Reset: Reborn for Vengeance

Chapter 5: The Grim Reaper

John Percy opened his eyes gasping for air. His gasp was too strong that he arched his body simultaneously. Then, he squinted. Series of bright lights beamed at his face. He could feel the heat coming from them, radiating to him. Then, he heard an inaudible sound. It was like being drowned. Slowly, he could hear it clearly as seconds passed by. There were several voices and other sounds that sounded like death.

He could see the source of the light. There was a large group of white lights incubating his fragile body. It was right over him. He was panting but still weak, he slowly got a hold of that sound.

It was a beeping sound. It was too familiar not to even recognize. It was his vital monitor.

Gradually, his senses became normally stable. He could feel several itching pains in his body. But whenever he wanted to move his hands to scratch them, they wouldn't move.

What's happening? Why couldn't he move his hands? He also tried to curl his toes or move his legs, but still to no avail. It was like some parts of his body weren't there.

He started trembling. Grunting and in tears.

No. This couldn't be happening.

He kept on wriggling but the only thing he could move was his head. Tossing and turning even though he felt like his head was going to crack any second.

He slowly opened his eyes and gradually observed his surroundings.

So, he is in this cryptic facility. All white. He could tell by how the pieces of equipment around him were arranged. This must be their operating room. It made him picture the entire place. He was lying on the operation table.

The difference was the ambiance. It wasn't like OB's facilities. This was somewhere else. Some kind of a lab.

But, how did he even get here?

He tried recalling what had happened. Then, several flashes of memories came surging in him.

It was too quick that he could only see a glimpse of his past. He could himself kneeling in sweat and tears begging for his life. He remembered in a distance two people making love while he was choked to death.

He gasped at that memory.

He remembered it now! He... Was he already dead?

*****

John Percy woke up again from a deep slumber. It felt like he was waking up from a dream. The only difference was he could now move his hands and legs.

He could even bend until he sat down on the bed. He was still catching his breath. He could feel a fitted sheet of cloth covering his body. He lowered his head and saw that he was wearing a silver dry-fit long sleeve up until his legs.

"W-where am I?"

Suddenly, he heard a few tick tacking of shoes. He turned in that direction and saw a figure dressed in black. It was a she. A woman preferably in her 30s. Her beauty was exceptional. At first glance, John Percy could tell that she was beautiful but what intimidated him was her aura. She was strong-willed and confident.

She is a brunette and tall woman with wavy long hair neatly ponytailed behind her voluptuous body. Her leather dress hugged her body tight. Her boobs were almost going to bless his eyes but he suddenly looked away when he realized what he was doing. He was literally scanning her whole body!

The woman stopped walking in front of him. "Are you ready to get your revenge?"

"W-what?"

"I guess you're still a bit confused. You are here in this place because you are already dead," she suddenly informed him without even batting an eyelash. She was emotionless like she never did once feel pity for someone.

"I-I'm dead?"

"In a sense, yes. But only people from the outside thought so."

"W-wait. Who are you? And what is this place? Why am I here?" He had forgotten to ask that question because he was too preoccupied with the fact that he was already dead.

"My name is Hyalou. I am a grim reaper. This place is one of the rooms inside your brain. We are inside your brain as we speak."

"Wait. What?" How could that be possible? How could he travel inside his own brain? This is ridiculous! This must be a dream.

"You may think this isn't real, but none of these would deny the fact." She, then, swipes something in the air.

Suddenly, a series of events that happened in his life came playing on that screen in mid-air.

"This was your life, John Percy..." Hyalou started. "This is how you met the very people who made you suffer."

The screen showed him his cruel life. It showed how I met his wife. Clarisse.

Suddenly, a surge of roller coaster emotions came in. His chest hurt a lot until he reached the pinnacle of it. The slide was now showing him the reason for his death.

After that, Hyalou swiped to the left and the screen disappeared. She, then, looked at him with her steadfast, emotionless state. "This was your life. Everything was recorded inside your brain."

"B-but, how? How did you know all of these? Did you stalk me or was this some kind of joke?"

"Apparently, none of these is a joke. You are inside a simulation, John Percy. You are inside the nanotechnology game called 'Reset'. We are inside your cerebral function room as one of the first introductions to this game." Her words only tripled his headache and he momentarily massaged his temples to soothe it.

"Let me ask you again, John Percy..." she began speaking again. "Do you want revenge?"

He looked at her, stunned.

"Do you want to avenge your sudden death?"

