Star-Date 410-564-914 A.E.

Solar Station 5.Z01E

I tried opening my eyes, but I could barely see anything. It's like my eyes haven't been opened for a long time. All I can see is endless emptiness, which would probably take some time before it can adjust to my current environment.

I then tried listening to my environment, trying to make sense of where I was and what was around me. In the back of my head I was wondering if this was the afterlife, and whether this was up above or down below.

I began to feel something fluid-like around my body flowing down towards my feet, almost as if it was being drained in what I could describe as a coffin? There were so many questions running through my mind, and not a lot of answers.

'Am I really dead?'

'If I am dead... Then why do I still feel my heartbeat, feel the objects around me, hear machine-like stuff going on around me?'

'Maybe I'm not dead?' This thought suddenly came to me. This had many implications. How could I not be dead? I barely remember how the train I was on crashed but I am a hundred percent sure it did crash.

'Then perhaps I really am not dead? Maybe I'm at the hospital being treated right this moment.'

'****! How am I gonna pay the bills for this! I am already drowning in the debts I have to pay, I cannot afford to add anymore to it! Oh, why didn't I just die!'

There I lay, immersed in a battle of thought about why I couldn't just die and be over with paying my bills when mere moments before, I was complaining how life was so unfair and how I still had a lot of things I wanted to accomplish.

All of a sudden there was some strange 'humming' sounds going off on my left and right sides as well as from behind me. I then heard a faint creaking sound, something similar to a door opening smoothly. I tried to open my eyes again and this time I could make out some faint light illuminating some kind of room that I'm in.

'What the heck?' My head began aching like crazy. I moved my hands and grasped my head, instinctively trying to lessen the anguish but it was all for naught. The pain lasted for a few minutes before it slowly got better.

A few more seconds and I began to feel almost no pain and started looking around and figured out the truth about whether I actually died or not. As I searched around with my eyes, I can confirm that I was in a room that could probably fit around 10 or so people.

There was a futuristic atmosphere to the room. It had smooth white floors, walls, and ceilings with no obvious creases on the walls for a door. There were bright light blue bars of lights spanning halfway up across the walls, parallel to the ground. There was also what looks to be like one of those deep dive virtual reality consoles from the novels I read. Apart from those, the room was eerily empty and very quiet.

While I was pondering what the room was and the purpose of the console behind me, the wall in front of me immediately lit up in light blue lights, forming what seems to be a silhouette of a double door which then parted-ways flawlessly, revealing a narrow hallway with the exact features as the room I was currently at.

'Woah! What kind of door is that? Where is this place?! Am I actually dead or not?'

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I tried pinching myself and even going as far as slapping my face a couple of times.

'Yup! It seems I am actually still alive.'

It made me wonder whether this was real or not. While pondering about it, on the plain white walls, out of nowhere, began forming multiple arrows pointing towards a single direction. Each time an arrow passed by I heard a distinct 'vroom' sound, like a blade of laser swinging across the room.

It was directing me and telling me where I should go. I was somewhat cautious of following it and hesitated. After a few moments of nothing strange happening, I decided to try my luck and see if it will lead me to a place that can answer all my questions.

I headed out of my room and entered into the narrow hallway. Once there, I noticed something strange about the hallway. It was a very straight hallway and was very long, to the point where I could barely make out what was at the end of it. I thought if this was possible and how large this building must be to have such a long and narrow hallway to it.

All the while, the arrows never stopped directing me into the direction I should go. Since I thought this would be a long walk, I began my journey. Deep in thought about all these strange phenomena I was experiencing.

I continued to ask myself where I was, what this place was, how did I get here, and tons more of similar questions. After continuing my walk for over 10 minutes, the scenery ahead of me never changed, there was an endless hallway of white with dozens of arrows pointing in the direction I'm walking.

I grew tired both mentally and physically, so I emptied my mind and calmed myself while maintaining a normal paced walk. As I gathered my thoughts, I took deep breaths and felt at ease all of a sudden, like a heavy weight on my shoulder was suddenly lifted.

While I was aimlessly walking, I completely missed that I passed through a faint but shimmering-glass-mirror like it was air, after which, the scenery around me quickly changed. It turned into a pitch-black room and the space around me grew eerily quiet again.

~~~~~

Date (Unknown)

Location (Unknown)

'Wh-Where am I? Why is everything so dark? Are those voices I'm hearing? Wh-Whose are they?' All these thoughts popped into my head as I tried to make sense of my current situation. I was following the arrows as they hoped they would direct me to a place where I can get the answers to my question.

All of a sudden, I heard multiple screams.

"Ahhh!!!" (High-Pitched)

"Ahhh!!!" (Low-Pitched)

"Stay away!!"

"What is happening?!"

I was frightened by the multiple screams and wails, wondering what caused those people to be fearful. The screams were now getting louder and louder as more people started screaming and it was getting closer.

Then, I saw what made them afraid.

A bright light suddenly shone right in front of me, which quickly changed into my worst nightmare. I let out a loud shot as well, which was drowned by the other loud screams around me. I began to wonder whether all this was still real. I knew I was still alive, but somehow I unconsciously felt that this wasn't the reality I knew.

Futuristic rooms and doors magically disappearing. Being transported to a different place with plenty of people around me all of a sudden when I was just walking all alone in the middle of a hallway. Then there was this thing with that bright light capable of showing one's worst nightmare.

All of these weren't possible in the world I lived at. My calculative mind suddenly went online, I thought back to all the weird things around me, trying to connect the dots. There was the futuristic room, a deep dive virtual reality console, teleportation. All these things suddenly clicked in my mind. I suddenly thought of a random thought. It was a very impossible situation that I thought was just in the novels and fictions I read. But it was also the only logical explanation about my situation.

I have always doubted the existence of multiple realities and dimensions. I deemed those highly improbable and was just a bunch of made up fictional stories by random people with nothing to do. But lo and behold, it seemed like it wasn't just fiction. It was probably all real and I was stuck in one such situation.

Which left me with one question.

'Was I living in a simulated world?!'