Soul Traveler: Venator.

'I don't know how long I've been here, but it's already been long enough.' He thought to himself, as he had spent more time processing his new memories during the day.

He forced himself out of bed and while dragging his I.V drip, using it as a cane of sorts, limped ever so slightly towards the bed of one of his fellow tenants. He dragged his finger through some of the blood he had coughed up and quickly drew Magic Circle in the air right above the Aura Center.

'You are practically dead already.' He thought as he looked at the unconscious face of the person on the bed. 'This might hurt a bit.'

Horatio completed and activated the circle, drawing Aura out from the body and absorbing it directly. The body jerked up by the midriff, however it all only lasted for a few seconds before breaking the circle and recoiling, stumbling backwards as more blood flowed from his nostrils and the body went limp and fell back to the bed.

'That was even worse than earlier.' Horatio though as he took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down.

That was not the end of it though, as he systematically went to all of the beds, and absorbed Aura from all of them. The process took longer than he anticipated, mainly because of how much time he took between absorptions to recover, however his research was crucial, as he was confirming something. He made his way back to his own bed, used the underside of one of his pillows to wipe away the blood all over his face and finger, and settled back into bed. He then went into his Mind Realm, to note down everything he had just learned. A desk, chair, pen and paper all materialised as he entered the realm, and he made his notes rather hastily.

"Unlike Mana, which is universal, there are specific types of Aura in this world, and compatibility is crucial. This body is not compatible with any Aura, however of the types I have come across in this hospital room, Cold Aura is the least incompatible. Will have to see if Aura can be extracted and processed to remove its properties in order to use it."

Horatio continued taking notes until the morning, where he exited the Mind Realm, and examined his body after swinging his legs off the bed after sitting up. He stood up slowly and tested his body, stretching ever so slightly in order to ascertain what the range of motion of his limbs was.

'Good enough.' He thought to himself as he unhooked himself from everything.

He looked for his clothes in the raggedy shelves and found that none of his clothing had survived, so he went through the shelves looking to see if anybody else in the room was of a similar height or build, in order to take their clothes. He found clothes from a combination of people, although the mix and match ensemble was an absolute affront to fashion. The slightly damaged jeans, slightly tight undershirt, and flip flops had to do, and were put on with quite some difficulty, due to his tender body and cumbersome cast his arm was in, however he made it work. Luckily, his Venator Licence, wallet and phone were damaged, but still functional, so he put them all in his pocket and looked back at those still in bed.

'They'll all be gone in a few days. It's a shame I couldn't experiment further.'

He then made his way towards the door, however the nurse came in before he could leave, and was taken aback by this man, once again.

"Venator Rex!" She bellowed. "Where do you think you're going?!"

Horatio tried to speak, but his throat was still in no condition to allow that, so he pointed towards the door and mouthed the word 'out' with conviction.

"What do you mean out?! You just woke up yesterday!"

"No. Time." He mouthed while tapping the back of his wrist, as if to emphasize the point. "Discharge. Me."

He was keeping the sentences short so the nurse would be able to see what he was trying to say, and it worked as she shook her head frantically in refusal. She shouted all kinds of things at Horatio, who simply raised his hand to quiet her down.

"Can't keep me. Must leave."

"You'll probably die the moment you leave the hospital!"

"Better than. Dying here." He mouthed while pointing at the beds behind him, before looking at the nurse with an intensity in his eyes. "Reception. Discharge."

The nurse was about to protest, but she felt the intensity in Horatio's gaze on her body, causing her to hesitate.

"Now." He insisted.

He was mouthing everything silently, yet she heard him, sighing as she gave up her protests and nodded.

"Do you have all of your belongings?" She asked, to which she received a silent nod. "Those… are not your clothes."

'They won't. Need them." Horatio mouthed before walking past the nurse and out of the hospital room.

She followed after him, barely having had any time to process the confidence with which this man on death's door stated that those left in that room were going to die. She guided him towards the reception desk The got there, and she began speaking with the receptionist. It turned out that Horatio was rather famous, considering how he was the first Venator placed in the 'hopeless' hospital room to not only survive, but leave of their own volition. The number of hospital staff that were stealing glances and talking about him in hushed tones was a little vexing, but he had more important things to worry about – namely getting out of the hospital.

"Venator Horatio Rex." The receptionist called as she handed him the form to fill out. "Whilst it isn't at all advisable to let you leave in this condition, we cannot stop you. Your bill shall be offset from your last commission."

The receptionist saying the full title and name out loud made Horatio shudder just a smidge.

'This body has the worst name… it sounds so made up.'

That was exactly the reason why Horatio wanted to leave so quickly. When processing the memories from the Mind Realm, they entered his mind in the order the previous soul deemed important, so one of the very first things he realised was how much of his payment would be deducted the longer he stayed there. He quickly filled all the information out and signed the form, before nodding his appreciation and turning to leave before a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Rex?" A female voice called, which stopped him in his tracks. As much as he didn't recognize the voice, his body did and it prompted a plethora of emotions to surge through it.

He turned around to face the woman, and memories that were actually buried closer to the bottom of the pile were forcibly pulled to the top.

"Wow, you were hospitalised in the same place as your child for three days, yet you were trying to slink out of here without even trying to see her? Really, Rex?"

The woman's voice bounced around inside Rex's head, echoing in such a way that it actually hurt.

"Are you here to fetch your husband, Ma'am? He is in no condition to leave, but he refuses to stay put."

"He is not my husband, and I am not here for him. The fact that I've even bumped into him is fortuitous at best."

This woman, who was clearly not intimidated by the size and stature that Horatio possessed – being 6'5 and nigh on 250 pounds – looked at him as though she was looking at something she wanted to scrape off the bottom of her shoe. Just the utter disregard in her eyes triggered something in Rex's body, and before he knew it, he spoke her name.

"Asanda." He croaked out painfully, his voice gurgling at the end as if blood had just filled his throat.