I’m not proud.
I cried. Hard.
As I continued to clean myself up by rubbing the last remnants of snot off my face, I reminded myself that having emotions was okay. Feeling what I was feeling was allowed.
That probably sounded ridiculous given the whole "magically transported to an unknown world" situation, but hey—this was my crisis, and I’d handle it however the hell I wanted.
I had a complicated relationship with my emotions. In the past, suppressing them had led to a lot of anger. Long story short, I had spent years trying to force myself into the standard attraction to women that society expected from a young man. And when it didn’t happen naturally, I did the only logical thing.
I faked it.
Before you start judging me, let me remind you that "faking it until you make it" in a romantic relationship has a success rate of exactly zero percent, no matter what certain Christian infomercials might claim.
So you should probably judge me pretty harshly.
It went about as well as you’d expect. I went through all the motions of dating, nothing worked, and I grew increasingly frustrated. That frustration built and built until I finally snapped and threw a punch at my father.
That was how I ended up in therapy.
My therapist—a woman who, for all her good intentions, had an uncanny ability to make me uncomfortable—helped me work through the mess. With her help, I was finally able to accept that it was okay to be the kind of guy who found a strip club mind-numbingly boring.
Of course, she then tried to convince me I was gay and in denial, which…made it a mixed experience, to say the least.
I let out another one of my patented long sighs and turned my attention to the hovering blue notification screen in front of me. Somehow, through all my blubbering, I hadn’t dismissed it. Maybe, deep down, I knew that the second I told it to go away, I’d just be forced to deal with whatever came next.
But there was no avoiding it now.
I straightened my posture, took another breath, and said, "Dismiss."
With no sound or visual effect, the screen simply vanished. A second later, as expected, a new screen appeared in its place.
Abilities:
- Musical Resonant Frequency (Level 1)
- Adonis Quintessence (Level 1)
- Magic Mouth (Level 1)
*Note: This page can be opened at any time by thinking loudly the word “Status”
May you find your Fortune on Fortune!
At first glance, it looked like a standard RPG character sheet.
It actually felt eerily similar to Dungeons & Dragons, except for "Vitality" replacing what would traditionally be "Constitution." Normally, if this were a tabletop game, I’d expect some wannabe-edgy game developer to rename Charisma something like "Coolness" to show off how modern they were.
Huh. My name was listed at the top, even though I had never given it.
That meant one of two things—either something or someone had searched my belongings, or something like my mind had been read. Given that my name was on my plane ticket and inside my wallet which were both still on me, the first option was possible. But considering that I had just interacted with a floating magic hologram, I had to assume the second option was the more likely of the two.
If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
The screen also confirmed my class and level, information I had already received. But the experience bar was new, showing that I needed 1,100 experience points to level up. Oddly, I already had 1,000 experience points, despite the fact that I hadn’t done anything remotely "game-worthy."
Experience systems worked differently depending on the game. Traditionally, grinding experience meant killing monsters, but more modern games awarded experience for other things—exploration, achievements, crafting. If I was really lucky, maybe I could just play music and level up without ever having to put myself in danger.
Then there were my stats.
After a quick mental calculation, it seemed like I had started with a flat 10 in everything, and then my abilities had increased some stats based on my [Bard] class. Charisma and Dexterity had gone up, along with minor bumps to Strength and Wisdom—likely because of my awarded skills.
That "10" baseline was interesting. In most RPGs, a 10 represented an average human, with a 20 being the peak of human ability. But being honest with myself… I wasn’t an across-the-board "10."
If I were evaluating myself objectively, I’d say my intelligence was probably a little above average. I had a knack for quickly understanding and interpreting information, especially when it came to data analysis. Most people didn’t enjoy getting lost in spreadsheets for hours, but I thrived in it.
My charisma and wisdom? Those had been learned skills. I had spent years forcing myself to improve my communication and situational awareness. I wasn’t a natural, but I had trained myself to navigate social interactions.
Physically, though? I was definitely below average. I had a gym membership somewhere, but I hadn’t used it in months. Hiking was something I enjoyed, but I did it at a slow, deliberate pace. I was not what you’d call an "athlete."
That raised an interesting question. If everyone was assigned a "10" baseline, did that mean my physical condition didn’t matter? Would an extremely obese person and a bodybuilder both start with the same stats? If so, that suggested the system didn’t factor in prior condition, it simply assigned a universal starting point.
And if stats could increase…could they decrease?
Could people lose points over time? Could abilities take stat points instead of granting them? Maybe there was a Barbarian class that gained increased Strength and Vitality but lost Intelligence and Charisma as a tradeoff.
That was something to keep in mind.
Finally, there were my abilities. They were listed here, but without descriptions, likely to save space.
More importantly, they all had levels, meaning they could grow over time. That, too, was suspiciously familiar.
This entire system was structured too well to be random. It followed rules. And if there were rules, that meant I could figure them out.
For the first time since arriving in this world, I felt something other than fear.
I felt curiosity.
