My name is Vyuzka.
I'm just an ordinary boy who lives in an ordinary world… or at least, that's what I let everyone believe.
Every day follows the same script. Wake up. Go to school. Pretend I'm paying attention. Come home. Sleep. Repeat.
The people around me seem content with it—laughing over meaningless gossip, worrying about exams like their lives depend on it, chasing approval as if that'll give their lives some kind of purpose.
But not me.
I watch them from the sidelines. Quiet. Detached. Hidden behind a mask of apathy I've worn so long it almost feels real.
Almost.
Because deep inside, I crave something else. Something… more.
Adventure. Danger. A world that forces me to be real. To stop pretending.
But this world? It's dull. Predictable. A cage made of comfort.
---
The classroom buzzed faintly with fluorescent lights and the monotone droning of the science teacher.
I sat by the window, staring blankly outside. The clouds looked like they were trying to take shape—stretching and shifting, like something beneath the sky was stirring.
"…and when electrons move through a conductor—Vyuzka, are you listening?"
I didn't even turn my head. The teacher sighed and moved on.
I wasn't trying to be rude. I just didn't care. What were electrons going to do for me, really?
That's when it happened.
Everything stopped.
The lights didn't flicker. The teacher didn't pause. The air didn't change.
But something… shifted.
Then, without warning, a voice rang out—not from the speaker system, not from outside, not from within.
It was everywhere.
And it wasn't human.
[ "Attention, humans."]
[ "The Trials of Existence shall now commence. Your world has been selected for evaluation and entertainment."]
["Rejoice. You have been chosen as Candidates."]
A chill rolled through the room. Pens dropped. Mouths froze mid-sentence. No one moved. No one could.
The voice was inside our heads, but it didn't sound like a thought. It felt like an invader—a presence too vast to comprehend.
Then, one by one, something appeared in front of each student.
A translucent blue screen.
A window.
And mine… was different.
---