Maximillian Ryland, Demton, 5/29/2051 1:48 p.m.

Emma and I sat on a wooden bench and contemplated the surroundings. This magical-looking place was already casting a spell on me. In a strange world with creatures that seemed both familiar and alien. In a strange world with no tangible past. In a strange world in which I will play a significant role. Perhaps. I didn't complain, because it could have been worse for me. After all, it is idyllic here and I have a contact person who will pilot me through. This one seemed to be waiting impatiently for someone.
Inquisitively, I asked, "Emma?" She looked at me. "Who are we waiting for here?"
"For a good friend. She's my doctoral student in archaeology. We'll tell her the whole story too, everyone else we'll tell them that you woke up in my backyard today and have amnesia. But you have memories of how it was 30 years ago. We'll sell it as a newly discovered phenomenon. Many things are so inexplicable that such a phenomenon is quite possible."
I did some quick soul-searching. Over the rush of water from the fountain and the restless hustle and bustle of the people on the scene, something crossed my mind. "Shouldn't you have told me earlier? I mean, I could have messed everything up by not knowing."
"No, because I would have let you in on it by the time the next person met at the latest. Makes no difference if you know now or later. Just got too excited and haven't said it yet."
"Because you're the one in charge of everything anyway and I'm just supposed to follow your instructions?"
"Exactly."
Who would have thought. But I don't have any other choice and I'm honestly a little glad of it. Hopefully, this will all go quickly. Maybe I can get back to my time. Hopefully.
While waiting, I continued to look at the surroundings. Particularly noticeable were the roots that were growing all around the buildings, often running into the wall. Even around most of the equipment, such as the holographic street signs, each of which had a pole with a projected sign, were entwined with roots or even flowers at ground level. Full of curiosity, I asked, "What's with all these roots and flowers? I saw something like that in your house, too."
Emelia looked at me in surprise for a moment, then replied, "Well, why am I surprised? I guess the technology was completely different back then. Even if this period of time is not that long. For a completely different technology quite short. But who knows what happened in the past. Soooo..." She took a deep breath. "The glass flower, which you also know from your time, is a kind of catalyst. With the right flowers, you can ignite certain powers. Let's take an example. Roses contain the power of temperature. With the right words spoken, you make a connection and the glass flower harnesses the energy. With the rose, you can heat things up, as well as start a real fire, depending on the words you say. Likewise, you can also cool things or make ice."
interrupted, "That sounds like magic."
"Yes, that's what we call this technology."
"But in our time, magic is more like something fictional and scientifically impossible. It's so contradictory."
"Oh," Emma replied in surprise. "In our time, it's normal."
"But... In 30 years, I find it hard to imagine such powers being discovered and already developed to such an extent."
Emelia thought for a moment. "Maybe more than 30 years have passed. Maybe our chronology isn't right, after all. Who knows. I can't wait to find all this out."
She's right. We know so little. Even for the inhabitants of this time, their own world is a great mystery. There's so much to figure out. How, for example, can a college student afford a house. Or do her parents pay for it? So many mysteries. So few answers. In this case, yes, I could ask.
"Who actually pays for the house? In my day, it would be impossible for a student to afford a house."
She raised an eyebrow and replied in utter horror, "What do you mean afford? You PAY for houses? What a dystopia. No. We get housing for free from the government. You can apply for houses or apartments. As an archaeologist and as a student, of course, you have advantages because that line of work is particularly relevant."
"Isn't that taken advantage of?"
"Yes, it is. But not to a great extent, because you have to perform in certain ways. Because of this pressure to perform in particularly relevant professions, people who are really interested tend to do it. I think this system is kind of worthy of criticism, but I actually can't think of a better solution."
"Well, at least it's objectively understandable. But it kind of gives a bad image to other less relevant professions and kind of gives people who do this profession a feeling of... Inferiority?"
"Well, it's not that violent here. All jobs are important and necessary. Otherwise, the particular job wouldn't exist. Everybody knows that. But yes, in some ways, as you described it, it's there. There is agreement that it should be revised, but the search for our past is too important to all of us. That's why it will probably take time to take the first steps. Everyone is very obsessed with finding out about our past."
With a brief nod, I thanked him for his answer. This world seems to be getting more and more interesting. While I still have questions, I'll save those for later. I wanted to survey the surroundings a bit more. It reminded me a bit of my hometown of Demton. Lots of ornate houses with filigree decorations. Only here there are a lot of futuristic skyscrapers in the distance. It seemed like an old town served as the center with this fountain right in the middle. This antique flair is of course interrupted by all the futuristic installations and equipment, such as the hologram panels used as signs, advertisements, and info posters. Let alone hologram screens from mobile devices. Not to mention the little robots that sometimes show up to clean the environment. It's so contradictory and seems like Demton, only hundreds of years in the future.

