Still caught in the emotions of his caretaker's departure, Victor looked down at the bag in his hand and couldn't help but wonder what was inside. Victor somberly opened the bag, finding a dark metal ring lying at the bottom.
His curiosity may have been satisfied, yet Victor found himself overcome by a sense of loss upon seeing the ring. Unable to stand the sight any longer, he quickly closed the bag and put it in his pocket. Victor's communicator beeped, reminding him how close he was to the deadline. Knowing what he had to do, he hurriedly swiped his key card, rushed into his room, and opened his closet. There weren't that many clothes in his closet aside from the standard-issue uniform, so he quickly found his sim-pod sleepwear and changed his clothes as fast as he could.
Victor hopped in the simulation pod while pressing the control mechanisms, prompting the door to close. Once the sim-pod was sealed, wires slithered out of various openings along the inner wall of the chamber. The wires then snaked over and connected to various points on his sleepwear. Victor relaxed as he felt the familiar sensation of sim-pod induced sleep, yet when he closed his eyes, he felt a cold sensation under his back and feet. His eyes opened with surprise, and with a quick glance, he noticed the pod was beginning to fill with a silvery liquid.
Victor immediately imagined the possibility of him drowning within the metallic mixture, causing his fear to rise rapidly, sending him into a panic. Victor attempted to lift himself up and reach the controls, yet his struggles were futile. The call sim-pod induced sleep proved to be too quick and too strong for him to resist. His mind faded, and his muscles failed as he was rapidly pulled into a slumber.
Victor's consciousness momentarily sat in the darkness before two options appeared in his vision. Greyed out was an option, reading [Enter Simulation], leaving [Sleep] as the sole selectable option. There was also a countdown timer in the corner, which already displayed 0.
'What the hell was that? I'm still alive?'
Victor took a moment to pause and calm down, recovering from the fear of nearly drowning. He quickly dismissed the possibility that the silver liquid was just a dream before moving on.
'I have never heard of a sim-pod malfunctioning before, or about anything like this happening before today. Could the silver liquid have something to do with awakening our abilities?' He guessed. 'If the strange liquid truly was dangerous, I would probably be ejected from from the machine due to the safety mechanisms put in place.'
He had never experienced it personally. He had heard stories of other students being ejected from the sim-pods due to dangerous sleeping positions or because they had fallen asleep while eating and been woken up by alerts of potential choking hazards.
Victor made the decision to wait not only to calm his heart but also to allow the sim-pod more time to determine whether his body was in a dangerous situation. As time went on, he found himself thinking about Angie's words with mixed feelings.
A sense of shame overcame Victor as he digested Angie's perception of him. Even though he had grown up as an empathetic and sensitive child, years later, he no longer felt that he identified with those descriptions. Victor shook his head, not really wanting to think back on that incident, but he found he couldn't help himself. Angie is right. The world is not kind to good people, but do I really want to become someone I can't be proud of? Is being good, proud, and true really worth the pain and the effort?
Boggled by the questions in his head, Victor felt like he sat at a crossroads, unable to take a step forward. Paralyzed by indecision, he chose to push his thoughts to the back of his mind. A couple of minutes had already passed, and his paranoia about sleeping had greatly waned by now, not that he really could have done anything about it. In an attempt to ignore his thoughts, Victor selected the sleep option, letting darkness claim him once more.
As his mind drifted, a question appeared to him. What kind of ability would I get? Hooked by this thought, his mind couldn't help but obsess over it. Angie flashed in his mind once again. 'If I want to see her again, I need to grow strong.' Knowing that truth, Victor imagined various possible abilities, yet after some time, none of them seemed like the right choice. In the darkness of his thoughts, Victor held the illusion that whatever decision he made would be incredibly important, causing him to be overwhelmed with uncertainty.
Victor hesitated before deciding to switch tactics. 'Instead of the ability I want, maybe I should consider my future goals and what is important to me.' When Victor looked back on his life, he found that there wasn't anything that he truly cared about anymore. His caretaker and his friends were the only exceptions.
'Well, maybe that might be enough.' He thought. 'I want my friends and I to grow stronger together.' With that idea, Victor's mind cleared, and he remembered his Star Legends deck. 'That's right, I always liked playing support so maybe...'
As Victor imagined the kind of life he desired, one in which he faced the future alongside his friends...
A soft light bloomed in his vision as if summoned by his desires. Victor's awareness became illuminated, shattering his focus and sending him into a lucid dream he had no control of.
In this dream he imagined a lonely metallic sphere covered in symbols, floating in the midst of space. Off in the distant sky, countless stars spun and flashed, each with a unique color. Every time Victor gazed upon a star, an image flashed in his mind as if a brief introduction. While a bronze star evoked visions of weapons being fashioned on an anvil, a green one gave him the sensation of a June breeze. There were some stars that blazed and sped around with energy and excitement, while others slinked around dimly looking shy. Confusion, wonder, and excitement flooded Victor's eyes as he gazed across the starry expanse, filled with seemingly endless possibilities.
Just then, Victor sensed something and focused his attention back on the strange metal sphere. The surface of the sphere flashed before the light then gathered to form into the figure of a person standing on top of the sphere. The strange spirit of light turned its head towards Victor before waving. Victor felt a strange sense of trust bloom within him as his fear, anxiety, and doubts melted away. Despite being unable to read its expression, he got the feeling the spirit smiled kindly toward him before looking at the floating stars above.
Sensing the light figure's gaze, many stars flashed deeper and faster while trying to attract attention. Floating fearlessly toward the stars, the mysterious ghost sped off into the distance. Victor watched as the multicolored sky crashed down, surrounding the figure from all directions. He almost had the impression the stars were attempting to blot out the figure of light, yet somehow he knew the light would be safe. As if to reassure him, the spirit raised a hand, and the closest stars all abruptly stopped, and the further stars all obediently slowed as if trying not to cause any offense.
The spirit of light swept his gaze across the nearby stars before waving his hand, sending most of the crowd flying outward. The few unaffected stars circle closer, seemingly having passed some sort of test. Tens of stars spun, flashing and spinning, all vying for the attention of the strange spirit who took its time inspecting each one. The light spirit paused for a moment before dashing forward and grabbing a dark star that was giving off an immense gravitational pull. Without hesitation, the spirit dove back to the metal sphere, and upon contact, both the spirit and the star vanished in a flash of light.
The remaining stars dimmed in disappointment after the light spirit's departure, dispersing across the night sky. Victor could only watch in awe as the cascade of lights disappeared into the distance, leaving only the memory of the beautiful mosaic of stars.
Darkness filled and suffused the strange space as the metal sphere's symbols gained more color. The sphere pulsed before the symbols floated off the metallic surface. The sphere's surface suddenly began to crack before breaking open like an egg, launching metallic fragments to float among the scattered glowing symbols. What hatched from the egg was a black dot significantly smaller than the shell it hatched from.
'A black hole?' Victor identified as he sensed the gravitational pull of the newly birthed orb at the center of this space.
Once the changes had subsided, Victor was left with a jumble of wreckage made up of metal fragments and enigmatic symbols, all circling an odd black hole. A sense of completeness radiated from the spectacle in front of him, yet Victor wasn't sure how to feel about the mess before him before some words appeared in front of his vision.
A comfortable silence rippled through the space as a wave of exhaustion swept through him, pulling Victor's awareness out of the strange dream.