The System Has Arrived?

Ryan felt as if he was floating in a dense fog. His senses were muffled, and his thoughts felt covered in tar.

He couldn't remember what he had been doing earlier or where he was.

Looking around, Ryan seemed to be in a dark room, strapped to a chair. He heard footsteps echoing eerily outside the door.

Ryan felt that he had been here before like he was experiencing deja vu as Ryan tried to remember what this place was.

The footsteps got right up to the entrance before a loud creek signaled the opening of the door.

Ryan tried to move his head but felt that it, too, was strapped down.

The dim light from outside the door streamed inside only for a moment, but what lit up made Ryan shiver.

The walls of the room were rimmed with dried red blood. Looking at the dried blood Ryan felt the urge to vomit, but nothing came out.

The door closed, and a holographic screen appeared in front of Ryan as he read the flashing words on the screen.

"Obey"

"Forget"

"Obey"

"Forget"

On a loop, these words flashed by, with the words resonating in his mind.

He sensed time pass by, but he couldn't be sure how long the loop had been played. A day, a week? He wasn't sure, as all he saw were the words on the screen.

The words kept playing, and Ryan kept watching until he left just as abruptly as Ryan came.

Waking up, Ryan felt the same dense fog around him. His thoughts were still damped, but as he looked around his new environment, he saw something strange.

Ryan saw a younger version of himself and the girl he saw before he passed out.

Wait, he had passed out!

Ryan suddenly could remember what he had been doing before, and like a flood, the past day's events came rushing at him.

He remembered dying and coming to a strange new world. He remembered his test and losing control of his body as he ravaged that girl.

He remembered accepting a deal with those two girls and then…

Turning towards the girl in the fog, he saw her looking at the younger him.

What were these? Dreams? Memories? Whatever he saw, he felt it was pivotal to getting the answers he wanted about his past.

The girl turned towards the slightly younger Ryan sitting in a chair reading a book.

The girl whispered something into Ryan's ear, and the book he had been holding fell to the ground.

Ryan looked at the 'him' as the feeling of dread welled up in his stomach again.

The Ryan in the memory looked like he was a zombie, his eyes glazing over.

Once his eyes were fully glazed over, the girl asked, "What is your name?"

"Anthony Dire."

"Who is your family?"

"I don't remember."

"What do you remember?"

"I remember…"

As the question was asked, the glazed look in the boy's eyes turned clear for a second, and the girl immediately stuck a needle in his arm, making the boy fall unconscious.

"Looks like we'll have to try again tomorrow." Murmured the girl as the real Ryan felt his consciousness fade once again.

===

Ryan awoke lying on a comfortable bed. He stretched his limbs, feeling as if he had just taken the best nap of his life.

His limbs were rather sore, but he still felt refreshed, his mind as clear as ever.

He could vividly remember everything that happened in the dreams and the events that led up to him becoming unconscious.

His mind was, in fact, working so well that Ryan noticed that his brain power seemed to have improved as well.

He was so caught up in his new-found brain capabilities that he almost missed the bright red exclamation mark in the top right of his vision flashing.

After a brief thought about it opening, Ryan saw a screen pop up similar to a hologram in front of his face.

[The Heavens greet all those who are worthy]

As the message appeared, a trumpet's resounding call echoed throughout his room.

Stunned by the blaring noise, he jolted out of bed as the door to his bedroom flew open.

Staring at the two intruders, Ryan instinctively activated his powers but held back at the last moment recognizing their white veils.

Calming his beating heart, he suddenly jolted like he was struck by lightning. He had used his powers!

He felt energy flowing through his veins, and though he couldn't manipulate it, it seemed to be flowing automatically.

He couldn't explain how he knew what to do, only that he could do it.

It was like asking a professional athlete how they kick the ball so well or how they throw a ball so accurately.

For a lot of them, they couldn't tell you, only show you. The same was true for Ryan's powers.

He felt that he had learned it at one point and had gotten so good at it that he had ingrained it into his reflexes.

Although he didn't remember what he had learned, his reflexes still existed.

The two servants observed their new master with both fear and awe. They were both cultivators, and they knew what that trumpet call meant, but what they witnessed, they couldn't comprehend.

This was a man, a man! There had never been a male cultivator on Ravier, not in the hundreds of thousands of years since the heavens came to this jaded planet!

Yet how could they mistake this for anything else?

Their minds tried to come up with a reasonable explanation, but the only one they could think of was that this wasn't a man at all.

Two pairs of eyes wandered downward… past Ryan's chest… past his abdomen…

Ryan, currently lost in his exploration of the power coursing through him, felt a shiver down the back of his spine.

His head looked up as he felt two pairs of eyes on him.

He could only make out the sister's face from the nose down, so he couldn't tell where their eyes were looking, but as he saw their posture and head angle…

Ryan glanced down at his pants, thankful he wasn't rocking a hard-on.

But what were they looking at?

Wasn't Lizzy blind? Why was she staring? What was she staring with?

Glancing back up at the duo, he saw two pursed lips and two heads shaking in sadness.

Ryan didn't know what was going on, but it felt like it was an attack against his masculinity in some fashion.