Imposter System

Alexandria placed the pill in her mouth and downed the glass of water that was placed previously. All of this were merely theatrics, once the capsule dissolved the parasite immediately went to work. However, something unexpected happened just as she was connecting to their mental network.

Alexis and Alexandria went unconscious simultaneously. Matt could feel a powerful mental energy expanding from Alexandria's body. Before he could make any preparations, he was pulled into the telepathic link through Alexis. Due to his mental resistance, he didn't immediately fall unconscious.

His mind was being attacked, but he couldn't determine the source. The attack was constant and very focused. It targeted a specific part of Matt's mind. After going through barrier after barrier, the attack finally reached its target. However, the result was not what he expected. As he held onto his consciousness with the last bits of his mental energy, he read a notification pop up.

[Missing data recovered… Automatic update commencing… 1%... 2%...]

Matt woke up in a fright. The hairs on his arms, legs, and back of his neck stood up and a shudder went down his spine. He blinked away the tiredness and looked around his dilapidated room. He was confused and disoriented for a few moments when he heard some commotion outside. The sound of a key sliding into its lock was heard and the familiar sliding and clicking sound of a door being unlocked knocked Matt out of his stupor.

A tall man with short, rough hair walked in. He wore a jersey and basketball shorts, showing off his sculpted muscles. It was clear that he had just exercised because his ebony skin was glistening with sweat. Matt's jumbled thoughts quickly oriented themselves.

"Treyvon, what time is it." Matt called out.

"Bro, you alright? Haha, you were fucking crazy last night. I didn't think a sheltered white boy could party like that." He laughed while pulling his jersey off and throwing it into a simple wicker basket. Matt held his pounding head, as if Treyvon's words reminded him of the pain. He grabbed his phone from the nightstand. When he pressed the button on the side to turn it on, it was completely flat. A memory rushed into his head, and he cursed.

"Dammit, Trey, I left my charger at the frat house, where's yours?"

"Dude, I told you not to bring it. It's plugged in under my bed." He had already stripped down to his underwear and stepped into the bathroom. Matt crawled under his bed and plugged in his phone. After waiting a moment, he turned it on. As soon as the phone finished loading, several messages popped up, which he decided to ignore. Seeing that there were only thirty minutes before class started, Matt groaned and dragged himself over to his laptop.

On the screen was the "Defeat" message and the post-game score screen. After drinking heavily, he somehow made it back home. Instead of going to bed, he decided to load up a game and play it. He must have played badly for his score to be this low. Matt shook his head and prepared for a quick shower.

When he walked over to his dresser and opened the door, all he could see was a blank space. It wasn't empty, it was simply blank. As if it didn't exist at all. Matt blinked a few times, and his clothes appeared. He thought it was just a hallucination from the headache and ignored it.

Treyvon stepped out dressed in slacks and a polo. "I'm done, I'll head out first. See you in class." He waved his hand behind him as he stepped out. Matt quickly grabbed his clothes and ran into the bathroom. He stripped and began showering. He looked down at the scars over his body.

A memory of being in the hospital and having to undergo surgery surfaced while the steady water sprayed over his body and the acrylic wall lining the walls. The steady sound calmed him and made his headache go away. He closed his eyes to appreciate the moment of therapeutic solitude.

After showering, he dressed and made his way toward class. The familiar stairs down to the commons which exited out into the quad filled Matt with a strange sense of nostalgia. He walked along the sidewalk and stared at the fresh grass in the morning sunlight. A singular tree stood in the middle of the quad and a strange feeling overtook him.

Matt walked over to the tree and sat down underneath it. He leaned back and took a deep breath. He didn't expect to doze off slightly, but he began to hear a voice calling to him.

"Wake up, wake up, aren't you going to wake up?" A feminine voice broke through his semi-unconscious state, and he jerked his head to the side. A pretty girl wearing a thick cotton sweater and black jeans was crouched next to him.

"Hurry up, class is starting in a few minutes." She said rolling her eyes and walked away. Matt hadn't recognized her at first, but when the groggy feeling of having just been asleep passed her shot up and jogged to catch up to her.

"Rene, wait up!" Just the short jog had exhausted him. The wind was blowing quite strongly so he wasn't sure she heard him.

"When are you going to wake up, Matthew?" Her voice said carried along the wind.

"What do you mean, I'm already awake." He replied in confusion. She turned around, seemingly only just hearing him.

"Hmm? What did you say? Quit messing around, Amy just texted me, there's going to be a quiz, and anyone late automatically fails it!" She said, grabbing his wrist and pulling him forward. They ran up to the double doors and Rene pulled one open.

The inside of the building was completely blank.

Matt was about to stop her from stepping forward, but it was too late. The moment Rene entered the threshold, her body scattered into billions of ash-like pieces. Matt stood at the entrance and blinked, before everything suddenly appeared, and Rene stood there holding his wrist still. It was only a split-second occurrence, but he was certain that it happened that time.

However, Rene seemed to have not noticed it and continued pulling Matt to the stairs. They quickly ran up and made it to the classroom doors on the second floor. However, he could already feel something was off. As soon as the door was opened, the room was a large white space. There was a single path on the ground that led to three seats floating in the blank space. Treyvon was seated in the middle, and Rene led Matt to the other seats.

Behind him, the ground fell apart until only the desk, chairs, Treyvon, and Rene were left. Matt looked around and back toward the two friends. They seemed unperturbed by the situation and began writing on a sheet of paper.

"Guys, I think I might need to go to the hospital…" Matt started to get scared, thinking he was having a stroke or something.

"Dude, its just a quiz, chill. Look, the professor isn't even paying attention." As Treyvon stuck his hand forward, it began to vaporize into dust. Soon, it was only Matt and Rene left. The desks started to fade out of existence, and then the chairs. It was just the two of them floating in nothingness. She turned to him and smiled, before she too began to fade away. When Matt turned to look forward again, a laptop floated in front of him. On the screen was the game he had played. He reached out and clicked the "Join Game" button at the bottom and he entered a lobby by himself.

The command-line interface opened automatically, and various lines of code began to appear. They moved too quickly for Matt to even see what they said, nor would he understand them. Eventually it stopped, with the most recent line.

[Update Complete… Reinitializing.]

The game started with him as the only player. His avatar appeared in the center of the screen; however, something was off about it. It laid on a large bed with two NPCs around it. The avatar suddenly opened its eyes and looked at Matt directly through the screen. It smiled and nodded its head.

Matt reached out to the screen and touched it. Memories rushed into his brain, and he too began to vaporize into dust. The blank space disappeared, and Matt's vision returned to him. He stared at the familiar metal ceiling above him and sighed.

It had been a long time since he last thought about his old life. Seeing his two closest friends in college gave him a strange feeling. He hadn't remembered any details from his old life until now. Matt wondered if he could find them in history and finally confirm whether he was in the future or an alternate reality.

Matt decided to check on that later and opened Alexandria's status.

"That's not what I expected…" He said with an intrigued look.