Dreams in the Distant Sky

Chapter 1 - Strange World

Kaya pov:

"Oww...." I groaned lifting up my hand to caress my pounding head.

I had my eyes closed and my face scrunched up because the throbbing was like having a hammer hit me on the head ever second. I was lying on something cold and hard and it wasn't really helping how I was feeling right now. More than that, I could hear annoying clanking sounds of metal against metal from around me. Even when I moved my hands and legs, I could hear the sound of metal chains being dragged across the hard floor below me.

I slowly opened my eyes, blinking them rapidly to get used to the dim light of the research lab I was in. Looks like the entire power supply had been cut off when the machine exploded. Ah, short circuits are dangerous....and annoying.

I shook my head a bit and brought both my hands up so I could rub my face. I also removed the hair tie that held my hair up in its ponytail and I ran my fingers through my hair. It really helped release some of the stress that had built up and the throbbing of my head reduced a bit as well.

While I was running my hands through my hair, I came to notice that I had hand cuffs put on my wrists and metal chains connected to them. I moved my arms and held them in front of my face looking over the cuffs in bewilderment. Now that I was a bit more awake, I noticed that I not only had cuffs on my wrists but also on my ankles. Lifting my hands up to my neck, I realized that I also had something like a collar on with another chain connected to it!

"What in the world....?" I looked up at my surroundings to make sure I was still in the research lab and I had just got myself tangled in some, hopefully, spare equipment.

Much to my surprise, I was in a dark, dungeon-y type of room, surrounded by a lot of other people who were huddled together under torn tattered blankets to keep warm. Every single person around me had cuffs on their wrists and ankles and collars strapped to their necks. Everyone, including myself, was dressed poorly - we wore nothing more than a thin and rather dirty one piece dress that reached up to our mid thighs. Well, rather than a one piece dress, it looked like an old pillow cover had been put over us after cutting holes to pull our heads and arms through.

I stood up, causing the chains to rattle. They weren't attached to the wall or anything so I had freedom of movement.

I looked around the dark musty room while standing in place and tried to spot someone I knew. There were about fifty to sixty people in the room including men, women and children. I looked over each person's face but because of the darkness, many of them weren't very clearly visible. The faces that I could see were of people I had never met before.

After a few moments, I walked forward and maneuvered my way between the people sitting around. I got a better look at their faces as I passed them but I still couldn't spot anyone I knew.

"Professor? Sarah? J-Jason??" I called out hesitantly, darting my eyes around the room and hoping for one of them to magically appear before me.

"Professor! Sarah!" I called out again, louder this time.

It made quite a few heads turn my way. However, they watched me curiously for a moment before going back to huddle together to keep warm.

I shivered and rubbed my arms that now had goose bumps on them. It was pretty chilly here and with the scanty clothes I was wearing, I could feel the cold reach my bones. I was just glad that whoever had changed me into this pillow cover had left my lingerie on. I hope the person who changed me wasn't a guy though....

"What's going on in there?! What's all the commotion?!" I looked to the side when a door creaked open and heavy footsteps echoed through the room.

There was a tall, buff man who came into view holding a candle for light. He looked around annoyed, narrowing his dark eyes at all the people here. He wore a half sleeved beige shirt, dark trousers held up by a thick leather belt and a piece of cloth tied around his forehead. His hair was messy and fell over his face here and there. He looked like a ruffian. Assuming that he was the one who had put me in this place, I glared and walked up to him.