In a room with white, reflective walls, enveloped in a cold, blinding light, a young man struggled to open his sand-colored eyes. He was lying on a bed with a white mattress and sheets. Instinctively, he tried to turn his head to get a better look around, but his body was too numb to move.
"Where… where am I?" His dry throat allowed only a whisper to escape.
Although his mind was confused and he found it difficult to even formulate the simplest thoughts, one did manage to form in his mind, a thought that made him shiver.
"I… who am I?"
The more he thought about it, the more he encountered a terrifying void; he couldn't remember who he was, where he came from, or why he was there. He couldn't even recall his name.
*click-clack
A ticking sound began to echo in the room; someone or something was approaching the young man, who, still unable to move, futilely tried to turn toward the source of the sound.
Finally, out of the corner of his eye, the young man caught a glimpse of the source of the noise.
A woman with porcelain skin stopped beside him. She was tall, dressed in a tight white shirt that accentuated her lovely figure, neatly tucked into her straight-cut dark blue trousers held up by a black leather belt. She also wore black shoes with a slight heel. On her white shirt, she had a round silver pin at chest height.
Her face combined gentle features with a stern expression; her mouth was delicate and bright red, her nose small and slightly upturned. The woman next to the young man was certainly beautiful, and this, combined with her noble and confident demeanor, made her undeniably captivating. However, the young man's attention was primarily drawn to her sharp green eyes, which had pupils shaped like Greek crosses, and her wavy blonde hair that floated in the air as if it had a mind of its own.
"You're finally awake," the woman said, her tone cold and cutting.
"W-who are you?" The young man's voice came out hoarsely.
"Oh, I see you still have some remnants of your long sleep…"
'Long sleep?!' The woman's words further confused the already bewildered young man.
The woman pulled out an aluminum jar containing yellow pills and offered one to the young man, who looked at her confused and somewhat intimidated. He was reluctant to take one of those pills, and even if he wanted to, he still couldn't move his arms.
"Oh… you still can't move? Well, that's completely normal; after all, you've been asleep for six years."
The woman approached the young man, bringing the pill closer to his mouth.
"Open…"
The boy didn't trust the woman; how could he? She didn't even seem completely human. However, he was also aware that he wasn't in a position to refuse. So, reluctantly, he opened his mouth with difficulty, swallowing the yellow pill. After a moment, he felt his strength returning; the muscles in his body relaxed, and his mind became a little clearer. The young man finally managed to lift his torso, sitting up in front of the woman. Some reckless thoughts crossed his mind; part of him wanted to escape quickly from that unsettling place.
With clearer thoughts, the young man observed the woman more closely.
'I don't remember… her eyes are strange… and then, her hair… hair doesn't usually move like that, does it!?… There's definitely something odd about her…'
His ideas of escape remained just ideas. It was too dangerous even to try.
"Good! I see you've recovered!" Her cold voice gained a bit of color.
"Um… where am I? Who am I?... Who are you!?"
The three questions that had been pounding in his head came out one after another.
The woman smiled, her eyes revealing a hint of apparent madness.
"Nice to meet you, new gladiator! My name is Ri, loyal servant of the intergalactic Slter empire, and from now on, I will be your manager! You must have many questions in your mind, and that's completely normal…"
The young man stared at her in disbelief. The more the woman spoke, the darker his expression became.
Ri was a shapeshifting alien whose original appearance would be what humans would associate with a slime, and she was a servant of a vast empire she only spoke of in glowing terms.
"…Your world has fascinated us, particularly your forms of entertainment, so we decided to conquer it… you should be proud! My people have conquered your world! They have united the lands! Raising upon it the greatest arena of games in the universe… the Colosseum!"
The woman had a painted smile on her face, in stark contrast to the young man, whose eyes were wide with shock. It sounded like the ravings of a madwoman, yet the way she spoke made it seem like she was telling the truth.
"Shed! That's what you'll be called from now on; I personally chose this name for you, and I hope you like it…"
The young man… Shed remained bewildered. A new name… would he have to live with a new name without even knowing his old one?
"I—"
"Smile, Shed! You've been chosen to become a gladiator, a fighter and entertainer of the Colosseum!"
Madness. That was the only word that came to the young man's mind to describe the alien woman's words.
Shed felt a shiver run through his entire body.
"Gladiator…"
The woman had described it as if it were an honor to be one, yet Shed was not so foolish as to not understand what he would truly become: a toy used for entertainment, a plaything that would be discarded if deemed useless.
Finally, there was silence in the room once more.
