"I don't want to wake up yet."
Matthew thought as he rolled over, trying to get the sun out of his face.
"I must have forgotten to close the blinds again before going to bed."
He continued trying to reposition himself, but the light seemed to come from every direction he tried.
Deciding that he wouldn't get more sleep, he tried to open his eyes, but it almost felt like he was peeling sticky candy off a rapper; his eyelids wouldn't separate.
Matthew reached up, peeling his eyelids apart slowly and trying not to pull out his eyelashes. At that instant, the weird stuck feeling on his eyelids disappeared, and his finger jabbed into the side of his eye.
"OW! WHAT THE….."
Matthew stopped for a moment, confused by his own lack of words. He felt like that term was something he knew and said enough to not forget, but as he tried to pinpoint that feeling, the memory and feeling disappeared as if trying to escape.
Matthew reached up to touch his now aching eye. "Wait, what was I talking about?" Forgetting stuff wasn't new to him, but this feeling of a hole in his memories was, and it unnerved him.
Finally giving up, he started looking around at his cozy bedroom: the cushy floor, his cozy bed at his back, the trees all around, giving the room a nice open feeling, and the large green thing that was looking at him with drool coming out of its mouth.
"So, a dream, then?" he thought as he lay back down, trying to wake up. His eyes had other plans, though, and refused to close. Even trying to pry them shut had no effect.
Eventually giving up, he looked around at this dream world he found himself in; the first thing he noticed was the large green thing.
The green thing must have been 9 feet tall and 6 feet across. It stood on two stumpy legs and held a torn part of a tree in one hand. The monster had large, defined muscles all over its body and barely any clothes on, just a loincloth.
The monster's other hand, reaching out toward Matthew, seemingly stopped mid-air. Its face was ugly. It had one completely empty eye socket, a large piece of flesh missing from that part of its face; its nose was crooked as if it had been broken and left to heal at an angle.
The giant monster licked its teeth, which were as straight as a circle; its teeth jutted out of its large maw almost in any direction; in fact, Matthew could see some cracks on some and others that came to a point as if sharpened.
He looked at the creature in front of him disgustingly; it smelled horrible, a mix of rotting fruit and sweat. "Not a dream then, a nightmare." Although he thought it was a nightmare, the monster hadn't attacked, still waiting just feet from where he sat on his bed.
Coming to the conclusion that his mind wasn't trying to kill him in this dream, he decided to take in his surroundings. He and the monster appeared to be alone in a forest of pine trees, a light breeze blowing around the needle's sharp and sweet smell. The ground was entirely covered with a thick layer of green grass, with no other foliage in sight, which seemed odd.
Matthew looked at the sky and noticed the light reflecting off a near-transparent surface above him. He reached out to touch the cold surface and followed it down and around him. When he touched it, he saw that his hand didn't budge or deform it, even though it looked paper-thin.
A few moments after touching the bubble's surface, a timer appeared at the top of his peripheral vision. It felt bizarre; where his vision usually went blurry, the timer was in perfect focus and in the same position no matter where he looked.
Matthew could see the time counting down, 8, 7, 6, and wondered what he would dream of next.
As the timer hit zero, he looked around for changes. Nothing changed. The forest was still there, and the sun was still slightly peaking through the canopy. That is when he noticed the large green monster again started reaching toward him.
Matthew looked at the hand, reaching closer, expecting the bubble to stop the beast. However, as the monster continued reaching past where the bubble had been, there appeared to be nothing there anymore. Matthew tried to run, but his body wouldn't move. He screamed for his muscles to do something but felt paralyzed.
As the hand came closer and closer, his heart and time almost seemed to slow to a crawl, and the feeling of doom spread over him, sending a shiver down his body.
Still unable to do anything but watch, he saw the monster's large hand wrap around his face, and only then did it start to squeeze.
At first, it felt like a migraine was taking hold; there was pressure from all sides of his head that felt like it was trying to cave in his skull. The pain shocked him enough to react, and he reached up and tried to pry the hand off his face.
The hand was massive, able to fit Matthew's face in its palm. The beast's hand smelled sharply of iron, which he associated with the slick feeling of blood on its hand.
Matthew could feel his heart racing, so with the help of the adrenaline, he pushed the hand up and over his head, trying to make a run for it.
Luck was not on his side, however, and the hand that was pushed up was able to grab his hair and yank him backward harshly, causing a ripple of sharp pain to radiate from his scalp all the way down his spine and throughout his body,
Matthew yelled in pain as the monster shook him from its grasp. He tried to fight back or even flail; only then did he realize that his arms and legs wouldn't move anymore.
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The monster also noticed the lack of a struggle and set him down, lying upward on the ground. As the beast pulled its hand away from its grasp on his hair, he saw tuffs of bloodied hair blowing away in the slight breeze.
Matthew continued to try to get his body to move but only felt numbness from anything below his neck. Since he was on his back, he could see the monster pick up its large piece of tree and hold it high above its head.
Matthew could feel tears starting to roll down his face.
"Am I about to die?"
He closed his eyes, and only moments later, he no longer felt pain.
Although no more pain or feeling was present, Matthew stayed like that, unmoving, unthinking for a long time, eventually gathering enough courage to squint through his eyelids.
Through the small gap, nothing was visible, just darkness, so he opened his eyes fully, looking around at the large empty room he found himself floating in.
