Mark had been walking down the street, heading home from a short walk, when the world changed around him. No longer was he on a normal, busy city street, but in an empty, austere room with a single door, but before he could get to grips with what happened, a strange, non-descript voice spoke in his mind.
[Welcome, to the System Tutorial for Earth-c143, sector 733. Survive, and reach the end to embark on your path.]
The door opened on its own, but Mark didn’t move.
What the fuck is going on?! System Tutorial? Survive?! What’s going to happen if I step through that door?
Thoughts, doubts, and fears were rampant in his mind, but his choice was taken from him soon enough.
The walls started moving, and the one behind him quickly pushed him toward the exit.
Before he knew it, he stood with his back against a blank wall, the door having disappeared.
Before him was a corridor that disappeared into the distance, with several doors leading off to the sides.
He stood at one end of the corridor, and he had no way back, and if the voice was telling the truth, then the only way for him to leave was to go forward and survive whatever was in store. His hands were trembling, and his heart was racing, but after a few minutes, he managed to get his breathing under control and started moving forward.
He walked up to the first door and wanted to ignore it, but it was like he hit an invisible wall. Nothing he did, no matter how much he strained and pushed, he couldn’t get a step further, so, with great reluctance, he turned to the doors. He had a door on both sides, but they were identical. Without a way to figure out if one was better than the other, he chose the door on the right.
The door opened, revealing an empty room. He took a step inside, and the door slammed shut behind him. Mark spun around in a panic and tried to open the door, but it was stuck.
Panic was welling up again, spiking when he heard a sound from behind him. It sounded like a balloon popping, and when he turned around, he was no longer alone.
A little green humanoid stood in the center of the room, holding a short, rusty dagger. It looked around for a second, seemingly confused before it locked eyes with Mark. Its face split into a snarl, and it screeched loudly before rushing at him.
It swung the dagger madly as it dashed at him, and Mark acted without thinking. His leg snapped up and connected with the creature’s face, and Mark heard something snap, and it was knocked back.
The creature stumbled to the ground with a bloody nose, and it dropped the dagger as it fell.
It got back up immediately but seemed so enraged it forgot to pick up the dagger.
It rushed at him again, this time with its hands, but it had the same outcome, though Mark was more prepared this time.
He’d positioned himself when he saw the creature stand up, and his roundhouse kick hit it in the neck, and another crack sounded. The creature didn’t get back up this time, and Mark saw the door reappear.
He didn’t leave immediately, as he watched the creature disappear into motes of light, along with the dagger.
Mark’s mind was in turmoil, and his stomach was clenching. Mark felt like he was about to be sick, and he started dry-heaving. He fell to his knees as he lost the strength in his legs.
Fuck! I-I killed it! I killed that creature. It could use tools, so it had to be intelligent… and I killed it.
He kneeled on the floor for several long minutes before he was forced to leave the room due to the walls shrinking again.
Back in the corridor, he got up on unsteady legs and turned to the other door, only to find the doorway empty.
He could see inside and saw the walls and floor was lined with weapon racks. Mark’s eyes widened, and he stumbled forward, but the doorway disappeared before he could reach it.
[Only one choice per section. Better luck next time.]
What the fuck?! Why not say that before? I could have gotten a weapon, but I had to face that monster unarmed? Fucking hell!
He hung his head and grabbed his hair in frustration but shook himself free eventually. Rather than sulk, he simply chose to move on.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
I’ll get one choice per section, and with my luck, it’s gonna be the worst one every time… Let’s just get it over with.
He shuffled forward and reached another set of doors. Again, they looked identical, and, this time, Mark chose the left side.
If he thought about it, he’d get stuck in a loop, so he didn’t think about it.
He was faced with another empty room, and his heart sank when he heard to door slam shut again.
***
Seven doors, seven monsters, countless cuts, and bruises later, Mark slumped to the floor in the corridor instead of moving on.
He held his head in his hands as he held back sobs.
He’d been forced to rip his shirt to make improvised bandages to stem his bleeding, so he sat shirtless, covered in blood-soaked wrappings.
The corridor seemed endless; it stretched into the distance, with only the doors to break the monotony.
How long do I have to keep this up? Or is it based on a lucky break? Do I need to choose the right door to escape?
He sat still for minute after minute, thoughts rumbling through his mind, until he lost track of time.
After an indeterminate time, he stood up and walked forward. The fear had disappeared by now, as had the nausea of killing the creatures, and he didn’t hesitate before opening a door.
