Maximillian Ryland, Demton, 5/29/2051 12:06 p.m.

A feeling of incorporeality filled me. It was a feeling as if I would wake up from a thousandyear
sleep, but would be in eternal nothingness. As if I was aware of my existence, but was
in a room full of emptiness. Only I noticed how the space around me was moving as if I
were heading towards a destination. This perception of movement was hard to describe. It
was so fleeting. Soon this feeling stopped and the sensation of being awake disappeared.
The sun flooded the surroundings with its glistening light and woke me up. I slowly opened
my eyes and got the feeling of déjà vu. A canopy of dark green leaves stretched above my
head, forcing the brilliant blue of the sky in between, and I realized that I was outside.
Surprised and hasty, I stood up and looked around. It was a large, fenced garden with
vegetable beds, a gigantic oak tree under which I now stood, and some hibiscus plants
adorning the garden. They were joined by some glassy flowers that, unlike my hometown
of Demton, had a strong, rainbow-colored glow. What on earth is going on here? Where am
I? I was surrounded by climbing plants after all. Wasn't I in the botanical garden? All the
impressions and questioning thoughts affected me simultaneously in a second because that
was all the time I had. All this was interrupted when, after that moment, I saw on the
terrace a woman with waist-length, colorless hair, who looked at me in complete
bewilderment and confusion. At the same time, her watering can fell out of her hand and
lay on the ground like a fallen sack, drenching the floor. I also looked at her absolutely
confused.
A few seconds passed, which felt like an eternity, until the young lady with her dark
sandals took a step towards me and set her simple, black summer dress in motion. Still
aghast, she said, ".... It's rude to just appear in others' gardens like that! But more
importantly, how... did you do that?!"
I looked away for a moment, quickly looked again at the surroundings, looked at myself,
and then at her again. My mind wasn't ready to answer yet, because it still had a lot to
process. A helpless look from me was the only answer I could give.
The lady in black apparently had enough empathy to be able to interpret my look correctly.
"I guess you don't know either. Come in and sit down first", she said in the meantime and
seemed to slowly relax. That was quick. I followed her appeal.
Two minutes later I was sitting at the dining table of a spacious kitchen with a large glass
front. This allowed a wonderful view into the garden and of course had a door leading to
the garden. While the friendly lady was taking the burnt remains out of the oven, I looked
up at the ceiling and observed the angular, geometric shapes that were probably hanging
from the ceiling for decoration. Very... individual. Not only that. There were roots sticking
out of the walls from some corners and protruding from behind furniture and appliances.
Really very individual.
Gradually I was calmed down a bit, but still nervous because of the strange environment.
From the looks of it, she seems to be quite a misfit. She opened the dark purple
refrigerator, which didn't quite match the rustic kitchen. From the looks of it, it was
lemonade, which she took out of it. Carrying two glasses, she approached me and sat down
across from me, pouring us both some with the glass pitcher stamped with triangles.
"Thank you," was all I said. The first word I had said since waking up.
"Very well young man, first let me introduce myself. My name is Emelia Ryland. Born in
Salt City and am a student in the field of archaeology. Also, I am the owner of this house, as
you probably should have noticed." Emelia put such elegance in her emphasis as if she
were something very special. "Well.", I replied, "my name is Maximillian Ryland and I'm
from Demton. I was born there in 1992-" Emelia jumped right in with a shocked "WHAT?!"
Confused, I looked at her and she apologized. "It was rude of me. I'm sorry. Please
continue."
"No problem, I was done."
"Okay. I'm just a little confused. After all, your appearance was very strange. At the point
where you appeared, for what felt like a minute, everything was like... I don't know, like a
distortion of reality. I don't know how to describe it." After a very brief pause for thought,
she asked, "You know those classic distorted graphics glitches from video games? That's
what it looked like. Only in real life. When that phenomenon subsided, you were lying
there and ruined my meal because of it. Not only that. Now you're telling me you're close to
60 years old, but you look 30? What's going on?"
