Darkness and then light.

The poor girl stood there, looking around – a red hue flashed her eyes, then it faded, leaving her in pure darkness...and then it reappeared thereafter, letting her see again. A rhythm of red light, filling her vision, made her heart race.

On top of her head, countless droplets of artificial rain fell, making her whole body wet, cold, and shivering.

In front of her, there was a figure that brought her sorrow and fear, which walked towards her slowly.

She tried to escape from it, but her body froze, her vision was blurry. The second after, her chest was torn open, blood flowing out of it as she fell backwards.

The shadow held her in their arms, whispering to her ear a single sentence.

"What you must do now is ponder the significance of your life. And then, go back to the waking world…"

She closed her eyes upon those words, her mouth still agape because of the pain.

"...that's where you will find all your answers."

image [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2gg4qc3j2t1gd2nborxpq/Banner.png?rlkey=qfjmnlxoz0asd90o1wdhpvwq7&st=osnwxg6i&raw=1]

A loud gasp, and then she opened her eyes.

The girl opened her eyes and immediately scanned her surroundings--a luxurious room with a bed, drawer, and desk. The minimal, clean design of the furniture made her mind a bit calmer. There was a round, big porthole facing towards the infinite stars of the void space.

She immediately rushed to the window, touching the cold glass. She was in space...in a spaceship perhaps? Surprisingly, that didn't make her anxious or confused...as if she was used to such things.

Wait, as if? Why would she be surprised by her behavior?

At that point, the girl immediately tried to recall anything about herself and her surroundings. Nothing.

Her first instinct was to find a mirror and a bathroom. She spotted something on the futuristic room's white-ish walls, a clean and thin rectangular framing that started from the floor and ended up to a door's length. She walked to it and pressed her hand against it.

The surfaced emitted a hiss and slid inside the wall, towards the right. It was an automatic sliding door, it seemed. She walked in. A bathtub with a bunch of buttons and a whole screen against the wall above it. A toilet with many other buttons for any possible commodity...and then a simple sink with a cabin underneath.

She looked at herself in the mirror.

image [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/akqrv374gjfit907mi76r/artist_missile_228-amazing-quality-very-aesthetic-absurdres-black-backgroun-s-2724071513.png?rlkey=q24gqrjodm1lh3g9eyhzcplxa&st=iqtzscg4&raw=1]

After taking a good look at herself, she left the bathroom and proceeded with her exploration.

What was this place anyway?

Another thing made her curious. On the desk, there was a white, slim wristband. Her innocent mind didn't hesitate to grab it and wrap it around her wrist.

It tightened and vibrated, making her gasp and try to remove it immediately.

Suddenly, a dimly lit hologram screen arose from her wrist.

It moved and distorted as she tried to shake it off her hand while whining, almost as if she was seeing it as a creepy bug that jumped on her...but then she calmed down, and looked at the contents.

"Welcome to Elysium, guest#2039842."

A voice, half human, half eerily robotic, stated that string of numbers in a slow, very vexing manner. The symbol on the hologram's screen waved with the sound of her voice, letting her associate the voice with that very image.

"W-What?" She replied, confused by every single word uttered by that robotic thing. Suddenly, she gasped at her voice. It came out softly. She was surprised by her voice, even.

"Welcome to Elysium, guest#2039842. If you need, you can turn up the volume of your communication device."

The voice merely repeated its words, mocking her hearing abilities.

"I don't know where I am!" She said, very irritated and scared, as she tried to remove that stupid wristband. "A-Ah!!!"

She yelped. A silent but very painful jolt of pain spread through her wrist.

"Please do not damage the communication device. Damaging it will result in receiving a credit fine and a possible banishment from the Elysium," the voice said, immediately resuming her task thereafter. "Your heart rate is increasing. Is there any aid you need?"

"Yes! Yes! I don't know where I am! Or my name!"

"According to my database, you are the tenth guest of the Elysium. Elysium is a special, private space cruise accessible only by invitation. According to my database, your name is guest#2039842."

"W-Who invited me here?" She asked, trying to calm down.

"I can't seem to find the invitation message that addresses your name. I shall look into this and notify you as soon as I have found a solution."

"Why did I lose my memories?!"

"Amnesia can be caused by many illnesses, accidents, and similar. Please visit our medical bay for an accurate analysis. I hope you do enjoy your stay at the Elysium nevertheless."

"Wait! What do I do now?! Is there-"

She tried to ask for more information to the voice, but it merely stopped talking. The hologram also faded away, leaving her all alone once more in that dark room. The wristband finally loosened and she tossed it on the desk again, dejected.

After looking towards what looked like another clean, seamless door, she assumed that one could lead her out of that room. And so she walked towards it and touched the only thing that stuck out, the big word "OPEN" written with a green text at the height where she'd expect a handle to be. When her finger touched it, an arrow appeared beneath the text, which told her with a clean animation to swipe down. She obeyed and immediately found herself blinded by the lights that were on the other side.

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

She walked forward and looked around, the white, clean corridor had countless rooms...all the same. It made her feel uncomfortable.

"A cruise...why would I ever agree to a cruise trip? Am I...am I a rich person?" She thought.

She looked at her own clothes. A pair of shorts, some old sneakers, and a black T-shirt. She didn't look rich.

She soon found herself in a large area, the main lobby. Behind her, there was the corridor she just came out of...above it, a bright, LED sign saying ''dorm''.

