It felt as if I was floating in an ocean. My body was weightless and relaxed, and my mind was at peace. Everything around me was so dark and black no matter where I looked. But there was this one golden ball far in the distance. No matter how much I swam toward it, it never got bigger. Aside from that, this place was just pure blackness, making me wonder why and how I ended up here. My mind looked for an answer, but suddenly, a great force violently pulled me downwards. My body rushed at lightspeed toward the abyss, the wind slapping against my face. I was expecting something horrible awaiting me there, like a typical eldritch horror-type monster or something. But instead, a bright opening awaited me. It grew larger and larger and larger, and...

My eyes snapped open. My upper body rose instantly, causing my head to bang into an invisible wall.

"Ouch." I rubbed my head, releasing it was just glass that I bumped into. I was inside in a rectangular glass box that lay on a table, in the middle of a clean, white room. Surrounding me were various pieces of equipment. Laboratory equipment? There was a transparent cylinder on the right that contained some dark-coloured liquid connected to the box I was in. Surrounding the cylinder were the various test tubes and flasks. On the other side of the room though, there were sophisticated objects, equipment and technology that were unrecognisable. It seemed like I was part of some experiment, though I didn't recall volunteering for one. What was more surprising was that there was no one in the room. So, I curled my left hand into a ball and took a deep breath.

SMASH

The ceiling of this glass box shattered into pieces. Not the best idea, I admitted, with my eyes shut tight, as the glass shards rained down on my face, nearly splitting my skin open. Using the back of my hand, I carefully brushed them aside and tiptoed out of the box, one foot at a time, eyes fixed on the door ahead of me. Surprisingly, not a single soul had come to check out the ruckus that I had just made. Carefully placing my feet down, I tiptoed around the glass shards and approached the door. Then I grabbed its handle and very gently pushed it open, genuinely expecting some guards to be outside, positioned and ready to take me down.

But there was no one!

In fact, the outside, a long hallway, was a stark contrast to this laboratory-looking room I was just in. The exposed ceiling allowed the bright sun rays to shine brilliantly onto my being. Vines wounded themselves around the long row of broken marble pillars, their emerald tendrils reclaiming what was once man-made. Patches of moss and ferns obscured the hardwood floor beneath my bare feet. Rubble was also laid everywhere. Beyond the pillars stood tall grasses that swayed in the wind, and gnarled trees that stretched their limbs high into the sky.

Where am I?

This seemed like a palace that had met its end years ago, but I didn't remember knowing of any place like that. Moreover, if this palace was abandoned, why was there an active laboratory here?

I wandered aimlessly around the place, hoping to find an exit; I wasn’t going to risk wading through those tall grasses and allow some beast or creature to gobble me up. After many left and right turns, I found myself in a spacious courtyard with a large stone fountain in the centre. It was completely void of water, and its base contained a miniature forest with various bugs declaring it as their home. The brown wooden benches surrounding the fountain were overrun by mosses that nearly enveloped its entire body. However, the footpath leading to the other end of the yard was strangely free of any green. Someone definitely had been coming here regularly.

Making my way to the other end of the courtyard, I was now in a different section of the palace, visibly marked by the difference in the infrastructure. Like the hallway earlier, gaps in the ceilings and walls were present. Huge line cracks ran through them, threatening to collapse at any moment. Large rooms on both sides of this hallway vaguely resembled former bedrooms, dining halls, and a kitchen. Although most of them were destroyed beyond recognition, there was this sense of nostalgia that lingered in my mind as I walked through them. Have I been here before? But why couldn't I remember anything then?

Many minutes of exploration later, I was right at my starting point. Huh? But I wasn't walking in a circle. Then footsteps echoed softly behind me. I swivelled around to see a lady standing several steps away. She had a fair skin and a slim build that complemented the white silk dress she donned. Her hair was platinum blonde, tied up in a half-up, half-down fashion and accompanied by some curls. However, what stood out the most were her captivating ocean-blue eyes. Her presence radiated a calming, as if she was someone dependable and reliable; someone I could confide in, despite the fact that we had never met before.

"Eeek!" she shrieked as she instantly turned away with her eyes covered.

The downward gaze of her eyes right before that made me realise I was buck naked. Oh shit! With my cheeks turning red, my hands rushed to cover my privates while my body turned to the side. The lady, with her back still facing me, then pointed her palm toward me, creating a temporary glow around my being. Clothes materialised on my body shortly after. What the heck was that? Magic?

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

As she slowly peeked again, her eyes widened. "Oh-oh my god, G!"