As far as he could tell, there was no rhyme or reason to which door led to something good or terrible.
He entered another empty room and sighed deeply, but rather than the door slamming shut, the entire room warped and blurred.
In the blink of an eye, he had moved from the empty room into a completely different place.
He was standing in a large clearing, surrounded by trees in the distance. The sky was a clear blue, the sun was high in the sky, and the air smelled incredibly fresh.
Again, contrary to earlier experiences, he received some guidance.
[Locate the exit.]
Very minor guidance, but it was something.
Disappointment filled him as it proved that he hadn’t been transported out of that hellish corridor, but he’d gotten used to that feeling and started looking around.
As he expected, no exit appeared, so he just started to walk. He tested the trees, stomped on the ground, and shuffled through bushes but feared it wouldn’t be that easy.
***
The sun had set, the moon had taken its place in the sky, and Mark hadn’t found a single clue to the exit.
His eyes drooped, and he struggled to stay awake as he slumped against a tree.
Fuck, I’m so tired! I want to sleep, but there might be monsters around. Although, I haven’t seen any signs of one.
He sighed and grunted before he rose again. If he allowed himself to relax, he’d fall asleep, and he couldn’t take that risk.
The only real thing he’d discovered was that the place was far smaller than he had thought.
He had walked for hours, passing through clearing after clearing. In his frustration, he’d kicked a lump on the ground. That had torn some of the grass, and when he kept walking, he entered another clearing and saw the same loose clump of dirt.
He was walking forward but entered the clearing on the other side, like a loop. That had raised his spirits a little, as it meant he didn’t have to search an entire forest or something, but he still couldn’t find the exit.
He’d believed that he had searched every meter of the area, but he had nothing to show for it.
***
The sun was rising again. He’d watched the sun rise four times by now, and it marked the start of his fifth day in this place, and he was just about ready to give up.
He had climbed a tree, using the sunrise as a way to soothe his mind, as it looked beautiful as always, but just as he was about to give up, he saw something.
A slight shimmer on the horizon, and he felt it could be significant. He felt like he was on the brink of a discovery, but it disappeared before he could fully grasp it. The sun rose above the horizon, and the shimmer disappeared.
He settled down to see if the same thing would happen during sunset and maybe with the moon as well.
***
Why aren’t I hungry or thirsty? Bah! Why am I questioning the only good thing in this hell?
He had watched 15 dawns and had yet to discover anything, but he was confident he was close. Every time he saw the shimmer, he felt closer to some kind of epiphany, and he had great hopes for this one.
The moon did have some of the shimmers, but not like the sun, so he focused his attention on that.
He had questioned why he wasn’t blinded when he looked at the sun but had concluded that it had something to do with the shimmer, that it was all connected.
The first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, and the shimmer appeared. He focused his mind, determined to figure out what it meant, and watched the shimmers' waving lines, like pulsing ripples that reflected the light, and it all fell into place.
A bubble surrounded him, and the light, heat, or something else coming from the sun caused the ripples. That would explain why the moon didn’t have as strong ripples; it was weaker light reflected from the sun.
Why are the ripples only appearing near the horizon, though? The loop!
When he walked into the inner walls of the bubble, he was transported to the other, internal side of it.
Is it teleportation? Or a wormhole or something?
Regardless of what it was precisely, he was pretty confident that it was some kind of spatial shenanigans.
The area he was in was separated by a bubble that manipulated space, and he could see the ripples due to whatever caused him to be transported. The bubble’s other function was to isolate him.
But did all that get him closer to escaping this place?
He had no way to detect spatial anomalies; the ripples were not a product of any ability he possessed. Mark had to check, though and spent the next week moving around the clearing while stopping whenever the sun rose or set.
***
After his discovery, he was somehow able to glean more and more detail from the ripples. Every time he watched them, it felt like he could see more, and his last hope was that he’d eventually be able to see the exit, though he had his doubts.
He was making his usual rounds and was about to head back into his tree when he saw something in the corner of his eye.
He saw nothing when he looked in that direction, but it appeared again when he turned.
His eyes widened, and his heart sped up as his hope reignited. Using his peripheral vision, he closed in on the location, and the moment he got within a meter of it, a door appeared.
It looked like a curtain was drawn back, and his exit was unveiled. Mark felt tears appear in the corners of his eyes as he rushed through the door.
When he appeared in the corridor, it felt like the greatest place in the world, as it meant he could progress again. He could now hope to leave at some point.