The Lost Eternity

Elias Moreau had experienced the impossible—falling asleep in his world only to awaken in another, an advanced dystopian future where nothing felt quite real. After the mind-shattering events of the previous day, he now found himself walking through the halls of a high school unlike any he had ever seen.

"You get used to it," Sienna Rogers said casually as she walked beside him, her hands resting behind her head.

Elias scanned his surroundings—students dressed in futuristic uniforms, floating holograms displaying daily schedules, robotic assistants gliding past with near-silent movements. The walls shifted subtly, displaying scenic outdoor views that weren't actually there.

"This doesn't feel like a school," Elias muttered.

Sienna smirked. "That's 'cause it isn't. Not really. More like... a social experiment disguised as an institution."

Elias turned to her. "That's not reassuring."

She chuckled. "Didn't think it would be. But hey, look on the bright side—you're not dead yet!"

Elias groaned. "Great pep talk."

Sienna led him toward the cafeteria, where clusters of students gathered, laughing and chatting. The atmosphere was surreal—eerily normal, considering the absurdity of his situation. As they stepped inside, a group waved them over.

"Sienna! Who's the new guy?" A tall boy with sharp green eyes leaned forward, studying Elias with curiosity.

"This," Sienna said dramatically, "is Elias Moreau. He's new. Also, probably has no idea what's going on."

"Wow, way to introduce me," Elias mumbled.

The tall boy grinned. "Name's Zane Mercer. Welcome to the circus. This here's Mira Sterling—" he gestured to a girl with short, silvery hair who was idly twirling a fork, "—Ezra Holt—" a dark-haired boy who barely looked up from his tablet, "—and Kai Nakamura." A girl with sharp, attentive eyes nodded in greeting.

Elias sat down hesitantly. "So... you guys are just students here? Regular students?"

Mira let out a short laugh. "Yeah, if you count 'regular' as being part of a controlled ecosystem built to measure human behavior under increasingly bizarre conditions."

"That's... not comforting."

Zane shrugged. "We cope."

Kai studied Elias for a moment before asking, "Where are you from? You don't seem like you're from around here."

Elias hesitated. "It's... complicated."

Ezra finally looked up. "We're all from different places. Some of us remember more than others. But you—" he tilted his head, eyes narrowing, "—you feel different."

Elias shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't ready to explain that when he slept, he was pulled back to another reality.

"Let's not scare the guy off already," Sienna said, giving Elias a light pat on the back. "Come on, we should show him around before lunch is over."

The rest of the day passed in a whirlwind of introductions and surreal experiences.

The library was a vast digital database with knowledge that shouldn't exist—books on events that never happened, scientific theories that defied logic. Elias found himself drawn to a particular section labeled "Temporal Anomalies." He reached for a book, but as soon as his fingers touched it, the title glitched before his eyes, flickering between different languages before settling back to normal. His stomach twisted, but he said nothing.

In the courtyard, Sienna led him to a high balcony overlooking the entire campus. The sky above shifted colors in unnatural ways, a visual anomaly that made Elias dizzy.

"You see it too, don't you?" Sienna murmured, leaning against the railing.

Elias nodded. "This place isn't stable."

She sighed. "Yeah. But don't say that out loud too much. People don't like to acknowledge it."

"Why?"

"Because if we acknowledge it, then we have to admit we might not be real either."

A heavy silence settled between them.

Elias clenched his fists. He needed to figure out what was happening, why he was here, and how to control it. Because one thing was becoming increasingly clear—

This world was hiding something.

Later that night, Elias returned to Sienna's room. He needed to test something.

"If I sleep again... will I go back?"

Sienna was still up, studying, flipping through pages at an unnatural speed. "You're acting weird," she noted, barely looking up.

"Yeah, well, I am weird," Elias muttered. He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. What if I don't wake up where I expect? What if I get trapped?

Still, he had no choice. Closing his eyes, he let sleep take over.

Then—

He woke up in his real world.

His heart pounded as he sat up, realizing he was back in his own bed, wearing the same clothes he had before he first traveled. "It worked," he whispered. But something was different.

There was a faint voice.

"Elias?"

His eyes widened. "Sienna?"

He could hear her. She sounded distant, like an echo stretching across an impossible distance.

Back in his world, Sienna stared in shock. Elias had disappeared right in front of her, his clothes dropping to the ground. Yet, his voice still reached her ears.

"What the hell is this..." she muttered.

The next night, Elias tried again—this time while talking to Sienna. As he drifted off, their conversation continued uninterrupted. But when he opened his eyes, he was back in Sienna's world and her room...

well actually...

HER CUPBOARD.

"HEY SEINNA, YOU HEAR ME ?"

"LMAO HOW ARE YOU INSIDE MY CUPBOARD NOW MISTER"

"Wait... did you keep my school uniform of this world inside your cupboard?"

"Yes"

He was in the exact spot where his clothes had been left. And when he checked himself—he was wearing the school uniform from Sienna's world, he spawned inside them.

"Wait... that could mean...

Wherever I sleep, I return to the spot in the other world where i left something which was the closest to me like when i slept in Sienna's room i got back inside my world where my cloths were, as they were the closest thing to me before sleeping and when i slept in my world i got transported to Sienna's world inside her cupboard, because she probably put my school uniform in that and my closest contact before sleeping in her world was that cupboard.".

but then...

I appeared near Sienna for the first time. Which could mean that—

Somehow, I was connected to her even before I arrived.

Sienna was staring at him now, realization dawning on her face too. "Elias... what are you?"

"dunno" said Elias.