Breaking The Simulation

Captive

When Cale woke up, he found himself in a bed. As soon as he opened his eyes, a bright light temporarily blinded him, causing him to blink and instinctively raise his hand to shield his eyes. However, the moment he blinked, it was as if a switch had been flipped—the light no longer irritated him, and he could see normally.

To his surprise, everything appeared to be in stunning clarity, like he was looking at a 4K HD version of the world. The surroundings seemed sharper and more colorful than usual, as if Cale's eyes had been replaced with artificial ones that were more powerful than any camera ever made.

Shocked, Cale quickly closed his eyes and opened them again briefly after, only to find that his vision remained the same. Marveling at this change, he became engrossed in this new perspective.

“Is this due to my awakening?” Cale wondered aloud. “Did I awaken some sort of ocular power or did my perception become incredibly enhanced?”

Speaking of awakening, Cale suddenly remembered what happened before he blacked out, the painful memory sending a jolt of shock coursing through Cale, making him spring up from the bed as if it was made of lava.

As the memory of his awakening fully roused Cale causing him to notice something strange, Cale quickly looked around to take stock of his surroundings. Thats when he realized that he was in some sort of confined space—a room approximately three square meters in size. There was no furniture; what he had initially thought was a bed turned out to be a soft layer of padding that covered the floor, walls, and ceiling.

Upon further inspection, Cale noticed that the room wasn’t painted but was giving off a warm light from the surface of its walls which glowed dimly, illuminating the room.

Cale was alone with not a single shadow in sight, literally. Light was being emitted from every surface in the room, effectively preventing any shadows from existing in the room. Yet beyond the room’s walls was an opening leading out into a stretch of encompassing darkness leading into nowhere, like a void of vast emptiness evoking a sense of eeriness that sent a chill coursing through Cale, exacerbating his feeling of isolation.

Everything was so bizarre. From the moment he woke up until now, an overwhelming sense of foreboding filled Cale with panic causing his heart to beat frantically like a runaway drum playing a deadly tune.

Believing he was still unconscious from his awakening, Cale quickly shut his eyes and began counting sheep in his mind to calm his racing heart.

One sheep!

Two sheep!

Three sheep…

By the time he reached a hundred sheep, Cale’s heart had settled, his thoughts sufficiently calm. With firm resolve, Cale tentatively opened his eyes to peek at his surroundings, half-expecting to find himself somewhere else. But when he saw he was still in the same room, despair washed over him; a sudden impulse overcame him causing Cale to frantically ran forward in an attempt to escape.

“What is happening? Where the hell am I? How did I end up here?”

Cale’s mind was a whirlwind of panic and questions, yet his body continued moving forward. Despite his fear, he lunged into the darkness outside the room, only to slam into a solid barrier that knocked him powerfully into the room until he hit the wall behind him.

“Urgh!” Cale groaned as his back slammed heavily against the padded wall. The cushioning absorbed most of the impact, preventing injury but leaving him with sharp pains all over his back.

Stunned by the impact, it took a moment for Cale to regain his senses. Once he did, he pressed himself against the wall as if trying to meld into it, eyeing the darkness with caution and fear.

In that state of hesitation, Cale pondered what to do next.

…

Meanwhile, in an unknown location not far from where Cale was, a group of people was gathered in another room. This group—consisting of several white-collar workers looking like researchers in their neat and tidy overall coats—was seated before large transparent virtual monitors, typing away. Some, also clad in similar styles of clothing operated a medley of gadgets in a spot or moving about, their absentminded seriousness giving the scene an air of oddity.

The most conspicuous feature in the room was a large virtual holographic screen at the front, displaying a figure with an extremely straight posture who was observing Cale's every move.

Unbeknownst to Cale, since he gained consciousness, he had been under surveillance by this group of unknown individuals, who watched with growing interest as he cowered at the edge of the room he was trapped in.

…

Selene stood in a white one-piece jumpsuit, a long linen lab coat draped over her shoulders. At 6’2”, with her arms crossed over her chest—framing her ample bosom and long legs—her straight posture radiated a strict, unapproachable air that kept everyone at a distance.

Her delicate, attractive face, accentuated by crescent moon-shaped eyes, gave her a strikingly desirable appearance that sharply contrasted her cold and serious demeanor.

Selene watched Cale through the screen, calm and composed. He was her new subject—one she was to observe and experiment on, a prospect that appealed to her. It wasn’t her first time working with a Cerulean, but this case was different. Never before had she been assigned a subject deemed important enough to justify the use of the Schrödinger’s Box. That fact alone piqued her curiosity.

But that was all it was—curiosity. Beyond his value as a research subject, Cale held no personal interest in her. So, while he scrambled about inside his cell, trying to make sense of his situation, Selene observed with complete indifference.

Still, she was eager—borderline impatient—to begin her work. But for now, she had to wait for the preliminary test results gathered while Cale was unconscious. Until then, all she could do was watch.

Huu…

Breathing evenly, Selene tried to steady her impatience.

“Take it easy. Observation is part of the process. Just treat him like any other test subject, and this will be manageable,” she reminded herself.

Twisted as it may seem, such thoughts crossed her mind. But then, a few whispers from behind caught her attention—and their content made her frown.

“Hey, did you hear? Lab 4 had another accident. This time, it was very serious.”

“Is that true?” someone asked. “How many is that now? The sixth in two months?”

“Yeah, and I heard there were casualties—several people died, and many more were badly injured. That’s not something that usually happens,” the first person added.

Hiss!

The other voice inhaled sharply, his voice raising a notch. “That’s bad, isn’t it? Must be the worst one since the last major incident. What’s going on?”

Shush!

“Keep your voice down,” the first speaker hissed. A pause followed, likely as he checked to make sure no one else was listening. Then he continued.

“And that’s not all—I heard the Law Bureau’s having issues too. Their tower has been experiencing unstable interferences during casting. Spells going haywire. Runes losing effectiveness—especially conjurations. Word is, a high-ranking mage tried to open a portal and accidentally connected to a savage dimension then massive tentacles came through and swallowed him whole. Nothing was left. They say it took a team of powerful Awakened just to close the portal but before they managed to succeed many more were consumed by it.”

Seeing his companion’s eyes widen in disbelief, the speaker leaned in, eager to continue. “You don’t know the half of it, but—”

Humph!

A sudden, sharp snort echoed through the room, cutting him off. The speaker froze and slowly turned, only to meet Selene’s cold, disapproving stare.

Feeling like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him. He quickly lowered his head to his screen, trying to pretend nothing had happened.

His companion fared no better. The moment Selene glare shifted to him, he lost all composure, almost falling from his chair only to scramble upright and bowing his head as her frown deepened.

After silencing the two noisemakers, Selene swept her icy gaze across the room. One by one, everyone dropped their heads, avoiding her eyes.

The lab fell silent. Satisfied, Selene turned back to the screen displaying Cale.

But her mind lingered on what she’d overheard, her frown remaining as she processed their implications.

Selene typically stayed absorbed in her research, paying little attention to external affairs. But even she had heard about the recent string of accidents plaguing research facilities across the fortress each stemming from some failure during research. And the word around was that this incident extended beyond just research, spreading to other areas of the fortress’s operations—though Selene wasn’t sure if this was true.

Selene herself had experienced her own fair share of setbacks during experiments—nothing major, but still troubling. It made her wonder if there was a larger pattern.

Still, she dismissed the thought for now, refocusing on the task at hand.

Whatever was going on, it could wait. For now, her priority was Cale—and uncovering the mystery behind his awakening.