Katarina Hylphine

As Katarina had the headset getting tightly strapped onto the mass of electrodes on her head, she started to wonder how she had ended up in this situation as her life's memories started to flash through her eyes.

Being left at the steps of the district orphanage when she was but a few months old, Katarina had been branded as 'unwanted' from an extremely young age. Nobody had liked her, leading to a daily lifestyle of bullying. Although they lived in fine conditions, Katarina remembered her childhood as being mostly unpleasant.

But when she started to grow up, it was clear that she was extremely smart. Able to solve complex mathematical problems that puzzled even adults at the tender age of 13 she had received many scholarships allowing her to attend one of the best schools in the country. Even better, her looks were quite good as well.

Looking forward to a good life after graduating, she studied hard, leading her to become one of the most recognised in her year.

But just when Katarina though life was progressing smoothly, disaster struck. And it came in the form of the son of a minister. After being asked out by him, Katarina had rejected him, carrying on with her life while dismissing that incident as something not worthy of her attention.

Unknown to her however, that incident where she had said only one word, proved to be one of the biggest mistakes of her life. Such an incident would have gone down as nothing if it were a normal person, but it wasn't. The person in question was the power-hungry son of a minister who had grown accustomed to having everything he wanted. Enraged that he himself had been rejected, he started to ruin Katarina's life.

She had been kicked out of her flat, fired by the owner of the store where she worked for a part-time job and expelled by the school. Not wanting to return to the orphanage where she had obtained such unpleasant memories she started to live on the streets, scavenging for food wherever possible.

Homeless and hungry, she had started to glimpse the horrible side of humanity while living in the worst conditions unimaginable for several months. Until finally, Katarina's saving grace came.

She was taken in by a scientific company where she was offered food and a bed for just a few tests on her per week. Dying on the streets or living as a human should at the expense of a few tests. Needless to say, the choice had been easy to make.

However, everything had turned upside-down. She had been locked inside a white room strapped onto an operating chair with electrodes plastered to nearly every nerve on her body.

'Dammit! I should've checked if these scientists were legit! But what are they speaking about outside?' Katarina thought to herself as she tried to move forward to listen.

"What do you mean that Subject 104 is useless! She has the perfect genetic structure for the testing of the new gene serum. That's why we got her, right?"

"That's what I thought sir, but it seems that her immune system is close to breaking down. I fear that she might only have the ability to use the headset with the 5cc Gene Serum once before she dies."

"Ok, just get on with it. Subject 105 won't be hard to find, so we don't need her for long anyway."

Katarina quickly looked down on the label just in front of her left chest and read it.

'1..0..4, sh*t! They're actually trying to kill me,' Katarina cursed in her mind.

The scientist came in through the door carrying a headset that looked like a standard motorcycle helmet. The only differences were the circuitry shining through the visor and the mass of electrode connectors inside the headset.

"Ok Katarina, this will be your first testing this week, just sleep and the machine will do the rest."

Katarina frantically started pleading, "No sir, I don't feel like doing it today, please sir-"

However, the desperate pleas of Katarina had no effect on the stone-faced scientist as he attached the device onto the electrodes on her head.

After only a few seconds Katarina could feel the drowsiness seeping in deep inside her bones. However it was immediately being rivalled by the pain that felt like being dipped in a lake of boiling sulphur. Knowing that she was going to die, Katarina thought her last words.

"What a sh*tty life."

As she faded away from reality, she didn't hear the mechanical voice ringing out in her mind.

[*Ding! Ding!*

[*System Booting up and bonding with Host*]

[*Host: Katarina Hylphine has fulfilled all conditions for Phase 1: Reincarnation.*]

[*Commencing Phase 1*]

The waves of pain soon woke Katarina up from her slumber and she finally opened her eyes.

"Ugh, where the hell am I, I swear I died from the f*cking gene serum."

Katarina paused as she observed her surroundings. She seemed to be inside some sort of black circular room.

"Am I in heaven or hell?" Katarina muttered under her breath.

[*System assures Host that it is neither*]

"Oh thanks, wait, WHAT!!!"