I was in a mountain cabin with a wide porch that stood atop a hill surrounded by a multitude of trees in endless colors.
Sitting in the shade of that porch, I enjoyed the warm morning breeze.
In front of me, a small faceless figure was playfully hopping after an insect with swift blue wings.
My heart was at peace.
Behind me, light footsteps grew closer and closer. A warm embrace enveloped me, while a scent of blackberries filled the air, sweetening my soul and making me smile unconsciously.
My heart was at peace, perhaps excessively so.
I heard a distant thunder. Turning around, I saw black clouds approaching at a frantic speed.
My heart skipped a beat, and in my chest, peace gave way to anguish.
They came uncontrollable, darkening everything beneath them.
I jumped up suddenly, shouting angry and fearful words at the clouds.
"GO AWAY!"
But they did not listen to me, in fact, they quickened their swift conquest of the skies.
The small figure playing in the field approached me trembling, clinging to me.
"GO AWAY!"
But the clouds had already covered the sky. A fierce vortex formed among the clouds above me, and a white light began to radiate from its center.
The light, at first timid, grew in intensity until it completely blinded my sight.
.
.
.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself lying on a white bed in a place completely different and alien to me.
'Was it all a dream?'
I thought, my heart tight with a veil of anguish.
I sat up and looked around. White walls with no decoration or doors surrounded me, and a high, white, glowing ceiling covered the sky.
'It seems that I am… in a hospital room, perhaps?'
I tried to think about why I was there, but my mind was heavy, and even though I had just woken up, it was tired. Not only that, my memories seemed fragmented and inconsistent, so much so that I struggled even to remember my own name and age.
"I should be called…"
"Elías! I see you've finally woken up!"
An overly enthusiastic female voice called me.
I soon discovered the source of that voice: to my right, a tall woman with breathtaking curves, dressed in a dark, elegant jacket and trousers, was walking swiftly, making no noise despite wearing green stiletto heels that looked very uncomfortable.
"You must have many questions in your head, so ask away, I'm here for you!"
She said with a smile. Her face was graceful, adorned with large emerald green eyes. She was an extremely attractive woman.
Indeed, I had many questions in my head, perhaps too many, so much so that I didn't know where to start.
'Well, first of all…'
"Who am I?"
"Elías Díaz, Earthling, almost 14 years old ES, or 19 if you count Earth years."
This partly answered my question, but it also raised another.
"Earthling?"
I asked, doubting the doubts that ran through my mind upon hearing her words.
'Is it… normal to specify something like that? From what little I remember…'
I looked at her more closely, only to notice one particular oddity about her. Her pupils were black but shaped like a Greek cross.
She smiled at me exaggeratedly.
"W-Where am I?" I asked now with a trembling voice.
At my question, the woman whose name I still didn't know smirked; her eyes showed a sick madness, which however seemed almost… forced.
"Sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet… My name is Ari, humble subject of the glorious Ether Empire and from now on your manager!"
She said, spreading her arms wide and then making an extravagant bow.
"Years ago, our people invaded your world, conquering it in one day! Making you part of it…"
At her words, I couldn't help but open my eyes wide.
"Having come to know your culture, our people were fascinated, especially by your forms of entertainment… that's why they decided to build right here the most majestic Citadel dedicated to various games called the Colosseum… and you, Elías, have been chosen to participate in these games as a valiant gladiator!"
'Madness… all of this… can't be true…'
I didn't want to accept it. How could I accept such absurdity? It had to be a bad joke, maybe a prank… no! It had to be!
Yet, who would have ever devised such a cruel joke? My memories were veiled in mystery, and the room I was in looked like it came from a dystopian movie.
'What if… it's all true?'
Just thinking about it made me shiver. I looked down, my hands trembling. My breath was fragmented.
'I have to calm down… calm down, calm down… calm down…'
I took deep, broad breaths and finally my heart slowed its race.
'Anyway… "valiant" gladiator, huh? Sounds a lot like "slave toy for our entertainment."'
I sighed resignedly.
'Not that I can do much to avoid that, at least for now…'
I smiled forlornly.
I looked up; in front of me Ari was staring at me with a smiling gaze.
'So she is an alien… yet, apart from the pupils, she looks exactly like a human…'
"So, you're an alien?" I asked to clarify my doubt.
"How rude…" she replied, feigning offense, "I'd prefer if you called me an Etheralith."
"Mmh," I nodded.
'So, in fact, she's an alien…'
"But, apart from your pupils, you look very much like a human…" I commented.
"That's because my race itself doesn't have a fixed form… at birth, we look like… how can I explain… slime? But as we grow, we can choose to modify our entire body, simulating the physical appearance of another race of our choice… even changing appearance, we keep distinctive traits that identify us as Etheraliths…" she explained.
"Well, if you don't have any other questions, we can go!" she urged after a moment of awkward silence, motioning for me to get up and follow her.
Actually, I remained silent not because I had no more questions to ask, but because I had too many questions and didn't know where to start.
'I'll have time to ask them later…'
"Go where?" I asked.
"To your new home!"
She said, walking briskly toward a wall of the room. I followed her, confused, after all, there were no doors in the direction we were heading. However, when Ari was just a step away from the wall, a wide section of it moved, creating an opening we could exit through.
"W-what?!" I couldn't help but be stunned.
Ari chuckled at my reaction.
"If you're already surprised by this, wait until you see the rest, hehehe," she declared, turning around.
However, upon seeing me, she raised her eyebrows, scanned me from head to toe, and stopped walking.
"Ah right! I needed to give you something!"
Noticing her reaction when she looked at me, I instinctively looked down.
'Oh shit!' I was completely naked. I instinctively covered my private parts with my hands.
