You had managed to get hired by Prometheus Corp, and you were well prepared for your first day.

When you entered through the front doors, there was a security guard sitting behind the desk. He noticed you.

You noticed that he had just finished eating a donut. He was still licking the sugar from his fingers when he looked at you.

You looked away.

You suddenly felt that there was a possibility he might consider you a threat.

“Morning,” he said.

“Are you the new employee?”

He smiled as he gently placed a hand on your shoulder.

The touch was strangely gentle.

Almost like being touched by someone you loved.

You looked at him.

“Nice to meet you. Enjoy your first day,” said the guard.

He smiled as you walked further into the building.

In front of you was the reception desk, stretching across the middle of the room. On either side of it were two hallways.

You walked toward the receptionist.

She smiled at you.

Not the kind of smile someone gives a stranger.

She looked at you as though she adored you.

For a moment, you had the strange feeling that she was looking at you as if you had somehow become her boss.

She stood.

“Morning.”

She extended her hand toward you.

She sat back down, still smiling.

Then she pointed toward the hallway on her left.

“The offices are that side.”

She looked at you for another moment.

“Enjoy your first day.”

And just like that, she returned to whatever she had been doing.

You didn't hesitate.

You walked toward the hallway.

As you entered, you looked to your left, then to your right.

The offices were exactly what you expected an office to look like.

Cubicles filled most of the space, separated by low gray walls. People sat behind their desks, some staring at their monitors, others speaking quietly to one another. A woman was on a phone call, occasionally writing something down. Two men stood beside a desk drinking coffee and talking about something that sounded completely unimportant.

Someone laughed.

A printer made a noise somewhere further down the hallway.

You could smell coffee.

Everything seemed normal.

Almost too normal.

You continued walking.

Nobody stopped you.

Nobody asked who you were.

A few people looked at you as you passed, but only briefly. One man smiled. Another nodded.

You kept walking until you reached the end of the hallway.

There was a door.

It was black.

Not dark gray.

Black.

It was enormous, easily tall enough for someone eight feet tall to walk through without lowering their head.

Above it was a small security camera.

A red light was glowing from it.

You stopped.

The camera moved.

It pointed directly at you.

For a moment, you simply stared at it.

Then a thin red laser appeared beneath the camera and passed over you from head to toe.

A voice came from somewhere.

“Clear.”

The black door unlocked.

You heard a click.

Then it opened.

You didn't move.

There was nothing on the other side.

Not that you could see, anyway.

The room beyond the door was dark.

Not dim.

Dark.

You leaned forward slightly.

Then, slowly, you moved your head through the doorway.

You looked to the left.

Nothing.

You looked to the right.

Nothing.

You couldn't see the walls.

You couldn't see the floor.

You couldn't even tell how far the room went.

Something about it made your stomach tighten.

You pulled your head back.

You weren't sure why.

There was nothing there.

At least, nothing you could see.

You stood beside the open door for a few seconds, wondering whether you were supposed to enter.

Then you heard footsteps behind you.

Someone was coming.

You moved slightly to the side.

A man walked past you.

He didn't look at you.

He didn't hesitate.

He simply stepped through the doorway and disappeared into the darkness.

You watched him go.

You waited for him to reappear.

He didn't.

The door remained open.

You were still standing there.

You followed behind him with great confidence.

For you were not a loser.

You were destined to do great things.

To do exploits.

To become a ruler of the earth.

This little darkness was not going to be the end of your glory.

You stepped through the doorway.

There was light.

And people.

You stopped for a moment.

It was an office.

A normal office.

At least, it looked normal.

The same gray cubicles filled the space, with people sitting behind their desks, speaking on phones, drinking coffee and staring at their monitors.

Except this place was much bigger.

Much, much bigger.

You looked upward.

There were floors above you.

Then more floors.

And more.

White balconies and walkways stretched around the enormous open space, each one lined with rows of cubicles. People moved between them, carrying papers, talking to one another, entering and leaving offices.

You kept looking up.

And up.

And up.

You couldn't see the roof.

You couldn't even tell where the building ended.

The floors disappeared into the brightness above you as though the building continued beyond the clouds.

It reminded you of being inside a gigantic shopping mall.

Except this wasn't a mall.

It was an office.

And somehow, there were thousands of people working here.

You looked back toward the door you had entered through.

It was already closed.

You looked forward again.

Nobody seemed to care that you were standing there.

Everyone was simply working.

As if this was completely normal.

You wandered around.

As you walked through the endless rows of cubicles, you overheard a conversation.

“What if the Wi-Fi password—” said a man who was standing beside a desk, leaning against it casually.

