"Welcome to the next loop, Urien. Have you forgotten your mask? Do I need to remind you to put it on each and every time?" - said the strange man, with an almost annoying cockiness in his speech.

"Where am I? Where is “this” ?", Urien asked, still confused at large by the current situation he is in. The man, looking at Urien, stopped for a second, and, after carefully choosing his words, said: "Always the same reactions when it comes to you. Come to think of it, I never expected you to remember anything. Makes my job a million times easier, at least."

(These words, so full of information, had little to no value to Urien, because, in his head, he was lost. Nothing was making sense to him and the words coming out of the person's mouth were nothing but air-wasting movements to Urien.)

"Sorry, but, I have no idea what you're talking about. Was I in an accident? Is this a hospital or something of its kind? And if you could, please, show me the exit? I don't feel like anything is wrong with me." At this point, it was clear to the man that Urien really did not recall anything.

"So much is wrong with you, Urien, but I don't take it as a means to judge you. Do you need an explanation again?"

And so, the man somehow knew Urien's name. Without any introduction or prior “hellos”, he stood there knowing so much about Urien; while Urien knew so little about him.

In this situation, what actions do you even take? Attack the unknown man talking to you? Do you try to establish trust or a bond? Trying to be as calm as he could, Urien chose the safest route he could; pretending everything was okay and that he wasn't bothered (not in the slightest) by the fact that an unknown man with his face covered was standing a few meters in front of him. Without a second more of thinking, and some would say impulsively, Urien opened up his mouth, and with a certain shakiness in his speech, approached the man directly, as if they were lifelong friends reuniting after not seeing each other for years upon years.

"Tell me, you, what is your name? I feel the slightest bit bothered with the fact that I do not know your name." - he asked.

“My name is John, Urien, and please, don't feel bothered” - the man exclaimed. Within a second, and with the correct choice of words to say, Urien felt at ease to interrogate the man a little bit further than he originally even intended to. It seemed to Urien that he was the one taking control of the situation. With a little more courage, he continued the conversation.

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"Where am I, John? And who are “you” ?"

John let out a chuckle for some reason. As if this question was a failed try at a joke. Urien of course, noticed this, and he made sure to express his confusion - "What?"

John didn't let him finish his thought, by interrupting him, and exclaiming: "Funny that you always take the same course of action, each and every time. First you end up being so scared of me, and then you pick up some courage so you can end up looking manly and unbothered by the fact you're talking to a complete stranger. Seems that this time it took you a little less time than usual."

“What!?” Urien, flabbergasted that John read his mind almost thought-by-thought, uttered the same words again, the only response a human could have at that moment. John chuckled again. He chuckled even harder this time, as if he was about to utter the funniest joke, cleared his throat, and said:

"I knew you would exclaim your fear in that way. Don't you know your legs start shaking when you're confronting somebody?" (Without a doubt, Urien, taking a look at his legs, was at the same time both impressed and scared that John was reading his every move and thought, as if he knew everything that would happen. His legs really were, without a doubt, shaking as if he was standing in front of death itself, looking it in the eye directly.) Urien did not know how to respond to these, almost as if John had “mind-reading”, exclaims.

"I'll explain everything again, Urien. Since you're giving me the same signals as last time, you would feel the safest at following me from a distance, and you WILL want to follow me, because, currently, you see me as both your only enemy and your only “friend”. What a weird situation this is, right? Are you following me?" - John asked, already knowing the answer that was about to come out of Urien's trembling mouth.

“…I'm following you.” - Urien muttered with a certain look of disgust and defeat in his death-black eyes. So many things were going through his mind; maybe he really was staring at death's pupil. (Or, at least, death with a gas mask on.)

The room in which they were in (which was the cafeteria) gave Urien looks; and he had given it looks too. He felt as if the walls were laughing at him. At this point, if he had heard a sound coming from the walls, based on his mental state, he would've thought the walls were talking to him directly. John, as the picture was being painted, was looking like the type of person who would put a group of mice in those very walls just so he could scare Urien a little bit more. Perhaps he would do it just to chuckle a couple of times... Nonetheless, John put his hand outwards, awaiting Urien's handshake.

Urien picked up the courage to look in front of him, and, coming up close to John, shook his hand awkwardly, only because he knew that, at least, he was a little bit friendly. With one glance at the old gas-mask John was wearing, Urien could barely make out a pair of eyes looking at him almost "happily" (weirdly enough).

With their hands shaking, John, looking at Urien, uttered just two sentences:

“Welcome back to TEST. Follow me, Urien; Tester #4402.”