A few minutes later, a female white tiger with a purple chignon approached us. I'm generally surprised that most people have such colorful hair. Strange trend. Anime culture seems to have gotten really big in the future, I guess. She came towards us with a tight posture and coordinated steps, which were all exactly the same. Oh dear, she seems to be a strict personality. That can become something. This tiger walked straight up to Emma and said "Hey sweetie" and hugged her. How intimate. "How's my favorite student?"
"Excellent! You won't believe what I discovered," my companion replied.
"I can tell you're all over the place."
"Oh, yes."

For the next five minutes, the two exchanged news while I stood silently by, not knowing what to contribute. As I heard out, the tiger is called Josy. However, I felt ignored, because the tiger hardly paid attention to me.
But then the white tiger came up to me and introduced himself: "Good day young person. My name is Josette Geer and I come from the Sacred Plains. Nice to meet you." It sounded kind of monotone like she wasn't really interested in me. But I did not let myself be distracted and introduced myself politely: "Good day. My name is Maximillian Ryland and I'm from Demton. Nice to meet you."
"Good," said Emma. "I think it's important that you get to know the city first before we start randomly talking to different people." "I agree with that," Josy replied. "You should get to know our culture first and visit different places. It should make it easier for you to recognize contexts, explain differences, and generally settle in here. We can go visit some people in parallel."
"Thus it is decided. Let's feast on ice cream today on this warm summer day."
Emma's expression sounds barbaric. Since she always seems so elegant, I guess it's different these days. Besides, it's just decided without my consent. I shouldn't be surprised. We all then headed off to the nearest ice cream parlor.

Emma was a few meters ahead of us because she wanted to show me the best ice cream in town and was heading towards her destination at a fast pace. In doing so, she is so close to the edge of the path that one had to be afraid that she would trample the bluish, tall tufts of grass that were growing along the side of the path. We tried to keep up so we wouldn't lose her. But then Josette looked at me with a begrudging look and spoke as quietly as possible, "I don't know what you told Emma, but if you mess with her, I will pursue you mercilessly. Got it?" Taken aback but also intimidated, I replied, "Y-yes. Wasn't planning on it." To which she replied, "That's good. Otherwise, you'll die a thousand deaths." So brutal right away. Once is enough, after all.
We now arrived at Emma's destination. All along the alley, there were many eateries. In front of the ice cream parlor, there were some tables shaped like oblong, unequal-sided triangles. Totally impractical and again very individual. Or not, because Emma had geometric shapes also hanging from the ceiling as decoration. Like colorful hair is probably also a trend of the future. We sat down all at a table and studied the menu. There were some very interesting varieties. Sky berry, durone and thunder blossom. Fortunately for me, there were also varieties I knew: Vanilla, Cookies, Strawberry, and a few others.
Josette and Emma ordered sundaes whose names meant nothing to me: green lily dream and thunder sundae. I, on the other hand, really just wanted vanilla ice cream, but when I spoke up Emma said, "You're in an ice cream shop and you order nothing but a few scoops of boring vanilla ice cream? You're interesting and deadly boring at the same time. I can recommend the melon cup." I revised my order and ordered a melon cup. The tiger then looked at me in disgust and said, "The ice cream you ordered also has red melons in it. Ugh." I shook my head and thought to myself, what the old woman has against me. I can't please anyone either.

As long as we were waiting for our order, I looked around. The restaurant was well attended, despite or perhaps even because of the impractical tables. As to be expected, like at the fountain place, it was very mixed as far as species were concerned. Mammals, birds, and reptiles of various breeds. When I said mammals, of course, I also meant people of different ethnicities and everything was so peaceful. There is laughter everywhere and especially the people at the table next to us are particularly loud and in a good mood. Is it all really so utopian? I am afraid to get to know the abysses of this world. Maybe I'm just pessimistic. Maybe I think too much. But to my credit, the waiter interrupted my thoughts and set out our sundaes. I eyed our sundaes and we began to feast on the ice cream. Except for me, because I took a piece of red melon from my sundae that was cubed on top of my ice cream. As I ate the piece, my companions looked at me in amazement. Emma giggled in response and Josette rolled her eyes. Confused, I looked at them both. Emma kindly enlightened me: "Red melons are very tasty, but you only eat them in small quantities mixed with other food. Otherwise, it causes diarrhea. In your case, you spoon each piece with enough ice cream."
"That's why I don't like red melon," the tiger replied.
"Have a good time tonight," Emma added cynically.
Great. "Couldn't someone have told me that before? Your suggestion was on purpose!" To which Emma replied with a self-evident "No." There even the tiger could not deny a slight grin. We changed the subject and I told something about the different languages of my time.

