The Emperor's Awakening and Destruction

Bernard Empire National Hospital – Intensive Care Unit

Alberto's eyelids twitched, pupils dilating beneath paper-thin lids. Cardiac monitors spiked as his autonomic nervous system rebooted—112 BPM, 84% SpO₂, BP 150/90. The nurse, Sister Marisol, froze mid-swab, her gloved hand hovering over the pressure ulcer on his sacrum.

"*Oh! My God…*" she whispered, dropping the gauze. The protocol demanded she stabilize his neck, but Alberto was already moving, fingers clawing at the oxygen mask.

"How long—" he rasped, throat raw from intubation.

Sister Marisol recovered enough to hit the Code Blue button with her elbow. "Three days, Your Majesty"

Alberto ripped off the ECG electrodes in a spray of conductive gel. His IV lines came next; blood bloomed crimson at the catheter sites as he tore them free. The neurostimulator crown sparked when he yanked it off, tendrils of smoke curling from its fractured runes.