A deformed gate shimmers into existence at the far end of the lab. I sprint over and yank it open. It reveals a staircase. I bolt up the steps and reach a wall with a handle. I pull it; the wall pops open, and I shove it the rest of the way.

I find myself in a living room. A small, dome-shaped apartment living room, and thankfully, nobody’s home. A table and chair huddle on one side, a couch sits squarely in the middle. Four more doors line the room. I check them out one by one.

First, a bedroom, complete with a bed and a closet. Next, a kitchen-looking place. The next door reveals a bathroom. The last door sports a series of locks. I unlock them all and push the door open. It leads to an enclosed cave with a big lake.

Maybe there’s a way out.

I walk around the lake, and little creatures swim and crawl in the water and around the cave. They scatter and hide when I walk by. I’ve never seen anything like them. They don’t seem aggressive, though, just… skittish.

At the edge of the lake, a small, half-submerged vessel catches my eye. I rush over and see it’s a mini-submarine. But the latch is locked. I don’t want to break in—it might be my only ticket out of this underwater grotto—so I leave it alone. For now.

Nothing else interesting around the lake, so I head back to the dome-room and close the cave door.

Sinking into the couch, I sigh. It seems there’s nothing else large or intelligent around here. I look around the room again and notice a hole in the wall, shaped exactly like the contraption I found amidst the explosion debris.

I go over and pop the contraption into the hole—perfect fit! It clicks into place with a satisfying thunk.

Getting a little excited, I press the button. The room lights up with a bright, cool white light! And… and… nothing else.

I press the button again, and the lights go off.

“Ha… ha…” I facepalm. “Seriously? Of all the things it could be…” It’s just a freaking power switch…

When the light pops on, my vision does a quick change from black and white to full HD color. Checking myself out again, my hair’s gone silver, and the scales on my skin are white and iridescent, similar to opals.

The same color as the strings from my visions.

The scales are kite-shaped and overlap. I try to pick one off; it won’t budge.

Guess I’m stuck with them.

The door I came through is now covered by a large painting I hadn’t noticed before. It depicts a massive golden sphere floating in the dark, made of tangled strings. Millions of tiny golden lights glimmer within the mesh that makes up the sphere, and more strings reach down into the vast darkness below, while others come in from all directions, wrapping and tangling themselves into it. It’s a mesmerizing sight, both beautiful and unsettling.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Something is definitely not right here…

Wandering back through the rooms, I end up in the bedroom and check out the closet. There are a couple of sets of clothes in there, which I quickly throw on to cover myself, even though they’re way too small. It just feels weird to be naked, even when nobody’s around.

There’s also a gun-like device and a small dagger.

I immediately put the gun to my head and pull the trigger. A flash of light shoots out, but my head’s fine. Not even a headache. I try slicing my neck with the dagger—again, not even a scratch.

Seriously?

I need to find a better weapon. There’s gotta be something in this world that can wreck this body. This is getting ridiculous.

I rummage through the bed and find a box underneath, containing a key, a metal card, and two gold-colored bars. I wonder if it’s real gold—it sure feels real. The weight, the way it catches the light…

Yep, definitely feels like gold. You know what they say: Finders keepers, losers… well, he’s dead… So, finders keepers.

Next, I head into the kitchen. A storage area has what looks like food and cooking stuff, but I don’t recognize anything. The food, especially, looks super weird. This food isn’t anything from Earth. I wouldn't even know where to begin.

So, I’m probably not on Earth anymore, at least not the one I know. The old guy seemed totally human, and in that memory, he spoke and wrote in English. There’s some cooked food and half-eaten stuff on the counter.

Is this even edible?

eyeing a particularly lumpy, greenish blob with suspicion. Deciding to take the plunge, I pinch off a tiny piece and pop it into my mouth. I chew cautiously.

Huh. I can still taste! It doesn’t taste good, mind you. Or smell great, for that matter. But taste is there. That’s a win. I loved cooking and eating back on Earth. Good times.

I swallow the questionable morsel, silently praying it isn’t going to give me food poisoning.

It definitely wasn’t fresh.

Right after I swallow, I feel a little brust of energy in my stomach. Then…the food just…vanishes. I let out a long breath. My abdomen feels completely empty.

How does this body even work? Does it need water and food? This body doesn’t seem to have any way to get rid of waste. Do I just turn everything into energy? Would I even get fat? Eating and not getting fat is a dream come true!

This body, which clearly has a serious disregard for basic biology and physics, raises so many questions it’s giving me a headache. If I wasn’t so focused on getting back to the afterlife, this body would be seriously amazing. It seems to function perfectly fine without needing water or, apparently, generating any waste.

Could I be stuck in this thing forever?

The thought of being stuck in this body forever is seriously freaking me out. I have to find a way to destroy this body or at least get my consciousness out of it.

I glance back at the remaining food and take a deep breath.

Okay, panicking won’t help. At least I’m still me, with free will, able to move around and check out this world.

With a tiny spark of renewed optimism, I eye another weird-looking food item. It resembles a shriveled purple fruit. Tentatively, I take a bite.

“Blegh!” I immediately spit it out, utterly disappointed.

This world would be miserable if all the food tasted like that!