Falling.
An endless sensation of falling wrapped around Adam, as if he were plunging into a boundless deep sea. At this moment, it felt as though a cold liquid had soaked his entire body, seeping through his skin and into his marrow, freezing even his consciousness into stiffness.
Downwards, further downwards.
There were no reference points, no end, only the dizziness brought by weightlessness and the persistent cold. After an unknown amount of time, a solid sensation suddenly came from beneath Adam's feet, and the fall stopped abruptly.
"Where is this?"
Adam frowned. His brain felt as though it were shrouded in a thick fog, chaotic and murky. He felt as if he had just had a long dream, where everything was covered by a hazy filter, appearing both real and illusory.
Adam looked around and found himself standing in a familiar classroom. Eight rows of light brown desks were arranged neatly, currently empty. Outside the window to the left, it was dim. On the podium sat an enamel cup, the tea inside still emitting wisps of steam. The handwriting on the blackboard was blurred, bleeding into a shimmering blur under the halo of the overhead fluorescent lights.
This place looks a bit familiar.
When exactly did I see this?
It was so strange, yet so familiar...
Before he could recall it himself, Adam was struck by a splitting headache, as if something were being stirred inside his cranial cavity. Cartesian coordinate systems, neural regulation techniques, Realistics, Thaumatology, how to execute CQB in containment sites, Electronic Demonology...
Messy fragments of knowledge and dream remnants collided in Adam's mind, a throbbing pain spreading along his temples. Adam instinctively raised a hand to rub his brow and his dry eyes, then inexplicably grabbed the miscellaneous items on the desk and stuffed them into the backpack behind him.
At that moment, the bell for the end of class rang abruptly, its sharp electronic tone piercing the silence.
It was time to leave. After school, one should return to a warm home. Naturally, Adam thought so.
He stepped out of the classroom door and onto the pitch-black staircase. There were no lights in the stairwell, only a strange, blue celestial light—reminiscent of a dreamcore aesthetic—filtering in through the window, tinting everything in a cold, silent hue. An icy chill crawled up from the soles of his feet, piercing straight to his heart.
Adam continued downward. At the end of the dark corridor, a lake-blue square was slowly growing taller and larger, eventually transforming into the glass main doors of the teaching building. Adam clearly paid no heed to this anomalous phenomenon, hurrying toward the doors.
Just then, a rustling sound echoed in his ears, like a radio with poor reception:
[Thought connection unstable, reconnecting.]
—Who?
Adam's brow furrowed. A spark of insight flashed through his brain. At this moment, Adam suddenly wondered if he was dreaming. Because he finally realized he truly couldn't remember where he had started from, where the journey's end was, or how far he had walked.
Everything was shrouded in mist and blur, as if key information had been deliberately erased by someone.
[Thought connection in progress...]
Wait, I know how to solve this problem.
A thought popped up abruptly. Adam thoughtfully unzipped his backpack, and the bulging books and materials inside poured out. He casually flipped open one of the folders and pulled out an exam paper.
There was only one question on the paper:
"Adam's current location is in the middle of the mental space, near the boundary layer between consciousness and the personal unconscious. The console is attempting to establish contact; approximately 16 minutes since the last communication. Your answer is?"
So that was it.
Adam lightly swiped his fingertip across the exam paper, and a winding line of handwriting appeared. It was the secret key:
—There are five moons in the sky.
[Thought connection synchronization complete.]
The console's voice rang out, accompanied by slight electronic static: "This is the Console. We are executing the steps you provided one by one. Everything here is normal; no obvious problems encountered so far."
"What is the situation on your end? We failed to receive any information from you during the last 16 minutes."
Adam's consciousness cleared instantly. He remembered—who he was, what he was doing, and where his destination was.
He was Adam, a reality bender, currently executing mind-diving technology. His target was an abominable entity that had been lurking in the Noosphere for ten thousand years. A few hours ago, with the help of the Foundation and his own reality-bending abilities, they had made all the technical preparations. And at this moment, Adam's will had entered the eerie and unpredictable mental space.
Looking at the already opened glass doors before him, Adam quietly took two steps back.
"This is Adam. Information received successfully. The first wake-up execution of this infiltration was successful." He replied in a low voice, his words sounding a bit airy in the empty corridor. "I almost fell for it just now. That entity is more cunning than I expected; it used my memory fragments to construct these false scenes."
After a moment, Adam paused and added: "But it's not a big deal. I am not a native existence of this Noosphere, and I carry a strong immune effect during the infiltration. It cannot dig into my deep memories, so it can only use these plausible impressions to build a cage."
"I think it has outsmarted itself. As long as I react, such behavior only provides me with convenience."
"You can consider preparing for impact now. Next, I will continue to dive into deeper levels of the mental space. I bet this entity won't like the feeling."
Console: "Understood. Glad to hear the news. Do you need to continue diving?"
Adam: "Of course. How far is it from SCP-4000 now?"
"██████"
The console side was silent for a moment, followed by a burst of indistinguishable electronic rustling. Adam shook his head speechlessly. It seemed that the sore-loser entity was interfering with their communication again.
[Thought connection unstable. Reconnecting...]
[Hard-Heart memetic activated.]
The surrounding environment changed abruptly. The text on the exam paper was being rapidly deleted, as if wiped away by an invisible eraser. Adam snapped his head up as the crisp sound of countless breaking glass panes echoed in his ears, mixed with faint screams.
The hazy filter shrouding everything shook violently. The floor, the ceiling, the corridor walls... everything began to twist and flow like melting wax. Rapid footsteps approached from the distance, getting closer and closer, as if something were following the sound to find him.
Adam shook his head.
Too late. Slow reaction.
He closed his eyes without hesitation, letting that familiar sensation of weightlessness seize his entire body again. This time, there was no buffer, no warning.
Adam plunged into the abyss. Then, the sound of breaking glass rang out continuously.