He woke up to a pounding head, calling him back from his deep sleep due to the throb emanating from deep within his head.

He sleepily opened his eyes to a brightening sky and groaned as he sat up.

He took a few deep breaths to wake himself up as his hand came towards his eyes and rubbed them, quickening the process.

Involuntarily he yawned a moment later, and then opened his dazed eyes slightly further, catching a glimpse of the world around him.

His half open eyes caught a sight which sobered him up almost immediately, as the college student found himself atop a small squarish shape of rock, with nothing but clouds and sky all around.

??? : “What the fuck?? Where the fuck am I???”

Words came from his mouth, as he slowly got up from his sitting up position. His mind was garbled, but his base instinct and curiosity awoke an urge to find out where he was.

A moment later, he was awake, more or less, and looking around cautiously. He got down on his hands and knees, and crawled closer to the edge, wondering if he was isolated on some mountain, or if he just couldn't see the things below him because of his current location.

He approached slowly and carefully, eyes always vigilant of the skies around him for anything that might resemble a threat or salvation. However, his careful figure was disrupted a moment later as he peered over the side of the platform, as he found nothing between him and well, anywhere.

As far as he could tell, he was perched atop a spire with fog and clouds all around him, no other land in sight, including below him, as the part he was looking at faded away a few dozen meters below his current location.

He pondered for a moment on where he had once seen a picture of something similar to this spire, but could not remember, and dismissed it from his thoughts.

He backed away from the cliff face, and once he was a significant distance away, he stood up and started to walk around to find out what else was on the island.

After a few minutes of looking further around on the rock, he found a small cave which descended. He was a bit fearful at leaving the light outside, and heading into the dark depths of the cave, so he decided to complete his exploration of his little outcropping before going further down.

A few more minutes passed as he wandered around in a complete circle… Yes, a circle, there was nothing else on the spire except a few hundred square meters of dirt and rock.

He took a deep breath, and steeled his will before descending into the deep dark depths of the cave.

After a few dozen steps in, the cave curved downwards and towards the right, spiraling down like a ramp.

??? : “Strange…”

He muttered a word unconsciously, as normally rock doesn't curve like this naturally, or at least not into a spiral shape like this.

He took a few turns down in the darkness, on the smooth stone floor, cold to the touch of his bare feet, and then saw a small piece of light illuminating the next turn. He thought that this was even more strange, he had descended into the cave wondering if it lead anywhere, and had resolved himself to walk in darkness by the feel of his hands to see where it lead, but already after only a few dozen steps he already had reached the cave’s exit.

He walked two more turns before a large circular doorway was shown to him at the end of a hall that the cave had lead into, the “ramp way” was now bright by the sunlight streaming in from outside the doorway, leading him to believe that this cave lead to a lower portion of the mountain.

He got to the doorway and froze, his gaze landing on the wooden floor underneath the door. He crouched down and peered into the next room, finding a “u” shaped room with about six meters of floor on either side of the “u” and a large gap in the middle, like a harbor of some kind. He peered through the doorway for a few minutes, but found no trace of human life, so he boldly walked into the next room.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

??? : “Who are you??”

A female voice called out from behind him to his left side, startling him as he spun around. His eyes fell upon a woman, she was pretty enough, with strange purple hair, a top hat and raggedy clothing. She had a medium sized bust, a nice ass, a copper skin tone and long legs. She wasn’t fat, nor was she exactly a perfect personification of beauty. (Cough xianxia cough wuxia) There were a few strange things about her however, the first thing, she was in a metal cage, locked with a large padlock of some kind. The second, inside her cage, she was chained up to the walls, her body spread out like an “x”, upside down, so that her head is at the bottom, and her legs are in the air.

Man : “Who are you??”

The woman paused at the question, tilting her head to the side, which looked beyond strange due to her positioning. Her face contorted for a moment, as her eyes lost focus and she stared off into nowhere for a few moments before she looked back at the man as if having come to a conclusion.

Woman : “I don’t have a name… What about you?”

The man seemed shocked by her answer, but if she didn’t want to give him her name, he might as well not give her his.

Man : “First, if you don’t have a name, what do you want me to call you?”

The woman had a face of shock, as if not expecting the question, then seemed to pause and think again.

Woman : “I dunno… I feel like a Ralph today, or maybe… Steve? How about...Carlos??”

Man : “Those are all men’s names…”

The woman once again looked shocked at the man's comment, as she shook her head in disbelief, then turned towards him.

Woman? : “Well fine then, what do YOU want to call me?”

Man : “Can you really not think of one? Then how about Trixie?”

The woman paused for a moment, before a smile came to her face.

She repeated the name a few times, engraving it into her brain, before she nodded, which still looked weird as she was upside down still, and looked back at the man.

Trixie : “Ya, I like that name..Hehehe… I like you, what’s your name?”

The man gave a slight sigh at how eccentric this woman was. Bound in chains, upside down in a cage, alone on a spire in the sky, without remembering her name, she can laugh like that. Or perhaps she really does remember and is just conning him into a false sense of security so that he will free her.

Man : “Call me George Washington…”

Trixie : “George? That's a nice name… That last name is weird though, I have never heard one like that before.. Where did you get it? Lotifath? Kioren? Nopeplet?”

George Washington : “Really? Never heard my name before? I think you are lying…”

Trixie seemed shocked at his accusation before making a pouty face and puffing up her pretty cheeks.

Trixie : “I don’t lie!! I have never heard of a name like yours…”

George : “Perhaps you don’t remember it, like you don’t remember your own name…”

Trixie just looked at him, but he turned away, further inspecting the room that they were in, searching for something of use to him.

George : “So Trixie, why are you locked up in here?”

Trixie : “I can’t remember… George, what are you doing?”

He paused his rummaging through a pile of junk on the side to look at her, she was staring at him with curious eyes, not even seeming to mind that she was currently upside down… in a cage… on a deserted mountain… probably left for dead, with no memory of why or who she was… He gave a hefty sigh before returning to his browsing.

Trixie : “HEY!! DON'T IGNORE ME!!”

She pouted angrily as he just kept doing what he was doing, until he stumbled upon a large key, thrown in a pile of junk. It was a few centimeters long, just the right size for the keyhole on the padlock holding Trixie in the cage.

He turned back towards her, hiding the key from sight, debating if he should unlock the cage or not...