*Yawn.*
*So sleepy…*
*Ugh… I don't feel like waking up. I'm too tired.*
I shifted slightly to the right, trying to find the most comfortable position possible. The bed was strangely stiffer and colder than usual—no, more than cold, I'd dare say icy.
Not to mention the pillow! It felt like a stone brick. And the blankets? They were thinner than the wind blowing through the room.
My eyes were still clouded by the fog of sleep. I didn't know how many hours I had slept, but I felt extremely tired.
Calmly, I tried to open my eyes as slowly as possible; I wanted to adjust to the cold awakening in the most pleasant way I could. Instead, the light of a lamp blinded me in an unbearable manner!
After a few minutes—or maybe less—the fog of my laziness began to fade. My vision was still slightly blurred; I couldn't yet clearly see what lay before me. However, one thing was certain: it was something brown.
*Did I fall out of bed, by any chance…?*
*What a terrible night I must've had!*
I'm not exactly an expert in dendrology, but at first glance I could tell that the floor I had slept on all night was made of birch wood.
I then tried to get up from the ground, but a sharp pain—a severe migraine—stopped me.
*Ouch!*
*My head… it hurts!*
*I must've hit my head when I fell out of bed…*
*As long as it's not broken.*
I stayed lying on the floor a little longer. I told myself, "Five more minutes," after all, it wouldn't hurt anyone, right?
I unconsciously stretched my right hand to my head, exploring every inch in search of wounds or pain; but in the end, I felt nothing.
I brought my hand back in front of my eyes: perfectly clean, no blood.
What caught my attention the most, however, were my clothes. I wasn't wearing my usual pajamas; instead, I had on a white linen jacket, light as snow, with a slightly gray shirt underneath.
*Since when do I wear these clothes?*
I lowered my gaze for a moment and noticed I was also wearing black pants and boots.
*Where are my slippers? Why am I wearing these things?*
*Did I go to sleep wearing outdoor clothes?*
*What happened yesterday?*
I slowly tried to get up from the ground again, but nothing—my head was still spinning. I ignored the pain as best as I could; I needed to understand what was going on. In the end, the best I could do was sit up.
I stayed still in that position for a good minute, trying to organize all the information I had in my head.
And eventually, I reached a huge dilemma.
*I… I don't remember anything…*
*I don't remember absolutely anything!*
*My name… I can't remember it at all, nor where I was born!*
Trying to understand the situation I was in, I slowly raised my head. In front of me was a large circular window piercing through the marble walls of the room.
*Where am I? This place isn't from Earth; let alone my home!*
The dark night sky was painted with small glowing dots known as stars. I gathered all the strength I could and used both my hands and feet to stand up.
Despite the dizziness and lingering exhaustion, I began taking a few steps toward the window.
I placed one hand against it for support and lost myself in the sight of the starry night.
At first glance, I could already tell that this night sky didn't belong to any night visible from Earth. I had to be in space, or in some kind of mystical dimension.
Tilting my head downward, I finally understood where I was: I found myself on one of the many floors of an infinite marble tower, one with no point of origin and probably no end either.
*Oh my God…*
I still couldn't form any hypothesis or theory about this place; but the first thing I did, without doubting for even a second, was place my hand over my heart.
*Thump. Thump .Thump .Thump.*
*I'm alive…*
*Thank God I'm alive!*
My heart was beating, which meant that neither Truck-kun nor a heart attack had sent me to the afterlife.
Yet the situation only became more confusing, because…
*How did I end up here if I'm not dead?*
*Deep breath*
*And the memory loss? Something must have erased my memories and dragged me here by force.*
While reflecting on the situation, I caught a glimpse of my reflection.
I had two beautiful, shining yellow eyes, comparable to the stars themselves. I could have spent hours admiring them. Those eyes were definitely not normal—or rather, not human—and they had to be a clue to my past.
*Could I be some kind of deity?*
*Maybe I was exiled to this tower and stripped of my powers.*
I must have done something that someone didn't like; the problem is figuring out what.
As for my face, I didn't feel particularly attracted to it. I had a very average appearance, with generic brown hair—typical of an eighteen-year-old about to finish high school.
Or maybe I was completely wrong…
In the reflection, I noticed something else besides my face.
I turned around to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me and saw bookshelves covering half the room, along with an oak staircase that led both upward and downward.
Surely one of those books had to contain some information; there was no other reason for them to be there.
Without wasting time, I ran—at least as much as I could—toward them.
I ran my finger along the spines, book after book, carefully choosing which one to take. As my hand moved, I read the titles on their covers.
For some strange reason—whether from my lost memories or a vague mental impression—those titles stirred something within me.
Suddenly, an image flashed through my mind: a smartphone displaying text. But among all the words, one stood out more than the rest—a name: **Solaris.**
Solaris was a second-declension Latin adjective that translated to "of the sun."
That word didn't seem to fit at all. And yet, for some strange reason, I felt that it belonged to me. It wasn't unfamiliar—it was connected to this situation and, once, had been a part of me.
But now, I needed to return to the books—or rather, to the web novels.