There was a fountain, the water shone under the big chandelier's light above.

The lobby had countless other ways to go, everything having its own signs and information. There also was a map near the fountain. What struck her more, though, was the huge glass panel spanning across the whole wall near the fountain, which made her look directly at the starry void outside the cruise. Once again, she realized that she actually was lost in space.

"Who are you, exactly?"

"A-Ahh!!"

The girl yelped as she heard someone creeping right behind her. She turned around and cowered.

image [https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/94etz8n2j4y4y100zxt5k/artist_missile_228-amazing-quality-very-aesthetic-absurdres-black-backgroun-s-692506908.png?rlkey=x8p8daacywp6fcyck7cb9nq38&st=bw872rmo&raw=1]

A woman with a pretty but casual attire. White hair, tinted by a soft purple gradient. Her red eyes stared deeply into the amnesiac girl's soul, not uttering another word and keeping a blank expression.

"H-Hello...I need your help," she mustered the courage to speak, realizing that before losing her memories, she might have been a very shy girl. "I...I don't know where I am. I lost my memories. Is there any staff I can talk to? I want to get checked up."

"Hm?" The woman furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"I...I woke up in a bedroom. And I don't even remember my own name. A weird robot voice told me we were on a cruise I don't remember paying for...n-no, I don't even recall getting on it in the first place!"

"This is interesting," she sighed, rubbing her chin, "the cruise has no staff, by the way. It's completely automated and the captain is the AI you just spoke to. Also, you've been sleeping on that bed for two days. This trip started two days ago. This is the third morning."

The girl felt weird after hearing such information. First of all, the idea of an AI-driven spaceship sounded dangerous. Second, two days of sleep?

"I'm the tenth passenger, the AI said. My name is...guest...and random numbers."

"That's...strange. I'm pretty sure you had to be invited on this cruise...what else did the AI say?"

"That it would have looked into the matter because it was strange I didn't have an invitation. It let me go free though...I don't know if I'm a stowaway or…"

"Maybe you're a stowaway," the girl sighed, offering a hand. "I am Kaeron. Let me help you out."

The woman didn't smile, but she had a gentle tone that led the girl to grab her gloved hand. She tightened her grip and nodded, smiling softly.

"Let's go. All the passengers are eating breakfast right now, at the dining hall."

Kaeron led the girl with her slow but confident walk.

They walked through various areas that caught the girl's attention, but Kaeron insisted on leading her to the dining hall first and foremost.

They reached an elevator and went inside. As it gently lifted them upwards, the girl looked at the space outside once more, using the elevator's glass structure.

"It's very beautiful," she smiled.

"Yeah, it is," Kaeron agreed, turning away from the doors and facing the scenery with her, "we should find you a temporary name, amnesia girl."

"Uhm...what should I call myself then?" The girl pondered.

"Can I give it a shot? I'm quite creative."

"W-Well. Yes. Why not?" The girl shrugged.

"Shiria."

Kaeron muttered that name, and then the elevator's doors were wide open. The girl didn't even have time to ask about the name Kaeron gave her...since she immediately stormed outside.

But, well, she liked it.

"Shiria, "she mumbled, exiting the elevator. "Shiria...Shiria…" she repeated in small whispers. Yes. It did sound good enough.

She raised her head once more and, to her surprise, the elevator brought her to the dining hall directly. A whole floor dedicated to it, even if it wasn't any bigger than a school's canteen. Shiria looked around and realized there weren't any stairs. This cruise made her feel more anxious as time passed…

Shiria saw something pretty strange. The nine passengers (excluding Kaeron), who were at different tables, divided in groups, had different ages but they were all females. No men in sight.

"Ah! Kaeron! I thought you were skipping breakfast because of my little joke of yesterday!" One of them exclaimed, shifting her eyes from Kaeron to Shiria in a split second. "Hm?! Who is this girl?!"

Kaeron explained the situation briefly on Shiria's behalf, probably because she realized that Shiria was still shaken by everything.

And Shiria was, indeed, very nervous. She sat next to Kaeron and waited for her to finish speaking while fidgeting and avoiding eye contact.

As soon as she was done, one of the passengers chuckled.

"She's probably a stowaway. Probably lying about her memories too. Ah-haha!"

These words came out of the girl who first noticed Shiria and greeted Kaeron. A blonde girl with fluffy, short hair, dressed in childish clothes and colors.

"I-I'm not lying! I'm serious! I don't remember anything!"

"The AI didn't see you as an intruder, correct?" Another girl speaks up. Brown, short hair, glasses, and deep blue eyes. She wore a pretty and classy dress. "I'm an engineer. I can definitely tell you that stowaways are hard to find in this kind of place. Though...the amnesia case is very weird. Do you feel sore? Hungry? Thirsty? You slept for two days, after all."

"I feel...I'm okay..." Shiria replied.

"Hmm…" another woman made her presence known with a long, pensive sigh. "Well. You should go to the medical facility that is on this cruise and have yourself checked up, no? Amnesia isn't that good of a thing."

"I-I think I should, yes..."

Shiria tried to get up, but soon her head felt dizzy, her legs went limp...and her body almost touched the ground. She felt a faint voice behind her and a very comforting warmth lifted her up. "Easy, easy there...gosh, you don't feel so well at all."

And then, it was darkness.