Location: Central Hospital, Aureas, Kingdom of Chaladonia
Time and Date: Late Evening, 23rd of Flamerule, 1085 of the 2nd Era
A middle age man in a white coat sighs as he pulls away his stethoscope from the chest of an elderly patient on a bed. Pulling out his pocket watch, the man solemnly reads the time, "Time of death, 21:38". Slowly he pulls the sheet over the patient's head and lowers his own head. "Please let the family know will you, Nurse Maria?" A woman's voice responds, "Yes, of course, doctor Ian." She turns to walk away, and stops, turning back to the man, "Sir, are you okay?"
Ian shakes his head and looks about the room. Dozens and dozens of beds, filled with patients of various races and ages, all looking as if they were asleep. "Tell me, Maria, how many have awakened the past week?" "None, sir" the nurse responds calmly. "And how many have we lost?" "This will be the second this week sir." Ian sighs, "Two, and only 3 days have transpired."
Ian walks about the room looking over all of the sleeping patients, "The Dark Paralysis is a terrible and confusing infliction." He turns back to the nurse, his face awash with the tiredness and agony of one who has seemingly fought many battles, "As you know, it was my great grandfather who, under Cadimus the Sixth witnessed the Great Awakening. He took down so many of their stories then, and the buzz of the time was that soon enough all the sleeping would recover." He scoffs, "It has been two hundred years since then! Two hundred years, and barely a handful ever awaken, and what's worse more fall to the Sleep almost daily..."
Ian returns to the dead patient's side, "This one, he was born to the sleep. Can you imagine never seeing the waking world? To have lived out a shorter existence trapped within a sleeping body?" Maria sighs, "No sir, I can't even begin to imagine. I lost my sister to the sleep sir, as you know"
Ian nods, "Yes, I know, I was her doctor then. Truly I am sorry I could not save her." The nurse shakes her head, "Sir, you did your best. We all know that." Ian chuckles darkly, "Maybe if I had been born to something like the affinity of the mind I could have had better results, but alas my only keeping is The Worm and The Fade. My only gift is a peaceful end. " "Sir, I.." Ian cuts her off, "We can only pray that the stories be true, you know. That inside the sleep they are not sleeping at all, but instead living whole lives within a whole different world. May Taal have granted them at least this mercy, that they would have had some semblance of a life, even if it was all but a dream."
"Yes, Doctor...." Maria stutters, gripping closely her pendant of Taal, "I pray that be true as well." She sighs, "I... I will go to the family now sir, lest you need something else?" Ian shakes his head and moves to check on another as the nurse departs, "Oh Taal, please grant the sleeping your mercy...."