* Critical System Error: Gravitational Shift Prediction Subroutine Failed

* Attempting Reboot of Subroutine: Failed

* Identifying Gravitational Shift Prediction Subroutine Issue: Issue found

* Attempting Resolution: Failed (Sentient Lifeform Detected)

* Analyzing Situation: Lifeform deemed incapable of System Sabotage

* Attempting Calculation of the Probability of an Unidentified System Bug: Extremely Likely (97.2%)

* Attempting Relocation of Lifeform for System Maintenance: Possible…  

  Listing Options:

  - Lifeform’s Previous Physical Location: Error Location Unknown

  - Closet Physical Location: Success (Closest Physical Location is a Known Stella Mass)

    {Due to System Accord ‘No Fault of Your Own’ Location Deemed Unsuitable}

  - Lifeform’s Calculated Trajectory Suggests a Terra Physical Location to be Reached in 32

    Seconds:Success

* Option Three Deemed Most Appropriate

* No Further Action Need.

* Thanks to the ‘No Fault of Your Own’ System Accord You Have Been Granted a Random Boon

* Assigning Boon: Failure

* Modifying Boon to Fit Lifeform Parameters: Success

* “We Hope This Boon Is Satisfactory Compensation for The Unforeseen System Issue”

   ~ Creators of System Accord: ‘No Fault of Your Own’ ~

***

Cyrus awoke with 3 red lines running down his left cheek, the park bench leaving its mark as he sat up in a dazed state. His head felt like someone had teed off but mistook his head for the ball. Besides the headache, what was odd was that he didn’t really remember how he’d gotten face first, passed out on the bench. The last thing he remembered was a bright flash of light and the ghostly feeling of hand touching his shoulder and then as if no time passed, he awoke here. Sitting up and looking around he immediately felt something was off. The lake that stretched to the edge of the horizon ended 30 metres in front of him. The old man nowhere to be seen.

Cyrus started to panic. where was he? ‘What the hell is going on?’ he thought scanning the area noticing many incongruencies to where he previously was at the edge of the lake. Trees that should have been five feet to the left were now directly in front of him and the ones that were supposed to be miles off in the distance were now only stone’s throw away from where he sat. The once lake was little more than a pond. He tried to centre himself, panic was not useful in this circumstance.

He breathed in deep ‘Ok, hold on let's think, the old man must have done something to me. Did that old man drugged me and drag me here?’ Cyrus's eyes darted around, looking for something to ground himself in reality with. Immediately it clicked, ‘If the old man drugged me and dragged me off, why would he bring the park bench’.

He was certain the old man couldn’t drag him, especially the dead weight he would have been if he was unconscious. Meaning that the large, metal park bench was certainly off the table for the old man’s capabilities. Even if he did manage somehow, that wouldn’t explain how he moved the entire cement slab the bench was anchored too and placed it back in the earth with no visible evidence of having done so. ‘Why is it here then?’ Cyrus wondered. So far everything suggested that he wasn’t in the same place he sat down at with the old man. A less panicked man would have likely suggested that this was an entirely different bench, but Cyrus knew that wasn’t the case. The cracked corner could be explained away, or maybe even the rusty beam that squeaked when one sat on it. However, what he couldn’t explain away was the giant hairy cock and balls that some vandal had carved into the metal on the back of the chair. This calmed him somewhat, he certainly wasn’t Zen what with the fact that he still couldn’t explain how the bench he walked too everyday was somewhere completely different.

Stolen story; please report.

‘So if it isn’t a kidnapping and or torture situation what could it be,’ he thought, eyes shooting wide open realising the old man had probably robbed him. He rummaged in his pockets, finding his wallet. His phone, he remembered was sitting on his car’s wireless charging doc after he had watched movies all through his shift as it was a slow night at the 24/7 gas station he worked at. His backpack even lent up against the bench, checking that as well, finding that everything was accounted for. The only thing off was the fact it looked like the insides of the bag had been in a tumble dryer but even if he had been robbed that still would explain the bench.

Cyrus slumped in his chair, overwhelmed and tired, he just didn’t have the energy to process what was going on around him. He didn’t blame himself he had just finished his shift and being awake for 20 hours straight, previous to his unconsciousness, didn’t aid in his ability to cope with this kind of situation.

‘Whatever happened to me is for future Cyrus to figure out, it’s not like there anything is here to hurt me, it’s just park’. At this point the sun was now way overhead, letting Cyrus know that it had been hours since he had first seen the old man on the bench. He was considering walking back to his car, but Forscythe park was no small city park with a lake in the middle. He had no frame of reference as to where his car was, he could be only 100m away from where his spot usually was but he could mistakenly walk off in the opposite direction. That meant he could be hours away from his car let alone civilization.

Cyrus sighed, ‘least I overpack for work, if I didn’t work the graveyard shift I’d be royally fucked. Thankyou easy-going boss who doesn’t care I do nothing but game and watch movies at 3am.’ He dug around in his backpack, packets of protean bars and a water bottle being pushed aside as he reached for his smokes. Flipping the top off the packet he was disappointed to find something he had rolled himself who knows how long ago. “Lovely” he groaned with his cigarette between his lips, pulling his shitty Bic lighter from his hoody’s pocket. Taking drag, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the self-rolled ciggy was not quite what he thought.

‘Mmm yeah, I’m due some good luck, though I probably shouldn’t have brought this to work, what with boss man’s tendencies to smoke what isn’t his.’ He chuckled imaging his overweight boss high as kite at work. Suitably relaxed, he stomped his half finished joint into the leaf litter making sure it was out. He would have finished it but he had gotten paranoid about halfway through. He was, after all, alone in the woods and thought it was best to stop before things got out of hand. That sensible line of thinking however didn’t prevent him from coming up with the idea that it was good idea to take a nap. Although he was high that didn’t excuse the fact he was in the middle of nowhere and was taking a nap just after he been relocated by unknown methods. That thought however, just didn’t seem like a huge issue for Cyrus now, his judgement compromised.

Using his backpack as a pillow, Cyrus lied down on the bench his fatigue and new mental state finally calling for him to get some rest. Although he had been unconscious for hours, that state, for some reason didn’t feel restful. He remembered something he had read online about it being not true sleep but it didn’t seem like an issue when he could just sleep now.

The midday sun was warm and pleasant as it streamed down form the unrecognisable canopy above, motes of dust drifting between pleasantly across the light’s streams, lulling him to sleep. Just before sleep claimed him, Cyrus noticed a particularly large mote split away from the others in his dream like state. The mote glowed with a small green sparkle that was almost unnoticeable but certainly caught Cyrus’s attention as it seemed to float towards him. He sleepily pulled out his lighter chuckling to himself as he hazily tried to angle the flame to the mote’s trajectory. He didn’t know what it was but anything small and glowing would certainly disturb his rest. Though something in the back of his head did tell him what it was.

~ Corrupted Nature Wisp Lv 1 ~

Just as that nagging feeling came, it disappeared as the mote touched the flame, lit up like a small piece of steel wool. Contempt with his small act of pyromania, Cyrus drifted off to sleep, unaware of where he was, unworried about his current predicament, alone on his bench.