Chapter 6 — The First Door
[INITIALIZATION CONTINUES...]
Victor stared at the translucent panel.
The words remained suspended before his eyes.
Nobody else reacted.
Dr. Shaw was still watching him.
Ward waited for an answer.
Lyra stood beside the door, arms folded.
Victor slowly lowered his hand.
The panel remained.
He blinked.
Nothing.
He looked away, then back.
Still there.
His pulse quickened.
"Victor?"
Dr. Shaw's voice pulled him back.
He looked at her.
"Yes?"
"You've been staring at the same spot for almost thirty seconds."
Victor glanced toward the empty space.
The System remained there.
He forced himself to look away.
"I'm tired."
Dr. Shaw studied him.
"That's understandable."
She looked at Ward.
"His neurological activity spiked."
Ward stepped closer.
"How much?"
"Significantly."
"Seizure?"
"No."
"Psychotic episode?"
Dr. Shaw frowned.
"I don't think so."
Victor's eyes narrowed.
Psychotic?
Ward asked, "Then what are we looking at?"
"I don't know yet."
Victor almost laughed.
Apparently, nobody in this facility knew anything.
Dr. Shaw prepared another neurological scan.
Victor allowed the sensors to be attached.
As she worked, he glanced toward the System.
A new line had appeared.
[MEMORY CORE STATUS: 0.01%]
Then:
[PHYSICAL CONDITION: STABLE]
Victor's eyes narrowed.
Physical condition?
He wondered whether it could hear his thoughts.
Nothing happened.
He tried silently:
What are you?
Nothing.
Who created you?
Nothing.
Why can't anyone else see you?
Still nothing.
Victor frowned.
Whatever this thing was, it wasn't answering.
Not yet.
---
The scan took another twenty minutes.
Victor remained perfectly still while the equipment monitored his brain activity.
Dr. Shaw stared at the results.
"Your neural activity is unusual."
Victor looked at her.
"How?"
"Certain regions of your brain are behaving as though they're being stimulated."
"By what?"
"I don't know."
Ward crossed his arms.
"Could it be damage from the attack?"
Dr. Shaw shook her head.
"Not likely."
"Why?"
"The activity doesn't resemble trauma."
Victor studied her.
"Then what does it resemble?"
She hesitated.
"Nothing I recognize."
That answer unsettled Victor more than it should have.
---
The examination ended shortly afterward.
Victor followed Ward through the corridor.
Lyra walked behind them.
After several minutes, Victor asked:
"Where am I sleeping?"
"Here."
"Secure room?"
Ward glanced back.
"Yes."
"Locked?"
"Yes."
Victor gave a humorless smile.
"At least you're consistent."
"You'll have food, clothing, medical care, and privacy."
"And freedom?"
Ward's expression didn't change.
"Not yet."
Victor stopped.
"I lost nine years."
Ward stopped too.
Victor's voice hardened.
"I want the records."
"Which records?"
"All of them."
Ward studied him.
"That's a lot of information."
"I don't care."
Silence stretched between them.
Finally, Ward nodded.
"I'll show you what you're cleared to see."
Victor frowned.
"Cleared?"
"You were involved with classified Gate research. Some of those records are still restricted."
"So you decide what I remember?"
"No."
Ward's voice remained calm.
"I decide what you're allowed to see."
Victor stared at him.
It wasn't an answer he liked.
But it was honest.
"Fine."
Ward continued down the corridor.
---
They entered an elevator.
There were no buttons.
Only a biometric scanner.
Ward placed his hand against it.
The elevator began descending.
Victor looked at the blank wall.
"We're going underground."
"Yes."
"How far?"
Lyra answered this time.
"Far enough."
Victor looked at her.
"That's becoming a habit around here."
She shrugged.
"People who work around Gates learn quickly that unnecessary information gets people killed."
Victor studied her.
"You've seen what happens."
"Enough."
The elevator continued downward.
Then stopped.
The doors opened.
Victor stepped out.
He immediately noticed the difference.
The medical level had been sterile.
This level was fortified.
Steel walls.
Heavy doors.
Reinforced glass.
Victor walked past the first observation window.
Empty.
The second.
Empty.
The third—
something moved.
Victor stopped.
Inside stood a man.
Or something that had once been one.
Dark veins covered its body.
Its arms were restrained by thick metal bands.
Its head hung forward.
Victor stared.
"What is that?"
Ward immediately moved between Victor and the window.
"Keep walking."
Victor didn't move.
"That isn't human."
"No."
"What is it?"
Ward's expression hardened.
"Something that came through a Gate."
Victor looked through the glass again.
The creature suddenly lifted its head.
Its eyes met Victor's.
Its mouth opened.
Its teeth were far too long.
Something inside Victor's chest answered.
Thump.
The System appeared.
[UNKNOWN ENTITY DETECTED]
Victor's breath caught.
[THREAT LEVEL: UNABLE TO DETERMINE]
Then—
[MEMORY RESONANCE DETECTED]
Victor stared.
Memory?
The creature slammed against its restraints.
BANG!
Victor stepped back.
The guards raised their weapons.
The creature roared.
Ward shouted:
"Move!"
Victor obeyed.
But he kept looking back.
The creature continued struggling.
Then, just before the door disappeared from view, it stopped.
Its eyes remained fixed on Victor.