He gulped at her offer. Before he knew it, he was already nodding his head at her, fists curled into a ball. "I want to kill them all. All those responsible for my death!"

For the first time, he saw Hyalou smirking faintly. She, then, stretched her arm to him and eyed him in an encouraging gesture. "Let's play a game..."

*****

"Welcome to the world of revenge!" she exclaimed. "This game is called 'Reset'. It is a time-traveling simulation game that helps an individual to go back in time and change his destiny only created by his mind. The goal is only one thing: to get revenge.

"May I remind you of two things reality and simulation have? First, in reality, you are badly injured and currently in a bad state. That means you are unable to take action of real revenge. The reason why you are moving is that you are actively moving in your subconscious mind. Once you have recovered, we'll get to the bottom of the 2nd plan for your revenge. Second, the simulation is not real. Everything you encounter here isn't happening in real life, but we may use your real and accurate memories to give you sound choices that you might use to change the fate of your life in reality.

"Caution: playing this game doesn't mean you may also change everything that has already occurred in real life but when the time comes you can refer to your decisions here. Lastly, never die inside the game, or else you'll lose not only the game but your life in reality..." she stated her long instructions.

John Percy looked at her in awe. He was struck by shock and fascination.

Her offer was so tempting.

He looked down and cleared his throat. "I want proof," he suddenly uttered.

She arched her eyebrow at him. "Proof?"

"Proof that I am really in a bad state. How can I know if you're telling me the truth?"

She smirked at him and nodded. "Hmm... clever. I was expecting you to ask that..." With that, she swiped her hand in mid-air once more.

There, she showed him another slideshow of events.

He hung his mouth open in disbelief. He blinked a couple of times. "T-that's me?"

There, he saw his own image, full of bandages on his head. His face was swollen with bruises. His teeth were having gaps. His gums bled. His right arm was covered with gauze and a supporter. The other arm was cemented due to a severe dislocation that nearly made the doctors decide to completely amputate him. His legs were also cemented and rested on a higher platform at the end of the hospital bed.

"Yes, that is you, John Percy. That's the face of a defeated surgeon. You let your in-laws defeat you in a way you knew you could have won. This is the real you. Weak, vulnerable, sick, and impaired with humility for the wrong people..." Hyalou stated. She swiped away the images again and faced him.

"D-did they really intend to kill me? Did they really do that to me?" Tears started to fall from his eyes. It pained him to see himself in this state. How could they do this to him?!

After some internalization, he finally looked at Hyalou and nodded full of determination. Hyalou offered her hand and he took it to shake hands with her.

"Let's get it down to business..."

"Good decision, Mr. Morgan. Welcome aboard!"

*****

"Morgan? Morgan! John Percy Morgan!" the voice shouted.

He gasped and opened his eyes. Then, all of the people around him laughed.

He widened my eyes when he suddenly recognized their faces. They all looked familiar. They wore the uniform of his high school. When he looked at the center, he widened his eyes in shock.

"P-Professor Tyrell?" he asked, still in shock.

How the hell this happened? How could he be in front of Professor Tyrell when he already passed away 2 years ago? John Percy was the attending surgeon at that time the professor had an operation on his head. He was his high school teacher at Lawrence High.

He couldn't believe it! His Math Professor was standing right next to him.

He was looking at him in annoyance. His large tummy was even bouncing as he walked in front of him. "Oh, yeah. Damn right, I am!" he answered.

The class went on with their wild laughter. They really enjoyed bullying him. It wasn't the first time. He was actually used to all the bullying, that's why he didn't mind at all.

"You're so grand about being a geek that you easily sleep inside my class, huh? Morgan, you answer the equation on the board!" he arrogantly asked me.

The whole class was still filled with laughter.

It was a Business Math equation. He remembered this scene. It was the Professor's first time discussing it with all of them.

He walked to the front and solved the equation himself.

The whole class went into silence as they looked at how he wrote the answer on the board. He already knew the answer inside his head but he needed to show them his solution.

The whole class was stunned as soon as he finished writing. He put down the chalk stick and turned to face Prof. Tyrell.

"Hmm... Impressive! That answer is correct!" Prof. Tyrell exclaimed with his half-amused and half-disappointed face.

Loud gasps came. All of his classmates were in shock.

"Sir, I need to go to the bathroom."

"You may go..."

After that, he excused himself from the class and got to the men's restroom.

He hurried to the large mirror and started to scan his whole face. He was shocked to see his reflection.

"Holy fucking cow! I'm fucking young again!