Fear surged through my mind, “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!” I yelled out, hanging on for dear life to my bed post, trying and failing to get away from the thing that had appeared on my bed. Just moments before, I had been chilling on my bed and watching the clock strike midnight, signaling the new year, when as soon as my eyes had registered it was new year's day, that… thing had appeared right under me!
It was red, almost hellishly so and its edges seemed to be made of a constantly shifting and churning red mist or cloud that flickered with a white and red bolts of energy and in the center… I didn't even know how to describe it… It was like some form of red tunnel, made of the same red mis, but almost pulsing with energy, like the thing was alive! It reminded me of a portal to hell if I was being honest… What did I do wrong?! What was going on?!
Then, my hand slipped. I was being pulled in, like invisible hands were clutching me, dragging me inside and then, I was inside. As soon as I was inside, it was like the entrance sealed itself back up like a mouth as soon as I was inside and I was in freefall.
Well, not exactly. I could feel the air rushing past me, as if I was falling, but it was almost like my senses were being dulled, suppressed, like I was in space. No sound, not even my screaming could be heard by my ears, the wind on my face died down, I started to feel numb, the light blurred into a dull glowing red and I felt myself going faster, and faster, until I felt myself slowing down and I could see a small dot, different from the rest of this place, like the opening that had thrown me in here.
Before I could register the change fully, I was there. It was just like the thing that had brought me into this place, I could see dull light and hooded figures beyond it, but before I could think anything, I was thrown out of the portal and onto some kind of stone slab.
It hurt like hell, being thrown onto the stone from the portal, but not overly so, more like a weak punch than anything. That didn't matter much though when my whole body felt like it was shoved in a can and sent hurtling through space on a rocket. I groaned and sat up a little to get a look around, but immediately regretted it as my head felt like it was about to explode.
I could barely see what was going on around me, I think I was in a stone room? Looked like it was underground at least. The only source of light was torches along the walls, casting an eerie glow and dowsing shadows on everything in the room. There were people in the room too, though they looked strange, more like stereotypical cultists than anything, with their dark robes and strange white masks on their faces, holding up their arms. Were there arms glowing?! No, I must be seeing things…
I grasped my head in my hands and suddenly all my senses burst into what they used to be, like whatever had happened had stopped my senses momentarily. It didn't help my head though. “AGH!” I screamed as I held my head, trying to cut out teh chanting that felt like it was drilling through my skull, the bright red pattern that seemed to be glowing all around me, the heat of the room, it all crowded in my mind, like it was trying to tear my head apart.
BANG! I heard a huge bang, coming from beyond the circle of chanting robed people, startling me and causing my head to pound at the sound. BANG! Another sound, closer this time. BANG! Suddenly, the room was bathed in bright light, people with flashlights? flooded the room and started shouting at the weird dancing and glowing people around me. I suddenly fell to my back, all of this was too much, too much…
Suddenly, the shouting grew louder, more insistent until… BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! Gunshots echoed around the small room and I could hear the chanting falter and the stone on the walls crack under the bullets along with the dying screech and wails of pain joining the chorus of the cultists until only one voice stood out against the gunshots and screaming, distant and dull, I heard “Don't worry my child, you will grow strong. We will help you along your path to greatness my child.” Then I felt a searing pain through my head and my vision went black as the last gunshot rang out in the small room and I fainted.
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I woke up slowly and gently, ‘Wow… This is the best I have felt for years…’ I thought to myself and I kept my eyes closed and felt the warmth spread through my body. After a few minutes, I sighed and said “I can't just stay here all day.” and sat up while I opened my eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the brightness of the room.
I froze. This was not my room. “Where am I!” I said groggily as I looked over the barren white room. It vaguely reminded me of a prison cell, white stone walls, a steel door with a singular window, concrete floor, a toilet, sink and small bathtub in the corner packed beside my bed. I stared around the room, disorientated for a moment, before I felt my brain boot up and I felt my memory coming back to me and I clutched my head from the memory of the pain, but I blinked it away and stared around the room with even more confusion than before. My memory of what happened wasn't exactly cohesive.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
There was a portal? An underground room with cultists? Glowing floating lights? Gunshots? Just what had happened?
