Khan woke up to another injection, this time in his thigh. He was feeling groggy from the whole experience with the running and the toxin that was injected into him. "Good to see my steroid is working well. You know it is the next stage of the epinephrin injection. Anyways, how are you feeling?" H had started rattling again. "Umm, I think I feel better than before. How long was I out?" Khan asked as he was rising out of the bed. "About 3 days now. I believe I told you this before you were knocked out." H replied as ready with an answer as always. "Well, onto more exciting news I in my official capacity as Head Auxiliary doctor of this facility would like to formally welcome you to the Tartarus Rebirth Program. You will now be admitted into this program to open up your meridians and activate any latent abilities you may have. For the first year you will be under my care in being primed through torture and poisoning, this is to increase your body's immunity, endurance and mental fortitude. You already started the process through the previous exercise which is a level one poison. There are 5 levels of poison and you have one year to clear all 5. In addition to this training, you will be going through different forms of torture, mainly mental to fortify your mind this process will be carried out throughout your stay here from year one up until your final year with regular reinforcements being done when you start working. Your next year will be headed by Khione whom you have already met. Your final year will be headed by Chaos after which if you are deemed a success, you will be given a name and be put to work immediately. Gods above this is a lot to talk about in 30 minutes. You know what let's walk and talk your first exercise starts in a few minutes." H started walking out before he had even finished talking and Khan was finding it difficult to catch up with him. He was still feeling a bit disoriented after not being active for a while but it seemed the epinephrin upgrade was working because after a bit of walking he felt energetic and active again. "Khan, I need you to understand something before we proceed. Through this year you will be hungry way more than you can eat, thirstier than you can drink, and more tired than you can sleep. But trust me what I am going to do to you is way better than what you are going to experience after and if you ever need help do not hesitate to call me. Now I will explain my procedure. The truth is you have already cleared the 1st level of poisoning" H said this as stared deep into Khan's soul which was creepy because this guy had 3 pairs of pupils. "Which is the easiest out of all of them, now you will be confined in a cell while on level 2 which will be empty apart for your bed and bath. From now until the year is over you will not eat more than an apple and a cup of water a week with all the recommended daily vitamin's during the day you will be injected with level 2 and be made to exercise with the toxins until you gain immunity at night before lights out you will be injected with a hallucinogen as well as a poison level one below the one you are currently on, meaning if you are on 3 you will be left in 2 at night, on 4 day 3 at night until you become immune to 5 levels. It's also important you know that the hallucinogens are going to increase in intensity during the course of the year which will make you see things you would never even dream up. Ah, we're here now." They had arrived in front of a steel door with what seemed like a fingerprint unlock system on the wall next to it. H's eyes had started glowing while he placed his right index finger on the mechanism and the door opened. Inside was just as H had said a bed and a bath nothing else. "This will be your quarters; a change of clothes will be brought everyday but you are not allowed to speak to anyone if you speak you will be punished instantly. Now at 1am everyday your door will open and you will step out, turn right walk down the hall for the procedure. Finally take this." H handed a book to Khan. On the cover was 'The Art Of War by Sun Tzu'. "This book is from the old time and everyone here is mandated to read, understand, and practise it like a religion. Alright in you get and I wish a whole lot of luck." H said as he stepped away from the door for Khan to go in. Khan went knowing that he clearly had no say in the matter. H took Khan's arm injected it with the same toxin dubbed Level One. Khan pulled the syringe out of his arm looking at H with disdain. "You keep acting like we're friends and yet you keep doing some weird shit what the fuck is wrong with you? Could you leave me…alo-alo-." Before he could finish his rant Khan fell to the ground once again knocked out. "Hmm, not he reaction I was expecting usually they would cough blood, seems he is gaining immunity quicker than I thought. Hah, I knew he wouldn't disappoint me." As H said this, he left the room and locked the door behind him.
