Project Sky: The Awakening Of The Forgotten Heir

A Word From The System

The steady beeping of the heart monitor echoed in Jordan’s ears. His eyes gradually rolled open, vision hazy at first sight, but slowly sharpening within seconds. Standing beside him was a woman dressed in white, who seemed like a nurse.

“What happened? Where am I?” Nathan mumbled inwardly, darting his gaze around the sterile room.

“What a miracle… He’s alive, even after the brutal injuries,” the woman gasped in disbelief, almost not believing her eyes.

She was a nurse—the one assigned to Nathan’s care, and it seems Nathan was in the hospital for days.

“What happened? Where am I?” Nathan asked aloud, attempting to sit up on the hospital bed, but the nurse gently pushed him back to the bed.

“Wow.. you have to stay calm and relaxed, you might get your injuries open if you struggle hard,” the nurse gently urged. “I had concluded you wouldn’t survive, because the injuries from your chest were so deep and the one you sustained on your head was unbelievable,” the nurse replied, still not answering Nathan's questions on where exactly he was.

Frustration surged through Nathan, then he snapped angrily. “Why aren’t you answering me? Where the hell am I?”

The nurse flinched a bit.

“You’re in the hospital,” the nurse finally replied to Nathan's questions. “An ambulance brought you here some couple of weeks ago… with a bullet in your chest—and another in your head. We thought you wouldn’t survive… or ever wake up. But here you are, talking like a bullet never passed through your skull.”

Nathan furrowed his brow. “A bullet… in my head?” he whispered.

A sharp pain suddenly shot through his skull, triggering fragmented memories—his conversation with Laura… the moment he felt a bullet tear through his chest… and the final, fatal shot to his head.

“This… This can’t be real. Am I dead?” Nathan wondered in disbelief, staring at his hands. He turned to the nurse. “Am I dead? Is this another existence I'm existing in?”

The nurse gave a stunned smirk, then she replied, “You’re alive, of course. It’s a miracle. Hold on, I’ll get you something for the pain, and also call the doctor to check on you.”

The nurse offered a soft smile, then turned and walked out of the room.

Nathan remained on the bed, his breath unsettled, and his thoughts darting disbelief, haunted by the last moments he’d shared with Laura before the sudden darkness that engulfed him. The gut-wrenching realization that she had used him… enslaved him… and in the end, shot him dead.

“She shot me right in the head, I saw my chest bleed nonestop, How am I still alive?” Nathan wondered, his eyes fixed on the blood sachet of drip fixed onto his veins to his body.

And then he remembered—the voice that had echoed in his head… the translucent screen that had appeared before darkness swallowed him.

“What was that? That thing, it was the last I saw before everything went blank, what exactly is that thing?” Nathan said in thought, confused.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, a faint hum vibrated in mid air as a blue, translucent screen materialized right before his eyes.

Nathan flinched.

“This was the exact thing I saw before losing consciousness,” Nathan mumbled in disbelief.

The floating screen in mid air left him stunned. He got curious and reached out his hands to touch the translucent floating screen, but his hand passed straight through it.

“What… is this?” he breathed, staring at the blue glowing screen.

And just then, a voice accompanied the words that appeared on the screen:

{Host health processing…}

{health stat checked… }

{Host durability checked…}

{Currents damage none...}

{Host has been processed successfully.}

{Host current health: 20%.}

{Host had been healed from previous damage.}

Nathan stared, speechless. He leaned back on the bed, eyes fixed on the strange display text on the screen, that left him clueless on what it was all about.

“She meant every word… all that talk about using me and ending me—she wasn’t bluffing,” Nathan thought bitterly, his teeth gritted and his fist clenched in pain and hatred.

Suddenly, another searing pain surged through Nathan's head. Images splashed vividly inside his mind, gradually his lost memories returned.

“Aaahhh…” Nathan groaned, clutching his head, and curling onto himself.

Nathan saw himself as a child… his father leading him down a staircase… handing him over to a man who fled with him into the night. Faces… moments… of his mother, same woman in the picture he always holds with him, flooded back into his mind.

Nathan’s eyes shot open. “These… These are my memories, and the woman… she’s the same woman from that photo I’ve had all this time, she's actually my mother,” Nathan wondered in thought.

“What happened to them?” He mumbled his lips following the words.

Nathan's memories had fully returned, but a blank spot remained—the events after the man took him away. Though he wasn't there when his both parent died. The only hint he had was the one Laura told him.

“I have to get out of here. I have to find them.”

Nathan still hasn't believed Laura's words, about the entire execution of his both parents.

Driven by urgency, Nathan reached for his wrist and yanked out the IV drip. He swung his legs off the bed, preparing to stand.

And just then, the door handle turned down.

“I have to act sick. I can’t let them see me standing. They’ll freak out after seeing a man that had been shot in the head suddenly walking around.”

Nathan quickly lay back, faking his previous state. That was the only option he had at the moment, he wasn't planning to stay in the hospital for long. Faking now would let them think he hasn't yet recovered, and Nathan would use the slightest opportunity to escape unnoticed.

And finally the door whose handle had been pushed downwards creaked open.

Nathan froze immediately he saw who had came through the door. It wasn't the nurse or the doctor.

It was Laura.

“What?” Nathan froze.

“What is she doing here?”

A blaze of fury burns inside Nathan. He wanted nothing more than to leap from the bed and smash Laura into nothingness… but he remained calm, he decided to act, and see her next move. Though his eyes were slightly closed, but he could see through the little gap.

“Is this a dream, or a horror unfolding right in front of me, can't believe you’re still alive.”

Laura’s voice shook with disbelief. “i blast a bullet right into your skull, I saw your heart stop, I saw you bled, What in the fucking hell are you made of?”

She stared at Nathan, her eyes wide with horror. “I shot you. I know I definitely did. I watched you die… and yet, here you are. Breathing, how is this fucking possible.”

Nathan lay still, eyes half-lidded but watching every flicker of fear across Laura’s face.