"Wow!" A series of ooohs and aaahs rang out.

In the centre of a plaza, David was going through his usual routine. A frontflip into a handstand. His calloused hands had a good grip on the stone tiles, helping him keep steady and still as he moved through the motions. The ringing of a bell told him that the vendors were trying to make one last push for sales, before they began packing up. 

Best finish soon then.

David stood up and took a deep breath to steel himself for the last trick. 

"To finish, I'll be doing something that has only been done a few times in all of history." An over exaggeration, but that was how he worked. "Now please, silence."

He held his finger to his lips as he turned around, shushing the crowd. There was silence.

Back on his hands, he aligned himself with the bar he had set up. After hooking his feet over the bar, he pulled himself up and grabbed onto it with his hands. Gradually he started swinging himself to and fro, until he had worked himself into almost a 360 degree pendulum. 

The people stared with wide eyes.

Finally, on the last swing, he pushed all his strength into it and flew into the air like a bird. As he reached the peak of his jump, he had already flipped backwards once. Then he crashed back to the ground, with two more turns. He stood up from his bent knees landing, and held his arms out.

The audience burst into applause and cheering. 

"Thank you, thank you!" After catching his breath for a moment, he took his bucket and people began giving him donations. Not as much as he needed, but he did it for the craft, money was secondary. Although it might mean he had some rough budgeting ahead of him.

Soon the bells of the clocktower rang out and the crowds filling the plaza began dispersing, as people went home for dinner.

David wasn't sore, as he had been doing this for years, he was used to the exercise by now. So, with a bounce in his step, he made his way back to the hostel.

Back in the hostel, he began counting his money.

"Fifty Euros?" He mumbled to himself, "I’m not making enough here. Where should I go? Maybe Paris?"

Well no point in worrying about it now. I'll think about it when I wake up.

David settled down to go to sleep. A pity he wouldn't be able to get that rest.

A strong feeling of vertigo overcame him, and he opened his eyes as he was taken out of his half-lucid state. However, instead of the wooden planks of the bunk above, he was met with the stars. His bed had been replaced with the hard ground, and a cool breeze wafted up to him, making him shiver a bit in response.

He was interrupted by a luminous screen that hurt his eyes a bit to look at.

Welcome individual #1,782,376,048 of Earth. Your planet's people have been transported to a new world due to imminent danger. In order to facilitate your arrival, you will be given the tutorial quest. Please enjoy your stay.

Huh?

Was this a weird dream? Had he already fallen asleep?

Getting on his feet, he examined his surroundings properly. Behind him was a silvery wall, which seemed flawless. He could run his fingers across and not find any ridges or bumps, and if there was light, he imagined that he would see his reflection. 

When he looked up at the sky, it was clear that it was at most a poor recreation. The stars were incredibly dim, and flickered like dying bulbs. What should’ve been colourful nebulas were instead bland clouds of brown, almost indiscernible from the rest of the black sky.

However, the most shocking part of his new environment was neither of these things.

It was instead the endless amount of huge buildings that towered hundreds of meters up into the air. There was only an inch between each tower, and they were all built out of the same material as the wall. Every so often, a quiet whistling sound would echo as wind rushed through the small gaps.

Countless windows could be seen, but strangely there were no signs of human activity within. No lights, just empty rooms.

Being quite creeped out by the whole affair, David chose to return his attention to the screens.

Stats

Skills

Social

Quests

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Quests

Tutorial - Establish yourself in your new environment

Clear conditions

1. Acquire shelter, food, and water

2. Reach level 5

Rewards

???

Stats

Level - 1

Strength - 7

Agility - 8

Endurance - 7

Sense - 6

Available points - 0

Oh man. I’ve really had it now. A life of travelling around off the kindness of others, and now I’m inside of this ominous place with weird game screens following me around. Is this retribution?

David tried to press on more things, but nothing else happened. The skills and social tabs seemed to be locked off to him entirely. He ran his hands through his hair and gripped his head as he sighed. The only bit of advice from the screens was already his plan of action anyway.

Well. I was planning on going somewhere new earlier. I can make this work. I’ll figure out what’s happening or die trying!

He clapped as he resolved himself, and set off down the path. His first goal; to find other people. There were no doors on any of the buildings around him, and he had a suspicion that it wouldn’t do him any good even if there were.

