- "(gasps) What the... (coughs)" said Max as he suddenly woke up in a confined space whilst every possible feeling burst into his body all at once, sending shivers down his spine.
His cryo-chamber opened as water started overflowing the room. He tried to pull away but had to struggle with setting himself free from all kind of tubes connected to his body. With two forced pulls he managed to disconnect from the chamber, hurting his right arm in the process. Sparks of electricity started forming all around the room, adding to the list of obstacles he had to face while still being confused and half-asleep from cryo-stasis. He succeeded in crossing the room all the way to the door, but got mildly electrocuted when his reflexes began activating again after the long period of hibernation. Squeezing through the door, Max pushed himself further along the ship's corridors that were quickly filling with water. He couldn't think or breathe properly yet, but his survival instinct kicked in as he knew he had to do everything he could to get out of there as quickly as humanly possible. His feet were bleeding as he crawled his way up another level through shards of glass and metal pieces flowing rapidly beneath the surrounding water. As he was making his way out, screams of agony and pain could be heard, but Max wasn't certain if they were real or just his mind playing tricks on him during its reboot process. The ship kept moving as it was still sinking and that made things even harder for Max. He fought his way through to the highest level of the ship, but the escape pod was defective. Panic started installing in his body, but he took a couple of seconds to calm down and regroup and the solution rapidly arose in his mind.
- "The window. Of course. The fucking win.." he exclaimed before the entry door burst open with powerful waves of water filling the room in an instant.
Max took in a quick breath of air and searched underwater for something to break the glass. Time was fading fast, decisions had to be made even faster if he wanted to make it out alive. He found a plasma gun and managed to break it free from the grasp of what could only have been a pilot or a guard's corpse. He was starting to remain out of air and lose consciousness as he barely pulled the trigger in the direction of the large windows of the ship's control room. But, alas, the gun's firing chamber was jammed and it could not fire. A bright red light shone before his sight as his eyes closed and he finally passed out.
Max woke up as if he had the worst nightmare but couldn't even move. He fell face first on red sand and felt a hard kick in his ribs. Before he could catch his breath again and work up a solid curse word, 5 huge Romari soldiers picked him up by his hair and pointed their weapons at him. His vision was still blurry and he wasn't fully conscious yet, but even in this state, he did not like what he saw or understand a word as one of the soldiers confronted and questioned him in their native language, after seeing his prisoner tag and name on his right sleeve reading "IM93 – Maximilian Theseus".
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Escorted by the Romari guards, Max is exposed to this unknown alien planet and tries to take in as much information as possible, while being genuinely amazed and intrigued by the surroundings. As if the red sand and the piercing blue ocean weren't enough to warrant a gaze, he is thrown into a floating vehicle and taken across an immense wall protecting and surrounding a city like he's never seen before. Max rarely finds himself speechless, but this was one of those isolated moments. The city looked absolutely staggering and vibrant. The vivid colors, the surges of power from the sophisticated technological advancements embedded in the city's structure in contrast with the silver skies above made for a sight to behold. The heat was seemingly the only problem on Max's mind at that moment. Or was it the heat? He felt his skin burning and his hearing fading. He felt dizzy and confused by what was happening. It appears Romar's atmosphere was finally beginning to affect him and despite his struggle to fight it off, he eventually succumbed. Moments later, Max starts to regain consciousness. His eyelids slowly open only to reveal a blurry image of a scientific lab. His legs and arms feel like static and his hearing is starting to come back. He tries to move but immediately realizes he's tied to a table in the middle of the room.
