Secrets Of The Timeless Veil (3in1)

The first thing Lucas felt when he woke up was pain. Everywhere. His body screamed like it was torn apart and put back together wrong. His muscles were stiff, his limbs heavy, as if someone had tied him down and left him for hours. No, not hours…days. That's what it felt like.

"Hell…" he muttered under his breath, but the words didn't come out right. His throat felt like sandpaper.

He tried to move, but his body wouldn't listen. Panic started to claw at the edges of his mind, and he forced his eyes open.

Darkness.

It was pitch black. The kind of darkness you only get when it's the middle of the night, and someone's turned off every damn light in the room. But… it was supposed to be morning, right? He remembered it was early when everything went to shit. The storm. The lightning. He had been…

The hospital.

That smell. That god-awful smell. The medicinal odour in air that clung to every corner, sharp and clean. He hated it. He hated hospitals more than anything. And now he was here, stuck in the middle of some nightmare, with his body feeling like it was permanently welded to the bed.

"Who the hell turned off the lights?" he growled, his voice hoarse and raw. He shifted, trying to get some kind of feeling back in his arms and legs.

"Mr. Arden? Are you awake?" A voice called from somewhere near the foot of his bed. It sounded like a doctor…an annoyingly calm one at that.

Lucas's head swiveled in the direction of the voice, though his body refused to cooperate. "Yeah, I'm awake. I'm also not blind. So, who in the hell decided it was a good idea to turn the damn lights off in the middle of the day?" His words were bitter, sharp, each one like a jab to his own soul.

The voice seemed confused. "What do you mean, Mr. Arden? It's barely past 9 AM."

He froze. What? He turned his head, though it felt like it took all the energy in the world to do it. His mind raced, but his body was still too slow to catch up. "Are you kidding me? 9 AM?" He almost laughed…if laughing didn't hurt so damn much. "Are you telling me that I'm lying here with a body full of lightning scars and the lights are off because it's 9 AM? You've got to be joking."

There was a pause. The doctor probably didn't know what the hell to say to that. Good. Neither did Lucas. This was insane.

Lucas tried to sit up, but the pain in his chest made him stop, biting down hard on his lip. "I swear to God, if this is some joke, I'm gonna find whoever's in charge and…"

"Mr. Arden…" The doctor's voice cut through his rant.

"I'm not done," Lucas snapped, his words sharp and bitter. His face twisted in frustration as he gripped the side of the bed. "Are you telling me that you're the doctor here? And the best you could do was shut off the lights in the middle of the day and leave me like this? You better have a damn good explanation."

There was another pause, and then the doctor sighed…probably tired of dealing with his nonsense. "You were struck by lightning. You're lucky to be alive, Mr. Arden. You were unconscious for nearly a full day. We're just making sure you're stable."

Lucas snorted, his frustration growing. "Lucky, huh? Lucky to be stuck in a place I hate, feeling like I got hit by a damn truck?" He paused for a second. "What happened to everyone else? What happened to…" He froze, his mind suddenly trying to process the blurry memories of the office, the storm, the lightning, and… everything before.

The doctor didn't answer right away. Lucas could almost hear the hesitation in the air, thick and uncomfortable. "It's just you, Mr. Arden. You're the only one who was… affected."

That hit like a slap in the face. Lucas didn't know whether to be relieved or pissed. He wasn't exactly a people person, but the thought of everyone else being fine while he was the only one stuck in some hospital bed was just… it felt wrong. He was always the one who got left behind.

"Yeah, well, lucky me," Lucas muttered, leaning back against the bed with a groan, trying to push the anger down.

The doctor was quiet for a moment before speaking again, his voice softer now. "You need to rest, Mr. Arden."

Lucas wasn't interested in resting. Not now. Not when everything about this was a mess. He turned his head to the side, glaring into the darkness that surrounded him, wishing it would swallow him whole and make this nightmare stop.

Instead, he clenched his fists and cursed. "Yeah, I'll rest… once I find out what kind of hell I've landed in."

…

Lucas woke up again with the dull ache still throbbing in his body. He shifted, groaned, and rubbed his eyes, hoping, praying, that the darkness around him was just a temporary thing. Maybe the lightning had knocked him out for a while and scrambled his sight, but it was nothing more than a glitch. That's what he told himself. When he woke up, the lights would be back. The world would be as it was.

He grunted, shifting in the bed, and waited for a few seconds, hoping he'd wake up into some semblance of reality.

Nothing.

It was still dark.

