The white walls of the Grand Hospital flared with a malevolent shade of crimson as chaos ensued within.
The clock struck midnight. A time that sent both chills and horrors to those who would succumb to it and those who wouldn't.
Around the corridors and lobbies of the hospital floors, Health workers in pristine white marched all around.
"We need extra personnel here!"
"Doctor, please, our patients' vitals are dropping badly!"
"Blood pressure dropping. Extreme case of hypothermia! Nausea and Vomiting! Bring in the antipyretics, damn it!"
"Wa– Wait! Our patient's transforming?!"
A shriek rang in the walls of the hospital. Frightened doctors and nurses rushed out of a Hospital room as a guttural screech tore through the air.
"SHIT! ROOM 23!! ROOM 23 NEEDS ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL!!"
"Egoists! Where are those fucking Egoists?!"
Within a room that a group passed, a Doctor could be seen screaming his head off with an arm held out. Blood splattering as the nurses surrounded him.
In another, the room dimmed and brightened. Chains rattled. The sounds of cracking and bones snapping followed by a large creature that was suddenly electrocuted, followed.
Parents fell to their knees, sobbing bitterly.
Luca, a preteen who sat quietly on top of a hospital bed. Folded his arms as he awaited his turn– or what they called the succumbing to the Null Trance.
A frown formed from the corner of his lips as he hummed quietly.
Detached from the world around.
Heavy feet crashed against the pristine tiled walls, voices raised in a conundrum. Warping into violent sound pollution.
Instructions, Muffled cries from nearby children who had yet to succumb and the anguished encouragement from their parents mixed in the air.
It was a busy night for the healthcare workers of Ardent District 13 Hospital, and the kids were in the midst of it.
Men in white lab coats and women in pristine white uniforms trailed along the ward corridor. Tablets in hand with floating images bouncing across their faces. While they tapped crazily into the air.
"Is patient 13 stable?" One of the doctors asked as they scurried past the young boy's room.
"Yes, we've induced the electrical lines and digital circuits across the available rooms." One of the Nurses replied. "It should hold throughout the night."
"Good." The doctor's voice trailed in his ears. "How many of them have turned?"
"Approximately thirty per cent and counting, sir!"
"Goddamit! Why are the numbers so high?!"
Luca sat up slightly and tilted to the door at the man's words.
His expression grew dim, while his golden eyes seemed to lose their shimmer.
At that moment, a pair of nurses walked into his room. Their expressions were stern. Years of experience bled from their actions.
"How are you feeling Lucamir?"
Luca tilted his head and frowned.
"What do you think?"
The nurses glanced at each other, sighed and began to attend to their duties.
The room was slightly spacious. A hovering bed stood as the only furniture while a stack of processors, neatly arranged by the side of the bed took the rest of the space.
Luca sat next to it. Fibrewires that reflected the room's light snaked from his spine and occipital into these processors.
Luca shifted uncomfortably.
"I apologise for the inconvenience, Lucamir, but these are simply procedures."
One of the nurses said with a half-baked smile while the other walked up to the monitors and tapped a button.
A holographic interface bounced out and her fingers danced across it with laser focus.
Luca watched quietly. His head spun at her words.
'Liars.' He knew without a doubt that these items were placed as countermeasures. A killing tool if he were to fail the Trance and get corrupted.
Though he hated that he could do nothing but watch as he was strapped and monitored carefully, he couldn't help but give in to it.
If it weren't for these procedures, many lives would be lost and he understood that.
"Is he the child whose parents tried to hide from the Patrol Guardians?"
The second nurse asked with a slightly amused tone in her voice. Her fingers never lost their stride.
The second nurse whipped her head at the young woman with a glare. Irked by the unprofessional attitude of the new hire.
The young woman, feeling the intense stare, yelped and looked away.
"No need to try and hide it," Luca spoke with such clarity, that it made the nurses doubt that this young boy was about to face impending danger.
"Not only were my parents imprisoned by the law, but I'm also facing this same trial without their support."
He chuckled. More to himself than them.
"How unfortunate, right?"
The nurse's expression grew dim. They remained silent and handled their tax with professional ease and hurriedness.
The older one looked up at the monitor, a weary smile on her face.
"Everything seems stable, I believe we can check the next patient."
The second nurse nodded. "Ye– Yes ma'am."
The nurses turned to leave, having done their task.
"I am terribly sorry ma'am."
The second nurse asked as they exited.
"Be sorry for yourself. Next time choose a place and time to gossip."
The first replied with a hushed tone.
"Though, it's hard not to feel sorry for him."
Luca's frown deepened as silence filled the room before he clicked his tongue and struck the bed.
"Goddamit!" He cursed.
Today was meant to mark a grand stage in the life of Luca and many more kids his age who filled the Hospital that night.
After all, it was his coming-of-age.
The thirteenth year when one became susceptible to the Null Trance– a state that forcibly pulls kids into a trial of blood and gore.
Or at least from what he's been told.
And kids like him who were about to go through it or within the age-range were known as Trancers.
