Renn slowly regained consciousness.
At first, he felt nothing. His body seemed almost as light as a feather; his mind was completely blank, like an empty void.
'Where am I?' He muttered, shifting slightly on the bed, yawning.
It took him a while to fully come to his senses. Then piece by piece, all the memories returned. With that, the first thought clicked in his mind.
"I... Am I not dead yet?!"
Renn's eyes fluttered open, landing on a plain white ceiling above. It wasn't his apartment, because the ceiling of his apartment wasn't as crackless and white as this one.
A thin smile spread across his lips. The last thing he remembered was the accident, it was too fatal to survive! The fact that he was still alive, breathing — it felt almost unreal!
Renn pushed himself up slowly, scanning the unfamiliar room he was in. But, with just a quick look, his eyes drew together.
He survived the accident, right? If so, then he must be in the hospital right now. But...
The room didn't seem to be a hospital room anyway!
It was more like... A dorm room!
Renn's eyebrows furrowed, the smile on his face slowly disappeared, and in that place, a wave of confusion crept in. "Where's this?"
Sitting up straight on the bed, he took in his surroundings.
The room wasn't big; it was half a room, really. A narrow bed, a wall-mounted cupboard, and a small table with a single chair almost took up the entire space, leaving just enough to move. There wasn't even a window, just four plain white walls, minimal furniture, and a wooden door, locked. Overall, it didn't seem like anyone lived in the room permanently; rather, it seemed to be used as a temporary stay.
Renn swung his leg over the edge of the bed and stood. The floor was extremely cold, standing there barefoot, Renn wobbled a little at first, then steadied himself in the next second. With slow steps, he approached the small wooden table, something on which caught his attention. A card?
Renn picked it up. It was a card indeed; on the thick blue laminated paper, there was something written in bold white font. He read:
Entry pass: Aegis Testing Ground
Candidate No..: 222
Noxhelm Academy: Final Ground Trial.
The frown of his eyes deepened.
Noxhelm Academy... Aegis Testing Ground?
He'd never heard of such a place! Where was this? And Final Ground Trial... What was that? It sounded strange!
Then, Candidate No. 222, who was it referring to?
Him?
But, why?
Moreover, what was he doing here?
Renn flipped it, hoping for more information, but there was nothing more. The other side was completely blank, just the smooth laminated surface reflecting the sterile light that he didn't even know was coming from where.
Suddenly, a chill crept down his spine. He glanced around again, but this time with more suspicion than confusion in his eyes. The room was suspiciously minimal, besides the furniture, there was not even a clock!
The room was moderately lit, not too bright, not too dim — just the right amount of brightness that helped him see everything clearly. But, he couldn't find any light source anywhere!
Moreover, even though there were no windows, it wasn't difficult to breathe; the oxygen supply in the room was completely normal!
Strange!
Renn went back to the bed, the cold floor was biting his bare feet. He sat on the bed quietly, lost in thought. 'Why does it feel so... foreign?'
Since he woke up, everything felt... Off.
He glanced over his body once more. At first, he hadn't noticed it—but now that it caught his attention, a strange unease crept in.
He had just woken up from a fatal accident, but there was no pain, not even a dull ache in his muscles! He ran his hands over his arms, his chest, checking for a bandage, or a sign of trauma, but he couldn't find a single bruise. His body felt too normal, as if the accident had never happened at all!
"Did I lose my memory or something?" Renn muttered under his breath, standing up again. He racked his brain, trying to piece together memories of what happened after the accident. But the more he thought, the more his mind grew blank.
The strange events in his apartment... Running out on the street... The rain falling upside down... The flashy headlight... The weight of the truck crushing him under... And, nothing.
After that, he didn't remember a single thing. His consciousness had slipped into total darkness. The next thing he knew was waking up in this room, completely clueless, and in a perfectly fine condition.
Renn sat down on the bed again in a restless state. Maybe, he had a short-term memory loss; he'd heard about it and seen it in countless movies, where people met with an accident and woke up forgetting everything. Maybe that was what happened to him, too!
But something stirred in his gut. He didn't know why, but his mind was telling him,
That was not the case!
It was something... Completely different.
Suddenly, the sound of a soft click echoed through the room. He turned his head to the door. Just moments ago, it was locked. But now, it hung slightly ajar. A faint cold blue light seeped inside through the gap.
The door had unlocked on its own.
"What the-"
He didn't even get enough time to complete his sentence when he heard a sound of a mechanical chime, followed by a cold female voice, almost metallic.
Candidate 222, the final Ground Trial begins in 30 minutes.
Proceed to the designated corridor.
As soon as the sentences finished, the room returned to its previous silence. Only Renn sat frozen. He saw the card in his hand again. Candidate 222, the sound was referring to him.
His heart pounded wildly in his chest, whatever was happening around him, he had absolutely no idea about it!
Renn rubbed his temples in frustration, "What the hell is going on!"