Okay, I realized that I had been distracted by whatever magic…whatever was going on. Time to get reviewing my situation and get my shit together.
First things first, I need to assess my surroundings. I stood up and gave myself a full-body pat-down, checking for injuries. Aside from my lingering headache and some muscle stiffness, everything seemed intact. No broken bones, no bleeding, no mysterious wounds. The worst seemed to be some grass stains on my pants.
Now for my environment.
I turned in place, taking in the valley again with a more deliberate eye. I was in a clearing, surrounded by rolling fields of tall grass that stretched outward before meeting the treeline. Pretty far beyond the trees, I could see mountains rising in the distance, though the mountains seemed oddly shaped, almost like giant piles of gravel. The sun hung low at what felt to me like early morning, casting soft shadows over the landscape.
The most prominent feature was the small lake in the center of the valley. It was larger than I had initially thought, maybe the size of a few city blocks, with a steady stream feeding into it from the west. Along the edges, I spotted patches of reeds and clusters of rocks, some of which jutted out into the water like small islands.
So no immediate threats. No reason to panic, I felt a ball of stress in my chest that I didn’t realize was there lessen slightly.
I glanced down at myself next seeing what I had on me. It seemed that whatever I had on me had been transported with me, I wasn't waking up in the middle of nowhere naked Terminator-style.
I had on comfortable jeans and a comfy moisture-wicking shirt I had planned to hike in. Plus I also had on my hiking boots, probably making me look like the straightest man in the middle of this field.
I patted my pockets, finding that I had my wallet, phone, and keys still. All probably useless if I really was in a fantasy world, but still comforting to have. My phone still worked, the screen brightening up showing a 72% charge with no signal.
Then there was my hiking bag which was still attached to my back and was intended as my carry-on, which in hindsight was the best accidental decision I had made all day. I swung it around and unzipped the top compartment. Inside, I found my metal hiking water bottle which was half-full where I left it with a light jacket I had brought with me incase the plane was cold. In the back compartment I head in collection of wires and and headphones for my phone, I had my solar power bank charger. It was a nerdy gadget I never really needed but got as I though it would be cool for hiking and which if the sun here worked anything like the sun back home, would be a godsend.
Alright, so not the worst setup for getting dropped into the unknown. Though I’m kicking myself for not grabbing a candy bar or something for the plane. I had no food whatsoever.
Now, the big question: what the heck do I do next?
The obvious answer was the path leading north. It was a natural break in the valley, an easy route between the mountains.
I didn’t like how convenient it felt.
I’d played enough games to know that obvious paths meant someone wanted you to take them. In a world that seemed to be running on some kind of game logic, I wasn’t about to blindly follow the neon "GO THIS WAY" sign without scouting first.
That left me with an alternative to follow the stream that feeds the lake.
Water sources in nature were basically highways for life. Animals relied on them, people settled near them. If there was anything living out here, the stream would be a good way to find it. There was also a natural incline along the stream meaning I followed it , I might be able to get a better vantage point on where that path actually led.
Decision made.
I adjusted my bag, taking a glance at the lake, and set off along the stream keeping a slow and steady pace. The sound of trickling water was soothing, grounding me in the moment. The further I walked, the more I started noticing small details such as tiny fish darting in the shallows, a line of rocks that looked like they had once been part of a larger formation, and the occasional rustling in the tall grass as unseen creatures moved about.
About ten yards from the treeline, I stopped.
Something was watching me.
I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I felt a presence just at the edges of my perception. Slowly, I turned my head, scanning the trees and rocks around me.
Then I saw it.
A squirrel.
For a second, I almost laughed at myself. My first encounter with life in this world, and it was a freaking squirrel.
It perched on a low-hanging branch on the first real tree I could see, staring at me with an intensity and stillness that felt… unnatural. Its fur was a mix of deep browns and rusty reds, with a slightly longer tail than I was used to seeing back home. Its little black eyes locked onto mine, unmoving.
I took a slow step forward.
The squirrel didn’t flinch. It just… kept staring.
I frowned. Okay, this is weird. Normally, a wild animal would have done something by now. But this thing was still just… waiting. Watching.
I was about to take another step when, suddenly, a notification box popped up over its head
[Forest Squirrel] {level 1}!
I blinked.
I wasn’t about to get jump-scared by some rodent because of a pop-up tutorial.
I quickly thought at the popup to go away, and it vanished.
The squirrel gave a single twitchy movement of its nose before backing up on the tree branch and starting to chirp at me while flicking its tail in annoyance.
I exhaled, shaking my head. "Okay. That was a thing."
So, apparently, animals or whatever could be scanned and tell you what they were and their level. And if this was my first "encounter," that meant there were other creatures out here to find.
Fantastic.
I let myself relax, this a normal but strange forest. The squirrel was acting weird because of the magic weirdness is happening, but I know forests and should be fine.
I took two steps forward getting a little excited to explore a new place, stepping just under the start of the trees.
Which was the exact moment the squirrel launched itself screaming at my face.