He was wearing a nice gray suit.

His eyes were blue.

Not simply blue.

They seemed to glow.

“The password?” he continued.

The woman sitting at the desk didn't look at him.

She seemed completely obsessed with her computer, her eyes fixed on the screen as though nothing else in the world existed.

“I think B63 said the password was myndain777,” she replied.

She didn't even look up.

The man nodded.

You continued walking.

Then someone called your name.

You stopped.

You looked behind you.

A very tall woman was standing there.

She was blonde.

Her dress was simple, yet the moment you looked at her, you felt a strange sense of awe.

You couldn't explain it.

There was something about her presence.

The entire place seemed different around her.

For a moment, Prometheus didn't feel like an office anymore.

It felt like heaven.

“You must be lost,” she said.

You nodded.

You wanted to answer.

You tried to.

Nothing came out.

You wouldn't let yourself speak to such a person.

Right?

She continued walking, and you followed behind her.

Your little, naughty mind began wandering.

You caught yourself wondering about her.

About the way she looked.

About what she looked like from behind.

You immediately realized you were staring.

You looked away.

She suddenly stopped.

You felt yourself being pulled forward, almost as if an invisible force had caught you by the chest and was dragging you toward her.

You were about to collide with her.

But you didn't.

You stopped just behind her.

She turned around.

You looked up at her.

She smiled.

Then she looked directly into your eyes.

For a second, you couldn't move.

The eye contact felt like looking into paradise.

Not like seeing paradise.

Like actually looking into it.

You almost forgot where you were.

Then she spoke.

“Here's your office.”

She pointed toward a cubicle nearby.

There was a number attached to it.

101.

You looked at it.

Then back at her.

She began walking away.

You watched her disappear between the rows of cubicles.

You had been told nothing.

You didn't know your position.

You didn't know what you were supposed to do.

You didn't even know what kind of company Prometheus was.

You had told yourself to keep your mouth shut.

You had managed to do that for several minutes.

But eventually, you couldn't.

You called after her.

She disappeared before your eyes.

But it didn't scare you.

It didn't freak you out.

Why would it?

You were amazing.

The people around you were amazing.

Everyone here was amazing.

You were all different, but each of you had something the others didn't.

Her uniqueness would scare you.

Right?

Good.

You sat down in your chair.

Your computer came to life.

The screen lit up by itself.

For a moment, you simply watched it.

Then words appeared.

WELCOME.

You had become part of the family.

You felt proud.

You wouldn't break the family's heart.

You couldn't.

The family needed you.

The computer began introducing you to your role.

It explained what you would be doing.

What was expected of you.

How you would contribute.

You leaned closer to the screen.

You began reading.

WELCOME TO—

Something hit the desk.

You jumped.

A body had fallen from somewhere above.

It landed directly on your computer.

The monitor went black.

For a few seconds, you didn't move.

You stared at the person lying across your desk.

Then you looked up.

The floors above you stretched endlessly into the white distance.

You couldn't see where they ended.

You looked back at the body.

Then at the broken computer.

The room around you had barely reacted.

People continued working.

Someone nearby picked up their coffee.

A phone continued ringing.

Your computer flickered.

The screen came back on.

WELCOME TO PROMETHEUS.

The body was still lying across it.

That wasn't a problem.

Problems were normal.

You had only just started working here.

It was someone you knew.

You had seen them yesterday.

You were almost certain of it.

Although you weren't sure whether you had seen them on your phone or in person.

Then again, you weren't even sure whether they were a man or a woman.

Sometimes, when you looked at them, they seemed like a man.

Other times, you were certain they were a woman.

It was difficult to tell.

But there were moments when you looked at them and felt something.

A connection.

Maybe you were related.

Or perhaps you were friends.

Maybe they had been your girlfriend.

Or your boyfriend.

You weren't sure.

And strangely, you didn't care.

They had found peace now.

They were asleep.

Resting.

You looked at them lying across your desk.

And you smiled.

It made you happy.

Because they were happy now.

For the first time since you had arrived at Prometheus, you finally blinked.

You had been working.

And you had been doing a good job.

A very good job.

You had completed so much that eventually you stood up from your desk while your coworkers gathered around you.

They clapped.

You looked at them.

They were smiling.

You smiled back.

Everything was going according to plan.

The plan of your destiny.

You had known you were destined for something great.

And now you were beginning to see it.

Someone handed you a cup of coffee.

You took a sip.

It was warm.

You stood there among your coworkers, surrounded by the endless white floors of Prometheus.

And for a moment, you found peace.

You found rest.

You had finally found somewhere you belonged.