Sternritter Calendar

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Thoughts with anything but a nice intent went through the mind of one young man, his frail and weakened body being supported by an echocardiograph to make sure he stayed alive, and a respirator to make sure he breathed properly.

The young man is under white sheets, his eyes are covered in bandages, same for his ears, nose, and head. If one would look closer, he could see the missing tongue from his open mouth, his body is full of bandages and plaster, the only normal thing about his appearance was a pendant around his neck.

It's a pendant on his neck that his parents gave him, the pendant appeared to be made of silver and it had a mechanism that could let it open, but only clean mirrors made themselves visible when opened, disappointing even the young man at times.

The footsteps of a person echoed, slowly a middle-aged man wearing doctor clothes made himself present, his eyes never leaving his doc.u.ments. Pity made itself at home in his eyes.

Doctor: Loss of sight, age: 8, cause: Bullies forced him to look at the sun for too long, causing the retinas to burn in an irreparable state.

Without himself realizing, the doctor's free hand had fixed his glasses' position out of habit.

Doctor: Loss of taste, age: 11, cause: Abusive uncle cut off his tongue, fortunately someone called an ambulance that was pretty near when they saw the scene from a window.

Loss of hearing, age: 12, cause: A group of thugs forced him to hear to incredibly loud gunshots, destroying his eardrums, the thugs were forced to pay to his parents and put in prison.

Loss of smell, age: 15, cause: Teacher punched him in the nose, causing an internal bleeding, the doctors were forced to close his nose to block the internal bleeding.

And then… Brain damage, age: 17, cause: A drunk driver accidentally slammed his truck on him, his bones are broken and the part between his brain and the spine separated, before his brain got a trauma when crashing in the ground, he can't move or feel anything, basically the only thing that work is his heart…

Doctor: This is anything but short of a miracle he's still alive. Is his willpower made out of iron?

After saying that, he sighed and looked at the man's doc.u.ments on his identity. He may have said that as a compliment, but he felt pity for the young man...

Doctor: Jean Dennell, 18 years, unable to communicate in any way, the parents, still grieving due to their child suffering so much, finally consented on Euthanasia.

The doctor slowly made his way next to young Jean's bed.

Doctor: Good luck in your journey to the otherworld, Jean, hopefully you won't suffer as much as you are doing right now.

Then he pulled out the spine of his respirator, and soon…

*Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...*

Doctor: His heartbeat is now 0…

He's finally dead…

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…

...Where am I?

I… I feel warmth…!?

?: Please, open your eyes! Little Che… Little Che, wake up! Don't scare me like this!

He instinctively opened his eyes, and something that he never saw for 10 years appeared in front of him… Light…

He closed his eyes due to the sudden apparition and unconsciously sat up, before he heard a feminine voice.

?: Ah! Little Che!

Then another sensation he didn't feel for some time came at him when the source of the feminine voice hugged him, he was immediately tackled back in the bed since he didn't need to react to anything for an entire year.

?: You… You woke up!

...What is happening…!?

Jean ignored her and continued to look around,using his newly gained ability of sight, over his head there was a red tent, his bed was made of wood with a red blanket under his body and another over it, making his body uncomfortable, but he didn't care about how he felt… He was uncomfortable, and that brought him joy…

Anyone who'd hear his thoughts would think he's crazy, but it was understandable after 1 entire year as a vegetable, he was basically a corpse with a beating heart at that time, unable to hear,feel,smell or even talk.

It was a monstrous experience for Jean as well.

The room was unexpectedly made of frail things like wood, there wasn't a window made of glass, and the things that made light were candles and the sunlight, it is as if he was in the old China, at his right there was a table with a red decoration and 2 candles, at the center there was a wooden plate with apples over it.

And then… He could smell a faint feminine scent that he didn't recognized due to how much time since he couldn't smell something. He did think that it smelled very nice, it gave him nostalgia about when his mother would put perfume when he was very young.

Jean froze on spot, he didn't hear the girl calling his name, unknowingly to himself, tears were already flowing out of his eyes; they were tears of joy.

?: W-What? Hey Little Che, what is happening?! Did you get hurt somewhere?

But Jean continued to ignore her, making the young girl worry even more.

?: Uh… I'm going to call grandpa!

Unable to understand what Jean had, she ran off to call this so-called "Grandpa", the moment she slammed the door shut, Jean stopped crying, his attention grabbed by a sudden headache making itself present in his head, he let out a groan before darkness engulfed him.

…

?: Yun Che, you're cornered! If you obey us and hand over the Sky Poison Pearl, perhaps we may allow you to live!

...

Jean?: I hate… Hate myself for being so useless. That I didn't finish all of you dog shit Justice Sects off in these seven years!

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?: He actually… Swallowed the Sky Poison Pearl!

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?: This is some specially made soup, I heard it will nourish you, but I don't know how it'll taste.

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Jean?: Aunty, what is this?

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Jean?: Aunty, I'm feeling a little… dizzy…

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...

...

Jean rubbed his head and forgot about the strange recovery of his senses, his knowledge on this place's language, traditional medicine, culture, grammar, geography, and many more topics expanded and grew vastly..

His entire brain felt as if it was squished like a sponge, and then forced to expand beyond what it could.

Jean: Blue Pole Star… This is not Earth… Profound Sky Continent… Blue Wind Empire… Floating Cloud City… Xiao Sect… I… I am… Xiao Che?

Or am I Yun Che…. Maybe even perhaps Jean Dennell?

I… I don't know…

But…

His thoughts were interrupted when a vibration came from his left hand. He looked at it curiously and the first thing he noticed was a green circular imprint, his new knowledge told him that this is the Sky Poison Pearl, what it is, he will find later, the second thing he saw was…

...An apple watch?