Ari rummaged through the pockets of her dark blue jacket, pulling out a silver bracelet shaped like a band with a snap closure. A bracelet and not clothes, why a bracelet? I mean, not like she could pull clothes out of her pockets, but still, why a bracelet?
"Put it on your wrist," she urged, extending her hand to give me the object.
"Uh… but…"
I was a little embarrassed, if I took the bracelet from her hands, I'd reveal what they were currently covering.
"Come on! Don't act like a kid! I've already seen everything anyway!" she commented.
I sighed and quickly reached out to grab the object, then turned around, embarrassed.
"All this drama just because you're naked, you're really childish…" she commented.
"...but…" I protested weakly as I put on the bracelet.
Once I wore it, the snap clasp disappeared, and the bracelet automatically adjusted to the size of my wrist.
"What do I do after putting it on?" I asked, ignoring the bracelet's weirdness as much as I could.
But there was no reply from behind me, only a playful, amused giggle and the clicking sound of her steps.
'I couldn't hear her footsteps earlier, maybe my senses have woken up a bit, or she's making sure I can hear them, but anyway, why is she coming closer?'
I thought, flustered.
The clicking stopped once she was close to me. She blew into my ear, and the embarrassment made me swallow nervously.
"W-What are you doing?!" I squealed, not very masculinely.
"What if I took off my clothes too?" The sensual tone she used made my mind spiral way too fast.
My body reacted naturally, and I repeat, naturally, to the image in my mind. However, I didn't even have the mental clarity to cover myself. I stood there frozen, enchanted by her words.
Then, a hard slap on the back brought me back to reality, nearly making me fall forward.
"Did you put on the bracelet?" she asked in a normal voice, as if nothing had just happened.
"WHAT!?" I exclaimed, stunned.
"Oh, were you actually considering my offer?" she asked slyly, bursting into amused laughter.
"N-No… of course not…"
At my obvious lie, her sly laughter grew even louder.
'So she was messing with me… I mean, it was obvious… and yet…' I thought, swallowing my embarrassment.
"What does this bracelet even do?" I asked, regaining a bit of composure.
"The bracelet you're wearing is called TioTio, made by Kehlt Industries, and it has many features that'll be really helpful from now on, first of all, you need to initialize it…"
"And how do I do that?"
"Say 'IniTio'," she explained.
"IniTio?" I asked, confused.
At my words, the gray bracelet lit up, gradually increasing in brightness. Once it reached a considerable glow, it returned to its original state, except now it displayed a golden message saying "Initialization completed successfully."
"Good. Now say 'TioTio'."
I did as she said, and a silver virtual screen, shaped like a scroll, unrolled before my eyes. On the scroll-like interface, numerous windows appeared, their icons and names clearly representing their functions.
"Holy crap…" I could only stand there in disbelief.
"Can you see it too?" I asked Ari, curious.
"I can see that there's a virtual screen in front of you, but I can't see its contents. Every interface generated by the bracelet is only visible to its owner and remains hidden from others, unless you choose to share it," she explained.
"I see…"
I turned my attention to the "scroll" in front of me.
At the top center of the virtual page was the word "TioTio", while in the top right corner was the name of the company, "Kehlt".
Below TioTio were two long horizontal bars spanning the width of the page, one labeled "Info and Stats", the other "Rankings".
Below those two bars were two tiles, one decorated like a shop, called "Shop", and the other shaped like a wardrobe, labeled "Inventory".
Under these two, to the left, was an image representing a map, clearly a map feature. To the right of the map were three more tiles, "TV", "Chat", and "Share".
Each window had a small 'i' in the top right corner, presumably to explain its function.
I stared at the virtual interface for a while, mesmerized.
"It's incredible…" I confessed, still in awe.
"I'm glad you like it, for now, you should use the bracelet to generate some clothes."
At her words, I remembered I was still naked.
'Right… but…'
"How do I do that?" I asked.
"Click the shop."
'Click?' I looked at the virtual page, confused, then extended my right index finger toward the icon labeled "Shop". Strangely, as soon as I touched the icon, I felt a feedback similar to touching paper, and the screen changed.
The new screen looked like an online store, with featured items and a sidebar of categories on the left to filter the selection.
"There should be a gift box icon at the top right," said Ari, and indeed, there it was.
"Should I click it?" I asked.
"What a silly question," she replied, as if I'd asked the most obvious thing in the world.
'Bitch…' I thought, a little annoyed.
"Do you train for this or is it just your natural talent to irritate people so well?" I asked, irritated.
"Ohoo, sounds like the baby got offended," she said, amused.
'No point replying…'
I sighed away the irritation and clicked the gift box.
Three rectangular panels appeared on the screen, side by side, each showing a free clothing set I could choose from.
I picked the one with white underwear and socks, black pants and sneakers, a white T-shirt, and a gray tracksuit jacket.
I mainly chose that set because of the jacket, gray is my favorite color.
As soon as I clicked the image, a notification popped up:
"Selection successful! You'll find the clothes in your inventory."
I returned to the main TioTio screen and clicked Inventory.
The inventory screen was simple, composed of various panels, six of them now filled with the clothes I'd just received.
Without asking Ari for help, wanting to avoid any more irritating comments, I clicked the panels, and like magic, the clothes materialized in the real world.
"Unreal…" I muttered.
Without wasting a moment, I quickly got dressed.
'Finally, I feel comfortable again…' I thought with a sigh of relief.
I turned toward Ari.
"Now we can finally go," she said. "This monochrome place was starting to bore me…" she added.
I nodded in agreement.
"By the way… you picked the most boring set of clothes," she said, disappointed, as she headed toward the exit.
I followed her with a sigh, too mentally exhausted to respond to her remarks.