A year, a year of my life lost.
There wasn't any accident or something similar. The problem is that exactly one year of memories is gone. They may be there and out of my reach or simply gone.
Any questions I make about my lost year end in nothing else than praise about for me unbelievable accomplishments of mine. It may be instinct or a delusion but something strange must have happened that year.
The first hint brought the visit to the private school I seem to go to. Only that no one there could tell me more about my school life that year except that I aced my graduation.
There weren’t any classes I belonged the room in the dormitory assigned to me was simply empty and never used. Not a single teacher could say that I was under his tutorage or remember me and no student found a familiar face in me.
The second hint were my possessions there was nothing new or old compared to the last day I could remember only that everything was in branded moving containers.
Yes, moving containers, I seem to live in a new house now. I said that I don't seem to possess new personal items because the house looks something like something straight from a catalog and is also furnished that way. You can find every living necessities but no decorations pictures or more than one alone living person would need. Strange is also that my smartphone and computer seem not ti be used for a whole year as there are not any new entries in their logs or new files. As I know how I used to read or play the whole day only changing the device makes that more than suspicious.
I stop hammering my bare fists into the punching bag and finish my training and with it also ends my stress relief. I take a glance at the self-made sweat drenched wooden swords leaning against the wall.
I decide against a new round with them as I don't want to overtax my body again.
As I calm down and catch some breaths I enjoy the sound of the chains holding the punching bag to rattling and filling the room with their sound of steel. Calm again I check my condition to see my knuckles coated with a thin layer of blood and the bruises below it.
I think I got enough exercise today. I decide to shower and relax a little in front of my laptop.
I turn my laptop on.
Black screen.
The display comes up and with it the frustration I feel for this slow piece of fancy stone.
Booting screen.
Frustrated with how much time the laptop takes to boot I sigh. If I bought a new house why couldn't I afford a new computer?
This thing still needs an eternity to work may as well check today's mail. Looking at the pile of newspapers and a few letters next to me I grab the unusual thick letter.
I look at the screen again, booting.
I open it carefully trying only to damage the envelope and read the first message.
“Dear James Mikos,
we are honored with your application for the scholarship of our major and master in Artificial Intelligence. Our university board and I agree with the conditions of your contract.
The contract was more than daring better said brazen and it wouldn’t be false to call it a deal instead of a simple scholarship.
It was daring enough to create heated discussions in our university board as we are by any means not a nameless institution. With only your degree from a private school to speak for your person we would not even bother to respond but the “prototype” we were shown made further discussion unnecessary.
We are pleased enough with the right to claim your work was produced in our facilities and are ready for further deals. As stated the first pay was conducted and the remaining payment will be provided in the next 48 months following the contract. We don’t understand the need to wait with your studies for a year but are more than willing to comply.
We don’t know how the researchers of our facilities became aware of your existence but they requested us to give you this:
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We hope there will be an opportunity in which you can get acquainted with each other. We hope for a successful cooperation.
With utmost regards the university board of Grooningen.”
With the formal letter was the copy of a contract which only obligated me to study in their university for three years and allowed them to use my name and put their label on my potential works. In return, I will get a monthly payment of 3000€ for 4 years after the transaction of the bonus payment of 5000€ which should arrive today.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
One less burden on my mind, money and more mysterious to solve.
Two weeks ago was the first day of my alien life. I found myself as if was sleeping for one year in a House I have never seen before and in a new country, I never visited in my life. Only the things I knew and are familiar to me made me accept this new environment as my new home. But in this world is nothing for free and even when I was unable to read the bills I got I still knew what a minus before a number means. Only the knowledge there were still 10.000 € on my bank balance kept me calm.
They said themselves I only need to study there and let them use me for marketing.
I should not feel sorry for them if they came to regret it because I am not the person they may expect me to be. But it seems I got a year long paid holiday. Now with an ensured income, I can stop my job hunt to pay the bills and start to think about the free time I got now.
After the laptop finally finished his snail race I begin to check the code from the letter, it could be a shortened URL or something like that.
I decide to use the code as a web address and my hunch seems to be right. I land on a forum run by a private server. As I seem to be already logged in the URL must be also a guest access.
A new message? The sender an M119? And there is only a strange symbol highlighted as if it were a link. With enough faith in my anti-malware software and the wish to find an excuse to trash this slow piece of hell, I decide to check it but I doubt some researchers are spreading viruses from a private server, a pity.
What welcomes me is a black website with >Second Chance< written in white bold letters and a buy option with a price of 100€ bitcoins directly below it. Would I stumble upon this website in other circumstances I would ignore it and see it as a scam but under these circumstances I decide to look at my online wallet lying somewhere on the hard drive around. I managed to mine half a bitcoin in the past before the first bubble and the whole cryptocurrency millionaire would be better had I kept at it.
