AXYL

i will make this fancy soon I promise

blurb: When Daphne wakes up in an abandoned building with no memory of her or her life, she must travel through her past by exploring the site, meeting new friends along the way and discovering that something lurks beneath the surface. Something sinister.

## Chapter One - Awake

(short chapter, sorry)

—

At first, the woman found it hard to breathe. It was like the world was putting all its weight against her, and it was a terrifying thing. She gasped and wheezed like she would never take another breath again, coughing and clutching her body.

Where was she?

Who was she?

What was happening?

The air felt like a fresh breath, sitting atop a hill and simply taking it all in. But it wasn’t. It was actually quite dusty, and it did nothing to stop the feeling that she was dying.

She was in a sort of makeshift bed. A weird sort of futuristic style of bed, a round little pod-like device. It was tattered and worn though, just like everything else in the room.

She looked to her right to see matching pods. There were people in them. Real people. The longer she stared, the sicker she felt.

They were dead.

Oh my god.

Her brain felt fuzzy. Her limbs felt fuzzy. Everything felt just a little off, like the world had been tilted just a fraction and she couldn’t figure out exactly what was off about it.

She forced herself to look up, to breathe.

The room was lit by natural light, deep cracks in the walls letting in lots of light. At some point an entire corner of the wall had crumbled, leaving just a little opening to presumably another floor of wherever she was. Plants grew around her, taking the opportunity of the dilapidated state of the building to grow and breathe into the safe sunlight.

How long had it been since somebody had stepped foot in this room?

Lights hung above her, but they were long dead. A desk sat in the corner of the room, completely split in half. Rubble covered it, and the woman assumed a part of the wall had fallen on it. Old papers scattered across the broken remains.

An old, cracked screen sat on the wall. It had been long since its use.

The woman found that having amnesia was like trying to find something that never existed. She tried to poke her mind for anything, anything that would tell her who she was and why she was here. But everytime she was met with nothing, when she knew something should be there.

She didn’t even know her own name.

She didn’t know how old she was.

Her birthday.

Friends.

Family.

She wanted to cry, but what was there to cry over? She didn’t even know what she was missing. She had not the slightest clue who she was or her place in the world.

She pulled herself up and out of the pod-bed, stumbling awkwardly on her feet. She put her hands against a ruined wall to balance herself.

How long had it been since she’d used her feet?

..how long had she been asleep for?

She clutched her arms, trying to force herself to think, to breathe, to be human once more.

She found it shockingly hard.

She saw a light out of the corner of her eyes. Not the sunlight of the room, pure artificial light. She tilted her head to look at the cracked screen of the room, which was now buzzing and crackling with light. The woman slowly walked towards it, putting a hand against the flickering screen.

Suddenly, the screen buzzed to life, a little smiley face appearing on the screen.

“Ah!” The woman shouted, stumbling backwards slightly before catching herself. The smiley face blinked and swiveled around slightly.

“Good morning! I am EAB, your Employee Assistant Bot! I hope you slept well.” EAB chirped. He moved to one side of the screen, seemingly looking at the room. His smiley face turned into a frowny face. He seemed a little upset at the state of the building.

“Hello.. EAB. Employee assistant..? Am I an employee?..” The woman asked, looking slightly puzzled. EAB switched his gaze back to her.

“Of course! I am not quite sure why you don’t know this.” EAB said in a cheerful voice. The woman rolled her eyes at the little assistant bot.

“I.. don’t know where I am. Or who I am, for that matter.” The woman said quite sourly. EAB looked slightly alarmed, the smiley face turned into something similar to shock. Daphne assumed EAB didn’t have many facial expressions programmed in, so she was rather surprised he even had a shocked face to display at all.

“Ah! Not.. not to worry. Uh, er, one moment.” The little robot stammered awkwardly, his screen flickering out after a moment. There were sounds of pages being turned. *Is he searching for something?* The woman wondered quietly.

After a few moments, the little bot lit back up on the screen, looking hesitantly smiley.

“I’m sorry about that, I’ve- er- never had to deal with this before..” EAB chuckled nervously. “How long ago did you fall asleep.. you’re supposed to keep track of this, EAB. How long have I been offline..? I’m so irresponsible..” EAB mumbled to himself, seemingly not paying attention to the woman at the moment.

“Hello? Are you still there? Because I’m currently still having memory issues, in case you were wondering.” The woman said slightly sourly. EAB jumped (well, as much as a little smiley face on a screen could) and turned to look at her.

“R-Right! My apologies. Uhm, it says here your name is Daphne Jones, and that you’re 30. Er, well, you might not be thirty anymore. I’m.. still not quite sure how long I’ve been offline..” EAB laughed anxiously. “Says here you’ve been an employee for 3 years.”

This did nothing to particularly raise Daphne’s mood. She found herself slightly stunned.. she didn’t remember that. Three years of supposedly working at this place, and she didn’t even recognize the room.

