Even though I had just met them, I felt like I could trust them, or rather, their charisma was encouraging me to trust them.
That's why, even if showing weakness embarrassed me, when I got the chance, I poured onto them those doubts that had been eating me up inside.
"Did the same thing that happened to me on the first day happen to you too?" I asked vaguely, so much so that the two gladiators looked at me confused.
But then, before I could explain myself better, it looked like a lightbulb went off in Rui's head.
"You mean the awakening process along with the whole explanation of who you are and what you'll have to do at the Colosseum?" he asked.
"Exactly!" I exclaimed, as my face lit up.
"It happened to both me and him..." It was Iwe who spoke now.
"And… right after waking up, didn't you feel strange? Like… detached from yourselves?" I asked, both embarrassed and anxious.
They both seemed to understand, empathizing with the turmoil in my soul. Iwe gave me a look full of tenderness, while Rui's eyes at first appeared sad but quickly shifted to confident.
"More or less, we all go through it sooner or later. What you're going through is something we gladiators call post-awakening dissociation syndrome, often accompanied by mental fatigue," Rui explained, trying to reassure me. "I went through it too during the first few weeks. After all, you're in a place that's completely alien to you, and your memories, especially at the beginning, seem vague, distant... it gets a bit better over time. The best advice I can give you, even if it sounds basic, is to do your best not to dwell on certain thoughts, and especially in the early days, to focus more on the present than the past." He said this with a calm and confident voice.
Iwe nodded energetically in agreement, then added:
"It's going to be hard, so it's normal if those thoughts still come, but just remember you're not alone! You're part of this family now, so if you ever want to talk or ask questions, we'll be here!" she said, her words accompanied by warm and welcoming gestures.
Their words made me smile, while a timid flame began to warm the cold corners of my soul.
"You seem tired now. I'd suggest you get something to eat and then get some rest," Rui then suggested.
I nodded at his suggestion.
I was indeed hungry and tired, especially mentally.
"I'll show you the kitchen and your room," said Ari, who had remained slightly on the sidelines during our interaction. Her face wore a faint, proud smile.
"See you tomorrow then," Rui said with a restrained smile on his face.
"See you tomorrow, new little brother!" Iwe said cheerfully, playfully ruffling my hair with a bright smile.
I responded to their goodbyes with a slight bow of my head, while the corners of my mouth unconsciously lifted.
I then followed Ari, who led me to the kitchen, a modest-sized room on the ground floor. Wood and dark metal dominated the space, except for a strange white machine with silver details tucked into a corner.
It looked like a small fridge, reaching up to my waist and just over a meter wide. However, its shape, and especially the square glass display on top, made it hard to believe it was a fridge.
My eyes stayed fixed on it, uncertain as to what such a contraption could be.
"COOK EVERYTHING" was written on the front.
"Ari?"
"Yes?"
"What the hell is that thing?" I asked.
"Can't you read?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
I took a deep breath.
"No, seriously, what's it for?"
"It cooks whatever you want," she explained.
"Okay, but what do you mean? How does it work?"
"Try asking it," she said.
I looked at her, puzzled, but she seemed serious. I approached the device, swallowed, and cleared my throat.
'I'm really about to talk to… to this…' I didn't even know what to call it, 'But how do I talk to it… it must have voice commands or something…'
"Cook everything… how do you work?" I finally asked.
A complete silence followed my question, making me feel a bit awkward, broken only by a playful laugh coming from behind me.
I sighed.
'So she was messing with me, huh…' I thought, not too surprised anymore.
"How does it really work?"
Ari came closer to the machine and pressed a few blue buttons that appeared holographically on the left side.
"Cook everything, how do you work?" Ari then asked.
<
"See?" said Ari, giving me a teasing look, as if I had failed to do the simplest thing in the world.
'But… I said the exact same thing… why did the machine only respond to her?'
I looked at her suspiciously.
"You didn't happen to disable the voice commands just to mess with me, did you?"
I stared at her, waiting for a reaction to my question.
"Is there anything you'd like to eat from these dishes?" she asked, turning to the hologram menu, pretending not to hear me.
'I'll take that as a yes…'
I turned to look at the menu. I tapped on the image of a steak with roasted potatoes, it looked really appetizing.
<
The machine exclaimed, and then the transparent glass display turned opaque black.
'I don't even have to put in any ingredients?' I thought, surprised by this alien technology.
'Still… when did she plan this joke… which, if I may say, wasn't even that funny…'
I turned toward Ari, realizing I still hadn't quite figured her out.
The machine really did take five minutes to prepare the dish. Then, the glass turned transparent again, revealing a splendid Tomahawk steak with beautifully golden potatoes.
Not only did the dish look amazing, but it tasted great too.
After finishing dinner in no more than fifteen minutes, Ari took me to my room, located on the second floor of the building. Strangely, the only way up was via wooden stairs.
'What a strange place…'
The building I was in looked old, almost outdated, and yet inside, you could find things that seemed straight out of a sci-fi movie.
This blend of past and future felt strange to me, yet somehow… fascinating.
Besides mine, there were four other bedrooms on the second floor, two of which were already occupied by Iwe and Rui.
Mine was at the end of a hallway that ran the entire length of the floor, starting from the staircase.
"This will be your room," Ari explained, opening the wooden sliding door with facial recognition unlocking.
"Your face has already been registered to the room, so as long as you live here, you'll be able to unlock it with no problems," she said. "Also, your voice has been registered in the building's system, so you can use the various vocal functions of the house independently… I've sent you the info via message, read it on your bracelet when you have time," she added.
"Got it," I replied simply, yawning as the sleep slowly overtook me.
"Goodnight," she finally said, smiling sweetly, not just with her mouth but also with her sparkling emerald eyes, so beautiful they made my chest flutter for a moment.
'She's really beautiful,' I thought, forgetting for a moment that she was a shapeshifting alien.
"G-goodnight…" I replied timidly.
She left the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts, thoughts I had managed to set aside earlier, but which now returned with force, weighing down on my chest.
I took a few deep breaths. Just like Rui had said, I should push those thoughts away and focus on the present.
"I've become a slave… huh." I whispered with a sigh. The thought made me smile sarcastically.
'Still, at least the room I'll sleep in looks nice…'
In front of me was a bed of modest size, but the mattress and white sheets made it look very comfortable.
To my left, a soft, warm, reddish light came from a rectangular window facing Grand Way.
I peeked outside for a moment. The sun had almost fully set, and the wrought iron streetlights had begun to glow, gently lighting up Grand Way with amber light.
The streets were lively; drunken gladiators were singing, while cross-eyed aliens watched them curiously, like visitors at a zoo.
Watching life on the street left a bittersweet taste in my mouth.
On the wall opposite the window, there was a wooden desk with nothing on it.
'Probably has hidden features…' I thought with a sigh. At this point, nothing would surprise me anymore.
To the right of the desk, there was a frosted glass sliding door, without a handle or anything else.
As I approached, a blue light lit up after a few seconds at the usual height of a door handle, then moved from right to left, as if telling me to mimic the motion with my finger.
I touched the light with my index finger and replicated the motion, sliding it across the glass. As I did, the door opened, and a white light came on in the room behind it, which turned out to be a bathroom.
I saw a mirror inside, above what looked like a sink.
I instinctively walked over to it.