Alya was never going to stay put. The darkness that surrounded her was a coffin, made to trap her. Her claustrophobia skyrocketed with the sound of water droplets falling down the pipes from an earlier torrential storm.

  Her hand rubbed against the cheek that the woman called Carina had kissed. Her feeling of familiarity towards her was alarming. If this were at any other point in time, she would've labeled her crazy.

  But everything leading up to this point was strange. She had been tending to her garden when she felt herself being pulled into space. What followed was a flash of memories of being strapped to a table and then placed into a pod.

  She might’ve imagined it all, if not for the feeling of ice clinging to her body when she awoke; even now, her body shook, remembering the sub-zero temperatures she had endured.

  While confused, Alya knew better than to seek answers from someone who clearly was off their rocker. So she made a break for it.

  Running to the other side of the tunnel, each step echoed. The sound bounced off the walls, her own footsteps chasing after her. Finding somewhere safe was the priority, somewhere that wasn't as dark and dingy.

  Once safe, she needed to find a cellphone to call the police, telling them she was kidnapped. By then she'll be out of this place. Some sort of cult or evil organization had pre-medicated this all. But why me? She questioned, I'm just your regular twenty-three-year-old woman.

  Light struck her face as she reached the end of the tunnel. She squinted her eyes, having to adjust to the change in the light. This place seemed far too otherworldly. The soil didn't feel right; the sky was nothing like she had seen and all around there was a sense of unfamiliarity.

  She took a deep breath. Her previous rationale seemed to have been crushed. While on top of the rooftop, her head had been spinning for an eternity. Her upper arm felt like a thousand needles stabbed through her skin and insides felt like they were melting. The pain had only subsided once that Carina woman had appeared.

  She couldn’t take in her surroundings till now. Everything felt so foreign, even the atmosphere, the air was thicker; it made it harder to breathe than what she was used to. The unsettling reality that she could be in another world came bearing down on her.

  She only had to take a single step, one step, for that realization to be solidified. She sensed something watching her from above, multiple eyes. When she slowly turned her neck, her blood froze. A dog-like monster, eight spindly legs, she saw herself in the reflection of its eyes, multiple eyes. Eight eyes.

  Saliva ran down its jaw as its mouth tore into an eerie smile.

  She ran back into the tunnel.

  Only to be chased by the monster. If this was all a dream, it had all but ended. She continued running till she had reached the other side of the tunnel, but the dog was too fast, it was already at heel. By the time she made it to the other side, she was at the monster’s mercy.

  But then he came.

  Not some hero in shining armor, but a pathetic drunk.

  But she was still grateful he held it off for as long as he could. Even through his slurred movement and trembling eyes. He summoned the willpower to fight it off long enough for Carina to come back.

  She had impaled it right through its skull, right when the drunk was about to die. Alya breathed a sigh of relief—she couldn’t bear to see the sight of blood.

  Carina.

  She had saved her. She truly was there to help, but just as Alya’s trust in her increased, her next actions proved even more baffling. Carina seemed to recognize the drunk; she stared at him, as if he was the devil's incarnate. Alya couldn’t let the man die, not after he ran to protect her.

  She did her best to stop Carina, and she seemed to comply. The drunk refused to believe they knew each other, which Alya could only relate to. Wherever they were, she needed allies and one more person wouldn’t hurt.

  As she followed Carina back into the tunnel, her gaze shifted from the drunk, who called himself Ciro, then to the one who had kissed her.

  Who was she to trust in this place?

  ***

  “What do you mean, the earth has been destroyed!?” Ciro shouted, his voice echoing through the tunnel.

  A grimy hand went to his mouth, stifling more of his shouts. Alya had her finger on her lips, staring at him intensely. “Can you be quiet?” she hissed, “what if more of those damn monsters show up?” With a last glare, she released her hand over his mouth before turning back to Carina.

  “You need to explain. In detail.” Alya drove a finger into Carina’s chest. “I can’t trust you otherwise.”

  Fidgeting with her fingers, Carina responded. “Fine. We’ve been taken by aliens, I’m sure you may remember things with haziness.”

  Remember things in haziness? Besides his memories inside the icy pod and the events leading to their teleportation, he remembered everything so vividly. Those robots driven by fleshy brains with their own pair of eyes and limbs. He shivered in memory.

  “When we were all kidnapped, we were placed into cryogenic freezing. Our bodies were frozen in pods for years. We haven't aged, we haven’t had a single change to our looks. We were in those pods for roughly a hundred years,” continued Carina.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Both Ciro’s and Alya’s eyes widened in shock. A hundred years had passed, and if true, everyone they knew was gone, killed by the inevitability of time. While they had remained the same, frozen in a pod. Ciro’s temples pounded, struggling to comprehend the flow of time.

  Truthfully, he had nothing to hold on to on his planet. No family. No friends. He only had a dog to call his own, and he hated him. However, Carina’s words ignited a realization in Ciro. “Wait. You said a hundred years have passed. But… the Earth, what happened to it?” asked Ciro.

  A sigh escaped Carina’s lips. She didn’t respond to his question. Instead, a smile played on her lips, staring solely at Alya. Why does she keep ignoring me? Ciro felt like pulling his hair out in frustration.

  “What happened to the Earth?” said Alya, glancing at Ciro quickly.

  Tending to the dirt on her fingernails, Carina shrugged. “I hear there was a world war and meteorites fell, wiping out the rest of humanity.”