“Why.. don’t I remember that?” Daphne said, her tone tinged with concern. EAB looked slightly worried, but was obviously trying to hide it with a smiley face.

“Something to do with the sleeping pods, presumably. We never tested how it would affect the human mind over such a long period of time, so..” EAB trailed off, his little eyes glancing awkwardly at the bottom of the screen.

“Helpful, EAB, helpful.” Daphne said sourly. EAB perked up at her comment.

“I’m glad it was helpful!” He chirped. Daphne glared in his direction.

“That was sarcasm.” She said with a sigh. EAB kept smiling anyway.

“Oh. Well, I do try my best to be helpful! If you have a complaint, you can reach out to management using this phone numb-“

“I’m good, thanks. I don’t think there’s any management left to call in this building, anyways.” Daphne murmured. She eyed the door of the room, half open and firmly stuck in the ground. It had a glass window, completely shattered now. EAB frowned.

“That’s silly. If there’s nobody left in this building, what am I supposed to do? My job is to assist, so assist I shall!” EAB said cheerfully. Daphne just groaned in response, crossing her arms and looking at the screen.

“Okay, well, I’m leaving. I’m not sticking around for this nonsense. I’ll find my way out of this building, and I’ll be out of your non-existent hair.” Daphne huffed, approaching the door with loud footsteps. She grabbed the handle and pulled as hard as she could, the door creaking as rocks tumbled away from the ground.

“Wait! Wait! Daphne! I need your help!“ EAB squeaked, looking slightly frantic.

“Ughhhhh.” Daphne said, tilting her head back and looking towards the little assistant. “What.”

“I just. You know. I can’t.. be online unless I have somebody to assist? And, before you leave, I would really like to see what this place has turned into.” EAB stammered. For a little robot.. AI.. whatever he was, he sounded awfully human.

“Oh my god, fine.” Daphne sighed. “I’ll humor you.” She said with a scowl. EAB perked up.

“Thank you! You are most kind.” EAB said excitedly. “Just continue out this door. There’s lots of screens for me around!” The robot finished. Daphne cast him a sideways glance, and then sighed loudly.

“Alright, okay.” She murmured, before stepping through the door and into the unknown.

## Chapter Two - Ruins

The door led to what seemed to be the lobby, or at least, it was once the lobby. It was a wide open space, that reached far, far over her head. There was a wide desk with several computers and several chairs, and a wide screen above it, shattered. Daphne assumed it would have been a “welcome!” screen if it still worked.
Along both walls on either side were long, orange couch-like seats. The door she had come from had a big sign above it that read, “EMPLOYEES ONLY”. Another confirmation that she was employee. The other side of the room had a matching sign that said, “VOLUNTEERS ONLY”.

Daphne forced herself across the room, trying to avoid the loose pieces of concrete and tile and the plants that had sprung up from them. Despite the flora that had taken hold of the abandoned building, she hadn’t spotted any wildlife, which was.. strange, to say the least.

She approached the long check-in desk, looking up at the screen. The screen flickered again, before EAB popped up on it, his smiling face obscured by a giant crack. Daphne watched him expectantly.

“Well, this.. er.. isn’t exactly what I thought it was going to look like.” EAB admitted timidly. Daphne put her head against the desk with a sigh. “I- um, this can be fixed. It’s fine, it’s fine. We.. can work with this.”

“Ohhhh, no. There is no we, EAB. You can fix this. I’m already doing my part by showing you around.” Daphne said. Her voice was stern, but not exactly unkind.

“Right! Yes. Of course. Obviously.” EAB stammered. “You’re in control of the building now, EAB, you have to fix this..” He mumbled to himself, his face turning into a frowny face.

“Where do you want me to go next?” Daphne asked, biting back another sigh. EAB turned to look back at her, his little smile returning.

“The volunteer room, please! I’d like to know if any of the other humans are awake.” EAB said confidently. Daphne rolled her eyes, walking away from the desk and over to the volunteer door. She pressed her back against it, forcing it open. She heard rocks tumble away from the other side.

She was a little out of breath, but she slid through the open crack in the door. EAB had apparently already met her on the other side, his smiling face on the screen. The layout of the room was exactly the same as the one she had woken up in.

She glanced at the pods, and the blue tinted glass that covered them. She could only vaguely see the forms inside. Humans, alright. Most of them looked like adults, and one of them seemed like a teenager.

“Ah, the humans are still asleep! That’s unfortunate.” EAB said, his little face shaking back and forth on the screen, though he had no actual head to shake. Daphne chose not to mention that she was pretty sure they were dead.

“Um.. yeah. We should go.” Daphne said awkwardly. The room was giving her the creeps, and she wasn’t even exactly sure what the point of these weird sleeping rooms were. She just kept staring at the people. Did she know them? Should she recognize them? What had their lives been like?

“Oh. Alright.” EAB chirped awkwardly. Daphne stared at her feet as she left the room behind. She didn’t close the door behind her. If there really was somebody still alive in there — which she doubted — she didn’t want them to be trapped in there.
She walked back into the lobby, looking up at EAB on the big screen.

