I jolted awake, struggling to catch my breath as my vision slowly came to focus. Blood rushed to my head, leaving a pounding headache in its wake.

‘ugh…Where the hell am I?’

As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I realized I was inside some sort of glass coffin. A capsule of some kind maybe? The inside was soft and cushioned whereas the top was made from glass and curved over from one side to the other.  My heart began pounding as I tried to figure out how I had gotten here in the first place. Was I dead?

I began weakly kicking and pounding on the walls desperate to see or hear some sign of life outside, but it was no use. My limbs felt lethargic and weak, this amount of force wouldn't even knock a baby off their feet. It was like I'd been trapped in the small box for days, and all my energy had been drained.

My mind was racing non-stop; I tried thinking of all the possible explanations; could I be dead? Or maybe was I presumed dead when I wasn’t then put here? 

"Phew," I breathed out, trying to calm myself. I had to figure out what I was doing here and how I had gotten there in the first place. Closing my eyes and relaxing my muscles, I struggled to recall my most recent memories. As I lay there, I attempted to remember what happened before I blacked out. If there was one thing I remembered, it was my name, Jae. Everything else was gone.  Occasionally, I'd remember small fragments of the past before they vanished, but in the end, only 3 things stuck: a young girl, apples, and a notebook.

“Sigh..” it’d been at least 40 minutes since I had awoken, and still, nothing made sense. I barely remembered anything, and what I did remember made zero sense to me. My body was ach- KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK 

Interrupting my thoughts, loud knocks could be heard from outside the box; looking up, I met the eyes of a young woman through the glass; she was saying something. My eyes lit up, as I tried to make out what she was saying, but Her muffled words made zero sense to me. I lay there confused. Who was this girl? She didn't seem that old, 16, maybe 17; what was she doing here? 

The girl made a few more gestures with her hands before disappearing once again.

‘huh?’

"A-aah ah", I tried calling out, but the words just wouldn't come out. Had I just lost my chance at finally escaping?

Suddenly the glass lid covering the box started to open. 

As I began to process the situation, the woman appeared again. She wore a doctor's coat and a key card around her neck that read-

Junior developer Aria Buurn 

She looked like any ordinary office intern. Burgundy-coloured shoulder-length hair draped over her face as she looked down at me with a troubled expression, her eyes filled with worry. 

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"You aren't supposed to be awake!"

Awake? What was she going on about? 

"Hey! Are you listening?" Aria yelled frantically, "Get up; we have to go!" She continued, reaching out and grabbing my arm to pull me up, making me flinch. "Look, I know you must be confused right now, but we have to go; I'll explain later, so get up" " she continued, helping me up out of the glass box. 

As she helped me up, I felt my body suddenly grow heavy, like I hadn't gotten up in years; my back was aching, my head throbbing and my legs numb. It was as if my entire body had entered a state of perpetual pain. 

"Here." The aria said, "Use my shoulders as support, hurry" She continued to wrap one of my arms around her left shoulder while extending her arm around my back to support my ribcage.

Stepping out of the box, I took in my surroundings; the room I was in was huge, like soccor field huge. filled with what seemed like thousands of the exact same glass coffin I was stuck in, rows upon rows of them, each identical to the last, and inside them were...people? 

I glanced at the glass box right next to mine. Inside was a middle-aged man, 40? Maybe. He was completely still, lips blue, as if he was dead. 

“w..w-”

"Don't waste your energy trying to speak; it's been a while, so it'll be pretty difficult?" Aria said “lets go quickly” 

As we made our way through the large hall-like room, I couldn't help but take notice of the people trapped inside. Men, women, children, all completely still, were they dead? Was I meant to be dead too?

As we went on, so did the coffins, they seemed to never end, no matter how far they walked- well no matter how farAriaa walked, almost all of my weight was on her, she was basically just dragging me on, she was pretty strong, she must've been at least a foot shorter than me but was still supporting almost all of my weight. 

"I'm Aria,” she said breaking the silence “Aria Buurn”

"A- "

"I told you not to waste your breath" she interrupted 

‘jeez I just wanted to tell her my name’

"But if you were going to tell me your name, I already know it... Jae right?

I nodded; if there was one thing I remembered, it was my name…but how did she know that?

"It's written on your cryotherapy chamber before you call me a creep," she added quickly.  "Cryotherapy chamber? Was that what I was stuck inside?" I thought, cocking my head to the side. 

“Ahh right, he probably doesn't even know what that is”, she mumbled to herself, “sigh. You must be a little confused right now”

A little? A little was a huge understatement; I had just woken up in some sort of glass coffin with no knowledge of where I was and how I got there! Of course, I was confused! 

As if she had read my mind, Aria quickly added 

I'll explain everything soon, just hang in there”

“...”

“Oh and do you mind speeding up a bit, I'm practically dragging you along right now, and I can't let anyone catch us like this, I'll be in pretty big trouble hehhe”

…seriously 

___________