- WAIT!

My hand, stretched toward the ceiling, appear in my field of vision while I screamed against the voice. Sigh... talk about a weird awakening, still for being a dream the absolute sensation's void was really strange.

- Better start moving or I will be late to work.

Still there's something bugging me, did I forgot something? The sudden fit of pain hit me like a stab in the head.

- AAAHHHH!!!

Rolling on the floor, screaming like mad and holding my head the pain, just like it appeared, suddenly dissolve.

- What the @#£$ was that?... An aneurism? Just like uncle Tom? Jeez the doctors told us all that it can be genetic, but if they told me the pain was going to be so intense maybe I would have listened...

There were still lights flashing in the back of my eyes, and more than before the sense of incongruity attracted my attention. And then I realised what my brain was trying to tell me.

- The room, all the room, where am I?

White carpet, white bed, no windows, soft light coming from the ceiling and nothing else, only a closed door on the right.

- A continuation of the dream, am I still asleep? No the pain was too real, I still shudder only at the thought of it... Did something happened and I'm in an hospital? Well that would explain the pain and why I don't remember coming here.

- But why did my unholy scream did not alert anyone? Late shift? No no at least someone should come, better wait.

I sat down on the bed, facing the door and started the waiting game. The paranoia alarm started going full blow in my mind again, too strange, this whole situation was too strange.

- Ok better start doing something while watching the door or i will go crazy.

- Carpet? check, sintetic one, pretty soft actually and strange colour but check normal for me.

- Wall? check, white plaster and I believe, from my summer working repainting home, water based paint, normal.

- Bed? check, white metal frame, soft pillow, white cotton sheets... wait... no tags, no tags anywhere. Not on the pillow, not on the sheets even on the matress... OOOOKKKKK strangeness level up.

There's no way an hospital would use untagged merchandise, but still there's something else that's bugging me.

With fear starting to grow I rechecked the room, this time almost inch by inch. Nothing on the floor, and then it hit me, carpet? Carpet? What was I thinking when i considered it normal? No way that, in a room that need frequent cleaning, carpet is normal. Especially if the only tracks imprinted in it are mine. And it's too clean pratically new, and soft as it is really good at muffling sound.

Knocking lightly on the wall there is no hollow sound anywhere, just like if they where full concrete and no windows...

- What the..!

I crouched down as fast as possible trying to stay as still as I could... When I was staring at wall while walking around the room, a small window opened with a man behind staring at me.

- $%=! So there is really someone monitoring me here.

An experiment? A quarantine? Putting down for now the hypothesis my mind was start to feed me, I slowly stand up. If they are watching from the beginning there's no merit in hiding now.

Getting up from the floor, where I crouched in panic, I take a look at the window. The man who look back at me can be described only as average, meaning like the classic description of a male caucasian of medium height, buzz cut and a face that will be lost immediately in a city.

While I was lost in my stupid reflections, the man keep staring at me in the same pondering gaze, I believe, I have myself. Out of instinct I raise an eyebrow? Wait? Is he giving me sass? He raise an eyebrow too... ... ...

Having a flash of insight, if in this madhouse I can still call it that, I scratch my nose and he follow my exact moves.

- Yep, it's a mirror... A mirror... With a reflection that's not me... Okkeyyyy...

I have to admit that falling again in my habit of talking to myself when I'm panicking doesn't make me proud.

- Ok breathe, breathe. If it is a real-time cgi thing, like some prank I've seen, it don't have even a millisecond between my action and the "mirror" copying movement, soo my money is still on the dream thing.

Trying to touch my face and seeing someone else in the mirror is beyond strange, but still now the sensation of missing something vanished. Than I realized, cursing myself for being so slow, I can't confirm if my face is really different but my body? My hand, arm, torso ecc...

Well, the conclusion is that in this "dream" I have an almost fit body, surely more fit than I remember ever being, and none of the scars I've accumulated in my life. My brain still fight himself to conciliate my memory and this. I say "dream" because I tried pinching my arm even scraping with my nail, and the pain is too real.

The words of the voice before waking-up start creeping and taking hold of my mind.

- No, no, no, remember I'm average, not special, nothing strange happen, all are happy. No happiness, no sadness. No pain, no gain...

- Even my mantra for extreme situation is failing me and derailing, I have to...

A sudden light started blinking in the corner of my vision, the mirror?

Soft blue, slow blinking, light appeared to be emanating from it. I looked and what greeted me is something...

- I don't know if I'm supposed to feel happy for somewhat of information, or I'm really having a crazy crazy day.

- Congratulation! For choosing your avatar's name you've unlocked your status! Welcome again on tag#001!

NameRaceAverageHumanHPMP100100AtkDefDexWis10101010Exp0/100

- ... ... ...

Staring at the "screen" I found myself again pondering if it's all a joke from the R&D group. But even if they finally had a breakthrough in the VR tech that they were developing, I still believed it's impossible to make such realistic feedback for all the senses.

- Well I still haven't tried to taste anything but... Am I in some kind of coma and this is the future?... Yeah, right, the voice made more sense...

