Chapter 1: Who...am I?

The first thing he saw was total blackness. He never even knew what the word 'blackness' meant, yet he instinctively felt that the world around me was 'black'.

But what defines 'black'? It is defined as the darkest color owing to the absence of or complete absorption of light.

But what if there was something darker out there? What if what he saw wasn't black since that was everything he saw? What if it was actually 'white' instead?

He knew everything, yet he knew nothing. But he was sure of one thing. This world...will be doomed.

It just wasn't fair in the first place. Humans were...

Weak.

*****************

The first time he had awakened, his surroundings were colorful. They were filled with flushes of vibrant and healthy green. It was pure nature.

There was no such thing as humans yet.

He took a look around curiously, trying to figure out why he was here.

Trying to figure out where he was.

Trying to figure out who he was.

As time slowly ticked by, he found no answers to these questions he had for himself. He gave up; his intelligence wasn't very high now, but the instincts ingrained into the very DNA of his race proved to be useful. He suddenly rolled a meter to the left, and where he was, a huge footprint suddenly appeared.

He looked up curiously and saw a colossal figure towering above him.

He was a mere meter tall, so that thirty-meter difference in height was quite intimidating, not for the one-meter tall boy, but for the thirty-meter tall Argentinosaurus.

It felt a huge threatening presence at his feet, and instinctively, he stamped down his foot.

Being a colossal herbivore, it usually had no threat unless ganged up by a few top predators. Yet, this tiny figure actually made his instincts as a wild dinosaur flare-up.

The young child didn't know what to do with this colossal figure. He wanted to play with it, but at the same time, it tried to kill him just now.

As soon as his mind thought of killing the thing before him, he opened his mouth, and not even a second later, the huge Argentinosaurus disappeared, never to be seen again.

The young boy frowned and rubbed his tiny belly, his face showing some uncomfortableness.

It wasn't anything serious, though, so succumbing to another one of his instincts, he just closed his eyes and fell asleep.

*****************

He had a very peaceful sleep; nothing disturbed him. Not that anything could disrupt him anyway.

For the second time since his existence, he opened his eyes from his deep slumber, only to realize that the once flourishing green environment had disappeared, replaced by an endless amount of tall tower-like structures reaching the sky.

He was currently in the middle of a...he didn't know what this place was called. All he knew that people similar to his figure were moving fast everywhere around him. There was some sort of red, long tube that allowed people to slide from a higher floor to the lower floor, a place filled with sand for them to create structures similar to the ones he saw around him and two swings.

However, it didn't seem like he was alone. Just next to him, he saw a girl with cute features waking up from her slumber as well.

When she became fully awake, the both of them looked at each other curiously. For some reason, they felt attracted to one another, but they didn't know why.

"What...is your name?"

"Name?"

The boy merely nodded, "My name is..."

'What's my name?'

'What is a name?'

"What is a name?" The girl asked.

The boy didn't know how to reply. He himself didn't know the answer to that question; how would he know how to respond?

But then again, why did he even ask that question in the first place?

Having no choice, the two stood up and went to a young girl nearby, who was enjoying her time at the swing. Despite having just met, the odd duo was surprisingly compatible.

"What is a name?" The boy asked while the girl nodded her head.

The girl who was on the swing opened her eyes in surprise. She clearly didn't expect both children to approach her and ask her what a name is.

Still, she replied to the best of her ability, "Hmm...a name is a word or set of words by which a person or thing is known, addressed, or referred to. And more importantly, your name is what makes you special!"

The girl looked pretty excited and jumped off the swing.

"Hey, let's be friends!"

And so, time passed slowly. Each day, the two children remained in the park, waiting for the girl to arrive here. Each day was filled with fun, and the two clueless kids slowly learned more about this world.

However, one day, the girl suddenly disappeared. But they didn't give up. They just waited at the park patiently. One day, one week, one month, and one year soon passed, yet, the girl didn't seem to be coming back anytime soon.

They had only two to remember her by.

A backpack which they had received from the girl before she disappeared.

And her name.

Yingying.

The boy didn't receive any name. None of the names satisfied him. Perhaps later...

The two children only had each other for company, but soon, their eyes couldn't remain open for any longer.

Once again, succumbing to his instincts, the young boy closed his eyes and drifted off to dreamland.

*****************

For the third time, he opened his eyes once more.

But it was as though his mind was wiped clean. He just stood there. Or, more specifically, he floated in the middle of what seemed to be a cylinder-shaped container filled with a golden liquid.

His eyes could barely open, and the blur of mess in front of him was not easily distinguishable.

His arms were filled with zero strength, and his entire brain hurt from some...unknown external factors.

"Haah..."

The young boy exhaled deeply, only to realize that his actions had caused some sort of reaction to be stimulated.

Some sort of alarm flared, causing the entire place to be filled with annoying sounds. Despite being trapped in the golden liquid with no clothes on and only a respirator, the young boy could still hear the annoying blaring of the alarm.

His brows involuntarily ruffled as his eyes narrowed slightly. He tried finding out more about the place he was trapped within by turning his entire body.

It wasn't easy, but after about a minute or so, he managed to see countless other cylinder-shaped containers around him.

But before he could think more about it, an old man appeared in front of him. The young boy widened his eyes in surprise, causing some golden liquid to flow into his eyes, causing an unbearable itch to occur.

"Hoh? You're actually awake! You're a very fascinating specimen...." The old man continued talking, but the young boy couldn't hear more of his words as the old man started rambling instead of talking clearly.

The old man sported grey hair and a mustache. He wore a white coat with red inner lining similar to the other adults present in this room, white gloves, and a cane. Half of his face and his entire jawbone didn't seem flesh and skin and were instead mechanical.

Just then, another alarm sounded, similar to when the young boy exhaled deeply.

The old man was visibly surprised and very, very excited.

"Another specimen woke up! What a great day!! Hurry! Take these two out of their capsules after ensuring that their vitals are stable. Don't teach them anything yet, and first examine their physiology!" The old man screamed loudly, causing the scientists to scramble to their respective places as they prepared to get the two specimens out.

The old man walked towards the container just two meters away from the young boy and peered inside.

"You are going to either be the best or the worst specimen here..." The old man murmured softly, not allowing anyone to hear what he had just said.

"Dr. Franxx! All vitals are stable and are ready to be released! Do we have your permission now?"

"Permission granted. Now, get the two specimens away from the containers! I don't want to see them in the containers any longer than necessary!"

After receiving the permission, the scientist pressed a button, causing all the golden liquid in the two containers to be drained into some tube.

The young boy realized that he could now stand on the container's floor, though that didn't last long as his legs gave in to his weight, causing him to fall down.

The glass that separated him from the outside world was removed, and soon, he came face to face with the old man, Dr. Franxx.

"I'm expecting good things from you..."

As the young boy was placed on the stretcher, he could see another team of scientists doing similar actions to another specimen.

A girl with red skin. He could see very clearly, but he could catch a glimpse of a pair of red...horns on her head.

He turned his head back to face Dr. Franxx, and not realizing that he had lost all his memories, he asked the question that he had been dying to find out.

"Who...am I?"