Surprise, surprise there are 13 Bitcoins in my wallet. 100€ are suddenly a small price to pay.
When I am about to look for a something to read while making the transaction the doorbell rings.
I open the door only to be greeted with a package lying on my doormat. Maybe something from my parents? I decide to take the box with my name on it and open it. What I find is a green metallic cube inscribed with many to me unknown symbols which seem to possess a very faint glow.
Could be some kind of franchise from a movie with leds. I don't remember quenching my inner geek's thirst with merchandise but I also don't remember many other things. Would I have to give this boy a name I would call it a pandora's box but knowing my luck I kill the idea as fast as it came to me.
Being placed on my doorsteps like it was only a newspaper I doubt it would be an important item or in any way expensive. Curious I decide to try if there is something to push or turn. I can rotate the upper half of the box and when I want to see how far it can be turned a *click* sound comes from the box.
The cube begins to rearrange himself levitating above the earth changing faster and faster. At the end, the cube's surface brakes like a shell and shows a little golem kneeling inside of it. The golem looks like a gnome made out of a blackish metal and has the size of a can.
Why is it a golem and not a statue or figurine? Well, either someone spend a high amount of time on his eyes or they are very much alive. Before I can test my assumption the statue starts to stretch his body as if it was waking up.
“Good Evening Sir I am your Tutorial”
A strong mechanical voice echoes through my house like full of might coming from every direction. The golem shakes his head as if something was wrong with it and he tries to fix it. After he stops the strange gesture the golem begins to look me in my eyes standing in a pose full of gracefulness on my hand.
I decide to respond his greeting.
“Good afternoon.”
The creature makes a shocked expression and you can see how it thinks a few seconds before a now more human voice comes from his mouth.
“Master doesn’t seem very shocked? My protocol has a wide array of methods to help my master to calm down in such a situation.”
“I am genuinely surprised but lately there were too many shocks, you could say I am accustomed.”
Our relationship of master and servant comes to me as an obvious fact instead of a surprise, strange but not important. I examine his body which becomes more and more detailed letting the look of a clay figure completely behind. His clothes change from nothing into a simple robe and then into a butler attire.
“You seem to be a golem which has the task being a tutorial to teach me, correct?”
“A golem is a crude comparison but Master is for the most part correct.”
I could start asking some random questions in every direction but in the end, the only thing I really want to know is why is he here and what is it he has to tell.
“Then tutor me.”
“Thank you, Master, I will provide you with the necessary basic information and common knowledge needed for an effective use of [Second Chance]”
A window with the size of a Computer Screen appears in front of me. Second chance? Maybe something to do with the website.
Tutorial I
“I am tasked to support my transmission of information with the help of [Screens] so I have to entreat you not to concentrate only on my voice but also on the shown [Screens]”
A new window replaces the old one before me.
Welcome to your tutorial and thank you for your purchase. At the end of the tutorial, a [Second Chance] will be immediately provided. We recommend to let your body rest on a comfortable
place before the end of the tutorial I.
“We should start with the basics, the knowledge about magic and experience. A being consists out of three layers [Corpus], [Mind] and [Soul]. The [Corpus] is neither your flesh nor your blood but your physical existence itself. The [Mind] is the accumulation of mana under your control and also the fuel running your mind. The [Soul] is the core of your being and also represents your overall strength as well as your influence on the world. There are many ways to strengthen your [Soul] but the most common ones are training and accumulation of other souls.”
I can see his eyes asking me if I understand everything but silence seems to be interpreted as a request to continue.
Corpus Health Strength Resistance Mind Mana Willpower Intelligence Soul Experience Control Focus
“Everybody gets only one [Corpus] which will take the best-suited race and appearance for your [Mind] and [Soul] so upon death, everything except your [Soul] will be lost. I shall also recommend the obtainment of a [CC] commonly distributed by the [Dolls]. With the commands [Second Chance] and [Home] and enough concentration you will be able to alternate between your [Lost Chance] and [Second Chance]. That is the end of [Tutorial I] do you want to proceed?”
“No”
I lie down on my bed and place the golem at my chest.
"Do you want to proceed, Master?"
With my answer, the golem transforms into a black orb and starts to fly towards me. Before I can try to do something he flies into my body. My body absorbs it and I can feel a new sensation in it as if there is a metallic warm liquid now flowing through me. Before I can ask myself how I am able to tell if it is metallic the liquid disappears eaten or dissolved by my body. A warmth as if I were burning fills me but without the pain, this feeling spreads through my body in an instant.
Surprised and clueless how to react I relax on my bed and after a few seconds pass without a new surprise I decide to take things into my own hands. Only left with the commands [Home] and [Second Chance] as the only hints how to proceed further I try my luck.
“[Second Chance]”