'It's really dark. Did I…?' Damon was surprised by how calm he felt.
His sight was blocked by an expanse of darkness, yet strangely he could still hear the beating of his heart.
'No, maybe I'm not dead yet…'
As that thought ran through his mind, he began to hear the tolling of a loud bell. A warm sensation briefly wrapped around his body, and his ears felt like they would burst.
After a few seconds, he sat up and his eyes snapped open.
The sound stopped, and he found himself drenched in sweat, lying on a small bed in the center of a room.
'Where am I now…?' Damon took a breath and thought it over.
It was as if the gruesome scene had been a dream. However, the taste of blood still lingered on his tongue, a small proof of his pain.
Glancing around, he noticed the room was built from materials similar to the broken shrine. At the same time, he spotted an oval-shaped mirror hanging from the wall.
Its corners were decorated with red wood carvings of tigers and serpentine beasts.
Yet what stood out most was his reflection.
A white-haired youth of medium build with clean copper skin and blue eyes stared back at him. But somehow he had two hands instead of one.
"How is this possible…?" Damon's brows rose as he drew a gasp.
Struggling to raise his hands, he decided to slowly shift them to his lap for a better look.
Soon after, he was left speechless. Instead of flesh riddled with bites, scars, and swelling, both limbs were perfectly normal.
'Wait… If these are healed, what about my back...?'
Damon's confusion deepened, but he kept an open mind. Without the use of his arms, he had no way to reach behind him and check. So he shifted his torso sideways again and again, hoping to stir any wounds.
Just then, he heard the sound of wood clattering against the floorboards and footsteps nearing the room.
'That must be the old woman...' Damon's expression paled, showing a trace of fear.
While curious, he couldn't deny he was scared of her. A memory of the beast's head sliced in two flashed through his mind as he tried to recall her appearance.
His Adam's apple bobbed, and he kept his eyes locked on the door as it made a soft rattling noise.
The paper door panel slid to the right, revealing a gently aged face.
"Oh? I'm surprised you're up already considering..."
Her words trailed off near the end, but Damon knew what she meant. He shifted his gaze as the old woman leaned forward.
She removed her wooden slippers, closed the door, and entered the room.
She walked quietly to the wooden table in front of the bed and took the weapon tucked at her waist. Then, in a single motion, she drew the blade from its wooden casing.
'Is she going to attack me!?' Damon tensed up at once.
As if that was her intention, a smile formed on the woman's lips. She lowered the blade to the table and began sharpening the thin sword against a palm-sized stone block.
Her delicate movements and calm manner were almost beautiful as the blade glided across the wet stone.
After taking a breath to relax, he could see her more clearly. Her hair was pale and long, with thin bangs framing her face and stern black eyes that studied the blade's edge with full focus.
'Who is this woman…?' Damon pressed his lips together in thought. He carefully pulled his feet closer to his chest.
She had saved his life and tended to his injuries, but his intuition whispered that his savior was more than she had let on.
"Relax, child. I'm not going to bite." Sensing his worries, the woman raised the blade from the table.
She turned around and spoke with the same gentle tone. "You're lucky I found you out there; most visitors don't return from that cold."
'Visitors?' Damon's mouth hung open as he repeated the word.
It was hard to believe people were willing to enter this winter landscape.
"This place isn't all snow, boya." The old woman laughed lightly and sheathed her blade. "Sate… How about going for a stroll? I'll show you around and introduce you to the others."
"But I can't move my body properly..." Damon replied.
"Ho?" Hearing this, the woman cocked her head slightly to the side with amusement.
It was rather clear she didn't believe him. She stared for a moment, then said, "Could you try standing up?"
'What is she thinking…?'
Although hesitant, Damon slowly rolled out from under the sheets. His body felt strangely light as his feet touched the wooden floor.
It felt like the pain had left faster than the memory of it.
'My body still feels kind of stiff, but some stretches should sort this out.'
He mentally prepared himself and started with light arm and back stretches. The joints cracked with each bend and twist, but at this moment Damon found it rather pleasing.
However, he was not the only one.
"That's quite a nice body for someone so inexperienced," the woman remarked. Stars appeared in her eyes as she looked over the muscles across his back and shoulders. "It seems things will be much easier from here on."
Damon looked at her in disbelief, not really understanding what she was getting at.
'I got so lost in my concentration I almost forgot she was watching.'
As he began to clench his fist through the growing unease, the woman turned toward the door and threw it open once more.
She tilted her head slightly, looking back, and said, "Well, let's go."
Following her lead, Damon stepped out of the room and onto an elevated platform of wood. It seemed the entire house was raised off the ground.
Hopping off the edge, he watched the old woman's back as she continued forward.
Without noticing, he began to slow as he took in the scenery.
The heavy piles of snow were gone. He felt the gentle brush of grass blades under his toes in a field surrounded by trees and soft sunlight.
A bamboo fountain tapped rhythmically nearby, its sound drifting through a sprawling, clean garden. Birds chirped overhead, and the air carried a scent like honey and lavender.
It was beautiful and almost unreal.
With an entranced glint in his eyes, Damon brushed his fingers against the pink blossoms.
The woman's voice then drifted into his ears.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
Damon turned and saw that the woman had taken a seat beneath a wisteria tree. A simple spread of tea in porcelain cups and a basket of fish and fruit lay before her.
"I'm sure you're hungry after losing that much blood."