Chapter One - The Unknown
I opened my eyes.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Who are you?” the floating robot head asked.
“I asked first,” I said.
“Then I asked second,” the floating robot head said.
“Okay, I am...”
“You do not remember,” the floating robot head said. “There were others like you.”
I tried hard to move my arms and then realized that I couldn’t. All my limbs were tied with wire rope. I couldn’t even remember my name, nor who I was, nor where I was. All my eyes could see other than the robot head floating in front of me were the giant clouds and the orange sky outside the glass wall. Strangely, I didn’t even feel shocked.
“Where are the others?” I asked.
“There *were* others like you. And you are the last woman to have woken up.”
“What happened to me?”
“That I can not tell you, for I do not know. But I shall be your Guide.”
“My Guide?”
“Yes, my mission is to assist those who were trapped in The Tower. And this session, I was assigned to be your Guide.”
I looked through the glass wall again. There were no buildings, no trees, no mountains, and still only giant clouds and that dark orange sky.
“What the heck is The Tower?” I asked.
“A place for souls that could not go to The Judgement.”
“Souls? Judgment? Am I dead?”
“Yes, you died two weeks ago.”
“But how did I die?”
“That I can not tell you either, for you have lost your memory. One shall not go to The Judgement without regaining memory of her mortal life first.”
“Then how do I get my memory back?”
“Again, I can not tell you, for I do not know.”
“But you are my Guide?”
“Yes, I am your Guide. And can only tell you what you need to know. Other than those, you must discover all by yourself.”
I tried to move my arms as hard as I could and failed again.
“You must not escape the rope with brute force,” the floating robot head said.
“Then how should I?” I asked.
“Focus on what you are seeing before your eyes. Exclude me, of course. For instance, I can see nothing but a brick wall. But you may see something different.”
“Well, I see-”
“Do not tell me. What you see is meaningless to me. But it must be something important to you.”
My eyes were directed at the glass wall another time. I tried hard to focus on what I was seeing to find some clues. I focused my eyes on the clouds, one at a time, because I did not want to skip nor miss any single detail.
It had been five hours. Yet, I didn’t even feel tired. And I realized the fact that I couldn’t feel tired. Perhaps, I could not feel anything at all.
It had been another five hours. The sky had become darker and was going to be even darker. But giving up was not a choice.
My eyes turned around. I learned that the floating robot head was still here. It was still looking at me, after having waited for ten hours.
