Genon The Prodigy

Chapter 1 - Where am I?

It felt as if I was floating in an ocean. My body was weightless and relaxed, and my mind was at peace. Everything around me was so dark, so black no matter which direction I looked in. Except for this one golden ball far in the distance. No matter how much I swam toward it, it never got bigger. Other than that, this place was just pure blackness, making me wonder why and how I ended up here. My mind looked for an answer, but a sudden and great force violently pulled me downwards. I zoomed speedily, presumably, toward the deeper abyss, expecting something horrible awaiting me there, like a typical eldrich horror-type monster. But instead, I saw a bright light. It grew larger, and larger, and larger, and...

My eyes snapped open and my upper body rose instantly, causing my head to bang into an invisible wall.

"Ouch." I rubbed my head. Oh, it was just glass that I bumped into. Apparently, I was enclosed in a rectangular glass box that was lying on a table, in the middle of a clean and tidy white room. Surrounding me were various equipment, laboratory equipment? The classic test tubes and flasks were on my left, but there were also several technology and devices I had never seen before. It seemed like I was part of some experiment, though I didn't recall volunteering for one. Moreover, there was no one else inside here. So, I curled my left hand into a ball and took a deep breath.

SMASH.

The ceiling of this glass box shattered into pieces. Not the best idea, I admit, as the glass shards fell everywhere on my face. I gently swept them aside and carefully stepped out of the box, one leg at a time, all while my eyes focused on the door ahead of me. Surprisingly, not a single soul came to check out the ruckus that I had just made. I carefully toed the floor, avoiding the glass shards, and approached the door, grabbing its handle and very gently pushing it open, genuinely expecting guards to be outside, positioned and ready to take me down. But there was no one! In fact, the outside was a stark contrast to this laboratory-looking room I was just in.

My eyes caught sight of wines winding themselves around the long row of broken marble pillars, their emerald tendils reclaiming what was once man-made. Patches of moses and ferns obscured the hardwood floor beneath my bare feet. Rubble also rested around the area as and where they liked. Beyond the pillars stood tall grasses that swayed in the wind and gnarled trees that stretched their limbs high into the sky. If I were to guess, I was currently in a hallway of an abandoned palace that had met its end years ago. But I don't remember knowing of any palace like that.

My legs carried me aimlessly around the place as I hoped to find a proper exit. After a few random left and right turns, I found myself in a spacious courtyard with a large stone fountain in the middle. It was completely void of water, and the base of its inside contained a miniature forest with many bugs declaring it as their home. The benches surrounding the fountain were also overrun by green. However, the footpath leading to the other end of the yard was strangely well-maintained and grass-free. Someone had been coming here regularly.

I made my way to the other end of the courtyard, and was now in a different section of the palace, visibly marked by the difference in the infrastructure. The sunlight poured radiantly through the gaps in the ceilings of places that vaguely resembled bedrooms, dining halls, and kitchens. Although most of them had been destroyed beyond recognition, there was this sense of nostalgia that lingered in my mind as I walked through them. Have I been here before? But why couldn't I remember anything?

After a few more minutes of exploration, I found myself right back at my start point. Huh?

Then footsteps echoed softly behind me.

I immediately swiveled around to see a young lady standing several steps away from me. She had a fair skin and a slim build that complemented the upper-class outfit she donned. Her hair was platinum blonde, tied up in a half-up half-down fashion and accompanied by some curls. However, what stood out the most were her eyes. They were rather captivating; the left was ocean blue, while the right was dark yellow.

"Eeek!" she shrieked as she turned away with her eyes covered.

The gaze of her eyes right before that made realised I was buck naked. With my cheeks turning red, my hands rushed to cover my privates. Shit! The lady, with her back still facing me, then pointed her palm toward me, creating a temporary glow around my being, and it eventually resulted in some clothes. What the heck was that? Magic?

As she slowly peeked again, her eyes widened.

"Oh-oh my god, y-you are back!!" She sprinted toward me and pressed her head tightly into my chest, wrapping her arms around my body. "I can't believe it... I can't believe it worked! I missed you!"

I stood there awkwardly with my hands extended outwards. Erm, was I supposed to hug her back? Why was she acting like she knew me? 

Just like that, the two of us stood there, with me and my arms stretched out, and with her head still buried into my chest.

"Who are you?" I broke the silence.

"Huh...?" She looked up with a confused expression . "You... don't remember me?"

"No."

"Oh." Her gaze went downward as the gentle curve of her lips faded. "I-I guess It's not a perfect machine after all..."

But, like the flip of a switch, her sadness vanished and her face brightened up. "It's okay! Follow me, I'll explain to you everything."

We both headed into the room where I woke up from.

"Here G, just relax while I clean this up." She guided me to a chair. Her palm then faced toward the glass shards that were in the box and all over the ground. A translucent white glow enveloped the shards afterwards, and with her palm acting as a control, she telekinetically lifted and brought all the broken shards over a trash bin and dropped them into it. Then she jumped into the seat next to mine.

"How did you do that?" I asked, my mouth agape.

"No way... even magic too?" Her brows furrowed. "Wait, do you remember your name?"

"Yeah, my name is... it's..." I sat there, my mind as blank as a sheet of paper. "...I don't know my name."

"I see..." Her voice trailed. "It's okay. Then we'll start from you first. Your name is Genon. You are... I guess biologically you are 21 years old. So far so good?"

"What does that mean?"

"Well," she paused and looked away briefly. "Look G, do you remember anything — anything at all when you woke up?"

I scouted the depths of my memory once more — it was completely blank. Except for language, I couldn't seem to remember who I was or what I had done before I woke up. "No."

"Okay, what you hear next may be shocking, G, but it's the truth. You ready?"

I nodded my head.

"You were killed a hundred years ago."

"I was killed?" I echoed her words.

"Yeah, you were killed by Zap. Sound familiar?"

"No."

She sighed and further explained, "Zap was an Outsider who, one day, decided to fight you to the death. And once he killed you, he just left and never reappeared again. We spent several years trying to bring you back, but... but it was impossible. Until a few weeks ago when I s— developed this resurrection device. And it worked, G. It finally worked!" A single tear flowed from her eyes.

Zap, who was that? What was an Outsider? Why would he kill me? Did I do something that made him want to do that? I had so many questions, but there were some I wanted to ask first.

"I'm sorry, but why do you keep calling me G? And who are you?" I asked.

"You know, it actually broke my heart when you asked that question earlier..." Her palms suddenly gripped my shoulders and she looked me straight in the eyes.

"G, I'm Layla, your girlfriend."

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Author's note

Hi! Thank you guys for reading! Hope you like the start of this new story. Why is the palace in such a bad state compared to the room? Where are Genon and Layla at? Let me know what you think!