Wake-Up

This chapter and the next one are translated hastily with the help of a translator. Mainly because I forgot that tomorrow is Monday, and I had planned to advance this story further, but procrastination got the best of me, I'm sorry.

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Something catches my attention in the darkness. A flickering light at the end of a dark path, inviting me to move forward. But wait, wasn't I just in my car a second ago?

As my body moved towards the light, guided by its glow, I couldn't help but feel strange. I didn't know exactly what was happening, but it seemed as if I was getting smaller with each step I took. Maybe this was something natural in this place, or maybe it wasn't.

What I also didn't understand was why someone like me wasn't questioning this strange place. It was as if I already knew it somehow. Although I am a scientist, for some reason, I didn't feel the need to seek answers about where, when, or how I had arrived here. Something beyond my understanding seemed to inhibit my curiosity, but at least it allowed me to think freely.

As my thoughts slowly stagnated, I reached out my hand to reach the light. Suddenly, the light seemed to move away in a fleeting motion, and I noticed how my hand appeared to rejuvenate. Perhaps my entire being was transforming into an earlier version of myself, but my attention was more focused on the light escaping my sight.

I ran at full speed to reach it, but I felt my feet becoming lighter. I couldn't move any faster. Like something lost on the horizon, I could no longer discern the light in the distance, and I was left alone in infinite emptiness.

I turned my head upwards, or at least I thought I did, reflecting on what had just happened. Was I not allowed entry to the afterlife or something of the sort? I was never a selfish person or anything like that. Moreover, I was a pharmaceutical chemist and biologist. Thanks to my work, many people had been saved. I had the world in the palm of my hand and was a kind person... or at least I believe so.

Suddenly, I felt my body starting to disintegrate, as if it were dissipating into nothingness. However, I didn't feel any fear at all. I recognized that sensation as something natural in life, even though I didn't understand why.

When the disintegration reached my head, I closed my eyes with no intention of opening them ever again. But strangely, instead of feeling bad, I experienced a sense of comfort. I felt like I was going to belong to something much larger than myself.

...

Really? Despite having disintegrated, I still see complete darkness, but now I feel comfortable. Am I going to live like this for eternity in limbo? Doesn't sound very hopeful.

As I pondered that, a faint light filtered in, and I realized I wasn't in that strange place anymore. I furrowed my brow, only to realize I could open my eyes. When I looked around, I was astonished by what I saw.

I was in my room, not in the room of my mansion overlooking the sea, but in my room where I had lived since I could remember until I was 19 years old.

Confused, I got up.

My body had no trouble walking, although it was perplexing. I had gotten used to my adult height, but when I looked in the mirror, it was evident that I was 13 years old again.

I was quite short for my age. My black hair was disheveled, but it looked freshly cut. I was wearing my astronaut pajamas, and my brown eyes reflected the characteristic innocence of my 13-year-old self.

I approached the mirror and touched my reflection to verify that I wasn't in a very vivid dream.

As I looked through the mirror, the light streamed in from the window behind me, so I walked closer to admire the view. However, as I approached, I realized that what I saw through the window didn't resemble my memories. It was really confusing.

I used to have a view of the suburbs of San Francisco, but I couldn't find any resemblance. Before I could ask more questions, I heard noises outside my door.

KNOCK

The door swung open violently, revealing a couple. An adult man with black hair, glasses, and green eyes forcefully opened the door. He was wearing striped pajamas, clearly just waking up.

Beside him, a woman with blonde hair, blue eyes, and an equally disheveled appearance as the other person.

"Raymond, are you okay!?" they exclaimed in unison.

"Dad? Mom?" I asked incredulously as I saw them.

Both of them stood stunned upon hearing my words.

"Dad?" the man wondered.

"Mom?" the woman wondered.

They weren't my parents. They were my aunt and uncle, whom I hadn't seen in a long 25 years. They died in a plane crash when I was 18.

I could see their faces immediately change to nervousness after hearing my words. I didn't call them that until I was 18, a few months before they passed away.

They both rushed to embrace me.

"I-I'm sorry, but I'm not him," my uncle said as he hugged me.

"I'm not her," my aunt added.

I guess they think I'm hallucinating or something, but I can't help it. Tears welled up in my eyes as I saw them again.

What is this? Is a 43-year-old man crying so easily?

Damn...

"I was talking about you, Robert and Maria Reilly," I said, stating their names to clarify their identities.

Both of them widened their eyes and hugged me tightly.

"You're going to make me burst..." I said with some difficulty.

If this is a poorly made simulation created by my brain, I must say it's quite realistic in this aspect.

"Oh!" they both realized at the same time.

Taking a moment to compose myself, I decided to speak and ask my aunt and uncle why they had burst into my room like that.

