Pilot
William’s consciousness snaps back into existence. He doesn’t wake up peacefully. No warmth. No comfort. Only pain.
His body is sore—aching like he’s been ripped apart and stitched back together a hundred times. His lungs burn as if he’s been breathing smoke for hours. His head throbs with flashes of something… something horrible.
Fires. Screams. Shadows moving in the chaos.
His parents—he can barely picture them—faces blurred by the flickering inferno that swallowed everything. The sounds of cracking metal and collapsing buildings ring in his ears. The Honkai.
Then the masks. White, faceless figures standing over him. Their voices are muffled, mechanical, speaking in a language he barely understands.
Blood drips. His own? Someone else’s? He doesn’t know. The sharp sting of needles jabs into his skin. His body feels like it’s burning from the inside. Pain, overwhelming and endless.
As he lies on the cold metal table, his body aching from whatever the masked figures had done to him, a strange thought flickers through his mind.
Wasn’t I… supposed to be somewhere else?
It’s a ridiculous thought, but it lingers. Somewhere deep inside, he feels like he was meant to wake up in a different world. One filled with… something warmer? Something more familiar?
Wasn’t it called… Nikke?
The name feels distant, slipping through his grasp before he can fully understand it. And then—pain surges through his body, yanking him back to the present.
The cold air bites at William’s skin as he forces his tired eyes to scan the dimly lit room. Shadows stretch across the ceiling, twisted by the pale glow of flickering monitors. The rhythmic beeping of machines fills the silence, each pulse drilling into his mind like a countdown.
His arms refuse to move. Heavy straps keep him pinned to the table, his wrists bound in reinforced restraints. His legs—numb, weak—feel as if they aren’t even his own anymore.
His breathing is slow, controlled. Not because he wants it to be, but because something inside him knows—if he panics, he loses.
Wasn’t I supposed to be somewhere else?
The thought lingers again, persistent. It doesn’t make sense, but it refuses to leave.
"Nikke…" he mutters, barely a whisper. The word tastes foreign, like something he should remember but can’t. He clenches his jaw, trying to focus, but it’s like reaching into a fog—he knows something is there, but it slips through his fingers the moment he gets close.
Before he can chase the thought any further, the door to the room hisses open. Footsteps—cold, deliberate—echo against the walls. White masks, smooth and inhuman, stare down at him.
“Subject 17 is awake,” one of them states flatly, as if he’s nothing more than data on a screen.
The straps tighten. The machines hum louder. A sharp, mechanical hiss fills the air as something cold stabs into his arm.
Pain. Burning, searing pain.
His body convulses, muscles locking up as raw agony courses through him. His vision blurs, twisting at the edges. The faces above him remain indifferent, unmoving, studying his suffering like a simple experiment.
No… this isn’t where I’m supposed to be.
He wants to scream, but no sound comes out. The world fades to black.
Time Passes
When William’s senses return, he isn’t sure how long he’s been unconscious. Minutes? Hours? Days? It doesn’t matter. The pain is still there—dull, lingering, a reminder that his body isn’t his own anymore.
His vision swims as he blinks, adjusting to the dim light. He isn’t on the table anymore. A cold floor presses against his cheek, his limbs weak and trembling. They must have unstrapped him at some point, but the strength to move is still beyond him.
That’s when he hears them.
Muted voices, speaking beyond the reinforced glass of his cell. At first, it’s nothing but noise—but then, words cut through, sinking into his mind.
“…Subject 17’s survival is still an anomaly.”
"An entire city was wiped out. No one else made it. Yet here he is, completely intact.”
"The Honkai should have consumed him. He should have turned into a zombie, mutated, or died outright. But he didn’t.”
"Why? Is he resistant? Or something else?"
A heavy silence follows.
Then, another voice—colder, more calculated. “It doesn’t matter. If he won’t break naturally, we’ll force the process.”
The sound of machinery whirs to life. Footsteps approach.
William’s fingers curl weakly into a fist.
So that’s it. He’s the lone survivor of a city erased by Honkai beasts. And instead of being rescued, they’re treating him like some kind of specimen.
The guard’s fist comes fast—too fast for a child to react.
Except this time, William does.
His body moves before he can think, his head tilting just out of the way. The punch misses by inches, the air rushing past his cheek.
The guard barely has time to register what happened before William’s small hands grip his outstretched arm. A twist—instinctual, precise—redirects the force, sending the much larger man stumbling forward. It’s not a full counter, not a clean throw, but it’s something.