I stood up and inspected all corners of the room, seeing a small camera in the corner, but there was nothing else, not even dust. I slowly inspected my body, and what I saw shocked me. My tattoos were still there, but my scars were all gone! Hell, my skin was smoother than a baby's bottom! I didn't have any body hair at all either, which left me to panic for a second when I reached up quickly to make sure that I still had my beard and head hair. Thankfully, I could feel my hair still there. I was too young to go bald.
But nothing else was out of place, I was even still wearing my clean black wife beater and black sweatpants along with my socks that I had been wearing before I went through the portal.
“Hello?!” I yelled out to the camera, panicking a little “Is anyone there? Where am I?” I asked the motionless black device but nothing happened. I looked at the camera for a few seconds before sighing and sitting down on my bed worried. Then I heard a crackle, like an old intercom system and I could hear a voice coming from the camera, which caused me to bolt upright and stare at the camera. “Hello.” The voice said calmly into the cell.
“Who are you? Where am I?” I asked the camera quickly, staring at it. “I am Dr. Heart, and you do not need to know.” Dr. Heart said through the camera. “What do you mean I don't need to know?! I very much need to know!” I yelled at the camera, which did not respond. After a few seconds of silence and me looking at the camera, I could hear the door slide open with a hiss and a man in an orange uniform with a name tag saying D-7362 was pushed into the room by a gloved hand from outside the room.
“Who the heck are you?” I asked the guy in the uniform, but the man just backed away from me, a look of fear on his face and didn't answer. “Are you with Dr. Heart?! Who are you people?! Where am I?!” I yelled at the man, who seemed to shrink, and started pushing himself as far against the wall as possible to get away from me.
I sighed after a moment, seeing the guys' fear. “Sorry, I shouldn't have shouted.” I told the man in a soft tone and backed away with my hands up. The man looked a little confused, but he didn't respond.
We stayed in silence for a good ten minutes, both watching each other, me confused, the other guy extremely cautiously. The silence only ended when the door opened again and the guy was dragged out of the cell, leaving me alone again.
I sat in silence for a good few seconds before the door opened again and this time, an older man with a white lab coat and a clipboard walked in, accompanied by a silent guard, his nametag reading “Dr. Heart” Instantly, I stood up, but froze when the guard pointed his gun at my head and sat slowly back down with my hands raised. “Please do not make any sudden movements or you will be shot.” the guard said in a cold and clipped voice from behind the mask he wore.
The scientist looked me over critically before he started talking “Hello, I am Dr. Heart. Do you have a name?” I scoffed at the question, but answered anyway, it was probably a good choice to obey the people who have a gun pointed at me. “Yes, I have a name. It's Arnold. Arnold Exander Turtleback.”
From there, the scientist, Dr. Heart started asking me questions and I answered. What is the last thing you remember? Where did you live? Do you feel unusual in any way? Do you know about the group you were found with? All asked and I answered over the course of an hour, until the two people left leaving me alone.
I stayed in my cell alone for hours, nothing happened until I fell asleep on the bed.
Where was I?
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In another room inside the facility Arnold was in, a certain Doctor Heart was looking over a clipboard full of notes and typing his report.
PCS-17783-2
PCS-17783-2 appears to be a average human male that claims to be a 23 year old man by the name of Arnold Exander Turtleback and was a professional canadian boxer who lived in a apartment in Boulder City in BC Canada, neither the city or apartment exist in this reality and he claims to have been pulled from his apartment into a portal and thrown onto the alter in PCS-17783 that was being used by individuals unknown to this date. PCS-17783-2 seems to have no anomalous properties beyond an odd energy signature found when he was scanned by foundation staff. Recommendation for solitary confinement until energy signature is identified or deemed not a safety concern. [Approved]
Dr. Heart sighs as he finishes typing his report and stands up to stretch. “It is time for a long needed rest…” the doctor groans and exits his office to get some sleep before the morning.