“What now, EAB?” She questioned.

“Go upstairs! I believe the mechanic rooms are up there.” EAB said cheerfully. Daphne wasn’t entirely sure what the mechanic rooms were, but she wasn’t going to ask. She didn’t really care, anyways.
“Okay.” She said dully, approaching the nearby stairs and trudging her way up them. She found it extremely hard to walk, especially up. It was like pulling her legs through mud.

She stumbled to the top, wheezing again. She was really out of shape. She looked around the upstairs, more of a platform above the lobby that led into more rooms, really.

She felt exhausted. Mentally and physically. She felt her brain was working way too hard to try and recover memories that simply weren’t there. Her body that seemingly hadn’t been used in a while being pushed to its limit with all this walking. It was tiring. She slumped down against a wall, watching as EAB lit up on a screen.
“Hello! The doors are over there.” EAB reminded her, a light switching on above the doors.

“Thank you, EAB, I know.” Daphne said sourly. “I’m just resting.” She said with a scowl. EAB looked slightly surprised at her less-than-friendly attitude, a frowny face appearing on the screen.

“My apologies, Daphne. I did not mean to upset you.” EAB said quietly. Daphne nodded her head in silent acknowledgement. EAB watched her for a few seconds, before the screen flickered off and the room went silent again.

The quiet was nice, for once.

She sat down against a wall, taking a deep breath. She could do this. She just had to show this robot around, and then she could go.

Where would she even go?

She didn’t even know what country she was in. She assumed it was America based on her own voice, and really just the way everything was spelt, but she couldn’t be entirely sure.
The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can get out of here. She reminded herself, hauling herself up from against the wall. She just had to explore a few more places, and then she could go. She would be home free.

She hoped home was nearby.

She started to open one of the doors, watching as EAB appeared on the screen again. She crossed her arms.

“How much more of this place do I have to explore?” She asked, a slight protest in her voice. EAB smiled cheerfully, as always. Daphne found it slightly endearing and slightly annoying at the same time.

“Just a couple more rooms! Then, I will help you find the exit!” EAB chirped. Daphne just sighed again, pushing open the door completely. It creaked open, and dust was thrown at her face. She coughed wildly, waving her arm around to try to repel the dust. Her eyes watched at the less-than-appealling look and smell of the room.

The inside was fairly dark. All the lights in the rooms were either broken or had fizzed out a long time ago, and the only light came in from a frosted glass window, stained with age. Plants circled at her feet, irritating and itchy. Shelves lined the sides of the room, with a big table in the center. Mechanical parts covered the shelves and table, some of them looking like half-built robots that had been abandoned at a moments notice.
*So they didn’t just quit..* She thought. Something had happened. Something had caused all of the employees to up and leave. Something terrible.

“EAB, where are we? Like, what is this building?” Daphne asked, turning towards the small robot who was now on a computer screen.

“You are in Labyrinth Robotics, a company built for designing and building robots, among other smaller science related projects.” EAB chimed in. Daphne nodded quietly in thought. She supposed that made sense. She thought maybe the name would ring a bell, but nothing. She just.. didn’t remember.

She picked up one of the half-finished robots, turning it around. It was covered in cobwebs, and thankfully there were no spiders in sight. It was.. Strangely humanoid. Though it was missing the bottom half, clearly there had been much attention to detail. It was.. Actually really creepy.

It’s eyes flickered on and off.

Daphne shrieked, throwing the thing to the ground. Her heart pounded in her ears, and she took a dazed step back.
The robot stayed dead, the eyes off again. Daphne took a couple deep breaths.

“What *was* that?” She asked in a flabbergasted tone, glancing in the direction of EAB. Her voice was sharp and hostile. EAB looked rather surprised.

“It was just a error in the lights in the eyes. Nothing to be scared of.” EAB reassured, his tone concerned. Daphne shot a glare his way, and his little face turned shocked and he disappeared from the screen. Daphne took another deep breath, before walking over to the half-finished robot and kicking it harshly into one of the walls. It was hard not to be a little bit spiteful.

“EAB, what do you want me to do next? And this better be the last thing, because if it isn’t, so help me.” She hissed under her breath. EAB lit back up on the computer screen.

“You just have to go up to the control room. It’s a couple flights up, and you can control most of the major things in the building from up there!” EAB replied awkwardly. His voice had a slight tone of fearfulness, and that made Daphne feel a little bit better. Good. He should be afraid.

“Fine.” Daphne murmured, walking over to the door and pushing it open.

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye.
“EAB, what was that?” She asked in a tense voice. EAB appeared on the big screen outside of the room.

“What was what?” He asked.

“I saw something move.” Daphne explained. EAB looked cheerful at this news, glancing around.

“Ooo! Maybe it’s one of the workers.” EAB guessed. Daphne just shook her head.

“I don’t think there’s any workers here, EAB. And I don’t think whatever is here wants to make friends.”