Chapter 1: Awakening

There was nothing but darkness and silence, adrift in an empty void that seemed to last for eternity. Slowly new sensations formed as his consciousness awoke from its slumber. He tried to move noticing his body was submerged in a thick liquid.

An object startled him pressing against his feet. It continued pushing upwards as he felt himself rising. After a few moments the top of his head breached the surface soon followed by the rest of his body.

The platform stopped rising leaving him lying just above the surface of the pool. He appeared to be dead, unmoving and unbreathing. His body twitched slightly before the silence ended. Liquid spewed from his mouth as he coughed repeatedly and gasped for air. He felt it fill his lungs, giving him new strength.

Bringing his hand to his face he wiped the substance covering his eyes before opening them. At first this made no difference as his surroundings were obscured in a pitch black darkness. A brief humming was heard while a small orb at the center of the ceiling began to glow a soft luminescent light allowing the room to be seen.

The outskirts were still shrouded in shadow but for the most part he could make out enough. It was a large circular room made of some dark metallic material. Empty except for the middle where he lay. There was a pool filled with a dark red substance that gave off a strange warmth and smell.

The platform he lay on suddenly shook scaring him as it moved towards the edge of the pool. It stopped at its destination before it slowly started to descend back beneath. Darting forward he scrambled off and onto the cold hard floor.

'What's going on? Where am I? What is this stuff?' His mind flooded with questions.

He frantically looked around trying to find answers before he turned down. The metallic material reflected his image causing him to stop briefly.

'Who am I?' He thought realizing he had no memories whatsoever.

Wiping some more of the red liquid from his face he saw a young boy around the age of 12 with light blue eyes. He was naked but the substance covering him obscured most of his features. Time seemed to stand still as he tried to remember something, anything. But no matter how hard he tried it was as if he had never left that room.

"Clink…shhhhhh" a sound came from a few feet ahead of him.

"H-hello! Is anybody there?!" he shouted out.

Pushing himself to his feet he tried to stand and slipped around a bit. Noticing his legs felt weak and unstable he took his first few steps slowly.

"Hello!?" he called out again.

While continuing forwards into the shadows and away from the pool it was quiet. The noise came from just ahead and desperate for answers he kept moving. As if it appeared out of nowhere a strange obelisk about 7 feet tall and barely visible in the dark came into view. Whatever it was made out of seemed to absorb the light around it.

"Shrrrm…click" the obelisk rotated and a small white dot formed at its center before branching out. Weird symbols and lines crept over its surface seemingly coming to life. When he stopped walking closer the obelisk stopped moving as well.

Although he was scared curiosity drove him forward and he took a few more steps closer.

"Vrrrmm…protocols failed…memory banks corrupted…unknown entities detected vrmmm" a monotone voice coming from the obelisk spoke. It sounded neither male or female and had long pauses between its words.

"Wait! Who are you? Where am I?!" He shouted as the symbols started to fade.

"Error temporary vrmmm…shutdown initiated…" it sputtered a few more noises before it returned to its previous unmoving state.

Feeling desperate for answers he touched the obelisk trying to reawaken it.

"Please!! Come back don't leave me!!…" he begged pounding his hands against its cold hard surface.

Then the light at the center of the room began to dwindle. He slumped to the floor leaning against the obelisk. Tears formed in his eyes before streaming down his face.

There he sat alone in the dark questioning his existence and what he was going to do. He shivered noticing how cold the room was becoming. The liquid covering him was now sticky and clung to his skin giving him a strange feeling. Trying to wipe more off he realized how futile it was.

It felt like time to resign to his fate as there was nothing he could do. Feeling hopeless and lost he lost track of how long he sat there. First seconds then minutes then hours past. His stomach growled standing out in the stillness.

"No! I cant give up" he screamed out as his words echoed around the room.

'There has to be a way out or something in here that can help me' he thought.

Getting to his feet he used the obelisk to try and get a good sense of the area. Remembering that the wall was a few feet behind he stumbled through the darkness hands outstretched.

After a few moments his fingers brushed against the wall and he followed along as it guided him, searching for any opening on its surface.

'I just need to find a door' he said internally grasping for anything he could find.

Everywhere he touched was smooth and cold, not even a dent could be found. After carefully searching as much of the walls as he could reach he was about to once again give up.

'Huh? What's this?' He thought having a stroke of luck as his pinky moved over something.

Immediately freezing he slowly lifted his hand back around chin level on the wall. Hope started to well up in him.

That same hope was lost a second later when he realized it wasn't a door or anything anything useful. Although the more he felt the indent he realized it's strange shape and size. Lining his hand up it fit perfectly into the gap.

A warm light started to seep out from around his hand causing him to blink fast. His eyes adjusted to the light and he felt like screaming out with joy.

'Finally I can see! Something is happening' he thought.

The light illuminated the area around it a few feet in diameter. Looking at the wall he could see similar symbols as the obelisk start to appear. The room shook before returning to normal once the symbols stopped growing.

"Ouch!" He yanked his hand back seeing a drop of blood roll down his pointer finger.

The markings faded slightly before growing even larger and brighter. Igniting a new sequence on the wall.

"Blood Analysis complete…DNA recognized, Welcome back! Command directive compromised." the same monotone voice seemed to speak directly into his mind.

Hearing the voice again he became ecstatic starting to list off question after question.

The voice simply continued on as if he never said a word "mythic level seals detected in blood sample… systems damaged… initiating protocol 0776…warning do not…vrmmm" the voice cut out mid sentence.

"You recognize me? Who am I? What's protocol 0776 and what am I not supposed to do?" he questioned almost stuttering his words.

Only silence followed.

"Ughhh!!! Why won't you answer me?!" he yelled frustrated.

"…" Once again the voice did not respond.

The symbols and light gathered to one point. Forming to a single point it peeled off the wall floating in front of him. The unknown character was a triangle holding a circle at its center with two lines protruding from the bottom. It drifted over landing on his wrist.

All of a sudden he screamed out in pain falling to the ground. His wrist burned as the symbol flared engraving itself on his skin. As it started to die down a smooth hum could be heard and a section of the wall by his side opened up letting a dim light into the dark room.

The pain disappeared as quickly as it arrived and he began to open his eyes. Immediately he noticed the mark on his wrist which had become a solid black color. The skin around it was beet red and still hurt.

This was quickly tossed to the back of his mind though. It was nothing compared to the miracle he was now staring at.

'A way out!' he said internally.