"....."

The room was silent, hardly any sound could be heard besides the subtle, and yet strained sound of the people's breaths within the room.

I sat in my corner staring at the scene with a blank look.

My thoughts were a jumbled mess, and as I lowered my head, my gaze fell on the small vial that was attached to my arm.

It was three-quarters of the way filled.

A thought ran down my mind as I recalled the scene from before.

'Three lives.'

Each quarter of the vial signified a life.

Given that I had three-quarters, it meant that I only had three lives.

I licked my parched lips.

For some reason, I felt like these were going to be far from enough.

Death...

I had already died once, and yet, I had a feeling I was going to experience it again.

More than once at that.

"It will take a while for those that the blood has baptized to wake up again. We, of the Celestial Chorus, can wait. In the meantime..."

Gathering the attention of all those present was the man dressed in white as he looked around, his white eyes sweeping every corner of the room.

"....This has been enough for the demonstration. You can go back to your own chambers. I will be calling you each individual to take the trial of the forgotten minds."

'Trial of the forgotten minds...?'

I frowned at the words that came out of his mouth but wasn't able to further understand what they meant as he turned around and proceeded to leave the premises.

Following the man's disappearance, several people dressed in white entered the room, dragging the ones who had fallen on the floor, and bringing them out of the room.

I could only sit and watch as they were dragged away out of the room.

I thought about asking what was going on, or for some sort of explanation, but I remained quiet. Watching everything from the side.

There were still many things that I wasn't aware of.

Like how the man in white had managed to kill those people, or what was going on.

But if there was one thing that I understood, it was that I needed to comply.

At least, until I figured out what was going on.

"....."

A man soon stopped in front of me.

Looking up, my eyes met his gaze. There was a lost, hollow look in his blackened eyes as if he wasn't fully conscious.

The emptiness within them sent a shiver down my spine, amplifying the growing dread in the pit of my stomach.

But I had to push that feeling down.

I knew that I couldn't let my fear take over my mind. At least, not yet.

Not until I had some sort of answer to the situation.

The man turned around and left the room. Judging from his movements, he seemed to want me to follow him.

"....."

I could only comply in silence.

Coming out of the room, I looked around.

The flickering torches cast eerie shadows on the rough walls, making it clear to me that we were deep within a cave system.

'Haa... haa...'

Each breath echoed loudly within my mind, magnifying the oppressive silence.

Lining the walls were towering, imposing rocky doors, their surfaces etched with strange, glowing symbols that pulsed with a strange light.

I stared at the symbols, feeling a creeping sense of confusion as I found myself unable to understand them.

'It's like a completely different language.'

"Hm."

In fact, pausing slightly, I came to a sudden realization.

The language that I was speaking...

What in the world was I speaking?

I blinked my eyes as my mind momentarily blanked at the realization.

'What...?'

I started thinking within my mind, and my heart froze at the realization that the language that I was using to speak to myself wasn't my native tongue, English.

No, rather...

"Ahh..."

I covered my mouth in shock.

'How?'

How was this possible?

For me to speak an entirely different language than the one I was used to?

'Could it be that they've imparted memories inside of my mind during the experimentation?'

It was the only way to explain the sudden situation. Looking up, and staring at the man in front of me, I wanted to talk to him. Ask him about my situation, but again... I held myself back.

I knew that it wasn't wise for me to speak.

They would most likely not answer me anyway.

"...."

I wasn't sure for how long we continued to walk. The cave system was rather large, and my legs were already starting to ache by the time it took us to reach the destination.

Just like before, strange symbols appeared on the rocky door that stood in front of me.

As the man pressed his large palm against the door, the symbols glowed, and the door started to rumble.

Rumble! Rumble...!

I watched as the doors lifted upwards, revealing an empty room behind.

The process continued for the next few seconds before finally stopping. That was when the man looked at me, and I entered the room.

"....."

As I entered the room, I looked around the place before turning back to look at the man.

His hollow eyes looked back at me. He had no expression on his face as he remained firm on the spot. It was as if he was a mindless puppet with no thoughts.

But if there was one thing that stood out to me, it was the golden insignia on his shirt.

It depicted a large eye sitting at the top of a golden triangle.

'The company responsible for this?'

Rumble!

My thoughts were broken by another rumbling. Looking up, I saw the doors slowly coming to a close.

