- Awaken

"Hey, can you hear me?" Asked the angel.

Dante opened eyes and was immediately astounded. A woman stood in front of him, looking down at him with concerned eyes.

She was absolutely beautiful. Long, curly brown hair. Soft brown skin. And her eyes were so blue, so bright, so detailed. He felt like he could stare at them for hours. They looked like stars that belonged in the night sky.

The night sky….

Dante looked up, and was equally as astounded. Thousands of small glimmering lights covered the black blanket of space. A large planet took up at least an eighth of the sky, surrounded by rings that seemed to bend and warp as they wrapped around the other side.

But Dante was confused. He had never seen this sky.

"Are you alright?" The woman asked him.

"Um…yeah," Dante said, glancing back at her. "It's just the sky. It's so beautiful."

The woman smiled. "It is, isn't it? You look like you're seeing it for the first time. You just got here?"

Dante couldn't remember. "I…I…yeah I just got here. How about you?"

"I've been here for a week now. I'm actually a transfer student from Earth. I stay for another two months and then I'll be heading back for the fall semester. Where are you from?"

Earth.

It sounded familiar at least. He would go with that. "Earth as well."

"Really, what country? Your accent sounds Italian."

"I was actually born there. But I've traveled for much of my life." He was ashamed. He couldn't remember anything, and now he was creating so many lies just so this woman wouldn't think he was weird.

"Wow that sounds fun," she said. "Sorry if this was weird, you just seemed to be falling asleep so I thought I would ask. It was a pleasure meeting you."

No! He thought.

"Wait! What was your name?"

The woman turned around. "Sofia."

He smiled. "I'm Dante. It was very nice to meet you."

"Have a good night, Dante," she said. With that, she turned and walked away.

Dante watched her go. When she was out of sight, he turned back to the night sky. "What the fuck," he muttered. Nothing about this place seemed real. He remembered his night sky. This was not it. The stars were all jumbled, as if the sky had been put into a blender.

He stood. Something had to be done. He needed to find out where he was, and how he got here. Maybe his memory would come back soon. He'd probably had too much to drink. Was he a partier? He wasn't even sure about that.

He began making his way down the street. They were on a waterfront, and there were piers built into the roads that led down to the water. Dante looked over at it and shivered. The water looked deep and way too dark.

He moved away from it and began heading toward the city, where it was much brighter, more full of life.

Something buzzed in his pocket. He pulled out a small device and examined it. Where had it come from, this metal rectangle?

A small beam of light appeared and formed a screen in front of him. On it was a picture of himself, though he was much younger. And it gave him more information than he seemed to know about himself:

Dante Caruso

Age: 22

Occupation: None

Class: Low

Currency: 4 Ƈ

Skills: Unknown

Attributes: Unknown

His last name was Caruso? He was 22?

Dante patted his front pockets and heard the sound of metal jingling together. Reaching in, he found 4 small brass coins. Underneath was a large wad of bills. At least twenty of them. It looked like enough money to buy him food and lodging.

Dante began making his way toward the buildings. The sky was dark, but there were still many people roaming around.

Still, he was tired.

He knew he needed to find a place to sleep for the night. Tomorrow, he would figure out what was going on.

All of the stores were still open. Their doors were illuminated with artificial flashing lights. All of them seemed designed to bring in tourists, to grab their attention.

A bright screen caught Dante's attention. It hung over the sidewalk, attached to a store that sold electronics.

"It is 11 AM Earth Time. Tourists of Elendir, don't forget to eat breakfast," said a monotone, almost robotic voice.

Dante frowned.

"In other news, a new artificial light technology has been completed. Elendir will soon be back on the 24 hour schedule! That's right. When you wake, the light will brighten. When you sleep, the light will dim. And of course, you can stay awake to see the beautiful nighttime stars."

Something was really weird. Why were they using artificial light? Was there no sun?

"There he is!" Shouted a voice.

Two officers were walking briskly toward Dante. One of them had a hand at their waist, where a gun sat in its holster.

Dante took a step back.

"Don't you run!"

Dante ran.