When your eyes finally snap open, it’s not your bedroom ceiling staring back.

No soft, faded posters. No warm morning light. Just a smooth silver dome overhead, lined with thin glowing strips of blue light that hum faintly like someone stuck you inside a giant iPad.

Your back ache, and you realize you’re lying in some sort of padded pod. You push yourself up, heart pounding. The air smell sterile and cold, and you swear you hear something whirr just outside.

"Where… Am I?"

You swing your legs over the side of the pod and immediately regret it; your bare feet land on a floor that’s way too smooth, way too polished. And it's freezing.

Before you can freak out further, a shadow moves in the doorway.

It’s a boy. Maybe your age, maybe younger, hard to tell with that gravity-defying spiky hair and ridiculously perfect skin. He got this bright, curious expression, like you’re the most interesting thing he seen all day.

“Hey.” He say casually, stepping inside. “You’re awake.”

You blink. “Uh… Yeah? Where am I? And… Who are you?”

“I’m Astro.” He say, like that should explain everything. “You’re in Metro City.”

“…Metro City?” You echo, because it sounds like the name of a fake place from a video game. “What country is that even in?”

Astro tilt his head. “It’s not in a country. It’s… Floating above the Surface.”

You gape. “Floating above- Okay, hold on. I literally fell asleep in my bed, it was August 2025, and now you’re telling me-”

And that’s when it happen.

Right in the middle of your confusion, Astro walk over to the wall, open a little panel in his chest, yes, his chest, and pull out what looks disturbingly like a charging port. He plug a sleek cable into himself, the other end into a wall socket, and a soft electrical ding fill the room.

You just stand there, slack-jawed. “…Did you just- Are you- WHAT?!”

“Oh.” He say, glancing down at the cable like it’s no big deal. “Yeah, I’m a robot. Why?”

You throw your hands up. “WHY?! Because normal people don’t unzip their torsos and charge themselves like a phone, that’s why!”

Astro laugh, the sound warm and… Annoyingly human. “You’re funny. You must be from way before the 22nd century.”

You freeze. “…Wait. The what?”

“The year’s 2137.” Astro say simply, like it’s the most normal sentence in the world.

You just stare at him, every cell in your body screaming nope. “…Bro. No. When I fell asleep, it was 2025. August. I had pizza for dinner. WHAT HAPPENED TO ME?!”

Astro tilt his head again, studying you like you’re some strange old artifact he found in a museum. “I don’t know.” He say honestly. “But… I think I can help you find out.”

Astro doesn’t even give you time to process. One second you’re in that weird sterile room, and the next, he hold out his hand like this is all perfectly fine.

“Come on.” He say, smiling in that way that say 'I already decided you’re my problem now'.

You hesitate. “Do I even want to know where we’re going?”

“Outside. You need to see Metro City.”

Against every instinct screaming stay put, you idiot, you take his hand. His grip is warm, too warm, like a phone that’s been charging for hours, and weirdly steady.

The hallway you step into look like something out of a sci-fi movie you’d turn off halfway because it was “too unrealistic”. White walls, glowing panels, glass floors showing other levels below. People, well, some of them look like people, walk past you in sleek clothing, a few hovering slightly off the ground thanks to metal boots. Drones zip through the air like mechanical pigeons, chirping updates about weather and traffic in cheery voices.

And then the hallway open up into… Everything.

The city is floating. Actually floating above clouds, the skyline jutting into a bright blue sky that feel too crisp to be real. Buildings twist in impossible spirals, linked by transparent bridges and tubes. Cars, if you can even call them that, hover along invisible lanes. It’s beautiful. And terrifying.

“This is Metro City.” Astro say with this little proud grin, like he built it himself. “Home.”