Sometime later we were on the way to sight. On the way there, I saw a huge tower on the horizon, but I didn't ask about it because my two companions were in a conversation. I wasn't really listening, but it was probably about a deserted, never completed metropolis that sits on an island. I bet I'll get to see it sooner or later.
Slowly we approached the lake. The meter-high, thick trees blocked my view until we then came upon an opening defined as the entrance to the sight. The golden glow caught my eye for a while, but as we walked through the entrance, I was once again overwhelmed by the day. The water was golden and shone a light golden light on the surrounding area. I looked at the large rock formation in the middle and enjoyed the sight. There was something magical about it. Emma looked out at the water and suggested, "We should all bare our feet and sit relaxed with them in the water on the shore." Josy just nodded and I replied, "As long as you do it first. Not that it's another mean trap of yours, Emma!" "You're so vindictive."
The two ladies bared their feet and actually sat down on the shore with their feet in the golden water. I did the same after them. For a brief moment, we enjoyed the mystical scene of the lake when a call came in for Josy. "Excuse me a minute." She went out of earshot and I took the opportunity to speak with Emma.
"I think Josette has something against me."
"What makes you think that?"
"Well," I said with a sigh. "She threatened me with a thousand deaths if I fooled you. I don't know what you've already told her on the phone today, but she seemed to think I was a liar."
"Oh, nonsense. I was just telling her that I met someone who claims to have clear and detailed memories of the world before global amnesia. However, his memories stop exactly 30 years ago, and woke up in my backyard. Admittedly, in retrospect, it does sound a bit odd with that wording, but she will believe you. She's a bit off-putting, being a bit.... well... anti-human. You'll have to find out the reason yourself, though, because I don't want to reveal every personal detail about her."
"I see."
"But a thousand deaths is a bit excessive. One would be completely enough."
"That's right. As if she could kill a dead person again."
Emma looked at me a little confused. In response, I looked back in confusion. At that moment, all that could be heard was the chirping of birds from the golden irradiated treetops.
My interlocutor continued the conversation: "I don't understand what you mean. You can kill people as many times as you want. They regenerate and live again. It only takes what feels like half an eternity. Death is a temporary state of complete motionlessness of the body. Of course, it is illegal. But we only know it that way and it's just... for us.... natural."
Completely dumbfounded, I replied, "In my time, the body decays after death. You disappear from existence."
"What?!"

Two minutes passed as we realized how absurd this was. Briefly, I looked to the distant Josette, still on the phone, leaning against a streetlight. Emma broke the silence and concluded, "That would explain why some people have been missing since the amnesia. We are all aware of the relationship of some people without knowing where they are. If they died for good before, that would explain a lot. After all, my parents have also gone missing. Or even... dead."
Emma took a deep breath, not wanting to entertain that thought. But she continued, "In this day and age if no one dies anymore - for whatever reason - there's probably a connection with the fact that no people are born anymore."
"Irrevocable death is genuinely not conscious, but birth is?"
"That kind of death was not conscious to anyone. The birth, strangely enough, was. It was a mystery to us why new people can be born and what happens when we become too many when no one disappears. Because there have been no births since the amnesia, we have theorized that our capacity has been reached and it will be that way forever. I don't know how that is possible either. People have philosophized about whether existences can disappear."
"So your society is sort of at a standstill."
"Not quite. We're still aging."
"So soon you'll all just be old farts. Scary idea."
"You're mean."
"No."
Emma had to giggle for a moment

Two more minutes passed, as we first had to grasp how something fundamental like death could be so incredibly different between our times. Also, Emma had to realize that her parents might be irrevocably gone from this world. That immortality could be achieved in the future is not something I could have imagined, despite all the sci-fi. It feels like something has gone duly wrong in the past. My thought was interrupted by Josy coming up to us and asking with a smile, "So, Emma? Have you confessed yet that his feet will turn golden?