Jason POV
As I stepped inside the building, there was pin-drop silence—no students or teachers running in the corridor.
"Weird," I murmured. I could still hear the hustle and bustle from outside, but now it is completely quiet.
I looked back at the entrance; there were still many students entering, but mysteriously, all of them disappeared after stepping in.
Making a note to be cautious, I ventured deeper into the building. Still and empty corridors are what greeted me, with only the sound of my footsteps echoing in the darkness as I climbed up the stairs.
On the first floor, the same stillness followed. I continued walking until I heard a giggling sound. Echoing from beyond the walls. I followed the voice only to see my past self chatting with a girl.
It was no longer a classroom but my own room. I watched as he continued chatting with the girl. With each passing day, his grades dwindled, and the scolding from parents got worse, but this was first love after all.
Right before the final exams, he confessed to her, only to get rejected. I sighed, seeing the despondent look on his face. He studied hard after that and managed to get good marks.
With that, everything disappeared, and the room was back to the dark classroom, empty benches with the names of students scribbled on them.
The rest of the floor was quiet; seeing this, I continued climbing up. The second floor was even darker; there seemed to be terrifying monsters hidden in the shadows, waiting to devour me.
I heard muffled sobbing echoing in the darkness. Following it, I saw my past self again. This time he was bigger; he no longer had that naive look on his face; instead, he had an expressionless face, his eyes puffed and red. I looked around, wanting to find out what happened. In the corner of the room, a laptop was switched on.
On it were displayed his marks for the dreaded entrance exam for top colleges, and of course he didn't clear it. I shook my head with a smirk. Disgusted by seeing this weak self of mine, I left and climbed higher.
What bad memories are next? I was thinking of this while climbing up the stairs. The third floor was even darker, resembling a black hole; the sunlight from outside seemed to disappear after reaching here.
I sighed, an even darker memory. Having an idea of what happened next, my face turned just as gloomy as the darkness surrounding me. Perhaps because of my strong emotions, the building was affected and started disintegrating before it stopped.
This time, the sound of crying was even louder. Following the sound, I soon spotted my past self, crying alone in the house in a disheveled graduation dress, the cap not visible anywhere. I sighed, remembering this memory.
I didn't get admitted to a top college, but still, I worked hard, graduated, and even got placed in a tech company with a decent salary. I even had a girlfriend. We were planning our future together, but then one day I woke up with a terrible pain in my legs, so bad I couldn't walk. I took painkillers and limped to the hospital, and the diagnosis was a chronic condition. This chronic pain will stay with me for the rest of my life and will get worse as time passes, my doctor told me.
The third floor was the last. After the diagnosis, my life went completely downhill. My girlfriend left me, and my sister drifted away after her marriage. My parents supported me for some time, but their tolerance ran thin too. In the end, I had to fend for myself.
I lived alone, somehow managing my expenses; after all, no one cares about useless people. Soon after I died because of my condition, I got the sweet release I dreamed of but was too scared to do it myself.
These experiences molded my personality in this new world. Distrustful and wary, I planned to make it big here. I was no longer a mortal; I wanted to dominate this reality.
"False memories," I scoffed. Yes, these memories weren't real; they were meant to mold my personality so that the steps I take will lead me to my demise. After determining this, I gained some sort of enlightenment and control over this space.
Who am I? What am I?
These questions were for later; now that I can sense my anchors in the real world, my pawns are still alive; luckily, they were not found.
With a thought, I commanded them to self-destruct; my essence within them, no longer contained, went berserk and started bringing destruction to the surroundings, a single wisp enough to shatter anything.
I could sense that my essence was stronger than before and was getting stronger faster than before. This chaos will bring attention, but I couldn't care less. No longer will I be bound by my old fears.
It was time for revenge.