Elkay woke up with a shock, his body itching to sit upright, but held down by heavy, leather straps. After a moment of reorientation, Elkay tried to look around. His only real point of articulation was his neck, and Elkay was currently using it to work out where he was.
It was a simple, rectangular room. Elkay was lying on a standard hospital bed which had been decorated in white pillows and flowers. Medical equipment along the walls were hidden in white sheets encrusted with gems. At the end of the room, opposite Elkay’s bed, was a heavy, locked door, and two large observation windows.
Elkay’s first course of action was to remove his straps. His telekinetic powers were somewhat wonky, what with him having just woken up from a coma, but with a lot of effort, Elkay slowly managed to free his right arm. With that free, he could undo the strap on his other arm, then work on the straps around his waist and legs. Finally, he removed the larger straps pinning his wings and tail down.
Now that Elkay was free of his bindings, he could better inspect the room. The door was his way out of there, so he went straight to that.
Of course, the door was locked. Whether it was to stop Elkay escaping or someone else coming in, he wasn’t sure. The windows gave no further clue but definitely supplemented both theories, as they appeared to be incredibly thick. At least ten centimetres. The view outside looked like a more normal bedroom, complete with a huge waterbed and red and gold furniture. Another door, as heavy as the one next to him, was the only way out. He put the side of his head to the glass, to see if he could hear anything, but all he picked up was silence. There was no one around.
Knowing there was no way out via the door, Elkay decided to have a look at the rest of the room. The walls were lined with all sorts of different medical machines, but none of them seemed to have been used on the little Rethan. Not just equipment like heart monitors, but even sophisticated equipment like liqui-food pumps, ultrasound scanners, mechani-leg bracers, neuronets and more. Almost all of it was covered up and hidden away, yet connected together, much like a Cassid Auto-Medibay. Perhaps, if Elkay ended up with some sort of illness, the machines would all spring to life, throwing off the pristine white sheets and waking up to fix him.
Only one area stood out. One table that was covered in medication, rather than medical equipment, and another with a large supply of all-inclusive meal bars and nutrient drinks. Most of the medication was in sealed packets, apart from a packet of injection-based quick-fixers, which was open and missing seven vials. They had probably been used on Elkay while he was unconscious, which greatly worried him because quick-fixers were highly addictive.
Not wanting to think of the implications of a drug addiction, Elkay went back to inspecting the room and trying to work out how to escape. But the walls were all just as secure as the door and windows. No cracks, no gaps, no seals, nothing. Just flat sheets of some kind of metal.
Questions began to burn in the back of Elkay’s mind. Where was he? Why was he in there? Why was he not at a proper hospital? Who had put him in there? And most importantly, how would he escape?
Elkay needed more information. That was when he spotted a small piece of paper, tucked under the quick-fixers. He immediately picked it up and read the note inside, hastily scribbled in gold handwriting.
“I will protect you, Elkay. You are safe here. -FF”