, and nothing identifiable as a face or a mouth. The only thing that identified it as anything but a monster was the bright yellow tie it wore around its neck.
They just walked up to Kat, and gave her a light tap on the head, and then she found herself in her pond, already deep in her meditation. Her mind sunk into the waters and prevented her from worrying what nightmare that doctor must have come from, and allowed her to just relax and ignore the signals of pain and outrage coming from her body. They were easy to ignore, because the water was so nice and tranquil, letting Kat drift along peacefully, no longer aware of the passage of time.
Author's note
The start of book 5 is going to be very lore heavy, finally answering some questionsss about how demons work. It won't just be a Q&A with Kara but Kat has nothing better to occupy her time while she heals up, so we will be spending the start fleshing these things out so just be prepared