I opened my eyes slowly, as if swimming up from beneath a layer of heavy, dark water. A white ceiling. Too clean, too sterile.

  "Ah..." my throat felt raw.

  Where am I? I sat up, feeling a strange lightness in my entire body. A hospital bed, white sheets. A typical ward. I turned my head toward the window: beyond the glass stretched a massive city, its buildings fading into infinity, and on the horizon, the sea glistened, absorbing the rays of the setting sun.

  "Beautiful," I whispered. My voice sounded foreign.

  The door creaked quietly. A man in a white coat with a tablet in his hands walked into the ward. He froze for a moment seeing me sitting up, and then smiled gently.

  "Hello. How are you feeling?" he asked, stepping closer.

  "Seems normal," I replied, still unable to tear myself away from the view of the sunset. "Only... where am I? And who am I?"

  The doctor sighed and noted something on his tablet.

  "We thought as much. You have a severe concussion. Two days ago, you and your parents were in a terrible accident. Unfortunately... your parents didn't survive. You are the only one left alive."

  I listened to him, but it was empty inside. No pain, no tears, no longing. How can you mourn those you don't remember? To me, they were just words in his mouth.

  "Do you remember your name?" The doctor started asking questions, looking into my eyes.

  "Hold on..." I tried to grope for any clue in my head. Empty. "No. Nothing comes to mind."

  "Your last name? Age? Do you remember what you look like?"

  I looked at my hands—slender fingers, pale skin. Then I started feeling my face. The doctor pulled a small mirror from the nightstand and handed it to me.

  A teenager with thick black hair looked back at me from the mirror. But the strangest thing was the eyes. They were completely black. Not just the pupil or the iris—even the sclera was flooded with a coal-black, impenetrable darkness.

  "Hmm... Doctor, are completely black eyes normal?"

  "In your case, yes," the doctor hesitated slightly but quickly pulled himself together. "Don't worry, it's... a peculiarity of your physiology related to your ancestry. It doesn't affect your vision in any way."

  I looked down at my hands again and noticed a wide metal bracelet on my wrist that fit tightly against my skin. And on my neck, right under my jaw, there was a slight tingling sensation—a small chip was implanted there.

  "What is this bracelet for? And this chip in my neck?"

  "The bracelet is needed to monitor your condition," the doctor said quickly. "Because of the amnesia, you might have sudden emotional outbursts; the bracelet helps your nervous system stay calm. And the chip is a sensor. Pulse, blood pressure, biorhythms... You came to us in extremely critical condition; we are obligated to monitor your every breath."

  "I see," I nodded. I didn't want to argue, but a strange feeling stirred in the depths of my consciousness. "Also, doctor... tell the person watching us through the camera in the corner to stop staring so hard. His gaze is annoying me."

  The doctor straightened up abruptly. He slowly turned toward the camera near the ceiling, and then looked back at me. Real, unfeigned fear flashed in his eyes.

  "But how did you... How do you know?"

  "I don't know. I just feel it."

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  I tried to stand up, but my legs felt like jelly.

  "Hold on," the doctor caught me by the shoulder. "We will discharge you tomorrow. The paperwork is already prepared; you will be provided with housing as a victim of a catastrophe. For now, rest. You need to gather your strength."

  He practically ran out of the ward.

  Right. He sure knows how to "cheer people up." Parents dead, I'm some strange guy with black eyes and a bunch of sensors on my body. But strangely... I didn't feel an ounce of fear.

  I lay back down and stared out the window. The sun had almost drowned in the sea, painting the sky the color of blood. There wasn't a single thought, a single memory in my head. Only a strange, frightening calmness.

  I closed my eyes. My "normal life," about which I knew nothing, had just begun.

  I stood pressed against the cold glass, unable to tear myself away. Yokohama's massive skyscrapers pierced the sky like steel needles. In 2015, cities seemed like endless forests of glass and concrete.

  There was a knock on the door. Yesterday's doctor entered, accompanied by a woman in a white coat and a man in a police uniform.

  "Hello," they said almost in unison. "Have a seat."

