The air was cold. His back was stiff. His body was foreign. With great effort, the teenager finally opened his eyes. The bright whiteness washed over him and threatened to overwhelm him. He felt a burning sensation. It came from his chest. He finally remembered to breathe. The air was as cold in his lungs as it felt on his skin. Drawing his first breath, his nostrils were assaulted by the staleness of the air. It smelled of antiseptic. From a hospital room. Wait! What's a hospital?

The boy searched through the dense fog of his memories. But he came up empty. His mind was a locked box inside a vault. And he had lost the key. In desperation, he mentally slammed his fists against the metaphysical vault. It shuddered and trembled from his assault. He could almost grasp the answer, the knowledge, but it remained stubbornly just out of reach.

"Where are we?"

The boy heard the question. His memories were pushed aside when he realized he was not alone. His eyes had finally adjusted to the brightness. To the colors. Without hesitation, he turned his head and saw the world was horizontal. No, it was he who was horizontal; he was laying on the ground. He slowly pulled his body up and pivoted. He saw two strange things hanging freely below him. He peered down and saw that they were attached to him; instinctively, he realized they were his legs. They were a part of him. He felt other limbs in his physical form and held them up. They were his arms and hands. He looked down to memorize the rest of his form. And realized that he was naked, sitting on a smooth, white surface which, in turn, rose a few feet above the equally smooth, white floor. Instinctively, he knew that he was sitting on an altar.

His mind full of curiosity now, he looked around. He saw a white room full of altars. Laying on each altar was a person who was naked, just like him. The boy hopped off his altar and his feet landed on the ground. Ack! The floor felt just as cold as the altar. He looked up at the ceiling and saw panels of bright white fluorescent light. The ceiling was a good fifteen feet high. Furthermore, he noticed that the ceiling took the shape of a dome. The altars were made of white marble and they were arranged in a circle. A quick count revealed twenty-five altars in all. The wall was also made of white marble. It curved continuously and there was no exit that he could see.

Suddenly, music started playing. It was a cheery tune composed of wind instruments with the accompaniment of a piano. Clearly meant to convey the feeling of a brand new day. "Welcome to The Sanctum," the metallic voice said. "You have been chosen to be reborn in this new world. At the prompt, please type in your name. When all of you have done so, you will be allowed to exit this Rebirth Chamber."

A transparent screen appeared before the teenage boy's face and a keyboard floated before his chest. What is my name? He tried hard to recall his name, but again his memories remained locked away and just out of reach. Nonetheless, his effort was rewarded when a memory flashed in his mind. It was a film about a unicorn. And his favorite character was named, "Schmendrick." Smiling to himself, the boy typed in the name, "Smendrick." It was as good a name as any. More importantly, though, it was a link between his unknown present and his mysterious past. While Smendrick could not recall his past right now, he was confident that he will be able to do so. Someday.

The keyboard chattered as the teenager typed in his name. Once he pressed, "Enter," the word, "Processing," appeared in red over a semi-transparent screen. The word flashed for a few seconds and finally, he saw the word, "Approved."

*Chirk*

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

A panel slid open on the side of his altar and something was pushed out on a tray. It was a large brown bag.

The boy knelt on the cold, hard floor and opened the bag. It contained clothing. The boy grabbed the bag and stood up. He dumped the contents of the bag on his altar. There was a white, long-sleeved buttonless shirt, brown colored breeches, a black belt, a pair of black leather boots, and a dagger in a sheath. As he put on his clothes, someone said, "Dude, what happened to your back?"

Schmendrick turned around and he saw another teenage boy standing before him. The newcomer was taller than Schmendrick; he had a mane of dark brown hair, a wide jaw, and even wider chest. His huge biceps and chest were barely contained by his white shirt.

"What do you mean?" Schmendrick asked as he put on his pants. He didn't bother to turn around again despite someone staring at him.

"Your back is full of scars, bro! And your front, too!"

"I don't remember," Schmendrick replied while putting on his boots.

"Yeah, now that you mention it, I can't remember nuthin' either. My name is Malkus." The teenage boy offered a hand.

"I'm Schmendrick," the other boy replied and gripped the proffered hand firmly.

"Any idea what the fuck is going on?" Malkus asked.

"Hey! Watch your language pal!" a light, distinctly feminine voice said. A girl whose head barely rose to the middle of Malkus' chest stood before the boys. She, too, wore a white shirt and brown breeches over black leather boots.

Schmendrick took a quick glance at the other altars and confirmed that everyone had been issued the identical set of clothes. Then he turned his attention back to the girl, who was either brave or stupid.

The girl had dark blonde hair which was shortly cropped. Her piercing blue eyes stared directly into Malkus' own brown eyes. Her skinny arms were folded under her small breasts, the outline of which was visible under the white shirt. Despite her petite figure, she had a strong presence. Every set of eyes in the room were on her.

"What's it to you, girlie?" Malkus grinned. He loved being the center of attention and he was aware that he had it now.

"We died and went to heaven," she replied. "When we leave this room, we're going to face judgment. And you don't want to be kicked out for your potty mouth."

"What's your name, girlie?" the large man asked.

"Annabella," she replied in a haughty tone of voice.

"I'm Malkus." He saw the beautiful girls looking at him and decided to turn on the charm. "Pleased to meetcha." He held out his right hand.

The petite girl stared at his big, meaty hand for a moment. He could easily crush her hand if he was a dick. But she wasn't going to back down now. With a look of disgust, Annabella reached out with her own hand because it was the polite thing to do. The people in the room were watching her, judging her. Thus, Annabella wanted to make a good impression on them.

Malkus adroitly turned her hand and bent his head to kiss the back of her hand lightly.

Annabelle was thoroughly grossed out and tried to rip her hand away from his lips.

But his grip was too strong for her. His hot breath warmed her cold skin. Finally, he released her; a big smile appeared on his face.

The girl was furious but held her emotions in check.

Suddenly, a bright spotlight shone down on an altar, where a teenage boy was sitting. He was still nude, unlike the rest of the boys and girls in the chamber.

The metallic voice spoke again. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." When the countdown reached zero, the unresponsive boy was struck by a burst of lightning and his body started burning.

People in the room cried out in alarm and watched in horror as the boy's body quickly turned to ash.

A force field appeared and encapsulated the alter. A blue-ish light appeared inside the capsule for a few seconds. When the light was gone, the force field dissipated and no trace of the boy remained.

"Do not be alarmed, my children," the metallic voice said. "The boy's rebirth failed. His soul did not transition with his body and it had to be removed from the rebirth altar. Now, two portals will open. Males shall exit through the blue portal. Females shall exit through the red portal."

Two portals shimmered and appeared at the center of the room--the left portal was colored red while the right portal was colored blue.

The teenagers followed the instruction given by the voice and started walking through the portals.