Reboot: A Hybrid's Odyssey

Chapter 2: A Brush With Death

Stephanie felt her body floating from the solid ground as a strange, warm glow washed over her. As she began to awaken, her vision was blurry when she opened her eyes before clearing up after the second blink. She blinks a few times before pushing herself up from the ground, her body feeling strangely lighter. Stephanie shook her head and patted her chest to ensure nothing happened to her, but she perked up when she noticed the ground was translucent and the injury on her chest was gone.

Stephanie quickly jerked her head up from staring at the ground, only to realize there was no ground beneath her. She looked around and saw she was in a gigantic black room, like outer space, but without stars or planets. The air in the dark room was heavy, and Stephanie felt as if she were submerged, her arms moving through an unseen liquid enveloping her from all sides, almost like she was swimming underwater.

She was able to breathe perfectly and didn't feel suffocated from the liquid filling her lungs—although she wasn't sure that she had lungs in the first place. When she looked up towards the sky, Stephanie perked up when she noticed millions of pieces of technology floating around the area with her, including TVs, speakers, keyboards, and other devices.

"Wh-where am I?" Stephanie stammered, her voice echoing through the darkness as she looked away from the sky. "This doesn't look like heaven or hell."

She looked around the black room to check for anyone or anything before shivering from the cold air blowing past her. The cold air made her curl her limbs close to her body, causing her to shiver, although she didn't develop goosebumps. Stephanie was naked, but thankfully, her gender wasn't revealed. Yet she wasn't sure how she could feel cold inside the unknown place she was inside.

"It's so cold around here." Stephanie shivered, seeing no puffs of condensation coming from her mouth. "Why is it so cold?"

Stephanie looked back at the sky, watching the technology floating around and occasionally bumping into each other. She looked down from the sky and out into the distance but saw no one around. She squinted to see if anyone was in the distance, but none was. Stephanie realized there was no one nearby that Stephanie could call for help. She uncurled her limbs from her body and covered her mouth with her hands, calling out, "¿Hola? Is anyone around here?"

There was no response to Stephanie's question. She cleared her throat and called as loudly as she could, "¡¿Hola?! Is there anyone here? Please answer my call!"

Stephanie received no response to her question, so she lowered her hands from cupping around her mouth. Only the eerie silence filled the air. There were no heartbeats or breathing, just utter silence. Stephanie shivered again from the cold and wrapped her arms tightly around herself, trying to fend off the strange chill in the pitch-black room.

Everything feels too cold, too silent, and too otherworldly. Stephanie began to curl her body close to her body to keep her body warm when a faint light blue glow in the distance caught her attention as she uncurled. She turned towards what glowed and saw the same faint, light blue glow blinking slowly.

"What's that?" Stephanie whispered, turning toward the blue light source. She covered her mouth and called out, "¿Hola? Who's down there?"

There was no response to her question. She gazed at the slowly blinking faint light blue glow, curious about its source. Could it be someone or something? Could it be a gateway somewhere, or could it be someone familiar? A feeling of confusion, curiosity, and a captivating aura enveloped Stephanie as she gazed at the light. It was calling for her in a strange, unexplained way.

Stephanie moved her arm forward and started swimming towards the faint light blue glow, her long hazelnut hair flicking in the breathable 'liquid' as she approached the light. As she swam, feelings of doubt started to resurface in her mind as she pondered the possibility of being accidentally sent to a dangerous place like hell.