Darkness.
Not normal darkness. Not the darkness of a pitch-black room or closed eyes. It was an absolute, motionless void, where time itself seemed to have ceased to exist.
...
A high-pitched beep cuts through the silence.
BEEP...
BEEP...
BEEP...
"Cryogenic Life Support... restoring..."
A synthetic, distant, emotionless voice resonates in a language you barely comprehend. Your body weighs a ton. Every muscle has forgotten how to move. Air rushes into your lungs for the first time in an immeasurable age, triggering a dry, painful cough.
A metallic click breaks the silence.
With a long hiss, the pod in front of you begins to open. Frozen vapor spills onto the floor as ancient air, trapped for thousands of years, finally escapes to the outside.
Your legs barely respond as you try to sit up. Everything aches. Your vision remains blurred, covered by white flashes and interference lines.
You don't remember who you are.
You don't remember how much time has passed.
You don't remember why you were there.
You only know one thing.
You are still alive.
...or at least, that is what you think.
The room around you seems to belong to another world. Endless rows of cryogenic pods occupy a gigantic underground facility. Many have been open for centuries. Others remain sealed forever. Some contain only dust-reduced skeletons. The monitors flicker, displaying error messages that are impossible to decipher.
ERROR: NETWORK CONNECTION LOST...
LAST SYNCHRONIZATION...
9,438 YEARS AGO.
Silence dominates the place once again.
Then...
CLANG.
A metallic noise echoes somewhere in the complex.
Then another.
And another.
Footsteps.
Not human.
The echo of machinery slowly approaching makes the ground vibrate beneath your feet.
Instinctively, you look for something to defend yourself with, but the room is empty. Only rusted remains of a forgotten civilization and the weak flickering of emergency lights that should have gone out millennia ago.
A flash cuts through the hallway.
A blade cuts through the air.
The sound of metal against metal explodes in the distance.
CLANG!
A strange mechanical scream resonates through the corridors.
"GyaaaAAaaAA..."
Then... silence.
The footsteps shift in rhythm.
Now they are light.
Precise.
Disciplined.
Two figures appear through the smoke.
The first is dressed entirely in black. Her white hair contrasts with the darkness of her military uniform. A visor covers her eyes while she holds an elegant sword still stained with black oil.
Beside her walks a young man of similar appearance, also with white hair. He carries a short sword on his back and observes the room with evident curiosity while a small floating drone remains on his shoulder.
Both stop as soon as they see you.
"..."
The silence hangs for several seconds.
The young man is the first to speak.
—Huh...? 2B... am I seeing things...?
The woman does not respond immediately.
Her hand stays firmly on her sword hilt.
Her posture shifts just inches—enough to react if you pose a threat.
—...No.
Her voice is calm. Cold. Professional.
—Confirmed: unknown life form.
The small drone beside her projects a blue light over your body as it begins to scan you.
Analysis in progress...
Biology detected.
Human DNA...
Result... impossible.
The silence falls again.
Even the drone seems unable to process what it just detected.
The young man steps forward, completely incredulous.
—Wait... that can't be...
—Humans... they went extinct a very long time ago...
The woman remains motionless.
Her sword continues to point discreetly toward the ground.
But now, something is different.
For the first time since entering the room... she hesitates.
And you... without understanding where you are, who these people are, or why they look at you as if you were a ghost... can only observe the ruins of a world that should no longer exist.
In the year 11945, on a Earth forgotten by humanity, your story has just begun.