Chapter 1: Abduction
Lance was sleeping in his bed in his hostel dorm when he felt a sudden shift in his dreams. One second, he was happily dreaming about flying through stars and the next, he felt weightless to the point that it startled him awake.
He was in a stone room, unadorned by any decorations. The walls were smooth to the touch, and as he picked himself up, he realized that he was still in his night clothes. If someone were observing Lance right now, they would see an overweight boy of 18 years, with a bulging tummy and an enormous backside. His tanned but fair face had sharp features, with the eyes especially holding a charm that would want people to keep looking on. With high cheekbones, an angular nose and a sharp chin, he could have been the avatar of masculinity and attraction, but all this was hidden under a layer of fat. The only impression one would get would be that of a cute and chubby boy, although the eyes could be striking at times.
As Lance observed the surroundings, he tried to figure out what was happening. Born in a fairly privileged family, he could get everything he wanted since birth without much effort. The only thing lacking in his life was interest. He let himself get fat for no other reason than that he wanted to see how hard it would be to get thin again. He had his fair share of fears, with his main one being the prospective of living like a zombie by following the plan his parents had set for him: to get a job and settle down, like any normal man. This terrified him, although it seemed so appealing to so many of his colleagues.
If there was one overarching trait which could describe Lance right now, it was this: Laziness. His biggest boast was that he once spent 3 days in his room without moving, by simply eating and drinking everything within reach, binge watching anime and peeing in a bottle. The effect of not having interest in anything thus manifested in this trait.
As he looked around, he realized that there were no marks whatsoever on any of the walls. The room was perfectly square, with the corners sharp-almost looking like 4 sheets of paper were made into a cube by propping them up.
Lance was puzzled. If there was no entrance to the room, how did he get in here? His quick wit, which had helped him all his life to be as lazy as possible, for once started trying to figure out something useful. The possibility of secret grooves popped up in his mind, so he started running his fingers around the room to search for one to no avail.
As he was wondering whether this was a dream, he realized something alarming: it was getting harder and harder to breathe! With no entrance or exit whatsoever in the room, he deduced that someone or something had teleported a fixed amount of air along with him into the room. But with this realization came an idea: if this was being done by someone, what could their purpose be? Could they be observing him right now?
No other explanation made sense. With growing terror seeing the rapidly depleting air, Lance shouted, "HELP!".
"Took you long enough to ask.", a cold voice replied, right behind his shoulder.