1 Prologue

  "I wonder where she disappeared to" Drake says to himself as he walks down the road, away from his house. "Zizi's been gone for a couple days now... I hope she's not hung up about that court trial with her mother. Maybe she just locked herself in her room again, trying to cope or something...".

  Drake stops walking for a moment and takes some headphones out of his pocket. He then plugs one end into his phone and puts the earbuds in his ears as he proceeds to start playing music at a very loud volume. "Maybe I'll drop by" Drake thinks to himself as the music slowly grows louder. "Check in on her and make sure she's at least feeding herself".

  As Drake walks down the road, matching his footsteps to the beat of the music playing through his headphones, he doesn't notice a panic beginning to stir behind him on the road. People were quickly clearing the road, as a man was speeding away from the police in his car. As Drake looks to his left, across the road on the sidewalk opposite of him, he can see a man rigorously waving his arms at Drake, trying to get his attention. Drake takes his headphones out of his ears in confusion. That's when he heard it. The loud engine buzzing of a car right behind him, just before that car hit some scattered debris from a grocery stand on the side of this neighborhood road. The car ramped off of the debris, and turned sideways, slamming Drake right down his spine. With the car crashing into him, most of the impact hitting his spine just below his skull, Drake's vision immediately went black.

  Slowly, Drake opens his eyes in a brightly lit white room. There were few people gathered around him, however, his vision was too blurry to be able to depict their faces. His eyes closed as he could hear one of them shouting "We're losing him again!". The rest of the conversation sounded blurry as Drake passed out again.

  Drake woke up again, with fewer people near him. This time, his vision wasn't very blurry, and he could see their faces. He was in a hospital room, laying in a bed. There was what looked like a male nurse and a normal woman standing next to his bed. As Drake's eyes opened all the way, the woman began to cry. "You're alright!" she cries softly. "I thought I lost my baby!".

  "Ma'am" the nurse says as he rests a hand on her shoulder, "you may not want to get your hopes up too high. He may very well be in a vegetative state after that accident. We haven't been able to observe his cognitive reactions yet, since he's been in a coma until now".

  "Coma?" Drake asks.

  "Well, that's good news" the nurse says as he leans over Drake and shines a flashlight in his eyes. Drake instinctively raises his hands over his eyes to shield himself from the light. "How well can you hear me?" The nurse asks.

  "Good... I guess?" Drake replies.

  "Good" the nurse says as he holds up three fingers. "How many fingers am I holding up?".

  "Three" Drake says.

  "Great" the nurse says as he leans back up to stand upright. "We'll run diagnostics as soon as the doctor arrives. For now, you can have a word. You can remain in this room, that much is up to you, Ms. Goldermann".

  "T-thank you" the woman says as she wipes away tears. "Drake, are you feeling alright? No pain? No lightheadedness?".

  "... Who?" Drake asks.

  The nurse suddenly freezes as he was walking away. The nurse comes walking back up to the bedside as the woman asks "What... do you mean who?".

  "Who is Drake?" Drake asks.

  "Excuse me" the nurse says as he leans back over Drake. "Do you have any memory of the accident?".

  "What accident?" Drake asks.

  The nurse sighs and whispers "This isn't good". The nurse stands back up and says "Can you recall what you were doing before the accident?".

  "What accident!?" Drake asks again as he starts to panic.

  "Drake..." the woman says as she begins to cry. "Can you not... remember anything?".

  "I... I don't think I can" Drake says. "W-who are you again?".

  The woman begins crying again as the nurse says "Your name is Drake Goldermann. This is your mother, Mary Goldermann. You were in a car accident. A man was running from the police at the time, and you just so happen to be in the path of their escape. I'll have the doctor run diagnostics, but it appears the accident you had has inflicted you with amnesia. How much can you remember?".

  "I'm... not sure" Drake says. "I don't even... know who I am".

  "My baby!" Drake's mother starts to cry.

  "It was a miracle that you even survived" the nurse says. "Let me grab the doctor and he'll explain the situation to you better than I can".

  A few minute later, a doctor came in and ran all sorts of diagnostics on Drake. They drew his blood and even had him go through a C.A.T. scan. Eventually, when Drake was sitting up on his bed, the doctor pulls out X-Ray photos of his entire skeletal structure and posts them on a lit up wall. "So here's the best explanation I can give you" the doctor says. "Your body has absolutely zero sustained damage from such a deadly accident. You survived the impossible, and made a full physical recovery. However, this is no miracle. You, Drake Goldermann, are a Respawn user".

  "A Respawn user?" Drake asks.

  "Ah, yes" the doctor replies. "You likely wouldn't remember anything about that. You see, Respawn users are people who are born with an ability that scientists are still baffled by to this day. A Respawn user is able to recover through any deadly condition at least once. They are mostly used in our militaries. They're hard to detect, because they can only recover from something that would've otherwise killed them. As strange as it is, Respawn users don't have any supernatural abilities to heal anything. However, they can recover from death. The reason why is still beyond explanation. All previously sustained damage is still shown, such as scars you've had before hand. However, anything related to the circumstances of what would've caused your death is fully healed".

  "So... it's like-" Drake says slowly as he tried to comprehend this.

  "It's like respawning in a game, I guess would be one way to describe it" the doctor says. "However, although your physical condition is healed, your mental condition has not. Although memories can not be healed, it's theorized that the brain can store memories in a spot of the brain that wasn't damaged. It is theoretically possible for you to recover your memories...". The doctor then walks away from the X-Ray photos and stands next to Drake as he places one hand gently on Mary's shoulder. "However, I don't want to get either of your hopes up for no reason. It is not definite that he will ever recover his memories. I want you to start making plans for that, Ms. Goldermann. He may never remember who he was".

  "No!" Mary yells as she holds onto Drake and cries. "I can't believe this happened to my baby!".

  The doctor stands silently for a couple minutes. Eventually, he begins to walk away as he gently says "I'll give you some time".