"Where am I?"
The question escaped Macarius’s mouth before he had even properly opened his eyes.
Cold.
That was the first thing he felt. Not the comfortable cold of winter air, nor the refreshing chill of water against the skin. This was the kind of cold that came from metal. Macarius slowly opened his eyes. A weak yellow light hung above him. It came from a small electric lamp fixed somewhere overhead, its light barely strong enough to push the darkness away. Beyond that small circle of illumination, the room disappeared into blackness.
He tried to move. His hands refused. Macarius looked down. Iron restraints were wrapped around his wrists. Chains ran from them to the sides of the chair, thick enough that pulling against them seemed pointless.
He tested them anyway.
Clink.
The sound echoed through the room. He pulled harder. Nothing. His muscles tightened. The chair didn’t move. Neither did the chains. Macarius stopped. He looked around. He was sitting on a cold iron chair.
In front of him was an iron table, its legs apparently fixed to the floor. Another chair stood on the opposite side.
Empty.
The walls were difficult to distinguish from the darkness. They looked gray beneath the weak lamp, but Macarius couldn’t tell whether they were concrete, metal, or something else entirely.
There were no windows. No clock. No visible camera. Nothing that could tell him where he was or how long he had been there.
Only a door. It stood several meters behind him. There was a small rectangular window near its upper half.
Macarius stared at it. Someone was standing on the other side. He could feel it. Not literally.
Just... instinct.
The faintest movement. A shadow passing behind the little window. Macarius swallowed.
"Hey."
No answer.
"Hey! Who’s there?"
Still nothing.
"Why am I here?"
His voice sounded strangely small in the room.
"Can someone answer me?"
He tugged at the chains again.
"Let me out!"
Nothing. His head suddenly throbbed. Macarius winced and lowered his head.
"Fuck..."
The pain was getting worse. His breathing became heavier. Something was wrong. He knew it. But what? He closed his eyes and tried to think.
Where had he been before this? What had he been doing? Who had brought him here? He searched through his thoughts.
Nothing.
There was no image. No voice, face. Not even a fragment. His mind felt like a room that someone had emptied completely. Macarius’s breathing stopped for a moment.
"...My name."
He opened his eyes.
"What was..."
His voice became quieter.
"My name..."
He stared at his restrained hands. Then he whispered the only thing he could remember.
"Macarius."
He didn’t know why he knew it. He simply did.
"Macarius..."
The name felt like a word belonging to someone else. He rubbed his forehead against the heel of his hand as far as the restraints allowed.
"Why can’t I remember anything?"
His heart began beating faster. He searched harder.
Nothing.
It was like trying to grab smoke. The harder he reached for his memories, the further away they seemed to become. He didn’t know where he had lived. He didn’t know his age. He didn’t know his parents. He didn’t know whether he had friends. He didn’t even know whether Macarius was truly his name.
It was as if someone had dropped him into the middle of a game without telling him the rules, the objective, or even what kind of game he was playing.
And now everyone else expected him to understand what was happening.
"Uhhh..."
Macarius lowered his head.
"What was I doing?"
His fingers trembled.
"I can’t remember..."
Then the door handle moved.
Click.
Macarius’s head snapped upward. The door opened. A woman stood on the other side. She took one step inside. Stopped. And immediately covered her nose.
"Блядь... Что это за запах? Ты что, свинья?"(Fuck... What is that smell? Are you a fucking pig?)
Macarius stared at her. The woman remained near the doorway. Behind her, another person’s silhouette appeared briefly. A small can was handed to her. She took it without looking back. Then she raised it.
Psssst.
A cloud of artificial fragrance filled the room.
Psssst.
Another spray. She grimaced.
"Фу... Всё равно недостаточно. Но хотя бы дышать можно."(Ugh... Still not enough. But at least I can breathe.)
Macarius blinked. She glanced at him. Then at the floor around him. Then back at him. Her expression suggested that she had encountered many unpleasant things during her career.
Whatever Macarius was, apparently he had made a strong impression. She slowly walked toward the table. Her shoes clicked against the floor.
