Vira dreamt of his mother.
Her lustrous and beautiful onyx hair, the way her smile didn't just brighten the room but seemed to claim it, like light recognizing its rightful home.
And of course — Vira sitting right by her, looking in adoration. His own features not falling far from his mother's.
"What're you looking at, handsome?"
His mother spoke with love and warmth. The kind of feeling that filled his chest with a sensation of safety and happiness.
Vira giggled and replied:
"You mom! You're so pretty, I wanna look like you one day!"
His mother smiled softly and flicked his forehead.
"You're a boy silly, you'll have your own handsome face. You already have my hair color — and when you get older you'll get all muscular."
She always teased Vira this way whenever he commented on her beauty, which was very uncommon to have in The Remnants. They both were very pale and frail, with their hair seeming to absorb all the color from their bodies.
Vira wished this moment would stretch into eternity. Yet his silent hopes went ignored — prayers were never answered in this world, unless they were a fragmented.
His eyes locked onto hers.
"Mom?"
She tucked a strand of his silk-soft raven hair behind his ear.
"Yes honey, what is it?"
Vira leaned his face into her fingers' embrace, and took a deep breath.
"Will we be okay? Out here... I mean?"
Things hadn't been the same ever since they were cast out of the city due to his mother's sickness: It had been one month in The Remnants and they were barely scraping by.
Her smile slowly vanished and she softly sighed.
"I know we will. You just have to start the Singularity Priming Process."
Vira looked at her in utter confusion — her face seemed apathetic as if what she said made sense.
"What does that even mean — ?"
And just like that she was gone, the world dissolved around him, until there was only pure darkness. Within The Void, Vira was nothing but a flickering thought. He desperately tried to will himself to reach out — to gasp, but he had no lungs to fill and no hands to catch himself.
He was just an echo floating in the abyss.
Then, the whispers bled in — staticky yet, somehow human.
"Start the Singularity Priming Process damnit!"
"But sir! We ca-"
The voices pulsed through Vira's consciousness like an electric shock, but they were quickly overlayed by a second sound. It was wet, a low vibration that didn't hit his ears — but his soul. It was the sound of something ancient, and hungry.
"...You're mine..."
The words felt like a train running into his non-existent chest, a greed so thick it began to swallow his thoughts. But before the dark could claim the rest of his mind, The Void fractured.
Vira was propelled back into reality, the abrupt weight of his skin and body almost seeming new compared to where his mind had just been. His eyes banged with ache, adjusting to his surroundings.
He found himself hung suspended, the heavy and skin piercing bite of the chains being the only thing holding his body above the white tiled floor.
'Where... Where the hell am I?'
High above, near the ceiling a vaulted control panel came into view. It was sleek and coated in some kind of dark metal that radiated black particles. Through its reinforced glass, the silhouettes of scientists scurried back and forth, their hands frantically dancing over the glowing consoles. A few figures stood perfectly still at the edge, staring dead at Vira. Their cold gazes washed over him with disdain, watching him like a specimen under a microscope.
Vira's heart rate sped up as he struggled to find his voice, he urgently looked at the panel and screamed:
"H-Hey! What's going on... Where am I?"
One of the men at the edge of the panel walked to a different section of the glass, while the other men sneered at Vira after he spoke.
The man on the other side of the glass had dark skin, and wore a suit with a black tie; he seemed like a calm and reasonable person. He tapped on the screen and instantly, voices spread through the room. They were clear yet filled with anxiety. The man leaned towards the mic, his voice cutting through the noise.
"Hello there, Vira. I know, I know — the chains are a bit much, aren't they? Nonetheless do try to stay still. I've invested far too much of my time into this little project to have you spoiling it by dying a little early."
He leaned closer to the glass, his reflection veiling his dark skin briefly.
"Most subjects... Well they tend to figuratively 'pop' anytime we do this process, but you..."
The man's face lit up in a maniacal grin as he continued:
"You're special. You're a gold mine, and I just so happen to be the man that stumbled into the cave to harvest its treasures."
The more the man spoke, the more Vira was brought to the depths of despair; it felt like it was just yesterday that he was laughing and giggling with his mother. Now he had no idea where her body even was.
"Aw… Don't look so down. Rejoice, Vira! You're doing us a monumental favor. After all, if it weren't for you, we'd still be stuck harvesting the messy little singularities from the Nullborns."
That's when Vira noticed it.
He looked down in sheer horror as a tubular machine was directed straight to his abdomen. At the peak of the machine showed a jagged-edged blade that seemed to leak the same particles as on the control panel; inky obsidian orbs that circled in a chaotic orbit.
Tears welled in Vira's eyes, he was only sixteen; why was all of this happening?
"Are we ready to proceed, Crane?"
The man's eyes shifted onto the scientist sitting at a distance across from him.
"Y- Yes sir! We're ready to begin the harvest..."
The scientist typed a few more commands on the screen as it lit up, and a cold automated voice of a woman echoed through the containment unit.
"Initiating the Singularity Priming Process. Please hold as the machine readies itself to start."
The man looked back at Vira, that same malicious grin appeared on his face once more.
"You will do great things for me. I can feel it in my bones!"
The machine began to whir as the cables and sockets attached to it radiated a vicious, abyssal glow. Vira's expression curdled in pure dread; the sight paralyzed him. He could only beg for his life.
"No. No. No, no, no... Please don't do this!"
The man started laughing uncontrollably.
"A Nullborn begging for their life? In all my years, I've never seen a more ludicrous display!"
The man slammed his hand against the glass, amusement no longer displayed on his face. It was replaced with pure fury and resentment.
"Why should I hold compassion in my body for the likes of you, when your kind slaughtered my people for millennia? If it were my choice, I'd have your body bisected and used to fuel our equipment! This is the only mercy you shall receive from me."
And not a moment later, the machine plunged into Vira's midsection. Before he could even process the impact, his sense of reality shattered. No scream was able to come out of his lungs from the insufferable agony and torment coursing through his soul. It felt like something was being drained from his very being.