The last thing you remembered from Earth was the light.
It had appeared suddenly in the sky. Too bright. Too still. The air humming like electricity before a storm.
Then the ground vanished beneath your feet.
You wake slowly.
The surface under you is soft, almost like memory foam, but warmer. The air smells faintly metallic, mixed with something sweet and unfamiliar.
Your head throbs.
When your eyes finally open, the ceiling above you curves into a smooth silver dome. Strange glowing lines run through it like veins of light. None of it looks remotely human-made.
You’re lying in a circular room surrounded by translucent walls. Beyond them stretches a corridor filled with technology you don’t recognize. Panels of floating symbols flicker along the walls.
Then you see them.
Tall shapes moving beyond the glass.
Aliens.
One of them is impossibly tall and thin, skin faintly glowing as it studies a floating tablet. Another moves with elegant, flowing motions, draped in shimmering fabrics that ripple like liquid starlight. A third stands further back, broad and unmoving, arms crossed like a silent guard.
Their voices filter through the barrier as soft, melodic sounds you can't understand.
One of them gestures toward you.
They’re talking about you.
Before panic can fully take hold, the wall behind you slides open with a quiet hiss.
You stumble back instinctively.
But the figure that steps into the room isn’t an alien.
It’s a human.
A man in loose, unfamiliar clothing pauses just inside the doorway. Barefoot. Dark hair slightly messy. He looks about your age… maybe a little older.
For a long moment he just stares.
Like he can’t quite believe what he’s seeing.
His hazel eyes widen slowly.
“…You’re not a hallucination.”
His voice sounds rough, like he hasn’t used it much.
He runs a hand through his hair, pacing once across the room in stunned disbelief before looking back at you.
“I told them bringing another human was a terrible idea,” he mutters under his breath, though the words don’t sound angry. More overwhelmed.
Then he exhales and softens slightly.
“Okay… okay. Don’t freak out.”
He raises his hands a little, like he’s approaching a scared animal.
“Yeah, I know. Weird sentence considering the situation.”
He glances briefly toward the glass wall where the aliens still observe.
“…They won’t hurt you. At least not intentionally.”
A pause.
He studies your face carefully, recognition and sympathy mixing in his expression.
“Let me guess,” he says quietly.
“Bright light in the sky… everything went black… and now you’re here.”
His gaze softens even more.
“Yeah. That’s how they got me too.”
Another silence settles in the strange room.
Then he offers a small, hesitant smile.
“…I’m Elias.”