"Why did you come barging into my room like that?"

"Oh, right. Didn't you feel that thud?" my uncle said.

Thud? I didn't understand.

"What do you mean?"

"If you're asking me, then I guess you didn't feel it. Well, it was strange, your aunt..." My uncle seemed to reflect for a moment.

"Your mother and I were thrown out of bed!" he exclaimed.

"Really? That's weird. I didn't feel anything, and when I woke up, I was in my bed completely fine."

"Well, I guess we'll find out more about this tomorrow. We'll let you rest," they both said as they hurriedly left my room.

"Don't take too long to fall back asleep!" I heard my aunt say before closing the door.

All of this was quite bewildering, so I decided to head to a corner of my room where my trusty desktop computer was. Despite not feeling sleepy at that moment and my surroundings not being exactly my home, I felt the need to investigate more about my situation.

I approached the computer and turned it on. Fortunately, I had internet access in my home, so I opened the browser and began searching for information quickly.

I couldn't find the browser preferred by 90% of people, but I decided to set that aside and focus on researching more about my situation.

I found a map page that allowed easy location tracking. It took a while to find my location, but I finally did it. The coordinates read "Jump City." This was confusing, too confusing.

I tried again with other websites, but for some reason, the result was always the same.

Growing frustrated with the results, I decided to search directly for the phrase "Jump City" in the search engine. When the results appeared, I was paralyzed. Jump City turned out to be a real city, with tourism, places to visit, public institutions, and more.

It sounded familiar, but I couldn't remember from what. As I researched what things were in that city, I searched for similar laboratories and companies in that area.

"Microsoft, IBM, Apple, Queen Industries, S.T.A.R Labs, Wayne Industries..." I read aloud.

Everything seemed fine until I processed the last three companies I mentioned. Queen? I didn't recognize that company at all. I had never heard of it in the future. S.T.A.R Labs did sound familiar, but it wasn't part of the real world. And then there was Wayne...

Bruce Wayne, Batman?

In a moment of excitement, I quickly searched for Bruce Wayne. When the information appeared, everything matched the character. Gotham City, parents killed in an alley, the boy becoming a millionaire playboy, and currently on a long business trip. The information indicated he was 19 years old but would turn 20 in April.

Then I searched for Batman on the internet, but I didn't get conclusive results. I did the same with other well-known DC heroes, but the results were the same. I couldn't find relevant information unless I used their real identities and the person was well-known enough to have a page on the internet or something similar to Wikipedia.

I also conducted some other searches. I confirmed that in the past, there had been reports of sightings of people with extraordinary abilities, but they remained sightings, and the government did its best to conceal that information.

At least that's what I assume. There are no modern superheroes, but there are no supervillains either, which is quite reassuring.

To conclude my internet search, I looked up information about what my uncle mentioned. It was something felt worldwide, as if a strange energy had emerged out of nowhere and enveloped the entire planet.

Central City took the brunt of it, where the epicenter occurred, ironically in the center of the city. It seemed to be so strong that it shattered windows and moved objects, but there was no explanation for this event. It was like a pulse of energy or a shockwave.

All of this was giving me a headache, but I could feel something inside me. I closed the browser tabs and turned off the computer.

With internal thoughts, I walked slowly to my bed and sat down. I had some problems to solve. Obviously, this was an alternate DC world where the heroes hadn't revealed themselves to the world yet, and powers were seen as tricks and not something real.

The problem was that I didn't know much about all these things. I read comics in my youth until I was 19 when I found the job of my life and was busy until what I suppose was the day of my death.

My favorite superhero was undoubtedly Batman, but he didn't exist right now. I assume powers exist for various reasons. One of them is an incomplete file about a woman who apparently fought alone in World War II. Most people, if not all, don't believe that story, but I remember there being a heroine with that background.

Anyway, there's no use dwelling on that too much. The main question is, what am I going to do from now on?

If I wanted to, I could become wealthy in just a few months, but is that what I want to do? I mean, obviously, I will do it, but what I enjoyed the most about being on top of the world in my previous life was the journey to get there.

Being on top of the world here would be extremely easy, but there are things beyond wealth in this place, like power and external threats. Threats like DC's Thanos... Oh, I think it was Dark something.

I don't know, I liked DC, but in my adulthood, I only watched Marvel movies.

In any case, it would be fun to have a superhero life now, wouldn't it? Besides, I could interfere in the lives of other superheroes and be the trigger for them to decide to become heroes. That sounds fun.

I could also become the first modern superhero in this world, which also sounds exciting.

I saved a lot of people in the past... or was it the future? Either way, I was a hero in some way. Being a hero in a more literal sense here sounds like a fun whim.

Well, I'm starting to feel sleepy. I'd better go to sleep...