Splintered Existence

Prolouge

Luca blinked to clear the haze as he opened his eyes for what felt like the first time in forever. Seeing nothing but a dark sky and the shadows of buildings he moved to sit up, but stilled as a sharp wave of pain coursed through his body. Luca gasped at the intensity of it, the burning feeling seemed to emanate from everywhere at once, it consumed all of his senses and caused a fog of red to pass before his vision. Breathing heavily, Luca leaned back on his elbows and waited for the throbbing to cease. Once his breathing had calmed he tilted his head downwards and took in his injuries.

Luca thought he was going to be sick. His body was a dishevelled mess: his pants were torn in multiple places, and his shirt, shoes and socks were missing entirely. There were multiple large bruises covering his torso and arms, abrasions scattered between them like berries on a bush. What made his stomach turn the most however, were the cuts that adorned his body, some being small in size and others being deeper, longer gashes. Most of the smaller wounds were partially scabbed over and only trickling a little blood but the largest were still bleeding at a steady rate - causing the hot red liquid to spill over the sides of his rib cage and stain the pavement surrounding him. Paling at the sight of how much blood he'd lost Luca averted his eyes, he couldn't recall ever seeing so much blood in his life - let alone spilling from his own body. Frantically he looked around for something to stop the bleeding, but he found nothing. In a desperate attempt to keep the precious liquid in his body Luca pushed his hand against the worst wound he could see - a gash along his abdomen that appeared to be at least 4 inches long and at least an inch deep. Despite his efforts blood continued to flow out of the wound and leak between his fingers.

The corners of Luca's vision began to go dark. Fuck! Luca swore Not here, not like this! please! He pleaded, please.. But Luca knew it was futile, he was going to die in this ally. Strength flowed out of his body with his blood. Luca's head fell back and he was forced to look at the dim night sky, letting out a raspy laugh Luca resigned himself to his fate and let the hand that was pressed to his wound fall to the ground. His eyes slowly slid closed the last thing they focused on being the silhouette of an unfamiliar city.