  “You heard?” Carina raised an eyebrow.

  “I heard.”

  Ciro didn’t know what to make of it all. This woman, everything she said, was suspicious. Knowing she was in the same predicament as them, how did she know so much? Her screen, her system. Maybe I can find out. Ciro wasn’t the only one who had abilities. He knew his capabilities; he wasn’t special.

  Peek, he thought, his eyes focused intently on Carina.

  You peeked at Carina Melania

  [STATUS] Carina Melania Race: Earthling (Regressor) lvl 1

  HP: 10/10

  SE (Stigma Energy): 10/10

  STR: 3

  DEX: 3

  END: 2

  INT: 6

  PER: 7

  CHA: 4

  LCK: 1

  Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to Ciro, looking at her stats. They were just as unassuming as his, although it made him feel better knowing his stats weren't the only ones that were low. His eyes trailed to the word Regressor, what could that mean? Alya's status screen nor his had it.

  Regressor, what could that word mean? Ciro closed his eyes, racking his brain. If he figured that out, he may have gained a clue about the mystery, that was the woman Carina Melania. He committed the word to memory, and one way or another he'd find out.

  His thoughts were cut off by Alya snapping her fingers in his direction. “We're already in another galaxy. Please don't doze off while we're talking.”

  Letting out a dry chuckle, Ciro rolled his eyes. “I don't know what you're talking about. I’m talking to myself apparently, because someone blatantly keeps ignoring me, after trying to kill me.” He clenched his fists, anger surfacing from his own words. He pointed his finger at Carina accusatorially. “She’s clearly crazy and worst of all, we don’t know what she’s hiding. Because it's obvious there's something she isn't telling us!”

  He turned to Alya. “You can't seriously be buying what she's saying?” His eyes pleaded for her to take his side. This woman was bad news.

  Under Ciro’s gaze, he could see Carina squirm uncomfortably, her hands fidgeting without restraint. He smiled, “I'm right, aren't I? So what is it you're hiding? Tell us the truth!”

  Carina looked away from Ciro, opting to look at the light that led to the other side of the tunnel. “Alya, I didn't want to tell you this, but when I was scavenging for food, I overheard some aliens speak to each other.”

  “You can understand them?” asked Alya.

  “We all can. It’s part of the serum’s abilities. They spoke in hushed tones. The aliens talked about how we’re supposed to be hunted. That we’re a weak race put here to make them look good.” Carina’s hands shook, terrified about what she heard.

  Ciro’s eyes widened. What she was saying was adding up. It explained the alien he had fought, its eagerness to fight and kill. “We’ve been raised to be cattle for slaughter,” he muttered.

  “What did the aliens look like?" asked Alya, curiosity laced in her tone.

  Ciro listened intently. What she said could determine if she was lying or not.

  “They were gray…they looked almost snake-like with gills on their necks,” Carina murmured, putting a finger to her neck to demonstrate. “They called themselves Xyphons.”

  Ciro's heartbeat accelerated, beating so fast he couldn't hear anything else. The description was identical to the alien he had faced only a couple of hours ago. And he called himself something like that. Xyphons… Ciro thought back to what the alien called himself. He said people called them Xyphers. Xyphons and Xyphers. Plural and singular, Ciro put two and two together.

  He clicked his tongue, realizing that Carina was more than just useful; she had intel, and in a place full of the unknown, intel was a valuable currency.

  “She's not lying.” He confirmed, nodding towards Alya, who seemed confused and unsure. “I encountered one of those Xyphers, where I was placed.”

  Alya took a deep breath, placing her hand on her heart, she calmed herself. “So then, what should we do?” Her vision swept across the small platform, towards them both. “We're basically powerless against these aliens.”

  “Not entirely,” said Ciro, peering at his status screen. “I was lucky enough to kill one. I was rewarded by getting a mystery box and it gave me some sort of skill.”

  “What stigmata did you get?”

  Silence engulfed the tunnel, besides the gurgling of the pipes. Carina had spoken to him directly for once. And it was a question. His skill—his stigmata. While weak, considering it was only a bronze rank ability, if people knew he could see their status screen, they might become wary of him. A status screen could potentially tell him things about the person. Although he didn't know what it meant, he knew Carina was a regressor.

  He needed to keep his cards close to his chest. “I can see what race people are.” He pointed at the two women. “I can see that you two are Earthlings.”

  He felt Alya's gaze on him, her eyes aimed daggers at him. Shit, he swore internally. I asked if she was human when we first met. She could easily interpret that as a lie. He braced himself, expecting Alya to say something, but she simply looked at him before turning her head back to Alya.

  “So we can get rewards for killing things, did you get a reward for killing that monster?” Alya asked Carina.

  Carina sighed, “I didn't receive anything.”

  A silence came over them once again. “We should go out and scavenge for things we can use.” said Carina, breaking the silence.

  Alya pinched at her suit. “With predatory aliens out hunting us?”

  “We have each other, we'll be more likely to survive. If we sit here unarmed, we'll just wind up dead.” Carina grabbed Alya by the hands, squeezing them tightly.

  Ciro watched on, his eyes narrowed, their familiarity felt off putting. He couldn't quite place it. Their relationship felt so forced…

  It wasn't his business to pry. He just needed to make sure he didn't wind up dead.

  “But first,” Carina said, releasing Alya’s hands. “Let's eat.”