A whisper entered his mind.
"You came back."
Victor froze.
Lyra grabbed his shoulder.
"Keep moving."
Victor looked at her.
"Did you hear that?"
Lyra's expression tightened.
"Hear what?"
Victor stared at her.
Nothing.
No reaction.
He looked back.
The observation window was empty.
The creature had disappeared into darkness.
---
They entered another room.
This one contained several large screens.
Ward closed the door behind them.
Victor turned immediately.
"That thing recognized me."
Ward didn't deny it.
"We don't know why."
"You've been studying them."
"Yes."
"For how long?"
"Nine years."
Victor looked at the screens.
"How many?"
"Twenty-three confirmed specimens."
Victor stared at him.
"And you've kept them here?"
"Contained, yes."
Victor gave him a cold look.
"That's one word for it."
Ward ignored the comment and activated one of the screens.
A map appeared.
Victor recognized the shape.
Earth.
But the map was covered in red points.
Hundreds.
Perhaps thousands.
Victor stepped closer.
"Gates."
Ward nodded.
"These are the recorded locations."
Victor looked at him.
"How many people know?"
"Very few."
"Governments?"
"Some."
"Military?"
"Certain divisions."
"And the public?"
"They know something is happening. They don't know the truth."
Victor turned toward him.
"Why hide it?"
Ward's expression hardened.
"Because panic would kill more people than some of the creatures."
Victor looked back at the map.
"What exactly is behind them?"
"Different things."
"Such as?"
"Monsters. Ruins. Forests. Caverns."
Ward paused.
"Cities."
Victor turned.
"Cities?"
"Some Gates connect to places that shouldn't exist."
Victor stared at the map.
"Are they inhabited?"
"Some."
"By humans?"
"Sometimes."
The answer left the room silent.
There were worlds behind those Gates.
Entire places humanity knew almost nothing about.
Victor looked at the red points.
Then a memory struck him.
A corridor.
A massive circular door.
Red emergency lights.
Alarms.
Someone screaming.
Victor standing beside a woman.
Not Elena.
Someone else.
Her hand was wrapped around his.
Then a voice:
"Victor, don't open it."
The memory vanished.
Victor grabbed his head.
"Victor?"
Ward moved toward him.
"I'm fine."
"You remembered something."
Victor lowered his hand.
"A door."
Ward's expression changed.
"What kind?"
"I don't know."
Another fragment surfaced.
A woman's voice.
"If you open that Gate, they will find you."
Victor looked at the map.
His pulse quickened.
"How many Gates have been opened?"
Ward was silent for a moment.
"Enough."
Victor looked at him.
"That's not a number."
"No."
Ward's gaze remained on the map.
"We stopped counting."
Victor stared at the red points.
Something about them felt familiar.
Then—
the System appeared.
[MEMORY FRAGMENT DETECTED]
Victor's breath caught.
A progress bar appeared beneath it.
[MEMORY RECOVERY: 0.02%]
Victor stared.
It had increased.
Only by 0.01%.
But it had increased.
Then another message appeared.
[REQUIREMENT FOR FURTHER RECOVERY]
Victor waited.
[ACCESS A GATE]
His eyes widened.
Ward was still speaking.
"...which is why you cannot be allowed near an active Gate."
Victor barely heard him.
"What did you say?"
"You are not to approach any Gate."
Victor looked at the map.
Hundreds of red points.
Each one potentially containing a fragment of his past.
And the System had just told him where to look.
---
That night, Victor was given a small room.
A bed.
A desk.
A bathroom.
A small television.
No windows.
The door locked automatically after he entered.
Victor sat on the edge of the bed.
For the first time since waking in the grave, he was alone.
He looked at his hands.
Then toward the empty space in front of him.
"Show yourself."
Nothing happened.
"System."
Nothing.
Victor sighed and lay back.
His eyes closed.
For several minutes, he remained still.
Then—
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION: 0.02%]
Victor's eyes opened.
The translucent panel appeared.
This time, something had changed.
[STATUS]
Name: Victor Hale
Level: 1
Race: Human
Condition: Stable
Memory: 0.02%
Power: Locked
Skills: None
Gate Affinity: Unknown
Victor stared at it.
Level one.
Human.
No skills.
No power.
Nothing impressive.
After everything that had happened, the mysterious System had given him a status screen that essentially said he was nothing.
Then he noticed another line.
[Hidden Attribute: ———]
Victor frowned.
"What's that?"
No response.
The hidden attribute flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then vanished.
Victor stared at the empty space.
He had the uncomfortable feeling that the System wasn't malfunctioning.
It was hiding something from him.
Then another message appeared.
[MEMORY ACCESS: LOCKED]
[POWER DEVELOPMENT: LOCKED]
[SKILL ACQUISITION: LOCKED]
[GATE ACCESS REQUIRED]
Victor stared at the final line.
A cold realization settled over him.
The System wanted him to enter a Gate.
The exact place Ward had forbidden him to go.
Victor leaned back against the wall.
He didn't know what the System was.
He didn't know who had created it.
He didn't know why it had chosen him.
But he knew one thing.
His memories weren't simply gone.
They were locked.
And somewhere beyond one of those Gates—
something was waiting for him.
Something that had been waiting for nine years.
Something that had never forgotten him.