The surrounding was dark yet he could feel the light from outside. He crawled and crawled out of his eyes, hoping to reawaken from his slumber. Slowly but surely he pushed and like a newborn baby, he was finally able to break free from the chains of his eyes and awoke. The bright light pierced his eyes, shattering his field of vision. Multiple images were printed in his retina as his weak eyes struggled to focus up the room. The room, it was too bright, way too bright. He wanted to pilot his limbs but he could feel no connection to them. So, a huge surge of heat embraced him, his senses injected into his body, causing him to spring forward.
Jin's animal instinct quickly registered his situation and environment. He was on a white bed with similar designs replicated thousands throughout a white room. Beside him, every bed had a person sitting on them both young and old. Everyone had the same shocked and disillusioned look on them; no one seemed to know what was going on. The room was brutalistic, with the same monotonous white repeated throughout the room. Even everyone was fitted with the same white.
At the corners of the room stood finely dressed men and women. Their torsos were covered with black. Some had straps across their chest holding external extensions? Their arms were covered with an outer coat with sharp collars. All the guards had their weapons beside them, idly waiting for the next swipe. Their faces held grimmed faces, it seemed like they were sympathising with us.
"Excuse me? Do you know where we are?" With no hesitation, Jin believed this is what has to be done at the very moment. He scurried to the possibly knowledgeable man beside him.
"I have no clue, I just got this weird yellow file, maybe check if you have one?" The man beside him also had the same clueless look. Before the conversation can continue, a loud wiring like a vulture snatched the opportunity away.
"Attention slaves to the system." Above the room a large monitor covering the entire room projected a strangely familiar face, speaking with authority. "I am the leader of the Sovereign Band of Mercenaries. Under Article 749 conjured by the League of United Kingdoms: All prisoners/inmates eligible for death row are given a second chance in life by the Second Breath Program initiated by the Band of Mercenaries."
In an instance, almost every single person present in the room jolted and screamed in pain. The tortured chords clenched Jin's ears. He felt a weird and uneasy feeling in his heart, something he had not felt before. Jin looked at his newly found potential companion and he too was like a robot, replicating what everyone was doing.
"Are you okay? Do you need help?" But tears ran down the unfortunate man. His body shook violently as if he was going through metamorphosis. His nose boiled as he struggled to realign the stars. After a while the man slowly calmed down; his mouth was still dripping with saliva. He focused on the young man, eyes full of malevolence. Jin could hear growling? He reached out to help a friend in need. Like a sudden shedding of skin, the man tackled Jin like a caged beast and proceeded to unleash profanities and try to tear apart the Jin.
"Pssh!"
Paint was on his body? The beast's eyes became hollow, the air became stale as it tumbled over and cracked like an egg. The rest of the room remained stoic, this was now a normal occurrence. Jin stood deathly still. To the far right of the room, a guard stood fixed, his arms raised with his gun still aimed on the dead beast. The guard's eyes snuck dark underneath deep in his curly-bushy hair. The beast got up for a second time, however the guard immediately removed the threat. His bullet echoed throughout the room warning the rest of the room. But the guard didn't stop there, he continued shooting, letting loose a launch of death against the poor body.
"DIE DIE DIE!" Jin could see the eyes of the guard- pure disgust. Sweat and despair strode down his face. He now held both arms up high at the corpse. With each shot, soft clanks and disrupted chords haunted the entire room. After the carnage, the guard took a deep breath, now satisfied, returned to his routined position.
Is this death? Jin shivered. His teeth sunk deeper in his gums, he could feel them hanJing, digJing deep into his body as his mouth couldn't hold in the dam of saliva. The muscles of his shoulders shocked his body. Just a second ago those eyes had a colourful canvas.
"What even is this world?" You have guards who obviously aren't right in their head, and guns with such ferocity. 'This is unfair…"
I, I need to move on! He manifested this sentence in his heart and sliced it cleanly through it. He sucked the air around him and forced his consciousness to retake ahold of his body. As he thought of the next step, the god above continued speaking.
"Under my leadership, I have initiated the Second Breath Program. The objective of the program aims to rejuvenate and repair you to be a better citizen of society. In other words, you are allowed to return back to your old life once proven controllable and pure," Jin took a closer look at the so-called leader on the screen. It may not seem like it but you could see blemishes on his face. "Under the first act: All death row inmates/prisoners have a choice to undergo lobotomy to wipe out all relevant memories, habits and logic that points to the crime and actions committed in the 'previous life'. The sharp pain each of you are experiencing are the side effects of the lobotomy; the resurgence of your previous memories hurt your brain as it so desperately tries to forget it."
Jin was confused, he had no resurging memories or any sharp pain; it was as if he was an empty vessel. He looked on at the others with a deep tearing pain in his heart, he can't explain it yet but he wants to feel it?
"Under the second act: All undesirables or unidentifiable are also eligible under this program. So, if you had not felt anything it is due to the fact of being under this act. Now, all of you are given case files and detailed descriptions about yourself. Do well with the information."
Towards the right a large door, about 30 feet high, opened revealing the freedom and riches ahead. The light from the door shone brightly and tempting all present. "All of you have 30 minutes to decide whether to proceed with the program. After 30 minutes if you refuse to proceed, all of my hungry dogs will slaughter."
Jin took a deep breath and opened his yellow file. He began to examine his case-file-hoping to understand the previous version of himself. His name, Jin Ibuki and he was aged 25. Every basic detail was included but the information… It was too vague for a person to exist uniquely. It was as if he wasn't even a person at all. Jin so desperately tried to flip through his file trying to find what 'Jin Ibuk'i was really like. Please, if anything, show me something that defines me!
With each tick of the clock, his effort rotted. In the end, he could not find anything significant, the file was like an eaten dinner; only breadcrumbs left for grabs. There it was again, that feeling. This is disappointment? He cried with joy after the frustration of being lost and rejected. His heart tried to cope with himself.
Well at least, at least, I'm a good person.
"Attention everyone, you have 5 minutes left to make your decision, start anew or die with innocence!" The big screen promptly switched off marking the impending doom. A few beds were empty, some already had made their decision to move on. Jin admired that. Some of the remaining were left on their bed, seeking asylum. Jin clasped his hand together, he cooled himself down, slowly recounting his situation. Although he might not know himself, he still knew to be logical. He locked his eyes and steady his breathing, he felt his confidence slowly refueling his veins.
He began to thread his thoughts.
He connected the possibilities of his past and ventured towards the unknown future scenarios. He felt anxiety, tension and doubt; yet there was still hope for him. He was uncertain of the future but he was certain of the hope for the future. There was nothing for him to lose.
Jin sighed loudly, everyone seemed to be annoyed by his newfound conviction. He killed his doubts and hesitation and slapped his head removing his tunnel vision. Other inmates gave Jin weird looks, some scowling at him. So, he took a step forward, trying his best to stabilise his body. With each step forward, he could feel his old self burning away and a new sense of self reforming. JIn's heart sank as he walked towards the light as he could feel the crowd judging him from the dark, giving him unbearable anxiety.
"Don't panic, don't panic," he repeatedly said to himself. The ground seemed to shake and crumble, he felt like he was falling through multiple planes of reality. "If I can't storm through this, everything will be worthless!"
After a long and tiring hike, Jin reached the great white door. It looked down at Jin, he could feel the pressure. It's now or never, Jin stepped towards the bright light.