With Proctor agape, staring at me like a rubbernecker at the scene of an accident, I held the can of Cola Drip soda near my mouth. The liquid inside sloshed around as I hesitated, and my hand vibrated with nervous energy.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I really don’t know.”

Proctor’s raised eyebrows told me he wanted me to drink.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I said. “This could kill me.”

He appeared to catch himself in his own morbid curiosity, and he shook it off.

“Oh dear,” Proctor said. “Sorry. I suppose you’re right. Are you going to pour it out?”

Scared as I was, I also couldn’t fathom wasting the gold coin I’d spent, and simply emptying the can to the grassy field.

“Well, I’ve opened it now,” I said. “Here goes nothing.”

Tilting the can, the cold soda stung the back of my throat. The fizz burst upward into my nose. It happened to me many times before, but this time it hurt more than normal.

“Man,” I said, and I pulled the can away, and drops fell from my mouth, and I spilled a bit of the soda as well. “That stings.”

Proctor’s face twisted taking on the look of someone who’d just dared you to eat a bug, only to be horrified watching you as you do it.

“It tastes poor?” Proctor said.

“Actually, no,” I said. “It’s cola. Pretty generic flavor, really. Not bad, not fantastic… just… normal.”

I took in another sip.

Nothing happened.

The other men kept working away at marking out the village perimeter, paying us no mind. We fully intended to catch up with them, once finished exploring this extremely strange occurrence.

“The System warned me about its effects,” I told Proctor. “What effects?”

“How do you feel?” Proctor said.

You ever have those moments where you think as though you should be feeling the effects of something only to have it be anticlimactic? It’s kind of like when you drink alcohol to excess, where sometimes you do that and it works as intended, then there’s those other times where you drink to excess, and you’re surprised by the lack of buzz you attain.

I stood there in the field, next to this ridiculous soda machine waiting for a good two minutes, listening to the cold wind swirl around us while Kestrel, Trevor, and Denton murmured their work-talk off in the distance… and… freaking nothing.

Talk about a buzz kill.

“I don’t understand,” I said.

“Perhaps it’s better nothing happened,” Proctor said. “Safer that way. It’s possible you’d received warning because-”

Then like a blast of vertigo, the ground fell out from underneath me. Black stars attacked the corners of my vision. I regained my equilibrium, and there was a timer in the bottom left of my vision.

“When did that get there?” I said.

Proctor folded his arms. “When did what get where?” He said.

“There’s a time in my eyes, er, in my vision, sorry,” I said. “It’s a time, it’s ticking down. Single digit, colon, double digits.”

“Minutes and seconds,” Proctor said.

“Right.”

“How curious.”

The time in my vision read: [1:21], and the seconds ticked down in real time.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Then as though on cue, a buzz of electricity gripped the back of my neck and tingled up the back of my head.

“Something’s happening now,” I said. “I take back what I said.”

I chuckled nervously.

“Can you describe the feeling?” Proctor said.

“Ay!” Kestrel yelled at us from fifty yards to our north. “You lot coming?”

“Shortly,” Proctor called back.

The old man waved his hand, and went back to work with the giant and his son.

The timer reached [0:40].

“I’m scared,” I said. “Forty seconds… thirty five.”

Proctor took on that look again, the man watching the live science experiment.

“I feel like my head’s about to explode or something,” I said.

Without a word, Proctor took a sizable step back.

“I saw that,” I said. “That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“Apologies,” he said, but he didn’t bother to step back forward again either. I’d have laughed at his funny display of self preservation if I wasn’t so afraid.

“Twenty seconds,” I said. “Fifteen.”

I reached out with my arms in a pushing motion toward Proctor.

“Maybe move back farther,” I said. “Just in case.” I could barely choke out the end of that sentence.

“Five seconds.”

Text slammed in front of my vision, and I stumbled backward. Thankfully, there was no pain.

“Whoa,” I said, my arms out by my sides for balance.

“What?” Proctor said, with urgency. “What’s happening? What are you seeing?”

“It’s the System,” I said.

The text read (and I repeated out loud for Proctor to hear):

[WARNING!

Soda consumption: Locked. You may not mix flavors. You may not consume another Boop Soda for: 12 hours.

In the allotted time, 5:00, you have consumed: 30 mL/1 oz.

Flavor: Cola Drip (You have 2 of this flavor remaining.)

WARNING!

Prepare for rain.

Visualize rain fall. You have 10 seconds to complete this task.]

A new countdown started at the lower left of my vision. Ten seconds, counting down.

“Visualize?” I said, completely confused. “Visualize what?”

“The rain,” Proctor said. “Sounds as though it’s asking you to picture it raining.”

“I don’t want it to rain,” I said. “This is nuts.”

Whether I wanted to or not, a vision of rain fall did enter my mind. It’s like when someone tells you not to envision a pink elephant, right? You do it even when you may not want to.

Without even noticing when I’d first cracked open the soda can, the sun had completely disappeared, and the wind went with it.

My other mistake (though, in my defense I didn’t really know what I was doing) was immediately picturing heavy rain fall. The System told me to visualize rain, and I guess my brain jumped to it pouring cats and dogs rather than a light sprinkle. I promised myself I wouldn’t make this mistake again.

I made that promise after the sky broke open once the ten second countdown was over, and the rain came fast and heavy. Proctor and I were soaked in seconds. We saw Kestrel, Denton, and Trevor waving their arms at the sky, clearly annoyed at the sudden weather outbreak.

“Geez,” I said. “Remind me not to choose Cola Drip ever again… ever…”

“Not ideal, I’ll grant you,” Proctor said.

We both flung our arms trying to rid ourselves of the streams of rain pouring down our bodies. It was a useless gesture, but instinctual. Another instinct was to run, and try and find shelter from the downpour, but we were well out in the middle of a flat plain on Moonlight’s west side. There were no trees, nor any intact structure anywhere near us.

“It’s quite cold,” Proctor said. “We’d best catch up with the others, perhaps find shelter, build a fire.”

[PROGRESS REPORT:

VILLAGE OF MOONLIGHT

PERIMETER SECURITY WALL:

East side of village = 0.43 miles/0.7 kilometers wall track mapped

South side of village = 1.37 miles/2.2 kilometers wall track mapped

West side of village = 0.37 miles/0.6 kilometers wall track mapped

Total of perimeter security wall mapped = 2.17 miles/3.49 kilometers

BASEBALL FRANCHISE

Team Name: none.

Team Facilities: none.

Ball park name: n/a

Ball park seating capacity: n/a

Team Coaching Staff: none.

Team Players under contract: none.

Team Uniforms: none.

Sponsorship deals: none.

Pre-season training scheduled: none.

Franchise staff: 16

GOLD STATUS

Coins currently held: 34

NOTE:

Be aware, all circumstances regarding baseball franchise operation are subject to change. Your team’s league placement is subject to change. The implementation of a baseball season, as per the number of games, the type of competition therein, etc, is subject to change, i.e. “season” may at any time denote a bracketed tournament in its place, or vise versa.

ALSO NOTE:

Your status re: ANDROIDS, has been revoked effective immediately. As you’ve contravened Section 33.2, Paragraph 1A, to wit: failure to provide adequate protection from given world’s hazards.

Changes have also been made to audio visual documentation of your franchise operations.

You were not notified of said changes in advance. Mistakes were made.

You will be notified in advance as to any changes proposed by the SYSTEM moving forward. Thank you for your cooperation.

Management.]