She started sprinting toward me. Whoa! I immediately tried to turn, but my clumsy foot didn't lift high enough, causing me to trip on my ankle and stumble a few steps back. By the time I recovered, she was already in my space. Oh no.

I reached my hands out to push her back, but all she did was press her head tightly into my chest, wrapping her arms around my body.

"I can't believe it... I can't believe it worked! I missed you! It's been so long..."

My body tensed up. This hug felt so foreign, yet so familiar. It felt like a missing part of me that I yearned for, but at the same time, it induced a sense of unease within my being. I continued to stand there awkwardly with my hands still extended outwards. Was I supposed to hug her back? Why was she acting like she knew me?

Just like that, the two of us stood there for a minute or so, with me and my arms stretched out, and with her head still buried into my chest.

"Who are you?" I finally broke the silence.

"Huh...?" She immediately looked up with a confused expression. There was a tear streaming down her cheek. "You... don't remember me?"

"No, get off me!" I lightly shoved her backwards.

"Oh." Her gaze went downward as the gentle curve of her lips faded. Her finger reached up to wipe the tear off. "I-I guess It's not a perfect machine after all..."

But, like the flip of a switch, her melancholic look vanished, and her face brightened. "It's okay! Follow me, I'll explain to you everything."

Follow me, she said. Why would I? For all I knew, this could have been an elaborate trap to get me back into the glass box. They always say that looks can be deceiving, and with beauty like hers, it wouldn’t be hard to get tricked. As she opened the door leading back into the laboratory, I turned on my heel and sprinted away as fast as possible. Not a chance, lady.

But I was abruptly stopped by a rope that wrapped around my waist. Looking down, this rope radiated a red-coloured aura, and when I grabbed it to free myself, it didn't quite feel like a rope. It had no fibres or strands on it.

"Where are you going!" the lady called out. Beckoning with her fingers, I started to float toward her.

What? Magic again? How am I floating?

Seconds later, I was before her, and the rope around me disintegrated, bringing my feet back to the ground.

"I won't hurt you. Promise me you won't run away again?"

I stared back silently at her, my eyes filled with hesitation. On one hand, I wanted to, but on the other, it wouldn't matter if I did anyway with what she could do.

"Well, you've never been one to easily trust others." A loud sigh followed before she continued: "Look, if I wanted to hurt you, don't you already think I would have?"

I couldn't deny that.

"Okay..." I reluctantly replied. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to listen to her for now.

And so, we both entered the laboratory.

"Here, just relax while I clean this up." She guided me to a chair. Her palm then faced toward the glass shards inside the box and all over the ground. A translucent white glow enveloped the shards afterwards, and with her palm acting as a control, she telekinetically lifted and brought all the broken shards over to a trash bin and dropped them into it. Then she jumped into the seat next to mine.

"By the way, how did you do that? The rope thing, and these clothes," I asked as my hands reached to feel the cloth on me.

"No way... even magic too?" Her brows furrowed. "Wait, do you remember your name?"

"Yeah, of course. My name is... it's..." I sat there, my mind as blank as a sheet of paper. "...I don't know my name."

"I see..." Her voice trailed. "It's okay. Then we'll start from you first."

She cleared her throat. "Your name is Genon. You are... I guess biologically you are 20 years old. So far so good?"

"What does that mean?"

"Well," she paused and looked away briefly. Her fingers fiddled with one another. "Look G, do you remember anything — anything at all when you woke up?"

I scouted the depths of my memory once more — it was completely blank. I couldn't remember who I was or what I had done before I woke up. "No."

"Okay, what you hear next may be shocking, G, but it's the truth. You ready?"

I nodded my head, adjusted myself in the seat, and prepared for what was to come. Maybe I got captured by some evil faction and had my memories erased so that I could serve their grand plans. Or maybe I entered a coma and was going through some enhancements. That wouldn’t be so bad.

"You were killed a hundred years ago."

My jaw dropped. I… died?

"Yeah, you were killed by Zap. Sound familiar?"

I shook my head.

She sighed and further explained, "Zap was an Outsider who, one day, decided to fight you to the death. And once he killed you, he just left and never reappeared again. We spent years trying to bring you back, but... but it was impossible. Until a few weeks ago when I s— developed this resurrection device. And it worked, G. It finally worked!" A single tear flowed from her eyes.

Zap, who was that? What was an Outsider? Why would he kill me? Did I do something that made him want to do that? I had so many questions, but there were some I wanted to ask first.

"I'm sorry, but why do you keep calling me G? And who are you?" I asked.

"It actually kinda broke my heart when you asked that earlier." Her palms suddenly gripped my shoulders as she looked me straight in the eyes.

"G, I'm Layla, your girlfriend!"