The return of Mikey, Part I

Mikey opens his eyes to a world of pain. All he sees are bright lights so he quickly closes his eyes again and returns to his sleep. The next day he wakes up again and feels a little better. He lifted his head and looked around the room. The only light in the room comes from a flame floating above the doorway. There is a table against the back wall with armor piled upon it. After a few moments he realizes that it is all of his equipment. He hears a noise from the door and looks over to see a dark figure enter. He is tall and completely covered in a black cloak. The dark man draws back his hood to reveal a human face. "Tell me where I am and who you are," demands Mikey. The dark man chuckles, "You are safe and alive. YOu should be more thankful. Do you even remember what happened?" Mikey takes a few moments and tries to figure out what the man is talking about. "apparently not," the dark man says. "Well let me explain, and then maybe you'll be more grateful! It all happened 7 months ago. "Acting like your normal self you picked a fight with a few wizards who were beyond even your strength to handle. They attacked you and the battle became viscous. An entire town was destroyed when one of their spells went awry. "Somehow you were able to kill two of them, but it was nto enough. You were defeated. They left you for dead in the mountains where you fought. And in fact, I'm not too sure that you didn't die out there. "A loyal servant of Nisstyre had witnessed the battle and took the news to a temple of loyal followers. We found you and brought you back here to attempt to heal you. "For days everything we tried to use failed. We lost all hope, but then a strange fellow who refused to give his name came to the temple. He claimed he could heal you and demanded to see you. "We had nothing else to try so we let him attempt whatever he thought would help. He locked himself in your room for 9 hours. The most horrid sounds I've ever heard came from behind that door. "We have no clue what he did, but it worked. When he left, you were alive and your condition had improved slightly. From there we handled the rest. "You have been asleep since then. Your body has fnially healed enough for you to wake and perhaps return to your life... although you will fid your world changed dramatically." It took Mikey a few minutes to take it all in. He had been defeated in a battle he didn't even remember. "We decided that you must be told this as soon as you awoke," the words of the cleric interrupted Mikey's thoughts. "The Church of Nightmares has fallen apart. WE were forced to flee the temple and hide out. "We were barely able to get you out before the tample fell. There are barely any true believers left out there." Mikey reeled as if he had been physically struck. "No! How could this be? You're lying!! I will kill you!" Mikey attempted to stand, but was too weak and fell back against the bed. "It is true, Mikey. Please, just give us last few some hope and say that you will stay true to Nisstyre! Do not turn your back on him as did the others!" For some reason he couldn't understand, Mikey believed the clerics words. "I am tired. I need to sleep. Leave me!!" Mikey shouted the last words in rage as he collapsed on the bed in exhaustion. continued later...