Darkness.
That's all he had known for the past three years.
Somewhere in the void of his mind, echoes of his past self-screamed—demanding to be let out, to wake up, to fight back. But his body? His body had long forgotten what it meant to resist.
Strapped down. Needles piercing through skin. Voices murmuring behind glass walls.
"Subject #040 remains stable."
"Keep the sedatives constant. No anomalies in his vitals yet."
"What about the neural recalibration?"
"The process is almost complete. He won't remember a thing."
...Won't remember?
The words sparked something. A flicker of memory. A voice—his mother's? His sister's? He didn't know. But before he could grasp it, pain surged through his skull like a hammer against glass.
And just like that, the flicker died.
LOCATION: UNKNOWN FACILITY | YEAR 2028
The room smelled of sterilized metal and something rotten underneath. Kisimoto's body was still strapped to a cold, steel table. Electrodes ran across his chest, his arms, his neck—right where that green injection had been forced into him three years ago.
Somewhere behind the glass, a woman in a white coat scribbled notes on a clipboard.
"He's responding better than expected," she muttered, adjusting her glasses. "His body has fully adapted."
Another scientist, a bald man, scoffed. "No surprise. His genetics made him an ideal candidate. But we still don't know if—"
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
The monitors started spiking. His heart rate—it was rising.
Kisimoto's fingers twitched.
A deep breath. His eyes shot open. He was in a weird liquid inside a container.
Everything was different.
The white ceiling above him wasn't just a ceiling anymore. It was moving—pulsing—like it was breathing. The voices behind the glass weren't just sounds; he could feel them, vibrating through the air.
And worst of all...
He could hear their thoughts.
"Is this it? The breakthrough we've waited for?"
"No, no—he's not supposed to wake up yet!"
"His brainwaves are off the charts! This isn't right!"
Kisimoto exhaled. The restraints snapped apart.
A second later, the alarms blared.
"Shit—He's awake!"
TO BE CONTINUED...