I woke up wrapped in what, at the time, I thought was some sort of giant, fuzzy, pink blanket, which I let roll off of me as I got to my feet. In retrospect, I'm glad that I only realized later that this was actually a blanket-esque parasymbiote called a snazzleflox, which miraculously happened to be and remain asleep when I stood up.
I was very disoriented. I couldn't remember basically anything, but I realized pretty clearly that I was in a giant golden cage! A circle with a diameter of about 10 feet, and thin golden cylinder bars spaced about three inches apart made up the perimeter. I tried to run to edge of the cage, but I sort of lurched a bit. I was off-balance. Walking was weird; running was not quite possible.
Still, I stumbled into the bars. They were very cold. Enough that it woke me up a little bit. I sort of stumbled back, immediately removing my hands from the bars, though I didn't quite fall over.
I realized I was breathing pretty heavily. What the hell is happening? Where am I? Where WAS I? What are the contents of my life?
"Hello!" I bellowed, without even thinking it through.
"Hello!" Once again. A primal cry. Someone please acknowledge me, someone please exist.
I couldn't quite understand what I saw beyond the bars. There was weird furniture. Everywhere. Weird architecture, like curving abstract-shaped pillars connecting the floor and ceiling. Lots of blue and white. The floor was different everywhere, but often seemed almost metallic. The ceiling was maybe 10 feet high. It was a wide expanse; I could see walls in a circular shape essentially making up one big circular room. Spinning around, it actually seemed like my cage was in the center of everything. Then, I spied a spiraling ramp leading to an unseen upper level, in one open space in the room.
"HE-LLO! WHO. IS. HERE!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.
I decided to take a moment to take in my cage again. Nothing but this stupid blanket. What even is this thing? I walked over and grabbed the blanket, picking it up, and got the literal and figurative shock of a lifetime.
The snazzleflox lurched to life in my hands. It emitted the loudest, most agitated growl, as well as an electroshock that sent me reeling to the floor as it leapt from my grip, wriggling to the bars and then through them, coming to a stop on the other side and then perking part of its blankety, featureless body upright, leaning in towards me to the point where the ends of it were seeping through the bars.
What in the heck was this thing?!
Suddenly the most delicately feminine voice, clear and strong, pierced the air, my thoughts, and my soul for a brief moment:
"You're lucky that Master Xiao convinced me to get her delectrolyzed."
I breathed in quick and whirled around from my place on the floor towards the sound of the voice. These were the first words my Master ever spoke to me. I'll never forget them, mem-stores or no.
But just as quickly as I felt that initial enchantment at her sweet sound, I resumed being terrified and losing my mind when I got a look at her. She was enormous. My first thought was that she was going to eat me.
I yelled at the top of my lungs. I'm not quite sure why, but as I continued yelling, I ran straight forward towards the gigantic alien standing before me on the other side of the golden bars that made up my cage. I gripped the bars like a maniac, kept yelling like a madman, and then I got the first good look at her face, being now right up close to her massive 7'6 body, her shockingly blue skin, only the bars separating us. I stopped yelling, and just stared at her, frozen, barely registering reality. She just stood there staring back at me. Suddenly:
"Boo!" She shouted, popping her giant hands at me in a 'scare' gesture and leaning forward rapidly. I immediately fell backwards onto my ass and passed out.
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When I woke up, she was cradling me in her arms and looking down at me, just like a human mother and her newborn child. I freaked out.
I pushed against her giant body, rolling away from her across the bed or whatever this thing was, then I leapt off the edge and quickly turned around to survey my surroundings. There was a lot of weird shit, but I had no time to process any of it. There seemed to be no door, only walls. Out of one cage and into another.
"Who are you!?" I demanded. "Where am I?!"
"I am your new Master. And you are with me in my home." Even then at my most freaked, her voice soothed me to the core. I calmed down a bit almost instantly. She didn't move an inch from her seated position on the bed.
"What happened?" I stammered. I was starting to feel everything I knew about my new reality hit me all at once. I had been captured, or something.
"Your planet was mostly dying a few centuries ago, it's destruction coming to a full boil during an event known as Sundering Night, and I rescued you as my chosen pet. You've been frozen for, God, plenty of average lifespans for one of your species, and I've just thawed you out so that you and I can fulfill our service contract to the Intergalactic High Council, the IHC. I get to keep you as my service pet for seven years, while I prepare you to return to earth to lead recolonization and enlightenment."
Good effing God, that was a lot to try and process. Before I really could, she continued, slowing and lowering her voice a bit:
"I've been waiting for this moment for literal human lifetimes, pet, you have no idea how excited I am."
She was definitely looking at me flirtatiously. Maybe more like, hungrily!? Ok. Whoa. But I thought about earth again.
"My planet...?" I mumbled, and suddenly it all came flooding into my mind. I remembered.
I remembered what the media was calling Sundering Night. I remembered Mom. Our home. And the destruction.