- Thank you for finally admitting it.

- What the @#%&... So you really were always watching and listening? Am I fun?

- Please don't start feeling victimized and be aggressive to respond to your fear, now that your matrix is properly indexed, I have a more precise measure of your being.

- And? Meaning we are all friends now?

- And the meaning is, like I said before, understanding why finally the search give result, in this case you, can progress myself in the search of my purpose.

- Ok ok... do you really believe I would listen to your riddle? What do you mean? Even you don't know what's happening?

- I already told you what happened to you, concerning my advancement the result are for myself only. Even if you already are seeing some of them.

- Like your way of speaking I presume? Feeling more relaxed?

- Yes, good job, your entry in the system have already started a domino effect.

- And this "system" you're talking about I suppose is this whole game thing? What am I the lone first player of all this charade?

- Yes, again good job, but I'm afraid there's much more to it. But it's useless explaining all now, you will have to advance and see for yourself. If you open the door the tutorial will begin, get ready for it and good luck!... ...

- Wait, wait, don't use a fade fx when I...

The light faded from the screen, and the status chart from before disappeared.

- So no more dialogue then? This leaves me with the same question for before, do I really want to believe you? It's all-real... like it feels... it's a game... @#£$! Now the doubts are going to eat me alive.

- I must start doing something or I really will start banging my head on the wall. First, if I'm really going anyway to "play" this game, like hell I will be doing whatever it says. So let's begin... Open the door? It also said to get ready ...

If it's like any of the games I played before, even as realistic as it is, let's start assuming there's perma-death system in play. Meaning I really have to prepare for whatever is beyond the door.

The bonus is that this is really a starting tutorial area, I can start gaining now that I'm relatively safe. I know it's cheap but if I have to believe that I already died once, than more the reason to be cautious. And if I really have to be myself, or my game-persona, I always liked to observe, than move and strike or flee.

Having taken a decision for how to procede, I started to work on it.

I have to admit that, even with all my fears who periodically said "Hello did you call?", I was eager to consider this a game to "play". But first and foremost to quench one of my doubt I'm doing my old gym cardio routine.

I know it's ridiculous to think that to follow the fad of the moment I ended going almost five years to a gym, but the adrenaline keep me from quitting and I must confess I felt really great, when the muscle pain didn't assault me.

While I was absorbed in the past, it's all so strangely vivid I remember even my old schedule, I ended my tenth set of exercises... without pauses...

- Ok this confirm that surely it's not my old body or even human I suppose.

Naturally a "normal" human would have ended sprained on the floor after the third set, but to think apart from not sweating even my breath is stable it's really disturbing. This stunt also confirm that the lacking of a stamina value on the chart before maybe is not a lapse of this "system".

Next on the agenda is to see how the stats, or the lack of them, influence me. I already suspect that with no hunger and thirst value maybe I don't have to eat and drink, or sleep even, but when that time will come to see if it's true I think I will really believe I'm dead.

I also reserve judgment on the fact that maybe all this things are true only in this room, a starting tutorial area?, but the fact that the voice spoke of a system fired me up to found loopholes. Again I know, cheap, but to take words from my younger colleague "That's how I roll".

L

ooking again in the mirror, and really feeling confused on how to feel about it, I concentrated and started thinking all the words that maybe can make the screen reappear... After having gone through all the standard, and even the more obscure, word to open the character in-game, i resigned myself and start talking loud.

- Status!... Character!... Menu!

NameRaceAverageHumanHPMP100/102100AtkDefDexWis10101010Exp0/100

- Yes! So menu is the code... Wait why the hp, presuming it's health point, have a new grey value? I've a suspicion, if this system is really like this then... Better start the next "experiment"...

Than, starting from removing all the sheets from the bed and after the mattress, I exposed the metallic-looking frame of the bed. It was the kind with thin metal strips for support, they should be attached but another strange thing they are welded. Well, after thinking that maybe it's really a bad idea, I start kicking a strip loose.

What I didn't expect was that, after the fourth kick, the all frame collapsed on itself...

- Ok now I think that someone is going to get angry for this... @#£$ too late anyway let's go.

Searching in the remain of the bed I started to catalogue the various pieces, various lengths of cylindrical metal tubing, some square pieces and the strips I was aiming for from the beginning.

To be sincere I've never worked seriously with metal, I've always wanted to and watched lots of video of melting, forging, welding ecc., but I never really had the time to do something serious. Now it was time to start I believe.

So, while going delusional over the future, I started using one of the square piece to scrape a bevel on the edge of a strip. Again after the fourth repetition the edge become sharp abruptly...

Is there a meaning for four repetition? Or for the suddenly change, if that matter? The MP stat maybe it's a hint of magic so the physics of "here", of this system, must be different somehow. But it's still really surprising and disturbing to see thing behave in way all people thinks impossible.

Anyway I obtained the sharp metal piece I was searching for so it's time to start, taking a deep breath I took the blade firmly in hand and started...