PROLOGUE

A flash. Resonating screeches pound through my head, following the rapid beating of my heart. My eyes whip open, frantically darting left and right. I catch a glimpse of a mysterious figure, holding something. Something small, almost like a handle of some sort. He tosses it up once, catching it again. He then casually throws it at me. Whatever he threw disappears as soon as it leaves his hand, so I'm left with my growing headache and the question of what it could have been. There is some sort of semi-clear layer between us, easily ten feet wide and seven tall. I blink and in the place of the one figure, many appear, rapidly typing on a large control panel. Were they studying me? No. Testing me. I feel a sudden rush of fatigue, but I will for my eyes to stay open, something in me desperately wanted to escape, and I feel myself begin to strain against leather bindings holding me to some flat, dentist-like chair. One of them says words that I can't make out and points at me, finger waving inches from the glass, probably recognizing that I had woken up. I feel a rush of anger and shout, pushing against the bindings again, but to no avail. One of them motions at monitors rested on the control panel and turns back to face another man that had somehow entered the room. He hadn't been there before, for I would have remembered him. He was a large man, almost round, and I swear I could almost smell his stench: garlic and rotten cheese mixed up in a horrible sensation. But how had he gotten in? I then see something slowly making its way into my vision, descending, always pointed at me, a vicious-looking needle protruding far out of a large cylindrical body, loaded, to the point of there being no visible surface, with blades and flashing lights. I strain again at the bindings, now panic and adrenaline aiding me. I need to get free! The people spring up from their seats and start shouting, frantically pressing buttons on the large panel. More pulses of fatigue; it feels like my eyelids are being forced closed by some monstrous beast. I try to cry out, but all I can muster is a soft exhale. I feel everything drain from my body, and I lie still, breathing. I can't move, nor open my eyes. I feel... Peaceful. As if my problems were gone, and I was free... Free to wander off into silence... Suddenly shrieks shred the silence in my brain. I scream, fire blazing intensely through my veins as I writhe, trying to escape the pain. Memories flash quickly, faces I recognized, some that I didn't. Small landscapes with houses, and me. Myself standing still, staring, becoming enveloped by darkness. A familiar darkness. Words read themselves out of my mind.
"THIS..." I shout, tugging one last time. "ISN'T..." But I can't finish the sentence as a black abyss overtakes my vision and I lie still.