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It was really dark.
No. Dark was too simple, too easy a word, didn’t even begin to describe her surroundings. It was pitch-black nothingness, void of anything. She noticed something else: water. She was lying in it. Luckily it wasn’t deep. It couldn’t have been higher than a few millimeters.
The girl wondered how she’d gotten here, wherever here was. Her memories were fuzzy. Her head felt like it had been struck with lightning. She stood up and looked around before reminding herself that she was essentially blind.
‘’HELLLLOOOOOOOO’’ the girl cried out. ‘’ANYONE THERE?’’
Nobody answered.
She tried a few more times.
Still nobody.
She did hear an echo though so there were walls. Maybe I’m in some kind of cave.
Not seeing any other options, the girl started walking forward. She hoped there wouldn’t be any rocks she’d surely trip over in this darkness.
Ten minutes later she was still walking. She’d discarded the possibility of a cave a few minutes back. The floor was too soft and too smooth for it to be that. But during the walk she’d discovered a few things.
First, she had some kind of armor on. Smooth metal was draped across her body in a way that was at the same time comfortable and battle-ready. There was also a gem on her chest. Maybe she was some kind of noble knight, fighting monsters and freeing princesses from castles? The idea excited her. When she got out of… wherever she was, she’d deliver sweet justice to whoever put her there!
Second, her head hurt like hell. There was this constant pressure, like something was ruffling her hair but forgot their own strength and pushed too hard. Previously it had only been a mild annoyance, but now it kept increasing in strength. The girl felt like her head was about to crack when suddenly a voice spoke up from somewhere.
Body preparation at 75 percent. Vitals stable, heartbeat increasing rapidly.
She jumped up in shock, too used to the silence at this point. She looked around, but there was nobody. Not that she’d be able to see them anyway. The voice sounded strange, almost mechanical. But just like her previous cries for help there was an echo. It also sounded like she’d gotten closer.
The girl started to run towards where she thought the sound came from. That was a mistake. After a minute she was on the ground again. She’d bumped her head against something and lost her balance.
She got up again. Falling in the water was getting pretty annoying. The girl slowly walked forward, arms stretched out in front of her. She was not falling again.
Eventually she touched something. From how it felt, it was some kind of wall shaped like a dome. The structure and shape felt like a dome.
Maybe I’m trapped in a snow globe? There’s probably a discount on the creepy ones.
Body preparation at 80 percent. Vitals stable, heartbeat increasing rapidly.
If she really was stuck in a snow globe, maybe that voice was who put her there. And if her earlier theory about her being a knight was correct, the voice had to be some kind of evil wizard, studying and preparing her body for a malicious experiment.
‘’I know you’re out there, so don’t think you can fool me again by ignoring me.’’ She wondered if it was smart to talk to the evil wizard, but it wasn’t like she could do anything else. ‘’If you do, I’ll just keep talking. Eventually it’ll get annoying’’
‘’There is no need for that, Wit.’’
Startled, she jumped up a bit again. Behind her, a girl had appeared. She didn’t look like a wizard. She looked more like a soldier, with her red armor and two swords at her hip. One of her shoulders had a pauldron with what looked like an eye on it. Her blond hair seemed to be radiating light, allowing the other girl to see the latter.
‘’We had not anticipated your to be awake during the process. Apologies for the inconvenience.’’
‘’P-process? What are you talking about? Who are you? And where the hell am I?’’
The blonde tilted her head. “Curious. You seem to be experiencing some form of memory loss. We were not aware this would happen. This must be catalogued. But according to our calculations this side effect will work in our favor. Resistance will be much lower if you are not aware.’’
‘’You called my Wit earlier. Is that my name?’’
‘’It is the name of the current Green One. Everything else is irrelevant.’’
The girl didn’t like this. Not one bit. The person in front of her was creeping her out. She was pretty sure this wasn’t even a person. It acted more like a machine. But, for some reason, she seemed familiar. ‘’Do I know you? You seem familiar.’’
The person in front of her looked at herself, almost like she was seeing herself for the first time. ‘’Interesting. Even though our form is mentally incomprehensible, your extraordinary mind came up with a solution. This form seems to hold a special place in your mind. It seems we picked well.’’
Body preparation at 85 percent. Vitals stable, heartbeat increasing rapidly.
The headache was getting worse every time that other voice said something. ‘’What are you doing to me? My head feels like it’s going to blow.’’
‘’Given the new information, that is to be expected. This conversation is happening at the speed of thought. While the events outside of this ‘snow globe’ only take a few seconds, for you it must feel like an eternity. Again, our apologies.’’
That wasn’t the answer she was expecting. ‘’What are you saying? Are we- Are we inside my mind!?’’ It was impossible. It had to be, you couldn’t get inside someone’s mind, that just didn’t happen.
Body preparation at 90 percent. Vitals stable, heartbeat increasing rapidly.
The… thing in front of her looked towards the wall where the voice seemed to be coming from. “It seems we are past the point of no return. Your mental resistance is no longer of any concern to us, so we suppose we could answer some of you questions, Wit. Or perhaps, it would be better if we showed you.’’
Body preparation at 99 percent. Vitals stable, heartbeat increasing rapidly.
The thing blinked. Suddenly, it’s eyes were completely orange with fully black pupils. Along with those, more gigantic orange eyes filled the room. Every inch was covered with them.
And they were all pointing at her.
Beams of orange light illuminated the snow globe. Rays of luminance shot towards the girl at high speeds.
The girl remembered, And Marcy screamed.
…
…
…
...
…
Body preparation at 100 percent. Vitals stable, heartbeat returning to normal pace. Do you wish to initiate override protocol?
Only one person was in the snow globe. Black armor converged on an orange gem on the chest. A horned helmet with orange eyes all over it. A cable emerged from the eye at the top of the dome and attached itself to the back of the person’s head. They spoke up.
''YES''