"I don't know. But what do you mean by 60? What kind of day is it? Where am I anyway?"
I was more confused than ever and had a premonition that I'd better not know the truth.
Emelia sighed and took a sip of the lemonade. With a slight look of reproach, she said,
"Well, this is going to be something. You're getting more punishing than I thought."
Tossing back her hair, she related, "First, please tell me where you're from. Describe this
Demton you're talking about. I've never heard it before. It's an unusual name."
I replied, "Okay, I originally lived in 2021. Demton was a town that seemed very ancient. A
mixture of different buildings of different times. It generally had an old feel to it. There
were also landmarks like a large botanical garden..." I faltered briefly as thoughts of what
had happened with the creepers flashed through my mind again. After a moment, Emelia
asked, slightly spitefully, "Has your brain stopped?" To which I replied, "No, sorry.
Something just went through my head. I'll explain later. In any case, there is something
else special in Demton. A few decades ago an asteroid fell into our town, luckily in a field.
But this asteroid poses two mysteries. Once it crashed down a strange route towards us as
if some invisible force manipulated the trajectory. Also, you can't interact with it because it
emits an energy that protects it. It is virtually an energy field that functions as the outer
layer of the rock. With a strong laser, this coating dissolves, but very slowly. It may take
years and a lot of energy before the shield is gone and the secret behind it can be explored.
Of course, it's all very expensive."
Swiveling the glass and listening to me with interest, she looked at me. "Wow, Maximillian.
That sounds very interesting. You'll have to tell me more about your world later. But what's
burning my interest right now is what you can remember just before you appeared here.
But first, let me fill you in on where you are here...or when."
Still finishing the last sip, she mentally prepared herself for her explanation. After a long
breath, my interlocutor began to tell, "Maximillian, I want you to listen in peace and let me
finish." I nodded. "Well, you are in the year 2051, an age without a past." The sound of
shattering glass spread through the kitchen. I dropped the glass from my hand in shock.
Emma looked at me with an eerie look and continued. "Everything that happened more
than 10 years ago, everything before the year 2041 has been lost. Hardly anyone has
memories and there are hardly any records. We all sort of woke up one day with amnesia
and there is very little information from the past. Snippets of memories and a handful of
text passages exist that tell of earlier times. Every now and then we actually find one or two
artifacts that tell us more about back then, but there is very little overall. The only things
that have really remained are our personalities, the consensus for our society, our
relationships, and our everyday lives. That's what we remember, but not what the world
was like exactly more than 10 years ago."
I was stunned. Overwhelmed and shocked, I stared at Emelia. As I did so, I stared at the
broken pieces. I wonder if my sister is still alive. She should be 61 now. Or my family in
general? She continued talking, "We are in Orphelia, on the continent of Mesa."
There was silence for a while. It seemed like an eternity. "Well," I said after my mind used
the soundless moment to superficially realize things. "I can hardly believe it. This is really a
lot. I need another moment." My counterpart nodded and said, "I can hardly believe it
myself, but after seeing this distortion in my backyard, I have to believe it. After minutes of
further silence, I replied, "I want to tell you what happened to me. A strange glass flower
appeared in our world, just like the one in your garden. This one is actually not native
there. Where it appears, there is a temporary or permanent power failure. We can't interact
with the flower, it disintegrates immediately. Earlier... or rather 30 years ago, I touched
such a flower, which suddenly shot up creepers out of nowhere and engulfed me with
them. I lost consciousness and then woke up here.