As he marched, the cool breeze had started to wear away at him, and he was beginning to feel a bit numb. It wasn’t particularly cold, but he had been sent here with only himself, and the pajamas on his body. Not even a pair of shoes! 

The extra workload on top of his already slightly strenuous day left him feeling tired, and sore.

His environment melted into his subconscious, after he passed through the same towers over and over. The passage of time sped up for him, and before he knew it, he had found some new scenery.

A crossroads; and with it a sign.

The english writing on the sign eased his heart a bit, by giving him reassurance he was still on earth. He hadn’t been spirited away to a far off alien land after all. 

The sign pointed in three directions. To the left and right were residential districts O and Q respectively, and straight ahead was an industrial region.

As he thought about the long walk, he mused to himself. 

“Do the people in those towers all have to walk that long way just to get to work? “

David shook his head as he pictured the dreariness of a life here. 

Although he contemplated going to the other residential districts, it seemed like more of the same endless towers that he had long since become numbed to. Perhaps there would also be people in the industrial region. 

With another clap of his hands, he once again set forth on his journey.

The earlier choice proved to be worth it, and pleasantly surprised him when the eyesores began to disappear and the path opened up to become as wide as a road. 

Through his travels, he came to understand the region better. The layout was similar to a shipyard, with great containers stacked up high. Long lines of them formed formidable walls, contributing into a difficult to navigate labyrinth.

He hadn’t seen any other people yet, but he was sure he was on the right path. Logically, there would be valuable items within some of the containers, and someone would have to come to make sure they were safe, or even to transport them.

Feeling reassured by his reasoning, he was able to loosen up a bit. But as he turned another corner, his body tightened up again.

A huge, seven foot, drooling monster was heaving up and down. It had the head of a bull, and body of a gorilla, but instead of a muscular build, it was quite gaunt. 

A putrid smell of rot hung about it, seemingly coming from the sickly wounds plastered all over it.

As David’s presence became known to the creature, it eyed him up and down, and when it realized what it was looking at, it seemed to start shaking. What could be a smile grew upon its face.

The beast tensed up, ready to pounce.

David turned on his heel around the corner and started running. The gorilla didn’t lose time, and immediately leapt after him.

His muscles surged with adrenaline, and his mind was blank; with nothing but the image of the monster stamped within. 

Quickly, he approached a split in the road, and chose to go down the route he had not yet been down. There was nowhere for him to hide back where he had come from.

The creature was still on his tail, it didn’t seem to gain or lose distance as they made turn after turn, but it became even more riled up when it couldn’t catch its prey.

David was already low on energy before he had met the beast, and he was no distance runner, so he knew that he would have to make a decision soon to survive.

Should he keep running and hope that he could make an escape?

Or should he stop and fight it?

He snuck a look back, and his face contorted as he saw in more detail its grotesque appearance.

No way. I’m not fighting that thing. It’s out for my blood.

A long straight was ahead of him, and he nodded as an idea popped into his mind.

With all the effort he could muster, he dug deep into his reserves and ran as hard as he could. If he could leave the gorilla behind, as he turned another corner out of sight, then he would be able to escape. Another sneak look behind confirmed that it couldn’t go any faster than it was now. A little bit of luck on the next turn and he could survive.

Finally he reached the junction. 

His eyes widened at what he saw, and a quivering smile followed. 

The length was too far away for him to disappear from the gorilla’s sight, but there was something even better.

A small building, roughly double the size of a container was down the road to the right. And it had an open door, the first he had seen.

David knew then that it was his best chance at survival. His previous hope only had a small chance of success. But he got the feeling that this building could save him.

Continuing his sprint, he headed towards it. 

The creature turned the corner after a few seconds as well, and could only see him entering the building and slamming the door shut, where it then melted away into the wall, as if it had never existed before.

With a roar of frustration, the creature pounded its fists onto the space where David had escaped into, but it could only receive a dull thud in response.

As David heard the attacks die down until there was no sound being made, a grin snuck onto his face, whilst an incomprehensible sound of relief left his mouth, a mix of his grievances and worries. 

He had managed to survive the monster by the skin of his teeth, and he was fully spent. 

After a cursory glance to make sure there weren’t any dangers in this room, he collapsed into sleep.