He was running, the rain was that of fire. He was in his old neighbourhood back in TMA. His house that he shared with Tia Manuela stood in front of him but every step he took towards it the house moved a yard away. He could hear Tia screaming just like when the Elite Force barged in before all this only when the screaming had stopped did he seem to get closer. From behind him he could Zakir laughing and mocking him. His sweat entered his eyes they stung because of the salt. Eventually he made it to the house, broke the door down but the house was empty save for the bloody mess. "Hello Khan, it's been a while. How are you doing?" The voice that spoke to him was not Zakir's it was colder, menacing, dark was the more appropriate term. All of a sudden, he was surrounded by darkness. "Who are you?" Khan squeaked failing to sound more menacing. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. You are not ready for the answers to that question. But I will give a clue, I am the one who was before and the one who will be after. Remember this." After this the presence disappeared and he was once again in his old house, this time everything was as it was before, but Tia was on the ground her mutilated body almost lifeless except for the fact that her mouth kept moving. She was whispering something Khan couldn't really make out. He got closer, trying to hear what she was saying. "I brought you into my home and raised you, yet all you brought me was pain. When you were done with me you left and tossed me aside." Now his dream shifted locations and he was in a cemetery with only 4 graves with headstones. On the first one was written 'Here lies the father of Khan at the hands of his own son.' Khan didn't understand this he did never knew his father. He moved on to the second headstone which read 'Here lies the mother of Khan at the hands of her own son.' Again, Khan did not understand "Did I kill my own parents?" he wondered out loud to himself. "Who else could have done it?" once again the cold voice was speaking to Khan. "Go on read the next one." The voice said pushing him to the next. 'Here lies Manuela guardian of Khan at the hands of Khan himself'. This brought tears to Khan's eyes because this was something he had not been able properly think about since he got here, that Tia was gone and he did nothing about it. The more he thought about it the worse he felt and the angrier he became. The people in this program were the cause of this, they hurt his Tia. He was fine until they showed up. "That Zakir and his goons are to blame for all the suffering she went through not me." Khan said addressing the darkness which was now right beside him. "I am not so sure about that. If you were not there with her would she have tried to protect you? Would she have fought against them if you were not there? WOULD THEY HAVE BEEN IN HER HOUSE IF YOU WERE NOT THERE? HUH ANSWER ME." The voice got louder, angrier, colder. What the voice had said cut Khan deep. Whatever the voice, it was right Tia Manuela would not have died if he was not there in the first place. "Let's not get all depressed yet there is one more to see." The voice said this with glee, as if this was a tour of some Disneyland Museum. Khan walked over to the last headstone, here the grave was open, the coffin empty and on the headstone 'Here lies Khan at the hands of Erebos.' The letters were covered with some dark matter and he couldn't make them out. "I told you Khan you are not ready to know me. Goodbye Khan." The voice spoke these words and pushed him into the grave, immediately covering it with sand. Khan tried desperately to get out but he was stuck fast. He pounded on the coffin till he could breathe no more the air was getting thinner, the oxygen less. Until with one last pound he fell out, of his bed awake to the sound of the guard pounding on his door. "It was a dream, all a dream." As Khan said this, he could hear the dark voice at the back of his mind "Do you really think so? I don't just talk." "Hey, kid get up get ready 10 minutes to roll out. Get whatever you need and stand at your door ready to exit. When you step out look on the ground and follow the yellow line do not speak or ask questions is that understood?" The guard to his silence as an answer and left. Khan got up from the floor and went into the bathroom he looked at himself in the mirror at his eyes hoping that by some miracle they would change colour. No such thing happened he got into his stall and took a shower. The toxin that H had injected into him seemed to have no effect at all he could feel it in his body but it was now like an annoying itch than an attack on an anthill. Feeling refreshed, he got dressed and stood in front of his door ready to leave. In about 2 minutes the door opened and Khan did as he was told head down, stayed silent and followed the yellow line. He felt like a prisoner for a crime he did not commit. When he reached the end of the yellow line there was a sliding door it opened and he felt a pair of hands searching him from his head to his feet. "Look at me." A female voice said. Khan looked up to see a woman in a black dress, glasses and tied back in a ponytail. "Ok, I believe you are Subject 100 of this year. Late entry huh?" She said looking at him for an answer. Khan did not know whether to answer or not, so he simply shrugged. "Seems you got the memo. This was to see if you can take orders and execute. We are going to put you on a level 2 toxin but before that, your vitamins for today." She handed him a cup with so many pills it smelt like a pharmacy, he took it poured it into his hand and swallowed the vitamins in one gulp. "Good now for the toxin, don't move this will hurt quite a lot." She injected it into his bloodstream and Khan closed his eyes expecting the pain to be instant, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes to look at the lady but she was walking away. "Follow me, quickly." She said this opening the next door. "The toxin has a delay factor of 5 minutes to get you where you have to go. Oh I am J, H's assistant. I will be the one administering all your doses for the year. My ability is perfect recall. Yes, it is an ability before you ask. I remember everything I have seen, heard, smelt, tasted and felt. It comes in very handy especially in my line of work. Ok take off your shirt and your pants keep your underwear on if you wore any." She said this but it sounded like she what she said and what she wanted were different. Khan thankfully wore underwear. He took off his pants and there was a look off disappointment on J's face. "Okay, I need you to wear this." She said while handing him an all-white athletic onesie, gloves, socks, shoes and mask. Khan took and put them on, they fit perfectly. "Okay we have about 2 minutes left so I will need you to go through the next door sit in the room for 10 minutes. Don't worry it will be displayed, after which you will get on the treadmill and run for the next 12 hours nonstop. When you are done with your run you will come back here for your toxin purge and to take your nightly dose of Level one and your protein injection, and you will be sent back to your quarters. That will be your day for the next year. Alright, off you go. Oh and Khan, Happy Birthday." Khan had forgotten that he was 15 now. He left the crazy, visibly horny, fast-talking lady to her own vices and did as he was told. When he got through the door he took a seat and immediately the 10 minute timer started. The issue with that was when the timer started so did the as if on cue. The pain was worse than anything he ever felt his bone felt like they were being drilled through. His hands felt like rusty nails were being driven through his fingers right underneath his fingernails. His mind felt like it was being fried, his vision was blurred. Khan tried very hard to stay seated but he fell off the chair and was unable to move. "Your motor functions have been shut down by the drug. In simple terms you have been paralysed. This, is the body's reaction to the drug. Everybody speaks about fight or flight mode but no one ever wants to mention the greatest of them all. Shock, SHOCK, SHOCK. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" Khan could hear J through the speakers laughing at him. It continued on and on then he blacked out.