(Alternate title: My cradle was a spoiler and now I'm the multiverse's cliffhanger.)
Darkness.Silence.Peace.
...And then:
BEEEEEEEEEEEP—
—"Already?" I croaked.My voice sounded like I'd smoked a galaxy of sandpaper during a heatwave on Mars.
Spoiler: it was a heart monitor.Spoiler #2: I was hooked up to it.Spoiler #3: I was back.
I opened my eyes like someone trying to reboot a pirated game from 2007.Everything was white, sterile, and had that "corporate dystopia that doesn't allow feedback" aesthetic.
Smooth walls.Floating screens.And a robotic nurse with proportions clearly sponsored by early 2000s video game logic.
She scanned me like she was trying to decide if I was meat, malware, or a potential biological hazard.
—"Renji Kurogane," she said in the tone of an uninspired GPS.—"You are awake."
—"Perfect. And here I was hoping this was just a new Black Mirror trailer."
Everything hurt.My soul, my brain, my back, and my dignity.The last thing I remembered was…
—"I passed out because of a rake, didn't I?"
Silence.Even the robot looked away.Confirmed: that was my season finale.
Date: 2035Time in coma: 19 yearsPhysical state: surprisingly wrinkle-freeMental state: reheated, shattered, and served with a side of cosmic irony
My stasis capsule looked like a premium designer fridge.Inside: me.Fresh. Smooth.No beard.No memory.And a tattoo that burned like it had something to say on social media.
A screen flickered on in front of me:
RENJI KUROGANE – SEAL ACTIVEStatus: UnstableAvoid emotional contact
Perfect. I'm a walking emotional bomb.Again.
—"Where am I?" I asked.A door slid open with the dramatic timing of a stage reveal.
A man walked in.White coat.Shiny glasses.Aura of "I've been watching you sleep, but I swear it's scientific."
—"Renji! My god, you're conscious!"—"And you're the new chapter in my anxiety. Who the hell are you?"
—"I'm Dr. Khaled. I've been overseeing your capsule since you were transferred to the Institute of Erosion."
—"Erosion? So now my existence is a geological process?"
—"It's an international foundation dedicated to the study of physical, cognitive, and symbolic anomalies."
—"And what does that have to do with me?"
The doctor smiled like someone about to hand you a box…that contains another box…with a curse inside.
He activated a screen.And there I was.
Videos.Photos.Crowds.A cult.People with eye tattoos.And a YouTube channel called Renjiverse,debating whether I was a god, a demon…or the millennial reboot of Jesus Christ.
—"What the hell is this?"
—"History didn't forget you, Renji.History turned you into myth."
Boom.Existential crisis: legendary level.
—"Let me guess… I'm the new messiah?"—"Worse."
"You're the variable.The glitch.The logic hole.The guy who triggered a global symbolic pattern…while in a coma."
—"Great. I did absolutely nothing and still managed to break the world.Efficiency, Renji. Ten out of ten."
I tried to get up.Mistake.My body trembled like a corrupted PDF.The Eye on my chest started glowing.And glowing.Level: boss fight alert without auto-save.
Dr. Khaled stepped back.—"What's happening?"—"The seal… it's reacting to reality.And reality…isn't the same anymore."
Alarms.Red lights.Codes.Doors locking.And on the screen:
SENKUACTIVATION DETECTED
—"What the hell does that mean?"
—"It means…you weren't the only one who woke up."
The ground shook.A crack spread across the ceiling.The window glass fractured.As if the world remembered something it had tried to forget.
And the tattooBURNEDas if it was whispering
"Welcome back, idiot."
And there I was.Waking up in a world that turned me into a legend,without knowing the worst part…hadn't even started.