Click. Click. Click.
She pulled out the chair opposite him and sat down. Only then could Macarius see her properly.
She was a woman in her twenties, perhaps a little older. Her short blonde hair was neatly arranged, contrasting sharply with the cold atmosphere of the room. Her eyes were a pale gray-blue, clear and watchful.
Her face had the balanced, symmetrical features often associated with Russian beauty, but there was nothing soft about her expression.
She wore a short, dark-gray suit jacket over a white shirt. The uppermost button had been left undone, revealing only a modest glimpse of her neckline.
She crossed one leg over the other. Then she looked directly into his eyes. Macarius felt strangely uncomfortable. Not because she was threatening him. Because she was observing him. As if he were something placed beneath glass.
"Who are you?"
The question left his mouth before he could think about it. The woman raised an eyebrow.
"That’s the question I was supposed to ask."
Macarius said nothing. She leaned back slightly.
"But..."
She picked up a thin file from the table.
"...since you asked first, I don’t see anything wrong with answering."
She opened the file.
"My name is Anna Iyevgeniya."
Her finger tapped once against the cover.
"Anna Iyevgeniya. B-Rank Awakener."
She paused. Then looked at him again.
"Specialization: Verifier."
Macarius stared at her.
"What’s an Awakener?"
Macarius asked the question so naturally that, for a moment, Anna simply stared at him.
She didn’t blink. She didn’t move. Even the fingers that had been resting against the file stopped.
Silence settled over the room. Then Anna slowly lifted her eyebrows.
"What?"
Macarius looked at her, confused by her reaction.
"What’s an Awakener?" he repeated.
There are questions that are difficult because they require complicated answers. There are questions that are difficult because nobody knows the answer. And then there were questions like this.
Questions so painfully basic that answering them felt almost insulting to one’s intelligence. For Anna, this was one of them.
It was like a child asking why people needed air to breathe. In the current world, it was difficult to find anyone who didn’t know what an Awakener was.
Children learned the word before they properly understood what it meant. News channels talked about them every day. Schools taught students about the Tower and the Awakeners who entered it. Governments depended on them. Guilds recruited them. Ordinary people followed their achievements, argued about them, feared them, admired them.
Even people who had never stepped inside a Tower knew what an Awakener was. Not knowing was almost unnatural.
It would have been easier for Anna to believe that someone had discovered a living Tyrannosaurus rex wandering through an open field.
At least that was theoretically possible inside a Tower. But this?
A person sitting directly in front of her, apparently conscious, apparently capable of speech, yet asking what an Awakener was?
Anna narrowed her eyes.
’Is he serious?’
Her gaze moved over Macarius’s face. There was no obvious smile. No mocking expression. No sign that he was trying to make fun of her. That made it worse.
"What?"
Her voice became colder.
"Do you think that’s a funny question?"
Macarius shook his head.
"No."
"Then stop playing with me."
"I’m not."
"You expect me to believe that you don’t know what an Awakener is?"
"I don’t."
Anna stared at him. Macarius swallowed.
There was something uncomfortable about the way she looked at him. He could feel his palms becoming damp despite the cold metal beneath them.
"But..."
His voice weakened.
"I really don’t know."
Anna said nothing. Macarius looked down at his hands.
"I’m not lying."
His fingers curled slightly against the tabletop.
"I don’t remember my name or can’t even remember who I am."
He raised his eyes again.
"I don’t know where I came from. I don’t know how I ended up there. I don’t know why I’m here."
His voice trembled despite his attempt to keep it steady.
"So there is no way I could know what an Awakener is."
Anna’s expression didn’t change.
"Two truths and one lie."
Macarius blinked.
"What?"
"You just gave me three statements."
She leaned forward slightly.
"You told me you don’t know what an Awakener is."
One finger touched the table.
"You told me you can’t remember who you are."
A second finger.
"And you told me you don’t know your name."
Her pale eyes remained fixed on his.
"Two are true."