  I reluctantly stepped away from the window and sat on the edge of the bed. The policeman pulled a stack of documents from a folder and laid them out on the nightstand: a passport, an ID, and keys with a heavy keychain.

  "Listen carefully," he began. "Your name is Arkgrim Helv."

  "Arkgrim..." I repeated in a whisper. The name rolled on my tongue like a cold stone. Beautiful. But foreign.

  "Born in 2001. Age: 14. Arkgrim, do you know what year it is?"

  "I don't remember," I admitted honestly.

  "Look at your bracelet; it shows the time, date, and your pulse."

  I intuitively touched the dark screen on my wrist. The display obediently flared up.

  "November 27, 2015. 09:15. Pulse: 65."

  "You will be attending a new school," the doctor continued. "The final year of high school."

  I nodded, although I had no idea what "high school" was. Probably something important.

  "Here are the keys to your apartment. The inheritance papers are still being prepared, but as it turns out, you have absolutely no relatives. No one at all. Here is your bank card. It has five thousand dollars on it."

  "Five thousand..." I pondered. "Is that a lot?"

  "It will be enough for a start," the policeman answered evasively.

  I stood up, taking the keys and the card.

  "So, is that it? Farewell, I'll be going. To my apartment, which is located... where?"

  I looked at the doctor questioningly, and at that moment, a sharp prick pierced through me inside. As if a furious flash of lightning had shot through my brain. I was supposed to know something. I was supposed to remember this city differently.

  The bracelet on my arm instantly lit up with an alarming red glow. A high-pitched beep sounded.

  The doctor was immediately at my side, grabbing my shoulder.

  "Now, don't rush! We warned you about these seizures due to amnesia. Here," he shoved a bottle of pills into my hand. "Take these when you feel something like this. They will help control the outbursts."

  I shoved the bottle into my bag and smiled tightly:

  "Alright. So how do I get there?"

  The doctor advised calling a taxi and reminded me that my phone was in my bag.

  PHONE.

  The word echoed strangely in my head. I pulled out a thin black rectangle and, on pure instinct, without thinking, unlocked it and tapped the necessary icons. My fingers knew what to do on their own, as if I had done this thousands of times.

  Another prick. That heat in my chest again. I quickly shook a pill out of the bottle and swallowed it dry.

  "Side effect is drowsiness," the doctor threw after me.

  I stepped out onto the street. The sun was blinding. The phone in my hand vibrated: "Black Toyota Prius. License plate 44-05."

  I had no idea what a "Toyota" looked like, so I just scanned for a black car. A minute later, a car rolled up to me; the driver honked nervously and leaned out the window.

  "Did you call a taxi? Make it quick!" he shouted.

  I got into the back seat. The driver turned out to be a strange hybrid: the facial features of a dwarf, but his eyes were vertical slits, like a demon's. He grumbled under his breath the whole way, while I just watched the city. Billboards for the Exterminator Corps, store signs, crowds of people with pointed ears or horns flew past. They all seemed... tiny to me. And very fragile.

  "We're here," the driver grumbled. "Get out."

  I got out, and the phone immediately beeped.

  "Your rating: 1.0. Driver's comment: Weird kid, silent as a corpse."

  "What the..." I frowned. "One out of five? Is he serious?"

  I looked up. A high-rise. My new home. Tenth floor.

  I entered the lobby. Corridors, elevators... the elevator was under repair. Stairs?

  'Too lazy to climb,' the thought flashed. 'I'll just...'

  A picture formed in my head on its own: I am standing up there, at my door. The space before my eyes began to shimmer, as if from heat. I was ready to take that step through reality...

  BZZZZT!

  The bracelet on my wrist exploded with blinding pain. A massive electric shock shot through my arm, and something instantly injected an ice-cold liquid into my neck.

  "Ah..." I wheezed, falling to my knees.

  The walls of the corridor blurred. Pills, an injection from the chip, shock... My eyelids became as heavy as lead.

  I didn't make it. The world went dark before I touched the floor. The last thing I heard was the mechanical whisper of the bracelet: "Attempted unauthorized displacement neutralized. Stabilizing bio-background..."

  I fell asleep.