I'm not sure quite how old I was. I'm sure he was aware. I'm sure there was a very extensive plan made that accounted for every milestone of my development, but I never celebrated my birthday as long as I was in that room. In any case, I was in early adolescence when I remember waking up naked on a cold metal table, unable to move.
The pain was incredible. Even considering... everything else... I still remember the procedure vividly. Especially the moment the machines attached the rings to my optic nerves. Watching those machines work directly on my eyes was, frankly, the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced, even to this day.
I'd later learn that this was called Anesthesia Awareness. Of course, Kane didn't care. Pixa was much more comforting, even if it was just to explain the facts about what happened. Maybe I was just much more attached to her because she was then represented in a fully interactive 3D form from that point on.
It had been years by that point that I had felt the touch of another human. Well, I guess she wasn't human, exactly, but she certainly felt real during combat training. I was especially partial to grappling, and I got pretty good at it too.
As expected, it took a week or so for it to heal, but I got used to it pretty quickly. It was probably only a few weeks after the procedure that I finally saw him again. The man who put me there.
Kane.
I hadn't seen his image in years, since I was first taken. He decided that this was the point that he would introduce himself and explain why I was there, but not before I tried to attack him.
As soon as I had awoken on that day, he was standing by my bedside. I shot up and tried to grab the man's neck only to pass directly through him and onto the floor. It took me a couple more tries before I realized that he was simply a digital representation. His face was stuck in a perpetual scowl, but I got the sense that he was impressed with my initiative. Once I finally stopped attacking, he began to explain himself.
He introduced himself as Kane Berko, one of the founders of the Voidwalker Syndicate, and that I was there as a prospective member.
