Chapter Text
Darkness.
It consumed her.
Thick, suffocating black. The air stank of oil and metal. Her own ragged breathing echoed off the walls, too loud, too close. She blinked, but nothing changed—no light, no shape, no sense of where she was.
Her fingers scraped against cold steel as she felt her way along the floor, the walls, anything. Smooth. Boxlike. Her heart slammed against her ribs. She was trapped – an animal in a cage.
“Hello?” Her voice cracked, rough from disuse. “Is anyone there?”
Silence.
She pressed her palms against the wall, forcing herself to breathe. Something deep in her gut told her not to scream —that it wouldn’t help. She obeyed this impulse, though she had no idea where it came from.
Then she felt it.
A vibration. Subtle at first, like a heartbeat beneath her feet. Then louder. The walls groaned, metal grinded against metal.
The room - no, the Box – was moving.
Upwards.
She stumbled, her shoulder slamming into a wall. The sound grew louder; in a flurry of panic, she forgot her quiet resolve.
“Hey!” she shouted, voice sharp with fear. “Let me out! Please!”
Her plea fell on deaf ears. The only reply being the relentless clanking of unseen chains above. Her stomach twisted violently as the Box continued its ascent.
Minutes passed. Or maybe hours. There was no way to tell.
Think. Think. Who am I?
Her mind was empty. Blank. Wiped clean like a factory reset.
Except for one word. Three syllables
Lilia.
Li-li-ah.
Her name echoed in the darkness, a single thread in a web of nothing. No other memories surfaced during her seemingly endless climb. Just fragments—facts, formulas, words from a language she didn’t remember learning.
She remembered how to multiply fractions.
She remembered how to conjugate Spanish verbs.
She remembered nothing of herself.
How helpful, she thought bitterly.
The Box jolted, jerking her back against the wall. Her legs ached; her hands were slick with sweat and grime. The air felt thinner now, hotter. She tilted her head upward into the void, desperate for any sign of change.
Then—suddenly—light.
A blinding square opened above her, cutting through the dark. She flinched, throwing an arm over her face. She barely had time to get used to the sensation.
When the voices came.
“It’s a girl!”
“Right on schedule.”
“Is she hot?”
“Don’t be gross slinthead.”
“Is she okay? She looks a little worse for wear.”
“Bloody hell, keep it down! You’ll scare her half to death.”
The voices overlapped, rising and falling like a tide. Lilia squinted upward, blinking against the blinding light. Shapes leaned over the edge—faces, blurred by the glare. She could just about make out dirt-streaked hands gripping the rim of the opening.
“Hey!” she croaked, her throat raw. “Where am I?”
The crowd above her hushed at her response, a few seconds of uncomfortable silence stretched. Then a voice, steadier than the rest, answered.
“You’re alright, Greenie! Hold tight—we’re getting’ you out!”
A rope dropped down, the frayed end brushing against her shoulder. It smelled of earth, sweat, and something faintly burnt. For a moment she hesitated—fear clawing at her chest—but the thought of staying in the dark pit was worse.
She grabbed the rope.
“Got her!” The same voice shouted. “Pull her up!”
The Box groaned beneath her as hands hauled from above. She climbed, her arms trembling with effort, metal scraping her knees. The light grew hotter, harsher, until it swallowed everything.
Then—air.
Hot, dry, alive.
Rough hands caught her and lifted her free. She gasped as her boots hit solid ground, blinking as the world came into focus.
Dozens of boys surrounded her. And a few girls – only a few she noted. Some wide-eyed. Some whispering. Most just staring, as if she were some strange specimen.
She stumbled backwards a step, overwhelmed. The sun burned in the middle of a cloudless sky, the air thick with dust.
A tall boy stepped forward from the crowd. Not just tall - commanding. His hair was dark and messy, falling over his forehead and eyebrows, but his expression was calm, open. His smile, when it came, was easy and instantly ebbed away some of her panic.
“Welcome up, Greenie,” he said, his voice smooth and steady. “The name’s Nick.”
She blinked, still catching her breath. “Greenie?”
“It means you’re new,” a much shorter boy called out from behind him. “Don’t worry, you aren’t the first and you won’t be the last.”
Nick nodded once at him, smiling curtly, then turned his attention back to her. “You, okay? Can you stand?”
Lilia nodded shakily, though her legs felt like water. “I—I think so.”
He offered her his hand, and she took it. It was warm and firm, grounding her in a way that felt utterly foreign to her existence thus far.
Nick’s smile softened. “You’ll get your bearings soon enough. What’s your name?”
“Lilia,” she replied, with more certainty than she was expecting.
Nick repeated it under his breath. “Lilia.” He nodded, as if committing it to memory., then swept his gaze over the crowd “Welcome to the Glade.”
The word meant nothing to her – why would it? – but the subtle shift in the others spoke volumes.