A hush falls over the room.
The scientists watching from behind the glass murmur to each other, their cold, calculating eyes now filled with something new—interest.
William stands still, his breathing even. He doesn’t celebrate, doesn’t react. Inside, his mind is racing.
That… was different.
His body aches, the bruises and cuts from past tests still fresh—but they’re fading quicker than they should. His mind is sharper, his instincts faster. Something is changing.
And for the first time in a long while, a single thought plants itself in his mind.
I can’t stay here forever.
Timeskip – Age 10
It feels like an eternity. Two years of suffering, of pain, of silence.
But William has learned. He has adapted.
And now, he’s ready.
The walls of his cell feel smaller than ever. The routine is predictable, the guards complacent. His body is stronger, his mind sharper. He isn’t just surviving anymore—he’s waiting.
Waiting for the moment.
Waiting for his chance.
Because tonight, he’s going to escape.
The next day.
The air inside the facility felt different today. William couldn’t explain it, but something was wrong.
He sat in his cell, his back against the cold metal wall, listening. The usual humming of machinery was still there, but underneath it, something else—something irregular. Distant, distorted noises that set his nerves on edge.
The guards were uneasy. He could hear it in the way their boots clanked against the floor, faster than usual. He could see it in the tense postures of the white-masked scientists passing his cell, their usual indifference replaced by hurried movements and hushed conversations.
And then the alarms blared.
Red warning lights flashed across the facility, bathing everything in a crimson glow. Automated announcements crackled through the speakers, their robotic voices barely audible over the sudden shouting. Doors slammed open and shut, boots pounded against the metal floor—guards, scientists, everyone scrambling.
And then, the screaming started.
Not the controlled, calculated screams of test subjects being experimented on. No—this was different. Raw, panicked, terrified.
William stood, stepping closer to the reinforced glass of his cell. His breath caught in his throat as he saw them.
Honkai creatures.
He had only ever seen them in flashes of fragmented memory, blurred images of the past that haunted his mind. But now, they were here. In the facility.
A scientist sprinted past his cell, slamming into the wall before being dragged away by a clawed hand. Blood sprayed across the corridor. Another guard raised his weapon, firing wildly down the hall before a jagged spear impaled him through the chest. His body twitched, then went limp.
Chaos consumed the facility.
William’s heart pounded. This was his chance. He didn’t know how or why this was happening, but it didn’t matter. If he stayed here, he would die—either to the Honkai or the people who had kept him prisoner for the past two years.
For the first time in what felt like forever, he had a choice. He could stay frozen in place, waiting for death. Or he could take the opportunity fate had thrown at him.
He clenched his fists. His breath steady despite the chaos. His body moves on instinct, weaving through the dimly lit corridors of the facility. Red emergency lights flicker, casting jagged shadows against the walls. The distant sounds of screaming, gunfire, and monstrous roars echo through the halls.
He keeps low, pressing himself against the cold metal as he moves. He doesn’t know the full layout of this place, but after years of observation, he knows enough. The guards' patrol patterns, the security doors—he’s been studying them all this time, waiting for a moment like this.
And now it’s here.
A guttural snarl stops him in his tracks. Just ahead, a Honkai beast prowls through the wreckage of fallen guards, its grotesque form illuminated by the flashing lights. It hasn’t noticed him yet.
William scans the area quickly. Dead bodies, scattered weapons—resources he can use. He creeps forward, his heart pounding, and reaches for a fallen guard’s belt. His fingers close around a combat knife—small but sharp, reliable. He sheathes it quickly and keeps moving.
Further down the hall, he spots a storage room with its door partially ajar. A quick glance around confirms that the area is momentarily clear. He slips inside.
The room is a mess—files scattered, cabinets overturned. But among the chaos, his eyes catch something useful. A small medical kit. He grabs it, stuffing it into his pocket. Then, on the shelf, a stun baton—likely used for subduing test subjects like himself. He hesitates for only a second before taking it, its weight reassuring in his grip.
A distant explosion rattles the facility. Time is running out.
He slips back into the hallway, gripping his new weapons tightly. The beast from earlier has moved on, leaving him a clear path. He steps over the bodies, careful not to make a sound, and presses forward.
He’s not just running anymore. He’s armed. He’s prepared.
“Time to get out of here…”
-
To be continued.