Lewis woke to heavy turbulence for the third time in as many hours, the Michigan weather welcoming him back with a familiar icy grip.
'Home sweet home.’ he reminded himself as he stared at the approaching winter storm.
Glancing at the tray table beside him he quickly snatched his sleeping neighbours in flight cookie, the middle aged man could teach a class on how to be inconsiderate on a plane and Lewis felt no hang-ups on stealing away this small victory.
It was never easy to sleep on planes no matter what, especially when he was stuck between a snoring jerk that didn't care for personal space and a window that he couldn’t help but stress just looking at. Whether it was a good thing or not though he’d learned to manage his fear of heights after his mother had gotten sick. Living on the other side of the country meant frequent flights.
At the very least this flight wasn't a sudden emergency redeye for the sake of a hospital visit and the dread of his Mother’s final whispered goodbye, by all accounts she was actually doing well the past weeks, no, instead Lewis was finally using up his overtime and even the last of his sick days to surprise his family at the beginning of December for an entire month of festivities like his most treasured memories as a child.
The thoughts of stockings full to bursting with chocolates and gingerbread houses with his fathers homemade apple cider were quickly interrupted by the need to make cider of his own. “Excuse me, sir?,” Lewis was forced to poke the fully reclined man beside him who responded by stirring slightly and grunting, “sir?” Lewis he poked and spoke harder this time, “What the hell do you want?” the man hissed back “I NEED to pee” Lewis stressed the word but only got a “well squeeze past and quit bothering me” in return.
The only reason the jerk wanted to sit there was so he could stare at the flight attendants asses anyway, that and he was closer to the drinks cart when it came by.
So it was at that moment - he would later tell people - when he managed to finally unbuckle himself and was straddling the huge dick that almost killed him a strange grey window appeared up in front of him.
Congratulations your world is being seeded!
Please prepare for initialization.
Lewis was stunned, crashing down onto the businessman's lap as people all over the flight shrieked and a steward toppled into the drinks cart he was pushing.
“Argh what the hell did I jus-” before the drunk man being ridden could finish his rant the words were replaced by a new box.
Your species technology will now cease to function as the planet is integrated and randomized
As you are in danger due to this you will be transferred to the nearest 'safe' location and restored to full health
Lewis felt sick, even more than that he felt wrong, none of his senses worked and every ounce of his being just knew that whatever was happening shouldn't be. It didn't help either that his brain pulsed with the power of a hundred migrains as blinding light filled his eyes but he couldn't close them with his currently wrong body. 'Ew' was the only thought he managed to produce before his mind and body suddenly returned to him in peak condition, possibly better than he'd ever felt as he once again felt reality after his brief vacation.
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Or at least he thought it was reality but at the same time a bunch more grey and even blue boxes appeared. So he did the only sensible thing and closed his eyes and hoped they would go away. When he opened his eyes a moment later the boxes had indeed disappeared, but then his eyes nearly popped out as he saw open sky in their place.
"What the-" The arrogant businessman was cut off again as they hit the ground only half a metre away. Lewis crumpled down on top of him and immediately began covering the two of them in bile and the cookie he'd received from the stewardess an hour ago as his stomach seized and emptied. Shamefully he also emptied his bladder like he was planning to do just moments ago.
Lewis felt the warmth spreading in his tracksuit pants quickly turn cold, it was the wind, a real breeze but that didn't make any sense. He was in an airplane a few seconds ago, none of this made any sense, why else would he have just felt like he had every hangover he'd ever had combined into one brain melting super hangover and lots of boxes popping up everywhere. 'I'm having a stroke' he considered as the only reasonable explanation. Lewis also felt a hard shove in his side as he was sent sprawling away from his human cushion's ruined suit.
He was fine to be out of his own mess at least but then Lewis didn't stop tumbling.
He remembered suddenly the breeze and the view of an open space and most importantly the box that said he'd be transported nearby. At this point a new instinctual terror called out to him, one that was very different from the feeling of wrong from before. This new instinct screamed at him to cling to solid ground like a cat about to have a bath and he did just that, this feeling made sense and it was right because it told him to LIVE and Lewis wasn't going to go against a feeling like that even on his worst day.
So he shrieked while he clutched and scrabbled and grasped at anything he could but he was on some sort of steep hill, and there were cracks and crevices he could dig his fingers into but the ground kept giving way. It was bark, Lewis suddenly realized, not dirt or rock or clay or even sand. He was sliding off an enormous branch as he dug his fingers into the loose bark that was desperate it seemed to be ripped away just to spite him.
He made eye contact with his killer as the open sky took him. Memorising his face and swearing vengeance on the prick in the soiled suit no matter what form he would take in his next life.
Fear overtook everything Lewis knew as he fell. He was scared of what the boxes meant and the monstrous bird creatures he could now see above him, he was afraid of the tree he'd fallen from that speared the sky past his comprehension and the winds hurtling past his body, he was terrified that he'd never get see his family again and that he would die shortly, but out of everything he was dreading in this moment it was that he never got a chance.
Mile High Club
Freefall for a mile or more +1 Endurance
Lewis Balled his fists and screamed and cried out at the unfairness of the world while he continued his free fall.
New Skill 'Fear Resistance' learned
He never had a chance to figure out what the boxes meant or explore the tree he'd appeared on, hell he would've wanted to see the whole world now it had been 'seeded' and 'randomized' or whatever.
10 Mile High Club Member
Freefall for 10 miles or more +3 endurance
To add insult to injury he had stats and skills now if he could believe his eyes and the annoying boxes. he'd always loved games like rpgs and would've surely gotten super strong and learned magic and stuff using his stats and skills.
By this point he knew the ground shouldn't be far off, he'd already apparently fallen for 10 miles but he couldnt even see the top of the tree when he started. Maybe it was the adrenaline wearing off or his body thought it best but his conciousness started to fade.
The last thoughts Lewis had as his body closed in on an endless vista of cloud were dreams of a world where he could grow strong and learn about what happened while he explored all over the place wherever he wanted to with his family and maybe even new friends.
Then Lewis hit something hard enough to shatter most of his bones and everything finally went black.