I remember pain, the pain of having my entire body ripped to pieces. I remember a feeling of comfort after the sensation stops. I remember a refreshing feeling of waking up, almost as if I have slept for a whole year. And I remember a cold floor that I found myself on. Those are my first memories. No, those are my first memories of this world. A world full of magic.

----------------------

…

I woke up on a hard surface, it was slightly wet, maybe that’s just my sweat. Confused, I couldn’t remember a thing from yesterday, or the day before, or any of the days in my life, do I even have a life? All I did was wait, hoping for the memories to return, but it didn’t, not even the slightest bit.

Disappointed, I gradually opened my eyes and tried to stand up but I couldn’t see anything, it was pitch black. I thought I became blind or something until l noticed a light source coming from behind me. It was far away from where I was so the light didn’t really illuminate my surroundings.

After thinking for a while and calculating the risk of going there, I decided to walk toward the light. I would rather get jumped by monsters in a well-lit area, if anything even touch me here, I would sprint toward the light and die there. Fuck the darkness.

I slowly pace my way there, carefully walking so I don’t run into any obstacles or fall into a pit, this floor was surprisingly flat. The closer I got to the light, the clearer it got. At one point, I begin to see my surroundings, though barely. The light seems to come from above, a hole right in the middle of this huge structure. I could also see the roof of this place, is it a cave? Never mind that, I have gotten closer to the light, finally I can escape this hellhole. Thankgod, there were no monsters or ghosts that attacks me while I was walking, those are my weaknesses.

I was standing about 200 yards from it when I realized that there was something under the light, a group of people, maybe around 10? Is it people? I became wary. Before I could reach any conclusion, I suddenly heard a voice.

“Is someone there?” said a manly voice coming from my right. Judging from the tone, it seems like the sound of my footsteps startled him. I can only see the outline of his body so I don’t know if I should trust him, he could be a stone-cold murderer for all I know.

After a short pause, I replied “yes”. I don’t know why I did that, his voice just sounds ‘trustworthy’. Not really, I’m just not a fan of the dark, even a murderer would be fine at this point.

He didn’t say anything after that, probably having the same idea as me.

I went closer and closer, trying to get a closer look.

“DON’T MOVE!” he screams.

I flinched and take a step back. He probably has a weapon, I need to tread this carefully to not get myself killed. If he by any chance is in the same situation as me, it's only natural that he’s scared.

I have to gain his trust somehow.

“Why can’t I remember anything? Who are you?” I asked, asking questions might be able to make me appear more vulnerable. If he’s a murderer, he no longer has any reason to be scared of me, same rules apply if he’s not a murderer. It’s a high-risk high-reward move.

“You too?” this time his voice sounds less intense.

“What is this place?” -me

“I don’t know”

“…” -me

“What’s your name?”

I pause for a second, I couldn’t remember it.

“I don’t know, how about you?” -me

“I’m Stephan, Stephan Heimler”

“Wait, you remember your name?” -me

“That’s the only thing that I remember”

“I see. That’s a good name, sounds very German tho” -me

“German?”

Wait, what does that mean? I just blurt it out to cheer up the awkward situation.

German? Germany? GERMANY! IT’S A COUNTRY! A stinging pain started to strike my head, almost as if someone tried to force a whole dictionary inside my brain. It seems like Stephan’s also dealing with the same thing judging by his weird hand movements. After a few minutes of us trying to hold our brain in so it wouldn’t explode, the pain stopped.

I remembered everything. Well, most things.

Europe is a continent, Pizza is an Italian food, Marvel movies are overrated. My name is Edward Moon, I’m 22 years old. I worked as a-

Wait, what did I do for a living? No matter how hard I try, I just couldn’t remember anything about my life other than my name, my age, and a few other minor unimportant details.

Meanwhile, Stephan also started to calm down from moving frantically.

“Oh what the hell-“ Stephan said before a loud and firm voice that sent chills down my spine suddenly interrupted him.

“YOU TWO, COME HERE!”

A man standing under the light, almost as if he already established dominance over me, Stephan, and practically everyone in this unlit chamber. He could see us from 200 yards away while we were in complete darkness, no only that, his voice also managed to reach our ears. That alone would be a clear indication that I shouldn’t mess with him.

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

After a brief attempt of me trying to convince Stephan to comply, we finally move towards the light.

-------------------------------------

Ah I see, everyone in here are in the same boat it seems. There we are, a bunch of strangers standing in a circle trying to figure out what the hell is happening. 17 people, zero memories. I’m sure there are more, probably still hiding.

The one that shouted at us earlier is Aleki, an intimidating young man with a well-toned body, bright red hair, and a menacing pair of eyes. Although he seems to be mean-looking, I don’t think he has any bad intentions, at least not yet.

Stephan looks way different than I expected, with long dirty blonde hair to his shoulder, his body is average in size, he’s also a little shorter than me, his face is… rather cute, speaking as a guy. Not that girly of a face, not manly either, somewhere in between. His green eyes stand out to me for some reason. I don’t want to sound gay, let’s just say that his face is ‘pleasing to one’s eyes’. He stands right next to me in this weird circle of unknowns.

Ricardo, a large man with brownish skin. He’s the only one here without any upper clothing. All of us wear poorly made brown tunics, even the women, it covers our private parts. We don’t have any pants or even underwear on, with all these women around, a boner would be disastrous.

Kamal, a rather hefty dude with curly black hair.

Lisa, she cried ever since me and Stephan arrived, never heard any words coming out of her mouth yet.

Anna, she’s the last to appear from the darkness after me and Stephan, she has short, silver-white hair, I don’t think that hair color is even possible, well a lot of the people here have weird hair color. Looking at mine, it’s ginger, short but long enough that I could see it just by looking up.