"We could have been faster." He muttered as his gaze grew sharp. "Dad could have led the path better. Mum shouldn't have stalled."
He bit down on his lips. His chest grew heavy.
The Null Trance didn't just mark a significant change in the lives of youth. It marked a change in the way you were perceived by the world.
Of course, Luca welcomed it.
After all, those who succeeded were called Egoists– superhumans whose powers could change the flora of the world.
They were the protectors against the lurking dangers of the Null Creatures of the Abyss.
And yet, he and his parents had chosen to run away, not because of the Trance itself, but the absolute control the Federation had over the average Egoist like him.
Their plan was a pipe dream, though and it made Luca livid.
"Why?!" He muttered softly as he pulled on the wires connected to him.
He could attempt to yank it off right now and run. Attempt to evade all these adults and somehow find his parents to escape?
"No, that's just mere delusion."
He couldn't help but sink into his bed.
His yellow lush hair pressed against the white sheet of the bed.
There was no escaping it now.
Not to mention, it's risks.
Trancers who failed the trials usually became creatures of the Abyss– the very things they fight against and the things that the doctors were currently battling.
"Then again… what are the chances that I will go through the Trance?" He mumbled softly when something warped at the corner of his vision.
A shadow. Subtle, almost transient, yet it was right there.
Luca sat up and narrowed his eyes as he turned in the direction.
"Of course… that would be because of you."
At the corner of the hospital stood a Knight made from shadows. Its armour set, a living embodiment that caused the light to warp around it.
A pair of golden pupils shimmered behind its cross visor as it tilted its head.
It stood by the wall as if it had always been there… and perhaps, it had.
"How foolish it is to run from fate."
"There you go again." Luca frowned. "Speaking of fate as some immense grandiose poise when you're just a stupid tincan."
The Knight tilted its head. Its shadows twisted as if alive while it observed the boy with its pulsing light.
"Foolish boy, for how long will you underestimate the influence of fate?"
Luca's brow furrowed.
"How many times do I have to tell you?! Nobody decides what I do. Where I do it. How I do it. Or how I'm going to mess it up! Nobody, but me, decides that!"
He panted softly at the end of his very repetitive and overdue speech.
The Knight tilted its head once more as a low, guttural chuckle escaped its ancient helm.
In that moment, footsteps echoed at his door as a group of three walked in. A doctor and the two nurses from before.
"What time is it?" The Doctor asked in a yawn.
"12:01 am, Doctor Jorvan."
The first nurse from before replied.
Luca clicked his tongue as he turned away from the Knight.
"I see, it will begin anytime now…" The doctor said slowly as he stared at Luca with an expression of intrigue. "Or not… Most of the farmer kids from the countryside hardly have it on their first teen birthday. And it has been a minute since it began."
The Null Trance came with neither warnings, only setting in with the initial signs that everyone experiences just before it begins.
So contingencies like this were always underway on the day before their birthdays.
One could only imagine how busy these Healthcare workers were, every day, all year round.
Doctor Jorvan's lips tugged by the corner.
"How regretful, young one. But at least, you will be able to return home… and perhaps the Federation will set your parents free."
Luca shrugged in response. His anger receded.
It was easy to give people the reins of control over ourselves through emotions. Luca understood that and refused to give them rein.
"I see, not a talker are yo– BEEEPPPPP!!!
The Hospital room flared like a living blaring horn. The processors lined across the walls rang with a crimson shade that blinked profusely against the floor and ceiling.
It painted the pristine white of the Hospital in a malevolent hue.
The Healthworkers scrambled!
"Wh– what?!" Doctor Jorvan screamed in shock.
He whipped his head at the monitors, and then the boy.
His chest rose and fell– nearly missing a beat.
"It– It has begun?!"
His tone came more as a question than a certainty, but the changes that had begun to occur in Luca's vitals were clear high-tale signs.
The Trance had struck.
And Luca felt it instantly.
A slam of nausea and something more. His mind flared. His vision blurred and his breath hitched.
'Wha– What is this?!'
Around him, Doctors and nurses screamed in a chaotic scuffle.
"Ho– Just how many of them?!"
He heard one of the Nurses scream in panic.
"This– this might just be the largest known case of Trancers recorded in the last hundred years!"
A nurse had begun to exit the room.
"I will join the others in contacting the Guilds. I'll call for help."
Doctor Jorvan visibly shook.
"D– Please do so." He stammered.
To Luca, he could barely tell their voices apart as everything had become one inflexible soup. But even in that moment, he still saw it. At the corner of his vision– the Phantom Knight stood.
Its arms were folded and its helm shimmered lightly as it began to turn to dust.
"Prove it."
Luca's pupils constricted… and darkness swallowed him whole.
[CONGRATULATIONS, LUCAMIR ELARIC, SERIAL CODE 05-701] ...
… [YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED TO PARTICIPATE IN PARTICIPATING WITH THIS YEARS EGOIST CANDIDATES]
… [ THE TRANCE WILL NOW BEGIN].