The light was blinding. Was this death?

No. The sterile scent and faint beeping of monitors snapped you back. The hospital’s harsh lights bore down on you, dragging you from the brink you had narrowly escaped.

And then you saw her.

At first, you thought the haze was playing tricks on your tired eyes. A woman stood near the foot of your bed, her presence as otherworldly as a dream you couldn't quite wake from. You knew very well she isn’t human.

She seemed surprised. "Eh, You can see me?" she whispered, her voice barely louder than a breath, yet it carried the weight of an eternal stream.

She took a hesitant step closer, her gaze soft, filling with a kind of reverence, or perhaps curiosity.

"Well… that’s a revelation," she murmured, tilting her head slightly. Her fingers brushed against the side of your bed, her movements as fluid and deliberate as the passage of time itself. "Rarely do mortals glimpse the keeper of the River of Souls and remain here to tell of it. You should deem yourself as lucky."

Was being lucky an example of staying in the hospital? Probably not.

She reached out, her fingers ghosting above your skin as though afraid her touch might shatter you. "You have escaped my embrace today," she said, her tone soft yet resolute. "But the river flows for all. When the time comes again…" She trailed off, her voice tapering into the silence like a fading hymn.

"For now, live."