Have you ever wondered if you're nothing but a fragment of memories? That everything you do is inevitable—because it has already happened? What if you're just reliving the same moments, trapped in a cycle, repeating the same experiences over and over, forever?

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Cold… that's all I feel.

My body is frozen—no, paralyzed. I try to open my eyes, but they remain sealed shut. All I see is endless darkness, thick and suffocating. I want to scream, but my lips won't move. Something soft presses against them... fur? Leather? Whatever it is, it holds me in silence, trapping my voice.

I can't even feel my own eyelids anymore. There's nothing left—no sense of self, no escape.

Then I hear it. The voices.

“𒔼𒑚𐏓𒀂 𒋻 𒇬𒁇𒀼𒋻𒔼𒋻𒐖𒈦 𐏓𒇲𒀼𒋻𒈦𒐕𒆸𒐖”

It sears through my ears, a foreign language piercing straight into my brain. It’s like a thousand needles stabbing, injecting something into me. I don’t understand the words... but at the same time, I do. The meaning forces its way into my head. It’s unbearable—so painful—but it won’t stop. It won’t let me escape.

Just when I think I can't take it anymore, I start to drift. The cold fades, and with it, my awareness. But the darkness? That stays.

And then I see them.

White eyes—glowing, elegant—emerge from the abyss. They're watching me. Staring straight into me, piercing deeper than the voice. Into my soul. They hold me there, under their gaze, until something shifts.

I feel warmth.

Is this... death? Was that Death I just met?

BOOM!

"Charge!"

The muffled echoes of explosions rumbled in the distance like thunder rolling across a vast, unseen sky. Voices followed, indistinct at first, just whispers on the wind—but they grew louder. Closer.

Before I could react, the voices swelled, rushing toward me in a tidal wave of sound.

They pierced my ears, sharp and unrelenting, each one like a needle drilling into my skull. Words I couldn't understand, commands, screams, all blending together in a dizzying cacophony.

I tried to move—tried to do something—but my body felt heavy, paralyzed under the weight of the noise.

And then, just as quickly, it all faded. The chaos receded, pulling me back down into the cold, silent void of unconsciousness.

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A loud, continuous beeping echoes, back and forth, like a pulse.

"Ugh, what is that sound? So annoying!" My voice is hoarse, barely audible in this strange, sterile air.

Surprisingly, my body feels light—too light. With a little effort, I raise my arm to swat at whatever’s making that sound, but the movement is wrong, uncontrolled. My arm swings with the force of a full blow. The sharp crash of breaking glass fills the air, followed by the clatter of metal hitting the ground.

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The sound snaps me back to reality. Beneath me, there’s a soft, too-comfortable feeling... like I’m lying on a cloud. My mind, foggy and slow, struggles to make sense of anything. Before I can react, my body tilts—whumpf—I fall straight to the cold, hard floor.

"Jesus, that hurts like hell!"

I groan, trying to get up, but my limbs—everything—feels light, unnatural. I push against the floor and shoot upward, slamming into the wall.

"GAH!"

What the hell? I take a few cautious breaths, moving slowly this time. After a moment, I manage to stand, though my legs wobble slightly under this strange lightness. I blink a few times, forcing my blurry vision to clear.

The room around me is blindingly white—stark, sterile. Medical equipment and shattered glass litter the floor where I must have knocked everything over. In the middle of the chaos, a bed, like something from a hospital, has been shoved aside.

Was I… dead? Or at least... close to it?

As I settle down, a wave of heat hits me, slowly building in intensity. It feels like the walls themselves are radiating it. I press my back against one, trying to find some relief, but it only gets hotter.

What the hell is this room? It’s like I’m inside an oven… I can barely make out my body with the constant brightness reflecting off everything.

CLANK. CLANK.

The heavy sound of metal echoes from above. I glance up, and from the ceiling—no, from the blinding light—something descends. A machine. Oval-shaped, like a chandelier, but sleek and out of place.

Then, a voice—soft, feminine—emerges from the machine.

"Testing, testing. Raise your hands if you can hear me."

I freeze. That voice... There's something familiar, almost comforting in it, but I can’t place why. My fear keeps my hands trembling, but I slowly raise them, cautious of how light I feel, afraid I might float away again.

"Excellent. You seem to use English as your language."

The voice pauses, and for a second, the silence is suffocating. Did I do something wrong? Is this some kind of test?

"Take the left turn when the door opens," the voice continues. "There will be a necklace outside. Wear it; it will help translate signs, instructions… everything."

A hiss fills the room, and a section of the wall opens with a soft whir. A passage reveals itself, dimmer than this blinding room, but not by much.

I hesitate for a moment. Every instinct in me screams to stay, but I push forward. I step through the doorway, grabbing one of the necklaces from the rack. It’s an odd thing—its center like an eye, irises swirling with movement. Creepy.

As soon as I put it on, the necklace vibrates softly. "Y.o.u.r d.e.s.t.i.n.a..t.i.o.n i.s t.o t.h.e l.e.f.t, p.l.e.a.s.e t.u.r.n l.e.f.t."

Its robotic voice is slow, and deliberate, as if it thinks I won’t understand.

I glance to the right—an impossibly bright hallway, almost like the one I left. Then I peer straight ahead. Tubes line the walls, filled with glowing liquid, some pulsing, some transporting particles of light.

"Front. is. execution. room," the necklace informs me. "Right. is. memo-searcher. room."

Execution room? My pulse quickens, and I jerk my head to the left, taking the only safe option. Something itches in my brain—the thought of youth, of memories—but my name... why can't I remember my name?

I shake off the thoughts and follow the necklace’s instructions. The hallway is quiet except for the soft hum of machinery. The windows I pass turn foggy when I get close. Am I being watched? I quicken my pace.

"Stop."

The necklace vibrates as I approach a smooth section of the wall. Right next to me, the surface shifts, morphing into a door.

My gut twists in anxiety, but something inside me urges me forward. I push open the door.

Inside, a woman sits behind a pane of glass, like an interrogation room.

"Close your eyes," she says softly.

The brightness of the room is blinding, so I do as she asks. Darkness.

"Do you... see him?"

Her voice is calm and expectant. I open my mouth to say no, but then... I see them. The white eyes. Glowing in the dark, staring into me.

I stumble back, slamming against the door. "What—what the hell is that?"

"Answer it."

Her voice remains calm, almost cold.

"Say, you have 23 chromosomes, like humans—XY chromosomes. Care to explain yourself?"

"What are you talking about? Explain what?"

A sharp click comes from the speaker, and to my left, a mirror rises from the ground.

I freeze.

In the reflection, I see... nothing. My eyes, my nose, my skin—

Gone.

image [https://imgur.com/a/ZawEhc7]ZDEK878.jpg [https://i.imgur.com/ZDEK878.jpg]