I thought things would just end there when all of a sudden, the man's eyes started to shake.

The way he looked at me also started to change and I felt a noticeable change in the atmosphere around me.

"Uh... ah... akh..."

Weird noises started to come out of his mouth all of a sudden.

"What? What? Are you trying to say something? What...?"

....I didn't understand at all what he was saying, or trying to say. Nonetheless, I could tell that he was trying to speak to me.

For that reason, I moved forward to get a better understanding of what he was trying to say.

"I can't hear you. What is it?"

"Hgk... ahh... ukh!"

He continued to speak, and I moved even closer.

I only stopped right before the doors. I didn't dare step out.

Rumble...!

The rumbling of the doors was making it hard for me to fully grasp what he was trying to say.

"What? What are you trying to say...?"

His body started to tremble all of a sudden.

For some reason, the sight made my heart freeze, a cold lump forming in my throat.

I was just about to speak again when I noticed something flicker at the corner of his eyes.

It was... black.

A black tear?

"Uh...?"

The sight shook me as I held myself rooted on the spot.

...The strange situation didn't end there. Following the black tear, his eyes began to transform. It was as if an ink brush had been placed directly at his pupils, spreading an inky darkness that clouded his vision.

His body convulsed violently, each tremor more intense than the last, as the blackness consumed his eyes.

Ba... Thump!

I felt the sound of my own heartbeat echo loudly within my mind as all my muscles tensed.

'J-just what is going on?!'

I took a step back.

"Ukh...! Ahk!!"

The noises coming out of his mouth grew louder and louder and I held my breath.

"Ukh...! Ahk!!"

The noises coming out of his mouth grew louder and louder and Rumble! Rumble...!

Right now, my eyes were on the doors that were closing.

If before I wanted them to remain open so that I could escape, my thoughts had completely changed.

...I wanted for them to close.

The sight before me was too chilling.

It was...

"Run...!"

A word.

Finally, I was able to make out a word as the man's body shook completely.

I swallowed my saliva as I looked at him.

He was looking back at me now, his body eerily still.

The only difference was that both of his eyes were now completely black, pools of darkness that seemed to swallow the light.

"....R-run."

Such were the last words I heard from him before the doors fully closed.

Clank!

"...."

What followed after was silence.

A silence that was broken by two sounds.

"Haa.. haa..."

The sound of my breath.

Ba... Thump!

And the sound of my own heartbeat.

I stood on the spot, unable to move as fear completely overtook my mind.

"I..."

I could hardly speak, or think properly.

It was as if I was in a scene straight from a horror movie.

....And as if things couldn't get any worse.

"Ahhh...!!"

Terror completely gripped my heart as I screamed my lungs out.

"W-what...!?"

Standing a few meters away from me was a pair of glaring red eyes. They looked at me with such intensity that made my blood freeze.

But as my mind processed the situation, I soon realized something.

"An owl?"

Indeed, an owl.

"...."

Blinking several times, I stared at it, unable to comprehend its appearance.

It just stood there with its piercing red eyes, and as I looked into them, I found myself looking at my own reflection.

"Just what...?"

"....What a terrible state."

"...!"

I jumped up again.

"Who?"

I looked around me in hopes of finding where the voice came from but found myself unable to find anyone.

"A speaker?"

I looked towards the corners of the rooms for any cameras or speakers but found nothing.

"Who was it that spoke?"

I continued to look around but found nothing.

Just as I was about to speak again, a figure hovered right before me, and my heart leaped out of my chest for the second time.

"As expected. You're different."

It was the owl, and I found myself blinking several times.

'...Am I going crazy?'

An owl speaking?

"A robot?"

"....What is that?"

"I..."

"It looks like someone has replaced him."

Another voice echoed in the room, and my head flicked back to where a cat had appeared. This time, I wasn't as shocked as with the owl.

I pretty much gave up on thinking I was sane.

The cat looked at me directly.

"What is your name?"

"...."

I didn't answer immediately. I was struggling to understand the situation, but strangely, meeting the cat's eyes, I found my mouth opening on its own.

"....Emmet."

I answered while hastily covering my mouth.

"Emmet Rowe."

"....."

The cat looked at me for a brief moment before turning to look at the owl. The next words that came out of its mouth shook me.

".....You're right. He's a fake."