Once the lightning bolt struck Noah, it left no signs of physical damage. Mentally, however, his mind was in shambles, quickly leaving him in a trance-like state.

All six senses he had of reality were suddenly gone. His vision turned murky and distorted. Next, he could no longer hear his surroundings. Then, the strong stench of alcohol disappeared. Afterward, the bitter taste in his mouth vanished. Following that was the rapid loss of his sense of touch. Lastly, he lost his sense of proprioception.

Author’s note: Proprioception – The awareness one has to the movement of their muscles.

Rapidly though, all six senses came back as his eyesight was blinded by a bright white light. When his vision adjusted to it, he saw a man in front of him wearing a white surgical mask and white clear goggles. He was dressed in a white lab coat that came all the way down to his ankles, white slacks, and white shoes.

Four more people, dressed similarly to the first man, surrounded Noah in the shape of a crescent moon.

Noah was sitting upon a cushioned chair that was situated at a 120-degree angle. Its frame was colored white and its cushion light blue.

Tilting his head down, what he saw shook him to his core. It was an incredibly inhumane sight, especially after factoring in the cold and emotionless stares of the men in white.

His fingernails were removed and replaced with metallic-looking tubes that were beautifully sewn attached to each of his hyponychia. Within his mouth was a fairly large tube that went down his throat. It was unknown as to where it reached, but strangely, he couldn’t feel the pain that one would normally feel when these are done to them.

From the corner of his eye, he saw something through the reflection of the white floor which only added to his dread. It was a number of see-through tubes that lead behind his chair and each with a needle at its end. They impaled his back through a large hole in the chair.

Only after seeing that, did he notice that the room he was in was massive. There were a number of children between the ages of 7-10 who had tubes that were located in similar places to Noah.

“Start the tests! I repeat! Start the tests!” was announced by the numerous white loudspeakers that were affixed in all four corners of the room.

Three of the five men who had previously encircled Noah proceeded to the black machinery behind the chair. The machine was linked to all the tubes that were attached to Noah. There were several circuits within the machine, as well as a funnel, buttons, and levers on the outside.

They each poured a bucket of chemicals into the funnel, and while Noah peered at the ground's reflection, he helplessly watched as the chemicals slowly seeped into the tubes and finally into his body.

Internally, he grimaced in pain, and his body began to struggle to flee from the chair, but the shackles on his arms, legs, and neck were resisting his futile actions.

Once the pain he felt became numb, he thought – Where am I…? Why can’t I make any sounds…? What is going on…?

The questions he had was all brought to the side as a strand of purple hair dropped into his field of vision, which prompted even more questions.

Whilst he was perplexed, one of the coated men gently placed his fingertips on Noah's neck, only for him to be surprised when he felt a weak beat. "Sir!” he excitedly exclaimed, “We've got a live one over here!”

Almost every lab-coated man gathered to that singular spot, and one of them, presumably their boss, walked up to the seat. He grabbed Noah’s wrist and felt Noah’s pulse slowly rise back to normal. In shock, he pushed his hair back and said, “She’s… she’s alive…!”

Suddenly, there was a voice that came from the man’s chest. It was from some sort of walkie-talkie, and it had an eerie and unsteady voice to it. “Quite the good news, I heard that a subject survived in the facility you’re managing, manager. Proceed to the second test.”

Astonished, the manager tried to reason with him, “Sir! If we do that and don’t let the subject rest, the chances she will survive the next one is lower.”

Noah had many questions, some of which included, what were they speaking of, why he was referred to as a girl, why he had purple hair, what happened to his body, and where he was.

A reply came in with that same eerie and unsteady voice, “Didn’t you hear me? I said, start the second test. The higher-ups ordered that there should be a subject that reached the third test by next week.”

The manager attempted to retort his statement, but he was interrupted by a loud sound that was like an explosion. “Bu-”

Boom!

“Do you really want your facility to end up like the one I just destroyed here?”

Clenching his lips, the manager had no choice but to order for the start of the second test. “Start it…”

His people followed and they yanked the black machinery's lever. However, instead of chemicals being transferred, it was a vast number of electrical currents that were speedily traveling through the tubes.

When Noah was hit, the agony was twice as intense as the one he had experienced previously. His fingers involuntarily cranked up and down, his head swung side to side, and his entire body attempted to break away from the shackles.

After the electricity settled, his lips were drooling saliva, his body smelled like charcoal, and his hair smelled like rotten eggs.

Everyone within the room intensely watched, and waited to see if he was going to survive, with one of them mumbling to the manager, “Sir, this is the last batch of kids we have that survived the practice tests.”

Even though Noah hadn’t planned to speak, his body, as if having a mind of its own, made a weak sound. “Uh-uhh.”

They were all in awe, stunned by the very sight of the survival of the very person in front of them. The manager was the first to comprehend what has happened, commanding, “Take her to her room and give her the best medicine and food available in the facility. Afterward, bring her to her mother.”

Suddenly, as Noah heard this, he blacked out once more, but unlike before, instead of a bright light waking him, he found himself in a dark cave. It appeared to be an endless expanse with no borders, and there was a vast, clean, and transparent lake beneath him. Stalactites were hanging on the ceilings and beneath the lake.

He was floating above the lake, and strangely, there was a weird and ominous feeling in the air.

Drip! Drip!

Immediately, he turned his head to see where the sound was coming from, and it was just droplets dripping from the stalactites into the lake. But then he noticed a shadowy figure that reflected in the lake.

His heart was pounding as he cautiously turned his gaze to the direction of the shadowy figure.

He was taken aback by what he saw, and a tear streamed down his eye as a voice came out from the figure, "Hello, Noah..."