Finding himself somewhat safe again, he could feel the adrenaline start to leave his body, instead being replaced by anger.
"WHAT WAS THAT!?!"
He screamed into the darkness. He had felt pain in dreams before, but that felt worse than anything he had ever experienced, dream or not.
A few moments later, words appeared in his vision as if right in front of him.
:Murdered by a Guhder:
Time alive 45 sec
Level at death 0
Experience lost 0
Fun fact: You didn't take any steps before dying; we recommend you try doing better next time.
Matthew frowned and looked at the odd aberration, which seemed to follow his vision just like the timer had.
"Just what is going on here? Am I going crazy?" As if to answer his question, more words appeared.
Health check
abnormal amount of adrenaline in body
abnormal heart rate of 121
Mental check
No issues found
In conclusion, you are sane.
Matthew looked at the words announcing his sanity like a known variable.
"Yup, I'm going crazy, I finally snapped from taking on too much work, and now I'm a vegetable; who's going to find me? Did I see someone else as a monster and fight them?"
Matthew then felt all uneasiness leave him, replaced by an unnervingly calm feeling. A few moments later, the words appeared again.
I have turned off your emotions because you have lost the ability to communicate clearly; we will give them back after we explain what is happening.
We will start with who I am; I'm your translator to the world and the world's translator to you. I am not a guide, but I am something to help you understand.
Matthew felt his mind try and fail to unravel his thoughts, which were still coming in at what felt like 1000 miles per hour, but there was no corresponding fear or anxiousness.
"What a weird nightmare. If I'm conscious, does this mean I can control the outcome of this dream?" He tried to transform the dark emptiness around him into a replica of the apartment, but after a few moments of concentration with no effect, he gave up.
His mind started racing again. This time, a question for the translator appeared in the avalanche of thoughts.
"Hey, translator, tell me about this world and how I fit into it."
A tester's job involves many things, mainly experiencing, going through the world, and just living. Every tester has a part of the system coded into their brains; this allows the testers to grow stronger, use their interface, interact with us, a fringe part of the system, and much more.
Matthew rubbed his eyes, trying to slow down his mind enough to ask the right questions. "Okay, tell me more about this interface. How do I access it, and how does it help me?"
As the system is already part of your brain, all you have to do is will it into existence. I won't tell you everything it can do to help you; instead, how about you open it to find out?
Matthew was about to think of the interface appearing, but even before he thought of those words, it appeared. The screen took up a majority of his vision, most of it taken up by a life-size reflection of himself.
He looked better than he felt; his dirty blond hair was swept over his head in his normal neat style, his face looked clean, and his reflection's two eyes, which were a muted blue color, stared off into nowhere. He was wearing a white, perfectly clean shirt with a matching pair of white pants that seemed to radiate a dim white glow.
Matthew turned his attention to the right side. Next to his mirror image was a screen with his stat sheet, which he read off to himself.
Name Matthew Miller
Level 0
Health 100/100
Ability Memento
Ability level 0
Matthew looked at the all-too-familiar interface. "It's just like a game," he said. He looked around, and just below the stat screen was another familiar screen showing a grid-like interface. "It even has an inventory." As he continued looking at his stats, the translator spoke up again.
As you can see, you are extremely weak and have a lot of leveling to do.
When his weakness was mentioned he remembered the monster that had attacked him and the pain from being killed by its hands, Matthew could start to feel anger welling up in him and yelled at the translator. "What makes you think I would want to do anything that just gets me killed? Actually, on that, how am I still alive?"
I see the Endorphins I released are wearing off. Please try to stay calm. I'm just the translator and have limited knowledge of the testers.
"Why are you even talking to me if you aren't going to share any information? Also, you didn't answer my question: How am I alive?"
I said I had limited knowledge but didn't say I wouldn't share it. All you need to do is ask.
Matthew expected the translator to start sharing, but he waited—and waited. "It really wants me to ask again," he thought, annoyed.
Matthew breathed in a long-suffering breath before asking. "Okay, how am I alive?"
You are a tester; here, you will not die, at least not permanently. You will lose some experience, items, and possibly a level depending on how you died, but you will be allowed to return again if you choose.
When the "translator" said that, a pop-up appeared in front of him with the options.
Return, Leave
Matthew looked at the options for just a moment, and with some annoyance, he clicked Leave, thinking it was a no-brainer. Then, another pop-up appeared.
If you leave, your character will be permanently deleted. Is that okay?
The pop-up had two options below saying.
Yes, No
He clicked Yes, and annoyingly, another pop-up appeared.
With the current iteration, the "Leave" button will delete Matthew's corresponding consciousness. Is this okay?
Yes, No
Surprised this time, he quickly clicked No, unwilling to entertain even the thought of losing his consciousness even if he was still dreaming.
The only option left is "Return." Please try harder next time and don't forget to enjoy yourself.
A countdown appeared at the top of his vision, counting down from 15 seconds.
Matthew tried to think of questions quickly before his brain could sweep him away, but as the countdown went past 7 seconds, his mind went blank, and he could feel dread enter him again. As the timer passed 4, he thought of a question and shouted it out.
"Where will I be returning to?!"
You will be returning to th-
Then the words were gone, and he found himself lying down in his bed in a familiar forest with an ugly green beast staring down at him.