The early morning sun filtered through the thin curtains of Ryo's small apartment, casting a gentle glow over his sleeping form. Despite the tranquility of the scene, Ryo was anything but at peace. He awoke with a dull ache in his head, a sensation that quickly escalated to a pounding headache as he slowly opened his eyes. A sense of unease settled over him, his body protesting every movement with a throbbing pain that left him groaning in discomfort.
"Fuck! My head hurts!"
Ryo attempted to sit up, but a wave of dizziness forced him back onto the pillow. His body felt unusually heavy, every muscle aching as if he had run a marathon. Sweat beaded on his forehead, a stark contrast to the cool morning air that drifted through the open window. He rubbed his temples, hoping to alleviate the pressure building in his skull, but the pain only intensified.
*What just happened?*
Realizing he was in no condition to get up, Ryo decided to rest a little longer. He pulled the blanket up to his chin and closed his eyes, willing the discomfort to pass. As the minutes ticked by, his mind drifted in and out of a restless sleep, punctuated by vivid dreams and sporadic bursts of pain.
By the time the afternoon sun had reached its zenith, Ryo's condition had only worsened. He lay in bed, shivering despite the warmth of the day, his body wracked with pain. Every joint, every muscle, every fiber of his being seemed to be on fire, a relentless agony that left him gasping for breath. His vision blurred, and he could barely keep his eyes open against the burning sensation that had taken root there. His skin felt too hot, his head too heavy.
Desperately, he tried to recall if this could be a delayed side effect from the experiment, but his mind was too fogged to think straight.
Desperate for relief, Ryo forced himself to sit up, every movement sending jolts of pain through his body. He managed to reach for his phone on the nightstand, his trembling fingers struggling to unlock it. He considered calling for help but hesitated, his thoughts muddled by the fever that was rapidly consuming him.
The temperature in the room seemed to fluctuate wildly, leaving Ryo drenched in sweat one moment and shivering uncontrollably the next. He tried to take deep breaths, hoping to steady himself, but his chest felt tight, his breathing labored. Panic began to set in as he realized he was growing weaker by the minute, his strength sapped by the relentless fever.
*Fuck!*
Ryo felt as though his entire body was rebelling against him. His muscles throbbed with a relentless ache, each one feeling as if it had been stretched to its breaking point. He lay still, barely able to move, the pounding in his head intensifying with each passing second. The sweat soaked through his sheets, yet he felt cold, a deep chill running through his bones despite the heat radiating from his fevered skin.
Every attempt to rise was met with a stabbing pain that kept him pinned to the bed. His vision blurred slightly, and he blinked, struggling to focus, his mind clouded by the relentless discomfort.
By the time evening shadows stretched across his apartment, Ryo's condition had deteriorated further. His head felt as though it was being crushed, the pressure building to an unbearable degree. Every inch of his body was aflame with pain, his muscles tense and trembling from the intensity of it.
The fever had reached a scorching high, leaving him dazed and disoriented. His skin, clammy and drenched in sweat, prickled with heat, and his pulse raced beneath the surface, each beat intensifying his agony. He could barely open his eyes now, the pain behind them piercing, as though a thousand needles were pressing into his skull.
Through the haze of fever, he struggled to remember—what had he done to end up like this? Had something gone wrong with the test? Each attempt to concentrate only deepened his misery, his mind slipping back into the overwhelming pain that had now become his entire world.
In a desperate attempt to cool down, Ryo stumbled to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face. The coolness provided a fleeting relief, but within seconds, another wave of dizziness overtook him. He clutched the sink tightly, breathing heavily as he forced himself to stay upright.
As he looked up, his reflection in the mirror shocked him—his eyes were bloodshot, his skin an unnatural shade of pale, almost ghostly. Dark circles hung under his eyes, and his cheeks appeared sunken, as if the energy had been drained from his body overnight. The person staring back at him looked more like a stranger than himself.
Ryo gritted his teeth, struggling to steady his trembling hands. "What the hell… is happening to me?" he whispered, his voice hoarse and barely audible. He blinked hard, hoping that it was just the fever playing tricks on him, but the unsettling image in the mirror stayed the same, his gaunt, sickly face refusing to change.
Gripping the edge of the sink, he felt a sudden surge of nausea. His stomach churned, and the room spun around him, forcing him to close his eyes. Whatever this was, it was beyond anything he'd ever felt before.
Staggering back to his bed, Ryo collapsed onto the mattress, his body seizing with violent tremors. A searing heat seemed to radiate from deep within, burning his muscles and sending relentless waves of pain through every inch of his body. His skin felt like it was on fire, slick with sweat that only intensified his discomfort. He tried to call out, to scream for help, but his voice barely escaped his lips—a hoarse, strained whisper that dissolved into the silence.
The world around him blurred and darkened, his vision swimming as the fever took a ruthless toll on his senses. An overwhelming helplessness settled over him; his body felt like a cage, betraying him as it buckled under the onslaught of pain and fever. Desperate, Ryo forced his arm to move, reaching one last time for his phone on the nightstand.
But his trembling fingers slipped, the phone falling to the floor with a hollow thud, just out of reach. He stared at it, the dim light from the screen fading as his strength dwindled. Feeling the last of his energy drain away, Ryo's body surrendered, leaving him drifting on the edge of unconsciousness, consumed by the darkness and the fever that continued to rage within him.
As the night wore on, Ryo remained trapped in the depths of unconsciousness, his body shivering one moment and burning the next. His labored breaths echoed in the silence, raspy and shallow, filling the stillness of his small apartment with a haunting rhythm. Fever-induced dreams flickered through his mind—shadowy, fragmented images that twisted reality into a nightmarish swirl of faces and voices, none of them clear, all slipping away before he could grasp them.
In this feverish limbo, he felt both weightless and bound, like a prisoner in his own body, the oppressive heat chaining him down. Hours passed, marked only by the occasional twitch of his fingers and the faintest murmurs from his parched lips. The fever showed no sign of breaking, gripping him with merciless tenacity, and Ryo's body endured each torturous moment in silence.
Outside, the first hints of dawn began to creep over the horizon, painting the room with the faintest trace of light. But within Ryo's fever-ridden world, time held no meaning, leaving him adrift in the darkness, his fate suspended between survival and surrender.
( End of Chapter )