"Son of a…" His hand shot out to swipe at the air, annoyed and exhausted. He sat up, trying to push through the haze, but that empty, suffocating blackness was all that greeted him. He hated it. His heart pounded in his chest as he sat there, realizing, this wasn't right.

"No," he muttered, his voice low and rough, as if he was talking to himself. He swung his legs off the bed and planted his feet on the cold floor. "It's just temporary. This will go away. It has to."

He tried to stand, but his legs shook like they were made of wet noodles. His body was weak, sore, and more broken than he'd like to admit, but he pushed forward. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to move toward what he thought was the door. His hands reached out in front of him, tapping against the wall for guidance.

And still…nothing. The darkness stayed.

"Are you kidding me?!" Lucas shouted, throwing his arms up, frustration boiling over. He wasn't the kind of guy to panic, but this? This felt like the kind of hell he couldn't escape. He let out a sharp curse, his voice sounding in the quiet room. The thought that maybe he was going insane crossed his mind for a brief moment.

A moment later, the door burst open, and a nurse rushed in, a soft, concerned voice calling out, "Mr. Arden, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not okay! What's going on here?" Lucas snapped, his body tense, hands clenched in fists. "Where the hell are the lights? Why is everything so damn dark?"

The nurse hesitated, taking a cautious step toward him. "Mr. Arden… you've been unconscious for a while. The doctors are trying to figure out…"

"I don't care what they're trying to figure out!" He was already up on his feet, the pain in his body barely registering as he started pacing. "You people did something to me. You're hiding something. Why is it still dark?"

A moment later, the door opened again. The doctor stepped in, his face tight with unease. "Mr. Arden, we need to calm down. We're here to help you."

"I don't need your help," Lucas growled, his teeth bared. His eyes were wide with panic now, though the frustration was still thick in his voice. "I just need some damn light. Just… turn on the damn lights and stop messing with me."

The doctor sighed, glancing at the nurse who stepped back, and then took a slow step toward Lucas. "Lucas, listen to me."

"I am listening!" He spat, taking a step forward. "But no one's giving me a damn straight answer. What the hell happened to me? Did you people do this? Where's the damn light?"

The doctor took a deep breath. He paused, his face hardening, as if he were trying to prepare Lucas for something. "Lucas… we've run some tests. You were struck by lightning. And… I'm afraid the lightning caused permanent damage to your eyes."

Lucas froze. His breath caught in his throat as the words hit him like a punch to the gut. He blinked, trying to process it. "What? No. That's…that's impossible."

The doctor's eyes softened, but there was no pity. "It's a rare case, Lucas. The lightning struck directly at you. You're blind. The damage is irreversible. I'm sorry. We've never seen anything like this before."

For a moment, Lucas just stood there, silent, as if the world had stopped moving. His breath was shallow, his heart racing in disbelief. Blind? Him? Blind? This couldn't be happening. He wanted to laugh, but there was no humor left in him.

"No." Lucas's voice was quieter now, the disbelief settling in. "You're lying. I'm fine. Just fix it. Fix it…now."

The doctor stepped forward, his expression now sympathetic but firm. "Lucas, we've done everything we can. There's nothing we can do to fix it. I know this is difficult, but you have to understand…"

"Shut up!" Lucas screamed, the words torn from his chest as if the air around him was suffocating him. His hands shot out, grabbing whatever he could find on the bed. A pillow. A tray. He threw it with all his strength, sending it flying across the room. It slammed into the wall with a loud crash.

He was shaking. His teeth were gritted, his body trembling from the rage that flared up inside him. "You people don't get it! I don't need your pity! I don't need your damn advice! I can't…" He stopped, his voice cracking.

The nurse stepped back, her face pale as Lucas kept screaming, throwing everything within reach. He kicked the bed. He slammed his fists into the mattress. "I had a life! What the hell am I supposed to do now? Huh? What? I'm blind."

The doctor and the nurse exchanged looks, but neither moved. They couldn't calm him down. Not now. Not with the fury that poured out of him like a broken dam.

"Please, Lucas," the doctor tried again, his voice gentle but firm, "you're alive. You're lucky you're alive. The lightning was a freak accident. But you're here. You're breathing. And you're going to get through this."

But Lucas wasn't listening anymore. All he could hear were his own screams, his own fury ringing in his ears, blocking out everything else. This was it. This was his new reality. And he hated it. He hated every last bit of it.

"I don't need your pity!" he roared again, his voice wild and unhinged, as he flung himself back onto the bed. "I'm not alive! I'm a damn prisoner in my own body!"