[00] Prologue

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When you opened your eyes, everything was dark.

There was very little that you could feel, apart from your rhythmic breathing, faint as it was. It was eerily quiet too. You weren't sure why exactly, but you got the sense that this wasn't how things should be. It didn't feel natural to be all alone, no sign of life as far as your eyes could see. You couldn't move your body even after trying for a good while, so you eventually gave up and allowed yourself to settle into the silence.

As it turned out, total silence was loud in its own way. It made your ears buzz from the ever-present nothingness; made your brain feel like it might split in half.

You didn't know what in the hell was going on, but the longer this continued, the more likely it was that you would go insane.

Then, as if by a miracle, the silence broke.

["You're awake."]

Someone was talking to you. Well, not really talking to you. It was strange. You couldn't hear a voice or anything like that. Instead, you could see the words pop up in front of your eyes, like some sort of weird projection. The projection made a slight ping as it popped up, but otherwise, no words were exchanged aloud.

"Hello?" you called out fearfully. Ah. So, you could talk. Your voice wasn't lost, thankfully. It was just that you couldn't move your body forward. Not that you'd even know where to go. Everything was pitch-black.

["Hello. How are you feeling?"]

"Scared," you admitted, swallowing hard. "I don't know what's going on. And I don't... I don't remember. Anything. I don't remember a single thing."

["That's okay. You're [Last Name] [Name]. Don't be scared. Everything is going to be just fine."]

[Name]. Alright. You had a name too, and when you mumbled aloud just to familiarize yourself with the sound of it, you were relieved that it sounded familiar. You were a real person with a name. You had that much, at the very least.

It was too bad that everything else was a total mystery to you.

"Why am I here?" you managed to ask. "Actually... where is here?"

["It's hard to explain. This is a part of space and time that is only accessible to you."]

"Who are you, then?"

["I'm not a person. I'm a system. Again, accessible to you and you only. Other people won't be able to communicate with me the way you do. I'm only here to guide you through things and give you tasks."]

You felt yourself frown. "Tasks? What sort of tasks? I still don't understand. And my head... it's starting to hurt a lot. I'm really scared. Why don't I remember anything?"

["Like I said, there's no reason to be scared. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm on your side. But in order for this to work, you'll have to cooperate with me. Alright?"]

Your head was now throbbing without abandon, but you couldn't so much as move a hand to even press down on the points that hurt and try to ease the pain. None of this was making any sense. You hated that you didn't remember anything, and even though this system was trying to claim that it harbored no ill-intent, it wasn't exactly answering your questions either.

"I want to leave," you breathed out. "Please. Let me leave. Are you the one who took my memories? If you did, I'm begging you to give them back. I'm terrified not knowing what's going on. I don't know how to explain this, but... it feels like a piece of me has been ripped away. I don't even know who I am."

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