“What are those numbers above you?” Rick, who had just awoken from his deep sleep, was asking the strange thing in front of him.

“What are you talking about!?” The small critter looked above him and saw nothing. “There is nothing above me! No numbers! No NOTHING!”

Then, suddenly, the voice that had been trying to wake up Rick spoke once more, [I can explain, Rick.]

As if what was happening wasn’t weird enough already, a small, semitransparent, child-sized person manifested out of thin air. This “person”, if you could call it that, was floating, which was the first thing Rick had noticed, followed by his unusual clothing decisions: a green-blue cloak accompanied with a long, blue scarf that reached to its metallic-looking boots. His haircut was also peculiar, as it had two big bulks of hair in each side of his hair, reminiscent of wolf ears. It also had a puffy tail, as if it was an animal.

“WHHAAAAAT!? WHO ARE YOU!?” Rick asked while looking at the floating kid.

[https://i.imgur.com/hQOk7er.jpg]

“Well, if you must know, my name is Benttotopotzki… But isn’t it common courtesy for someone to say their name first?” Replied the Pochi who had thought Rick had asked it for its name, a logical conclusion as they were the only two creatures there.

“N-Not you! I’m asking him!” Rick said as he was pointing fingers at the air, or at least that was the only thing Benttotopotzki could see.

“Kid… You probably fell and hit your head hard, because there’s nothing there...”

Rick looked confused, “You can’t see this kid floating!?” Rick’s hand gestures indicating that there was something in the air floating.

“Nope… Can’t say I can…” Benttotopotzki replied with a strange look.

The translucent being started laughing, [My name is Chumina… Also, no one can see me but you, Rick. It’s the same for the information you can see above that creature.]

Rick quickly tried to touch his new acquaintance, but his hand passed thru Chumina’s body.

[Ey, that’s not nice, Rick! Not nice at all!] Said Chumina with a sad face.

“So… Are you a spirit? A ghost…?” Rick asked, this worried Benttotopotzki a little.

[Well, let me explain… Also, you don’t need to talk to me, we can communicate without actually having to speak, and I would advise you do that unless you want people to think you are crazy, like our friend Benttotopotzki here.]

Rick looked at Benttotopotzki who was puzzled, to say the least. It was looking at Rick the way a sane person would look at a crazy person, and no one would blame him after the “conversation” he had seen take place between Rick and the air.

“Well, it was nice meeting you… So… Umm… Well, see you, take care!” Benttotopotzki said while slowly retreating to the woods.

“Oh… Ok… Take care!” Rick said, “By the way, I’m not crazy or anything, in case you think I am.”

“No, of course not!” Replied Benttotopotzki, “You seem like a totally normal, sane person, but I have to go, so see you… Or not!” Benttotopotzki said as he got closer to the woods entrance.

“He must think I am crazy.”

[Yup, and I can’t blame him…] Chumina replied, [Ehem… But returning to more important matters, let me explain a bit about this world in which you are, Rick.]

Chumina extended his arms, and a translucent window appeared in front of him, and in that window, a chunk of a map appeared, only a small portion of the map’s surface could be seen, everything else was dark.

[Current location:]

-Woods of Zmaki.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

[As you can see this is your current location, the Woods of Zmaki, you can know your location by looking at this map, you can access this by thinking [Map].] Chumina made a hand gesture and closed the window projecting the map, [Go ahead, try it yourself!]

Rick thought about the command [Map], and just as Chumina had said the same window indicating their location appeared.

“What the heck is going on!?” Rick was speechless, “I don’t understand a single thing! Why am I here? I can’t even remember anything before I got here…”

[Ok, I just explained the [Map] feature because that way you’d believe what I’m about to tell you faster.]

“Well, go ahead! I’m all ears!”

