Passing through the blinding light I am engulfed within. Unable to see anything, I continue walking forwards a few steps before the door behind me slams shut with a “THUD”, all light within the room snapped off, except for a tiny spot under a lightbulb that was slightly swaying. Moving towards the small bit of light I hear Okin's voice.

“Ah, so once again this brings the end of another short journey eh?”

“What do you mean Okin? What journey? What do you mean again?”

“You see Niko, the one thing the military did not expect when creating us, was some of our abilities being stronger, as well as having effects that go beyond their calculations.”

“Is this related to you mentioning us not being in the body of that other boy?”

“ Much so…. We have a stronger form of mana projection, usable without machines. The downfall of this ability though, is we retain the muscle memory as well as the mana of your slain enemies, but, you will lose all visual memories and emotions from your time in mana projection. You are also, only able to latch onto other people like a leech, you cannot personally train within mana projection.”

“So does this mean we have done this multiple times before? Having it end with me forgetting everything?”

“Basically…. That is how an anomaly or I, Okin, was created. The Mana projection before this one was our first, feeling the visual parts of the experiences fading, you decided to split into two, carrying the knowledge, and visuals over to me. Although I like to envision myself as the darker more corrupted version of the two of us, while you are the innocent child that still has a chance….”

“How long did we spend in our first projection, where are we now?”

“Hmm... I believe the first guy was about a year before he was mowed down in battle, pretty brutally actually, poor bastard was shot off of one of the transport ships falling straight for the ground. For our location…. We are… in a vat within the military research ship.”

“A what!... Why are we there?”

“Oh, simply put, this is where we were created. We were created two years ago, in the vat we are currently unconsciously floating in.”

“But...even if we never actually fought in the arena within the body of that kid, weren't we in his subconscious for 5 years?”

“No, not at all. Not even close, think more along the lines of just the last two months, but that was just playing out parts and bits of his memory. The feeling is longer due to absorbing the memories, experiences, etc, it makes you become the person in personality causing the illusion of physically being the person.”

“Wha...so...then, what is next?”

“Hmm… good question. I believe that depends, we cannot actually see or hear what is going on outside of the tank, just muffled voices, among other noises. So there is no way to be one hundred percent sure of when they plan to wake you up, so unless they do that, you will begin losing your memory within the next half hour, then continue the cycle of endless mana projection training. Not only that, once you wake up you will be a blank slate due to the effect of our mana projection, mixed with the fact that your awakening will be your birth, so without the memories of others you have nothing.

“Sigh...sounds like a pain in the ass, it's so hard to believe but... I suppose I do not really have much of a choice eh?”

“That’s the leftover personality talking, based on the situation the unbelievable has already happened, no reason to deny it now.”

“Fair enough, So...what is your goal Okin?”

“Mmm...goal eh? Same as when you split yourself creating me. Survival for Niko…”

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Well for One, I am you…. Two, I am stronger, having the capability to take over whenever I like. I choose not to, it is too much work. Would rather work in tandem as long as I can rampage from now and then. Being the personality with a huge burden due to some of our abilities, it's nice to let loose a little.”

“Fair... Wait, what other abilities do we have?”

“That my friend, will come in due time, more fun when used in battle hahaha.”

“Sigh”

Following my sigh of defeat, I feel my mind turn fuzzy while slowly opening my tired blurry eyes. Not being able to see much of anything, I scan my surroundings, I can’t make heads or tails of anything happening. I do not recognize my surroundings, not even the things in front of me. Thinking to myself trying to understand the current situation, I hear a clear voice speak to me.

“Ready yourself, they are coming over, remember to them you are their creation, a tool for war, few people will be trustworthy.”

“.....”

I do not bother replying to this strange, and random voice that I do not recognize. "CLANK", "SHHH", I hear a loud clunking noise followed by a strange hissing, bubbles from below begin to float up while water drains out the bottom. A person wearing a lab coat walks forward as I fall on my ass no longer being carried by the water. The person walked closer reaching down towards the tube in my mouth, Reacting to the person's movement I grab their arm twisting it behind their back before reaching for a pen in their right breast pocket holding it to their throat.

“....”

I don’t speak for I don't even comprehend my own actions when he reached towards me, my body moved by itself performing a very smooth, natural feeling sequence of motions. I look up staring at the other lab coat wearing people, while the soldiers aimed their guns at me with strange looks on their faces, the guns held within their hands slightly shook.

“Niko, we are not trying to harm you. We only want to take off the cords and the tubes in your mouth.”

My eyes dart in the direction of the voice landing on a tall slender mature looking woman wearing a lab coat. Looking into her eyes I see no wavering, I then use my mana to sense her heartbeat...she is not lying. After confirming she is telling the truth, I quietly put down the weapon, releasing the terrified lab worker from my grasp.