A New World

In the year 1000, after the End, stood an abandoned alleyway. In it was nothing but silence. But something was off about one of the walls. If one looked closely enough, they could feel a pulsing sensation. It was like the wall was alive.

But no one that came across the alleyway looked at it as though it was strange. Rather, no one came near the alleyway in the first place. It was silent and untouched.

Suddenly, the stale air inside the alleyway began to buzz. It convulsed, as the wind pushed it back towards the two walls. Lines formed in the air like glass with too much tension -- and then it shattered. Nothingness was on the other side. The crack stretched; stars came into visibility. This wasn't a wormhole or a vortex in space, however, this was a rip.

Typically, when rips in space appeared, they were the cause of monstrous catastrophes. Generals would shiver at the mere thought of one, but this rip was silent. Instead of tsunamis or armies from other galaxies, all that fell through was a girl with familiar silver hair.

The air that had previously been pushed back shrunk toward the crack, pushing it closed; or rather, the crack pulled it back to fill the space it left.

Then it returned to silence.

Ciel lay on the ground unconscious. She had gone from her previously disheveled self to a clean, pristine state.

As she came to, she blinked her eyes a few times, lifting her hands in front of her.

"Have I reached the afterlife?"

Something told her she hadn't.

Her hands were too small. She hadn't returned to the time of her first kill, but when she looked around, she also wasn't somewhere she'd recognized. Thinking of the dark space she'd come from, Ciel also realized there were gaps in her memory. She clutched her head as a piercing pain struck through it.

A message appeared stark in her mind. The resentful souls that she'd helped until the end of her life had placed something in her consciousness.

"Thank you. Live happily this time."

Ciel smiled. While she didn't know where she was or how she got there, there was one thing she was certain of: her mind was clear. When she'd fallen into madness back then, she couldn't think straight and could only watch herself go down the path of no return. But finally, she was in control of her own body.

Pushing herself up against a wall, Ciel made out what she was wearing. It was a dress she hadn't seen for many years; one she'd lost long ago. The black dress she'd worn the day Butler Hei found her, as it was the first piece of clothing she'd remembered, had imprinted itself in her mind.

When she'd arrived at the Duke's castle the first time, she was assigned clothing and everything she'd used was given to her. The clothes she'd come into the castle wearing were long gone, but she'd never asked for them back.

Now that she had them once again, Ciel couldn't help but be nostalgic. Looking over herself, while she couldn't see her face, Ciel grew fairly sure that she'd returned to the time her body had been ten. She didn't know why, but she could remember thinking of herself as a ten-year-old when she'd been found.

While there were gaps, a large part of her memory had been retained. In the past, she'd wondered whether the memories she'd held belonged to her or not, but as the resentful souls gradually found peace, she found that their memories would leave her as well. Now that they'd all disappeared, the only memories she held were her own.

Thinking this, Ciel couldn't help but reminisce. Her life had been lived for others for the large majority; either for their entertainment, their vengeance -- though it was also hers, and fulfilling their wishes. After mulling over the souls' one last request, she decided that she would answer their call and finally live for herself. The only issue was that she couldn't live for herself if she starved to death before then.

But Ciel was aware of her own situation. Exhaustion pulled at her foremost, and closing her eyes, Ciel fell asleep.

---

As she slept, the wall she lay on began to pound once more. Like a living person's heartbeat, it resumed its rhythm in the desolate alleyway. Whenever the girl stirred, however, it would again resume being still. The rip in space's effects hadn't worn off of it yet.

Just when the wall had regained its confidence, a hand pressed against it as the girl's eyes flicked open. Her eyes bore into the wall like knives. The wall tried to still itself again, but its fear only made it throb faster.

With a deranged smile, the girl stared into it.

"Caught you."

The wall slackened.

In its place, a blue screen floated in the air. Ciel could see through it, but as it wasn't fully transparent, the words showed up clearly before her.

"Would you like to enter the Community Center?"

Under it were two options, a one and a zero. She realized it was binary. Curiosity bloomed in Ciel's mind, but before she clicked the symbol for one, she first examined the screen. It was definitely holographic, technology she'd only seen the beginning stages of. It hadn't seemed plausible back then to have any use so it had been promptly dropped.

So this was the future.

On further examination, the screen was reflective as well. Ciel, finally seeing her face, noticed her childlike features. Her skin was pale but had a healthy glow to it, and if not for her long hair, she'd look androgynous. She couldn't help acknowledging that she was quite pretty.

In the reflection, she could make something else out. Looking behind her, the girl realized the hologram was actually reflecting the light into the form of a question on the other wall. This she would've missed if she hadn't been cautious.

This time, instead of a question expecting a yes or no answer, there was an equation.

It was simplistic in nature, but at a second glance, Ciel admitted that the question was more intricate than she'd first thought.

The purpose of the question wasn't to actually answer it; it was to recognize the purpose of the equation. Mathematics was only useful for application. This equation was typically used in a specific type of electrical engineering. So, after typing her explanation into the screen in binary, the screen finally changed.

"Question 1: Solved"

Another question popped up, and as the day passed by, Ciel couldn't help but answer more. Puzzles were her first love. She'd decided after solving one hundred questions that if nothing changed, she'd leave, but just after hitting ninety-nine, the screen disappeared.

A brick in the wall pulled back, leaving nothing but a black void behind it, and soon the others around followed. Ciel watched with interest as the bricks continued to fall, opening an ever-expanding abyss behind it.

As the opening got larger, Ciel caught a glimpse of what the hole was leading to. Her face dropped.

"Well shit."

It was a wormhole.

Making a decision, Ciel dug her feet into the ground, trying to root herself to her spot, but she couldn't make it against the pull of the abyss, and felt her legs draw forwards.

Trying to make a run for it, she dashed towards the end of the alleyway, but right when her feet left the ground, it was too late, she'd been pulled in.

----

A blinding light flashed through a room filled with portals. Then a few more. With each flash, a person would either leave or enter the room.

So it wasn't strange when a small girl with silver hair appeared in front of one of such portals. The bustling of entering and exiting did not stop for the girl, nor did it wait.

When Ciel first made it into the room, she was greeted with another holographic screen.

"Welcome to the Community Center."

She didn't feel very welcomed.

----

A/N:

Congrats, you've made it into the Interstellar. This chapter wasn't the most interesting, and I'm still trying to work out the specifics of how to get Ciel's thoughts out right, which is why she doesn't have much of a personality yet -- here's a hint: she's not all that aloof -- but I don't think this came out as badly as it could've.

Since this is a new world, the next few chapters might feel like an information dump, but rest assured it's all for a purpose.

If you'd like more chapters, and faster, pass me some votes. Even authors have to get paid for working overtime, right?

See you all next chapter. :)