"Yawn..."
I stretched my arms and rubbed my eyes, my arms flopping down as they felt incredibly exhausted somehow...
My bed felt so much more comfortable than it usually does as well...
My mind was a mess but I forced my body to sit up and drag myself out of bed.
Every day for the past 7 years, since I turned 10, I've trained my body to wake up at exactly 6:00 to make sure I don't miss the morning shift at the factory, while I may hate some parts of myself, at the very least I was punctual.
"Ah... shit... did I drink last night? Maybe..."
It was hard to even string together a constructive thought as anytime my mind tried to remember what it was thinking just moments ago... it just slipped away, but as time passed it got clearer and clearer.
"Nah... no drinking..." I remembered that I had emptied the bottle last Friday night.
"Went to... Winstons... and uh... I umm..."
The memories flashed through my mind like a bolt of lightning.
Instantly I stood up straighter than a soldier when his CO walks in, standing up as if I was electrocuted.
The memories of my "confrontation" replayed in my mind, the feeling of rage gripping me, of the anger as I beat in a man's head, the sick sensation of my life slipping away from me...
I almost felt sick.
'No way... Did I dream of dying? What the fuck brain?"
It felt so real... the pain and the memories... so visceral and horrifying.
How could it have been a dream?
But it has to be! I'm alive, standing next to my strangely comfortable bed, bleary-eyed looking at a painting of a lion roaring, inhaling in the scent of freshly blooming flowers...
Huh?
This isn't my room?
'Where am I?'
My body felt strange and shaky, I didn't recognise the clothes I was wearing nor the strange contraptions around me but I didn't care, there were too many things to think about.
It was clear that I dreamt all that shit as there was no way I would still be alive after that, but at the same time if I dreamt it, there was no reason for me to be anywhere else other than back home. None of this made sense.
In a panic, I did a once-over and checked my body for any bullet holes, as ridiculous as I felt when I decided to do check in on "dream" injuries, I did it anyway. Only then did I realise that I had no memory of changing clothes, in fact, I'm certain that I never owned these clothes to begin with.
"Feels weird..." They felt soft and luxurious but strange to touch somehow.
I threw the shirt off me and looked at my ches-
"..."
"No... cuts?"
I gingerly traced a finger around where a couple of scars used to be on my abdomen and chest, they looked the same as they did when I was a child.
"If these scars are gone..."
My hand shot up to my face and grasped it, my fingers instinctively feeling around where the majority of scars were.
It felt smooth...
"No way!"
Fuck getting ready for work. I need a mirror.
Bare-chested, I jumped around the unfamiliar environment, the room was pristine with no mess other than the shirt I had thrown, I ignored the desks and cupboards for now and focused on the doors. The first one I opened had a wide assortment of clothes in it, I looked around for a second, raiding a stranger's wardrobe wasn't something I really wanted to do.
I got lucky the second time around.
"Bathroom!"
I shot inside and flipped on the light switch, turning to look at the giant mirror in front of me.
My jaw hung wide open.
"Oh... oh... oh my god..."
My face was there, it was back.
Not the scarred mess I'd been lugging around for the past 4 years, no, it was the same face I had before the incident... just that now it wasn't that of a 13-year-old at all... it's my face... mine from right now...
Tears began streaming down my cheeks.
I wanted to close my eyes and wipe them away but I forced them to stay open and continued looking at myself, not moving even an inch as I took it in completely.
"It's back..."
I touched my olive skin, now free of scars...I couldn't form any thoughts as I continued to prod around my face, I was already obsessed with feeling my cheeks, patting my chin, and feeling smooth gentle skin as opposed to a ribbed scarry mess.
I don't know how long I stood there just... taking it all in, but it must've been quite some time.
My amber eyes which previously looked scary next to my face, now looked gentle and inviting. I don't know if I'd consider myself handsome yet... I looked kind.
I decided that even if this was just a dream, this moment was more precious to me than anything I'd ever felt in years.
It took all the strength I had to tear my eyes away from my fully healed visage but I did so for the express purpose of finding out exactly what the hell is going on.
Now that I was a little bit more level-headed, I surveyed the room thoroughly. There was a soft emerald-coloured carpet with golden lines going around it in concentric circles, it looked a bit trippy at first but after a while, I found it quite pleasing to the eye. The walls were painted dark black, occasionally sporting some paintings.
I looked at the lion painting in more detail and noticed that the line was not what it seemed, in fact, it wasn't a lion at all.
"A manticore?"
At first glance, it looked like an oddly coloured lion with white and grey streaks across it but the massive wings on its back and the thick scorpion tail proved me wrong. Shortly after recognising it as a manticore, it clicked.
'Woah! This room... it belongs to a Vishwas fan!'
A manticore, the insignia of Oberon Academy! The school where all the main characters met in Act 1! After noticing this, the other details of the room made more sense.
'The colours of the carpet are the school colours!' I was gobsmacked at this person's obsession towards Vishwas, to even go so far as to style his room in the game's style, I respected the hell out of it.
'This guy might be a bigger fan than me!'
Leaving the colours behind, I investigated the drawers next and what I found shocked me even more.
'Magical Theory 101 by Merlin the Great? The History of Swordplay by Fynko Lionheart?! Idiot's Guide to Ki harnessing by Lele the Loony?!?!'
This madlad went far as to create lore accurate books that looked legit! Each book was thick as a motherfucker and was chock full of words, it even looked like it would make sense if you read it?!"
'The obsession of this dude scares even me... this is nuts!'
'Wonder if I could nick one and take it home... he can make more right? Nah... this dude's done too much for me to steal, respect from one stan to another.'
I wanted to delve into the books and spend time reading them but they still didn't give me any information on my situation.
All the while... this fan was starting to creep me out a bit... maybe I should leave?
Look, I can respect the dedication to Vishwas as much as the next guy, actually no, screw the next guy I can do it more than anyone! But this... creating lore-accurate books with pictures and sentences that made sense, modelling your room after Oberon Academy, hell even the shirt I threw off my back had a manticore embroidered on it!
This is a bit much...
I want to stay and ask the man a couple of questions, mainly about the changes in my appearance but I decided to just leave.
I walked up to what I presumed was the door and tugged on it, but it didn't budge.
Panicking a little, I put more pressure on it and tried to push it open, yet it remained still.
I was moments away from kicking down the door when azure blue words with thick lettering in all caps magically appeared on the door, almost as if it popped out from behind the wood.
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NO STUDENTS ARE ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE ROOM PAST CURFEW, NO EMERGENCY DETECTED.
TIME UNTIL CURFEW END: 05:30:17
-----
"..."
"WHAT THE FUC-"