Emelia paused for a moment. She looked directly at me and spoke, "You could be the key to
our past. I suggest the following to you: You should talk to researchers who deal with our
past. A few meetings with people who still have a few fragments of the past as memories
would also be beneficial. We should also remain discreet for the time being. Not a word to
the government or media. Too much attention would hinder our search and you would
have a stressful life here. Everyone, whether government, reporters, or the common people
would like to see the wonder boy from the past. Of course, the more people we bring on
board, the higher the risk will be. But let's try to delay the super disaster as long as
possible. No one would believe you anyway, but better safe than sorry." She added "Of
course, I will go with you. Someone has to look after the poor boy. Don't want him to get
lost. Of course, I also want to uncover the mystery that surrounds you." The 'of course' had
been particularly emphasized.
I didn't like her cynical manner right now. She seemed to think for a moment and I
meanwhile looked around and used the moment to continue realizing everything. It
seemed, however, that it would take me some time to realize everything here. Meanwhile, I
caught sight of a photo above the doorway leading to the hallway. "That looks beautiful.
That fountain you're standing in front of looks really majestic. But who is that creature
next to you anyway? He looks so real."
"Oh," Emma replied directly. "Probably these creatures didn't exist 30 years ago. That
sounds exciting. That's Szymon. Mega likable. But I'll talk about him later because there
are more important things to do right now." She quickly took out a device and tapped it. A
holographic display appeared and Emelia tapped it briefly. She seemed to be calling
someone. She brought the device to her ear and the display disappeared. It was apparently
the successor to smartphones. She chatted briefly and hung up again. She came up to me
and said, "We're going to meet someone. First, though, I want to surprise you with
something you'll definitely like." I looked at her a little confused. She had only known me
for just a moment and was already treating me so familiarly. We both walked towards the
exit and caught a glimpse of her living room. There was a violin next to the sofa. But
suddenly it went black because I was blindfolded.
Calmly I asked, "What do you want?"
"I want the place to... well... knock your socks off to the maximum. Apparently, even in the
50s of the future, there are still proverbs I know. For people here, this proverb must be
ancient. It makes me wonder how old the saying was in my age anyway.
"You treat me so familiarly. And you seem to take it all so well."
Emelia replied, "Well, you don't seem malicious. And finally, something is happening here.
Archaeology is going totally in circles right now. Also, at the point where you appeared,
there was a distortion in the room for what felt like 2 minutes, like a visual glitch in a video
game. That's proof enough that you're something abnormal.
"... You could have quietly said 'special' instead of 'abnormal'. Would have been nicer."
"I would have. Yes. That possibility was definitely there. But I chose not to."
Emma led me out of the house and we walked for what felt like 15 minutes. Meanwhile, I
heard only many voices, footsteps, and other noises that sounded typical for a busy city.
When we stopped and the rush of water, which had been heard for a minute, was now at its
loudest level, Emma took off my blindfold. She spoke enthusiastically, "Welcome to
Orphelia! The central city of education, science, and ideas on Mesa! Besides being the most
beautiful city in the world."
How right she was. The huge fountain, which was in the photo at Emma's house, was now
in front of me. I raised my head to the sky to look at the 10-meter high fountain. It was
built like a tiered cake, with the water floor by floor the way down sought. In the process,
small rainbows kept appearing because of the sunny weather. "Wow, this is really
beautiful," I said as I looked at the surroundings around the fountain. It was huge, almost
like a round soccer field. Several streets and alleys led off from the square. "I like the gray
stone slabs in the marketplace. The fact that every now and then a stone slab is colorful
seems somehow coherent." Emma just grinned.
But what amazed me, even more, was the fact that there were people, as well as
anthropomorphic animals, walking around. Not only that, at the edge of the square on a
bench sat a man with an animal that looked like a werewolf. They were giving each other a
kiss.
How? How did animals become such intelligent beings in just 30 years? With such
acceptance that apparently even relationships are quite normal. Not that it's bad. Only
such a development in a short time I can not imagine. What happened in the 30 years?
What happened 10 years ago? And more importantly, what exactly happened to me and
why? I was determined to find out all this. But until then, it will take me some time to
realize that this is not a dream. Maybe all of this isn't real, but I knew that all of this felt
way too real to be a dream.