Macarius frowned.
"And the lie?"
"You know your name."
His expression changed.
"What are you talking about?"
"You just said it yourself."
Anna’s voice was calm. The name seemed to hang between them.
"You know your name."
Macarius stared at her. Then he shook his head.
"No."
Anna’s eyes narrowed.
"I don’t."
"You just said it before I entered to the room."
"No it wasn’t my name."
"You are lying again huh? " Anna asked with a little annoyance on her face.
"No."
His voice became more frustrated.
"I don’t know it."
Anna’s patience visibly thinned.
"You’re contradicting yourself."
"I’m not!"
For the first time, anger entered Macarius’s voice. He pulled against the chains without realizing it.
"I don’t know who I am!"
His breath came faster.
"I woke up in that alley. I don’t remember anything before that. I don’t know my family. I don’t know where I lived. I don’t know what I was doing. I don’t even know whether Macarius is actually my name!"
He stared at her desperately.
"That’s all I have!"
Anna watched him. For several seconds, she said nothing. Then she quietly spoke.
"One truth and one lie."
Macarius froze.
"What?"
She stood. The chair scraped against the floor with a harsh metallic sound. Anna placed both palms against the table and leaned toward him.
"Again."
Her voice was almost quiet. That was somehow worse than shouting. She looked directly into his eyes.
"Look at me, boy."
Macarius obeyed. Her pale gray-blue eyes were completely different now. There was no curiosity left in them. Only certainty.
"Sitting in this room while enduring that fucking smell coming off you is already enough to give me a headache."
She straightened.
"I was supposed to be resting."
She walked around the table. Her footsteps echoed softly against the floor.
"I haven’t even been back for three days."
Step.
"I wanted to sleep."
Step.
"I wanted to eat something that didn’t taste like field rations."
Step.
"And instead, I was called back to work."
She passed behind Macarius. He could hear her footsteps now directly behind him. His shoulders stiffened.
"I was told there was someone suspicious."
Her voice came from behind him.
"Someone found wandering around in a disgusting state."
Macarius swallowed.
"Someone who appeared to have no identification."
Her footsteps stopped.
"And now I’m sitting here..."
A brief silence.
"...listening to that person look directly into my eyes and tell me things that aren’t true."
Macarius slowly turned his head. Anna was standing behind him. She looked down at him. Her face was expressionless.
"I don’t enjoy being lied to."
She stepped around the chair and returned to the opposite side of the table. Then she sat. The chair creaked beneath her. Macarius watched her carefully. Anna folded her hands.
"You might have misunderstand something."
She paused.
"My class isn’t some kind of psychology."
Her eyes sharpened.
"I’m an Executioner."
The word seemed heavier than it should have been. Macarius remained silent. Anna continued.
"My Awakening class allows me to distinguish truth from lies."
She tapped one finger against the tabletop.
"I don’t need to guess."
Another tap.
"I don’t need to read your expression."
Another.
"I can tell which statement is true..."
Her finger stopped.
"...and which one is false."
Macarius felt a chill run through him. Anna leaned back.
"So either you’re not very talented liar..."
Her eyes moved over his face.
"...or something is seriously wrong with you."
She crossed her arms.
"And frankly, I don’t have enough patience left to figure out which."
Macarius opened his mouth. Nothing came out. Anna’s expression hardened.
"So before my patience reaches its limit..."
She leaned forward. A pause.
"Tell me who you are."
Another pause.
"And tell me exactly what you are trying to accomplish by sitting there and pretending you don’t know anything."
The room became silent again. The weak lamp above them buzzed faintly. Macarius could hear his own breathing. He looked at Anna. Then at the chains around his wrists. Then at the empty darkness beyond the room.
He wanted to answer. He wanted to give her what she was asking for. But there was a problem. He wasn’t hiding anything. There was simply nothing to tell.
"I..."
His voice barely escaped his throat.
"I don’t know if....it’s actually my name."
Anna’s eyes narrowed. And for the first time, something other than anger appeared in her expression.
Doubt.