Abayomi, John, Aiko, Linda, Chris and Dmitri are ones that I think I should mention, I talked to them for a bit before Anna arrived and the ‘meeting’ finally commences, the others however, I couldn’t really remember their names.

If I look up, I could barely see the sky, there is no way we can climb this by hand, it would take days to reach the surface, that’s how far below we were. Luckily, we don’t have to climb. In the middle of where all of us stand, there’s a weird statue sticking out of the ground, it looks like an insect made out of stone. On top of this insect was a small button, made out of some kind of crystal. Besides the statue, a wooden plank, it looks out of place. But after closer inspection, we realized that there were words carved on the plank.

To go up

It was written In weird characters that I have never seen, however, I could read it perfectly. What language is this?

Then I realized that I have been using that language all the time, I didn’t talk in English, I didn’t think in English, but in this language. I still know a lot of English words tho, probably that was my native language before this. Though I’m bad at it for some reason. It’s like parts of my brain were ripped out and replaced by new parts. My brain is an absolute mess, it’s like someone just lazily deletes some memories without bothering to delete the rest. For example, I remember my grandma’s appearance, but I couldn’t remember any of her other characteristics. I also couldn’t remember both of my parents’ appearance or personalities. It’s the same for other things too, I could remember movies but not where or when I watched them.

ARGHH, this is making me more confused, when did I learn this language, a lot of my memories were still lost, probably I would find the answer sooner or later, it’s best to not think about this too hard for now.

“So do we press it?” Kamal broke the silence.

“It might be a trap.” -John

“You have a better idea then?” -Dmitri

“Some people might still be unconscious.” -Aiko

“Yea, we need to make sure everyone is here first.” -me

“Why don’t you search this whole place up then.” -Dmitri

“Well-“ -me

“There’s no one left, I don’t feel any life nearby other than ours.” -Aleki

This guy can sense life? Don’t make me laugh, would be what I would say, but the fact that he could see me in total darkness just speaks for itself. I’m gonna trust his judgment. Even if I disagree, it’s not like I would dare to say it to his face.

No one here believes it but no one dares to say anything to rebuke it, just awkward silence for a few seconds.

“Umm, let’s just push it then. There’s no reason to waste our time here. Trap or not, there’s no better option.” -Anna

“Maybe, but this is way too fishy, this sign is downright suspicious. Not to mention the fact that we can’t remember shit. We are walking right into a trap I say.” Abayomi stated the obvious. Of course, we all know the risk of pressing the button, but it's not like there’s an option.

“Just push the damn button.” -Dmitri

All of us just started to argue, some agree, some don’t. I personally think we should just stop wasting time and go up, we would’ve pressed the button sooner or later. It’s a dumb argument to have, that’s why I didn’t participate in it. A lot of us just stay quiet while the more ‘extroverted’ ones argue. Stephan also has the same line of thinking as me it seems.

“This is stupid, just press the button. Like, why would they fight over this stuff?” Stephan whispered to me. I just lift my shoulders up. Stephan looks like the type of guy that hates voicing out his opinion to a large group of people. He’s probably the type of guy that would finish a group project alone so he doesn’t have to present it. Just my assumption tho. Looking at his body language, he gave off that vibe.

As the debate between John, Abayomi and Dmitri starts to heat up, Lisa suddenly came forward and pushed the button.

“Well, there’s that.” -Chris

The whole floor started to tremble. All of us crouched down so we won’t lose balance. The stone floor started to crack as the quaking worsen. At one point, I could feel inertia pushing me downward, the same sensation that we would experience inside an elevator. We’re finally going up. The shaking finally stops, revealing a square-shaped platform, slowly going upward.

“This is your last chance to, you know, stay.” -Aiko

“Nevermind” Abayomi said with a weak voice, probably too scared to stay there alone. John didn’t say anything, he just glared at Lisa.

As the platform slowly glides upward, we all nervously wait for the inevitable. Will it be a trap? Or freedom? Funny how those two contrast with each other.

--------------------------------------------------------------

It’s taking a little too long to reach the surface, how far down are we? The anticipation is killing me. Meanwhile, all of us just sat there quietly, occasionally looking upwards. I was sitting down beside Kamal, we were just chitchatting, trying to ignore the tension currently in the air. Aleki was standing with his hands up, probably trying to get ready for the worst.

“Yea, I think Volkswagen’s great too, I don’t know that much about cars. I don’t even know how it works haha.” I joked.

“We don’t much about anything at this point.” Kamal said playfully.

I was distracted by my last sentence. How do cars work, like actually. I can’t remember anything about them other than the fact that they got tires and engines.

“How do they work tho?” -me

“You know, the engine… and stuff. Wait… Huh?” -Kamal

“Anyone knows how a car engine works?” He suddenly asked everyone with a serious tone.

“I noticed that too, I don’t remember how planes work, or microwave ovens, or refrigerators.” Aleki replied. He was quiet up until now.

Now that he mentioned it, I also don’t know how those operate. I remember their existence but not the technical details. Again, I blame this on the incompetent ‘memories deleter’.

To put it simply, it's like knowing the answer to a math question without knowing how to count. Is this how it feels to be ‘artistically inclined’. Okay that was a joke.

But seriously, why is this happening to all of us. I hope I will find the answer on the surface.

As we all continue talking about cars, technology, and other stuff, the platform finally reaches the surface. We were ill-prepared for any attack since we were busy talking. The trap theory was proven true. Waiting for us on top was fully armed crowd pointing their weapons at us.

But wait, why are they using spears and swords? Why are they not pointing assault rifles or scary medical equipment at us? What era is this? What the hell happened?