"I can't… refuse, can I?"
"No."
The answer was blunt but predictable.
"And… I can't even learn about my past?"
He asked, without too much hope of receiving an affirmative response.
"No, or rather, not yet at least."
"I can't even know my real name, can I?"
Ri shook her head in denial.
"I suspected as much…"
The young man sighed. He then took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself. At that moment, he felt tense and lost; however, he couldn't let those emotions consume him.
"Six years… you told me I've been asleep for six years; does that have anything to do with me becoming a gladiator?"
The woman with the wild hair smiled.
"Exactly, during your sleep, your body was enhanced in various ways…"
Shed looked at his body, noticing only now that he was almost completely naked, with only his intimate parts covered by white boxers with embarrassingly reflective silver details.
Aside from the boxers, Shed had a well-defined, agile musculature, which was strange for someone who had been asleep for six years.
"Not only has your musculature been enhanced, but your body and mind have also been slightly acclimated to the Ka. Additionally, you were taught our language while you slept, along with some combat techniques…"
Shed finally understood why he could speak with an alien.
"Ka? What is it?" he asked doubtfully.
"The Ka is similar to what you humans would call mana… energy present everywhere that gives the spirit the ability to modify reality."
Shed knew the word 'mana', but didn't that only exist in fiction? Well, not that the situation he found himself in didn't seem like something out of a book or a movie.
The young man wanted to ask Ri more questions; however, the woman offered her hand as if to help him up. After getting up, Shed looked in her direction; she was slightly taller than him.
"How about I show you the Colosseum?"
Shed accepted the woman's proposal, not that he had much choice, and besides, he was a bit curious about it.
"But first… take this."
Ri handed Shed a wide silver metal bracelet.
"Do I have to wear it?"
Ri nodded, looking a bit confused by his mundane question.
"Is it mandatory?"
Ri nodded again. Shed sighed, not convinced about the 'gift' the woman had just given him. In movies, these things were usually explosive, right?
Shed nervously sighed again… at least he didn't have to put it around his neck…
These thoughts sparked a light bulb in Shed's mind. He remembered the existence of movies, and he also recalled some concepts present in them; however, he couldn't remember either the name of any movie or complete scenes from them. He noticed that this reasoning could be extended to almost all his memories. It was as if he remembered generic things from his past, but as soon as he tried to think of events in a specific or too personal way, they left only emptiness.
Reluctantly, Shed put the bracelet on his right wrist, and immediately it tightened around his wrist.
"What's it for?" he then asked.
"The bracelet you're now wearing was designed to meet the various needs of gladiators like you."
As he thought, that new beloved bracelet wasn't just ornamental.
"It features the Kehlt system, a marvel of Ka-applicative engineering! With this bracelet, you can control a lot of information about yourself, ah, and it also works as a mobile inventory, but first, you need to initialize it…"
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"Think the word Ini-Tio."
As soon as Shed thought the word, the bracelet vibrated and illuminated entirely with blue light for a few seconds before returning to its original state.
"Good, initialization complete!" the woman announced with far too much enthusiasm.
Shed looked at her suspiciously.
"Don't worry, the bracelet just did a scan of your body… for now, try using the bracelet to dress yourself… think Ab-Tio."
'Ab-tio?'
Shed jumped back in surprise. In front of his eyes were now some three-dimensional images of clothing in virtual panels. It was as if these virtual images were floating before him.
"Done?" the woman asked.
"Y-yes…" The young man remained stunned, "You can't see what I see?"
"Of course not; the interface you're seeing now has been generated by your bracelet and is only visible to you, well, unless you want to share it with me voluntarily by using the mental command Sha-Tio while looking at me… anyway, you should see three-dimensional images of clothing in virtual panels, right?"
Shed nodded.
"You can choose what to wear by clicking on them… or you can choose sets of clothes to make it faster in the 'outfit' section."
Shed looked through the clothes, noticing how some were grayed out and purchasable, while others were clearly visible and free.
After a while, he decided to choose an outfit named "casual no. 2."
As soon as he selected the outfit icon, the clothes materialized on Shed's body: a cream-colored linen shirt, soft black pants, and black sneakers.
Shed's eyes widened.
"What the—"
'What the hell just happened?!'
If he hadn't found himself in a situation where he would likely soon have to fight against other gladiator slaves to entertain some aliens… then… then Shed would certainly have been long entranced by what had just happened…
Shed wore a lopsided grin.
"You look great, my gladiator… now… how about we go take a tour of the Colosseum?"