Henry's eyes adjusted to the light while he struggled to get up, a sensation of cold reached his hands. As he lifted them up, he found water dripping off them.
'Where am I'
The room was dimly lit. In the center of the room rested a large wooden chair surrounded by a pool of blood.
'Well, this is welcoming.'
Henry ran his fingers over the room's walls, they were wooden… and moist.
'Well this is the Trial, I should be hearing the system anytime now. A nice little ding and "blah blah blah, here's your trial"'
Henry stood still, tapping his foot against the ground.
'It should have come to me instantly… Right! The menu screen.'
Henry cleared his throat.
"System, menu, status, Info-"
A large translucent screen appeared in front of Henry unannounced.
**
Name: Henry (Berry).
Curse: Unknowing.
Echo:–
Veil:[The Apprentice]
Grade: Lockbearer.
Attributes: [Spectral], [From The Fog].
Mementos:–
Henry examined the screen.
'Curse!?'
Curse: Unknowing.
Curse Description: [You are alone the Veil did not call you, you called it.]
Henry, dumbfounded, stared at the text.
"What does this even mean?"
Henry paced around the room, ending with him standing barefoot in the puddle of blood. Looking down, Henry pondered who's blood it might be. Checking his body for any wounds, Henry let out a sigh of relief that he was okay. Though something was off, Henry's skin felt softer, his hands once covered with calluses felt smooth.
Henry knocked over the chair, getting on his knees, and looking down at his reflection in the puddle. In the distorted red reflection, Henry saw an unfamiliar face. Henry shuffled away from the crimson reflection, running his fingers across his face.
'What the hell?'
Henry's face was smooth, no longer covered in a layer of oil and acne. It was like he was in a whole different body, Henry pondered on what could have happened, before getting interrupted by a loud pounding echoing throughout the room. An older sounding man yelled unintelligibly from outside. Henry shuffled back, trying to keep distance from the banging. The sounds dissipated before a man came crashing through the wall. In a moment of quick thinking, Henry reached for the chair to defend himself with.
"Who are you!"
Henry yelled at the man, who had now begun standing up.
"I… have a very, very similar question."
The man straightened his posture, turning to face Henry. Henry equipped with the wooden chair was preparing to throw it at the man.
"Woah, woah, let's not do anything rash, I wouldn't want a bruise."
The man moved closer to Henry, who had now assumed a defensive stance of holding the chair in front of him, praying it would do anything.
"Listen, you're standing in the middle of a crime scene. I don't want to have to escalate this. I just want to talk, think we can do that?"
The man put his hands up, his sleeves fell, unveiling a watch on his wrist, and a tattoo of a card that Henry didn't recognize on his hand.
"So, would you be able to tell me what happened here?"
The man seemed sincere, Henry chose to lower his guard, and the chair.
"I'll tell you what I know, but only if you tell me why you're here."
The man looked towards Henry with confusion in his eyes.
"Well… I got called to investigate a crime scene. When I got there you were the only survivor, you seemed pretty out of it too."
'Okay, so the trial has turned me into the only survivor of a mass killing, that's great.'
"When I tried to question you, well… you started screaming and ran away. I chased you to this… box?"
The man sighed, lowering his arms, rubbing on his right arm, which had taken quite the beating after breaking into the room. Henry thought about his options, the man could be telling the truth, but what if Henry committed the murders. It's obvious that Henry has been placed into someone else's body, but having no knowledge about the person he's become makes it much harder to find a good way out of this.
"What's your name, kid?"
Henry was startled by the question, answering instantly.
"Henry."
'Oh my god you idiot, why would I answer his question, I just lost my position in the discussion.'
Henry tensed his face, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"Well Henry, I'm detective Ryan, Rob Ryan. Call me whichever you like."
Ryan reached in his pocket, pulling out a notepad, being a real Sherlock Holmes.
"So, could you answer my question now?"
Henry relaxed his shoulders and looked Ryan in the eye, ready to spew his 'bullshit'.
"I remember when the police got there, that's all, I can't remember anything before that. I was so disoriented that when you started talking to me, that I got scared, and ran as far as I could until I fell and woke up here."
'Please call my bluff.'
Henry pleaded to as many gods as he could come up with, analyzing Ryan's face, which had changed to a focused look while writing in his notepad.
After finishing his writing, Ryan put the notepad in his pocket.
"So that's all you know, huh?"
Henry gulped, shaking his head.
'Please just believe me.'
"Well that's a shame, at least you're not the murderer!"
Ryan let out a short laugh, Henry did not.
"Let's get this sorted out, you've lost your memories?"
Henry let out a stutter.
"Y-yes I have."
'Dammit, Henry, do not fuck this up.'
Ryan looked at Henry for a few seconds before making an annoyed face.
"Well, I guess that means more trouble for me. Listen Henry, you're under my care now, which means I'm detaining you."
Henry's face dropped.
'Detained! I don't even know what I'm supposed to be doing, and now I'm being arrested.'
"What?"
"Don't get too scared, I'm not going to take you to the police just yet, you're a valuable witness."
Ryan took the chair out of Henry's hands, putting it down next to him.
"I'm going to take you to all the crime scenes, to see if you get any memories, or clues out of that head of yours."
Henry stared at Ryan, his eyes glazing over with thoughts of being arrested and killed in his trial.
'Isn't this what I wanted… no, I'm going to survive the trial and become super rich… no insanely rich.'
"I'm fine with that, I just have one thing I have to ask."
A boom of confidence entered Henry.
"Yeah, what's that?"
Henry looked down at his feet, which were filled with splinters from walking around barefooted.
"Do you think you could get me some shoes?"
Ryan looked down at Henry's feet, only now realizing he had no shoes on.
"Oh, uh… I think we could pass by my house to grab some. Just follow me, I don't want to be in the cold for long. "
Ryan stepped out of the room. Henry waited, wondering what Ryan meant by being out in the cold, before finally stepping out of the room.