Breaking The Simulation

Identity Crisis… Schrödinger’s Box

Cale was plunged into darkness, with all his senses being completely robbed from him. He could neither see, hear, nor feel anything at all.

It was as if he existed in a fixed state of consciousness where the only thing present was the awareness of his own existence, and even that awareness seemed to slowly unravel as doubt about his existence began to grow.

Cale was extremely panicked. Without the ability to sense anything, he didn’t know where he was or what was happening to him. This was much worse than when he first woke up inside the previous cell. Back then, despite the fear and concern he felt, he still had his senses which grounded him in a comforting way.

But now, with all his senses gone all he had left was terror and his memories which he was forced to relive over and over again.

Cale’s memories were not happy ones. Life as an orphan in the fortress was barely a life at all. From the moment he was born, he had been under the mercy of those who could scarcely care whether he lived or died. Add to that his sickly body and you had a recipe for a dismal existence that could possibly compete in a show of ‘world’s most unfortunate being’—if such a show actually existed.

Not to say Cale’s life was terrible—it wasn’t—but it wasn’t exactly glorious either. Just look at his legal name that was given to him by the administrators at the orphanage when he was abandoned there and you’d know just how haphazard his days had been. It definitely wasn’t something Cale found worth remembering.

Yet within the dark senseless void, Cale was forced to relieve these memories over and over again and just when he wished for it to stop, the memories actually stopped replaying like a looping track in his mind. They began to slowly fade from Cale’s mind, permanently.

It was then that Cale realized what true terror was because as his memories began to disappear, he began losing himself too—losing sight of who he was—and questioning his own existence over and over again.

“Where is this? What’s going on here?”

Through his memories, Cale recalled being in a white room before appearing here.

“Wasn’t I somewhere just a moment ago? How did I end up here so suddenly? What was I even doing before I got here?”

Cale tried to sift through his memories to find any information that could help him understand his situation. However, as he did so, he felt a pang of pain coming from somewhere, although he didn’t know where it originated.

“This feeling... I feel pain, but where is it coming from? Why can’t I feel anything else? What was I doing before this?”

“That’s right. I was in a bright room before. But that’s wrong; it’s dark here, so maybe I wasn’t somewhere else. Could I have been here all along?”

“And who am I even?”

“I remember—I’m Cale. That’s my name—Cale, Cale, Cale… Cale who? Who is Cale? Cale should be me, but if I can’t remember anything, then how can I be Cale? Is Cale a person? Someone I know? Does Cale even exist in the first place? Do I exist? Am I real?”

“Stop that—of course, I exist. I can think, therefore I am real. If so, then what am I?”

Cale struggled internally to remember himself. Through his lingering memories, all that remained was an impression of his own existence; yet, under the influence of some force, this lingering impression in his memories clashed with his current state of being, making Cale doubt which was real—his memories or himself.

Something was making Cale forget himself. It was like an illusion was cast over him, like a shroud covering the heavens, causing a severe identity crisis within Cale as he fought to recognize himself against a power that seemed determined to make him forget his own existence.

…

Selene's eyes were glued to the screen before her as she watched various images with rapt attention.

Currently, the large screen was split into smaller displays, each showing a different image, while the largest split screen displayed Cale’s unconscious body lying helplessly on the floor.

Here is what was happening:

As soon as Selene gave the go-ahead for the experiments to start, a prearranged program began running.

Cale’s room wasn’t just a holding cell to keep him locked away; it was also a large simulation room that doubled as an experimentation chamber. Through it, all of Cale’s vital signs could be monitored, and various experiments and tests could be conducted without him needing to leave the cell or even meet or see his captors.

Inside that cell, Cale was virtually cut off and in complete isolation from the rest of the world, earning his cell the code name "Schrödinger’s Box."

When discussing quantum science, one famous experiment that often comes to mind is Schrödinger’s cat experiment, which explains the nature of particles existing in a quantum state as being both alive and dead at the same time, provided they are not observed by anyone.

It theorizes that by keeping a living subject locked within a box where it cannot be seen, the being potentially exists in two states: alive and dead. Only under observation does the being then adopt a single state of being either alive or dead.

While this experiment is brilliant, it primarily focuses on the observer's perspective, neglecting the subject's perspective locked away within the box.

To the subject, what state do they exist in? Would they consider themselves dead or alive? What factors would affect their perception of themselves? Factors like memory, pain, hunger, and more—how do all these influence the subject's perception of their existence?

One’s core perception of oneself is usually determined by the combination of all these factors and is often hidden deep within the subconscious of the psyche. By removing or adding new elements, this perception can drastically change, leading to various consequences.

That is the goal of the current simulation, dubbed the "Schrödinger’s Creature Experiment." By stripping Cale of all his senses and severely limiting the influence of his memories, Selene hopes to delve deep into Cale’s subconscious to discover the core of his being.

For an awakened individual, this core represents their awakening factor and the most direct but brutal method to uncover an awakened individual's awakening factor is by threatening the core of their existence, which ultimately leads to its revelation.