After an unperceived amount of time, he woke up once again.
Yet again he felt disoriented, and a feeling of panic slowly started creeping up on him once more. However, this time, he quickly suppressed those feelings. He knew that once he let himself fall into panic, he would once again grow tired extremely quickly. He did not know why this was the case, but he could feel the tendrils of exhaustion slowly trying to get a hold of him already.
Even thinking such simple thoughts caused him to grow increasingly tired. He quickly tried to get what he knew in order before he succumbed to sleep once more.
He knew he had been on a tight schedule, finishing his software by double-checking the code so that he could send it to the company the next day. Being a programmer was hard at a time when AIs could write most of the code by themselves, and the only way to earn a living was to constantly come up with new, creative ways of using the coding language, to differentiate your software from those of the AIs.
Creativity was the only field in which AIs had not been able to surpass humans… yet.
He remembered being extremely exhausted and anxious while working, when he suddenly felt his heart beat at an irregular rhythm. He felt a sudden sharp pain start in his heart as it clenched tightly, then the unbearable pain shot up, through his spine, and he felt his consciousness start slipping away.
He felt death approach him.
He could not even make a sound.
The only thought in his head was, "Am I going to die? Just like this?"
He had not known his parents, for he was an orphan. With no relatives to speak of, and because of the immense societal pressure, he had had to start doing part time since very young. Due to always being preoccupied with putting food on the table and paying for his own education, he had extremely few and distant friends, and as for close friends, he had none. Of course, it was self-evident that he had never been in a relationship of any kind.
As his life up to that point had flashed before his eyes, he only found himself in school, university, and work, without any rest at any time. It was understandable why he would feel that life was unfair, trivial, and worthless. As though he had served no purpose, made no impact on anyone or anything.
The only feeling he had felt before his consciousness had left him, was indignation.
Just recalling what had happened previously had already taken up all of his mental strength. He could no longer keep himself conscious. As the bindings of fatigue fully coiled themselves around him, he once more slipped into a deep slumber.
When he next awakened, he no longer felt as disoriented as the previous two times.
He quickly got to sorting out his thoughts, for he knew that time was limited, and he had to figure out as much as he could before he succumbed once more to whatever was impairing his stamina so severely.
He tried to figure out what had happened that had caused him to suddenly undergo a near death experience.
After a while of deliberation, he came to the conclusion that he had most likely had a heart attack due to a lack of sleep, exhaustion due to over-working, and severe anxiety over many days. He suddenly felt concerned about whether he still had the job or not, whether they would still pay him for the software he had made or not, whether all the time and effort spent on programming for that software had been in vain or not…
No, he should not think in such a manner.
He knew that it was a miracle that he had survived, since he had not been able to make any sound to call for help, and almost no one knew where he lived, much less visited him. But after coming to this conclusion, he was even more puzzled.
Why couldn't he open his eyes? Why was he cramped in such a confined space? Why was being cramped for such a long time not uncomfortable? Why did the air he was breathing seem to be so viscous? Why did he have such a low amount of stamina? Why did he not feel any hunger at all?
Why?
He was far more confused now than before. Getting his thoughts in order had not helped at all. He also still had no idea for how to escape his current predicament. He was far too weak to be able to break through whatever was confining him. He did not know what the future held for him.
Was he crippled or disabled in some way due to the accident? How much would it cost to cover the medical fees once he was cured? Would he ever be fully cured?
No.
Stop.
He forcefully stopped himself from thinking.
He knew his thoughts were going in circles. Worrying would not do anything helpful in the current situation. He was powerless to do anything, and he had to accept it.
His ability to stop his thoughts from going awry was one of his strong suits. He had trained himself in meditation when he had started getting overwhelmed with work during high school, and that had come in very handy on a daily basis since he had been able to relax through it.
He let all thoughts fade away from his mind, as though uncovering a veil that he never knew was covering him.
Then he let that thought fade away as well.
He started progressively going deeper and deeper into nothingness as he let his perceptions slowly fade away layer by layer.
After a long, unperceived amount of time, he felt calmer than he had ever felt. Suddenly he felt as though there was a slow and steady warm current washing over him, the feeling was almost imperceptibly faint, but he had felt it. And the moment he noticed it, the slight amount of deviation of his focus caused the feeling to instantly disappear like a phantom.
As soon as that faint feeling disappeared, the fatigue struck him so strongly that he immediately lost consciousness.
==Author's Note==
Hello everyone, I'm Shaptarshi Joarder, but you can call me Jovian.
I hope everyone enjoyed the start of the story.
I'm planning on making this story a very long journey where everyone can follow alongside the MC as he lives his life filled with fun and adventure. This story, while it will still have the occasional dark scenes filled with intensity and intrigue, will most of the time strive to be something to help you relax. It is meant to be a lighthearted but very interesting and fun to read story.
This will be my first time writing a story, so I implore everyone to leave comments, both with things I've done right and (especially) with things I've done wrong, so that I can learn from my mistakes and grow.
Constructive criticisms are most appreciated.
That way the quality of the story will (hopefully) grow along with my ability as a writer.
P.S. I have very little programming background. I'm a Financial and Business Economics major, not someone who's part of any of the IT fields. All programing related aspects of the story will be written while taking massive creative liberties.
Now then, I wish for everyone to have an awesome day/night, and happy reading! :)