I don't know when it started or how, I just know that I keep hearing an annoying high pitched sound for sometime now, no, thinking about it now it feels like I've been hearing this voice ever since I could remember, or maybe…, even before.
Then I finally realized. Where I'm I, how long has it been. All I could see, all I could feel was plain darkness, I couldn't move, sense, see, talk or even breathe. Am I dead.
And as if to oppose my thoughts, I. We woke up.
A vast, unyielding darkness stretched beyond the reach of the pale white orbs that floated aimlessly in the cavern. Each orb cast a faint glow, barely enough to illuminate a small circle of stone beneath them—just a couple meters wide at best. Beyond that, the rest of the cave remained swallowed in an oppressive blackness, its shape and size unknowable. The air was thick with stillness, yet there was an unshakable hum, as though the very stone vibrated with an unseen presence.
At the center of the cave lay eleven human-sized cocoons, scattered haphazardly across the ground. They were strange, made of a translucent, pale yellowish crystal wrapping their forms like shells, smooth and unyielding. But one—one of them was different. It stood out, vibrant, with a rich green hue that pulsed gently, almost as though it were alive.
The silence of the cavern was shattered by the sudden descent of a glowing sphere. It appeared from nowhere, white and condensed, radiating a soft yet intense warmth that filled the cavern with an eerie, pale light. The orb hung motionless for a moment, suspended in the air, before it released a pulse of energy—a shockwave of white light that swept across the cave and touched the cocoons.
There was a brief, heart-stopping moment of stillness. Then, the first cocoon—an ordinary, pale yellow one—began to crack. Thin fissures ran across its surface like the spreading lines of a broken shell. The air hummed with the strange energy, and the cocoon shattered into pieces, revealing the first figure—an unconscious, male body.
The figure groaned, the sound breaking through the tension like the first crack of thunder. His body stirred, limbs twitching as if testing their mobility for the first time. His hands reached up instinctively, brushing aside the remnants of the cocoon, and his eyes fluttered open.
Darkness.
His eyes narrowed, straining. A wave of dizziness swept through him, but then—clarity. His vision sharpened unnaturally fast, the darkness of the cave suddenly revealing itself to him in perfect detail. Every rock, every edge, every crevice was now clear. His pupils flickered as his mind processed what he was seeing.
What is this place?
The answer didn't come, but before he could think too much, he noticed the others—bodies in cocoon-like shells around him, slowly starting to stir.
Three in total. The first four to emerge.
The young man pushed himself upright, his limbs feeling strangely stiff, as though they hadn't moved in years. He rubbed his eyes, still adjusting to the overwhelming sensory overload. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
Focus. Stay calm.
The second cocoon cracked with a soft pop. Another male—around his age—emerged, coughing, blinking, and looking just as disoriented. "What the hell…?" he muttered, wiping his brow.
The third cocoon broke open soon after, revealing a third young man, gasping for air as though he'd been submerged under water for too long. He looked around, eyes wide, pupils dilated. "Where are we?" he asked in a shaky voice.
The fourth cocoon shattered, and a fourth man emerged, clutching his head as if trying to recall some lost memory. He stumbled forward, rubbing his arms in confusion. "Is this real?" he whispered, staring at the glowing orbs. "It doesn't feel real."
The first young man, still shaken, took a few steps toward the others. His heart raced in his chest, but his mind remained calm, the eerie clarity still filling his senses. He studied the group of them—their faces, their features, the familiar expressions of confusion mirrored in their eyes.
And that's when it hit him.
These weren't strangers.
He recognized them.
"Wait—you…?" he started, stepping closer, his voice unsure. "You're… you're all from my class."
The second man blinked at him, recognition flickering in his eyes. "… Lumien?" he said, his voice rough. "It's really you?"
Lumien nodded slowly. It was him. A few years had passed since high school, but he could never forget their faces. They'd been classmates—friends, even. But now, as he looked at them, something felt different. Something was wrong.
The third man, now sitting up, was squinting at them, his expression cautious. "This isn't happening. This can't be happening…"
"No time for questions," Lumien said his voice steady, taking command despite his own uncertainty. He stepped back and scanned the rest of the cave. "We need to stay calm. We're not alone in this."
Before anyone could respond, the remaining six cocoons began to crack open one by one. The group watched in stunned silence as the other figures—six females, each one emerging in the same slow, disoriented fashion—stepped out of their crystalline prisons. They blinked, and with the same confusion they looked around, and saw their classmates standing there.
The group of Ten took a minute to calm themselves and left the confusion. Then one of the girls Mia—dark-haired and quick-witted—let out a short laugh. "Well, at least we're not the last ones out." She shot a pointed look at the last cocoon, the one pulsing with the strange green light.
"Yeah, where's Elijah?" Ava muttered. "He's late as usual." Answered Jasmin
Everyone turned their gaze to the final cocoon. The green one. The one that seemed to vibrate with an almost unnatural life.
There was a soft crack. Then another. The green cocoon split apart, revealing a figure inside, hidden in the pale green glow.
As the final figure emerged, Elijah. Just like they'd all expected.
Elijah groaned, rolling over as he stretched his arms. "Ugh… What happened?" He blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the confusion.
"Leave it to Elijah," Chloe muttered with a playful smile. "Always late."
Despite the humor, there was an underlying tension in the air—an unspoken understanding that nothing about this place, or what had just happened, made sense. They had all awoken in a dark, unfamiliar cave, with no memory of how they got here, surrounded by the remnants of strange, otherworldly cocoons.
"Okay," Lumien said, taking a deep breath as he tried to organize his thoughts. "First things first—we need to figure out where we are, and why we're here." He locked eyes with the others, determination building in his chest. "We stick together. We have to. We don't know what's out there."
The others nodded, uncertainty still clouding their features, but they stood with him. They didn't have any answers, but they had each other. And in a place like this, that might be enough.
For now.