[You have been transported to another world, and have access to abilities unique to you, the [Map] command, for example,] Chumina pointed at the map being displayed, and then proceeded to point out to himself, [Being able to see me is other,] then he pointed out to the woods, [And being able to see the stats of other creatures is also an ability only you have, that’s what you were seeing above that creature’s head. But as you can see the stats fade away with the distance, at your current level you probably can’t even see that weak creature’s stats anymore. Since you are currently at level 1, you can only see low-level creatures that are extremely close, the lower the level the easier is for you to see their stats, if they are higher than you, which almost everything is, you might not even be able to see their stats at all.]

Rick turned his head towards the woods to which the small critter had gone, and was only able to see a very faint stats box, and it was getting fainter by the second.

“I can still see its stats, but it’s getting harder and harder to see.” Rick looked at the info above the critter’s head, fainting slowly. “I can’t see it anymore, but basically those stats were like the ones on an RPG, right? Like those are the stats that Bentto-thing had, correct?”

[Yeah, in a nutshell. By the way, you can remember what RPGs are, and your name, but can you remember anything else?]

“N-Not really, to be honest… Nothing else.” Rick replied with a feeling of emptiness, still looking at the woods, testing how long he was able to see the stats before they completely disappeared.

[I thought so,] Chumina approached Rick, almost at kissing distance, [I’ll tell you just this before I leave,] the two looked at each other's eyes, [You were sent to this world for a reason, and it’s up to you to find that reason!]

And then Chumina, the floating kid, disappeared.

“What!? J-Just like that!? You are really gonna leave me like this!?”

[Oh, you can contact me at any time, just the same way that you would start the [Map] command, instead think [Chumina] so we can talk to each other, you can do all this just by thinking, no need to speak, and end up looking crazy in front of anyone!]

“I see, [Chumina]!”

Like a magic trick, once more Chumina had appeared before Rick’s eyes.

[... That was fast!]

“So… Um… What should I do?” Rick asked confused, as anyone who had just arrived into a world they had never seen would be.

[I thought it was fairly obvious, like an unspoken rule of sorts, but…] Chumina sighed a little, [Just in case it wasn’t clear already, I won’t be helping you directly like this! Just figure it out by yourself! As I said, there’s a purpose for you to be here, and it’s up to you to find it, or not!]

And just as fast as he had appeared, he disappeared once more.

“C’mon! Will it hurt you just to help me a bit!” Rick yelled. He waited for a response, but there was none, “Hmm… What am I getting so upset about! This is a dream! Yeah, it totally must be a dream!” Rick said with enthusiasm. “Well, might as well just do some cool stuff while I wake up from this dream!”

[I will warn you, this is most definitely not a dream, your actions in this world will have repercussions, and any wound you sustain will be real…] Chumina communicated to Rick’s mind, without appearing, [I don’t have to give you any extra advice but I’m feeling extra generous today, so… Remember you can talk to me without actually having to speak, you better get used to this, you keep talking instead of doing this…] The sound of Chumina’s voice was moving as if he was approaching the woods, [Also, this is my final tip, you should probably look at the woods right now, more specifically the direction that Pochi flee to.]

“There’s no point in doing that, I can’t see its stats anymore… Or are you telling me to go to the woods?”

Chumina sighed, [Here I’m trying to help you, and you keep asking questions instead of following my advice…Well, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you… Bye!] The voice said no more.

“Look at the woods he says…” Rick started looking toward the woods, “What’s the point of-” Something had surprised Rick, he was able to see that creature’s stats again, and as the seconds passed it was easier and easier to see them, they were becoming more and more clear, “What’s going on… Why can I see its stats again?”

The Pochi’s stats were easy for Rick to see now, and then he saw something that scared him to death, something that explained what had happened. It was the Pochi, Benttotopotzki, that was running towards Rick, and following it closely was a gorilla-like creature. It was now evident that Benttotopotzki was being hunted by the other creature, and Benttotopotzki, in its attempt to escape, had lured it towards Rick’s location.

“[Chumina]!” Rick yelled.

“Do you really need advice…?” Chumina sighed once more, “Ok, final advice of the day, move your torso opposite to the woods’ direction, then move your left leg, then your right leg, the faster the better, repeat this motion process indefinitely until you are safe…”

Before Chumina had finished that sentence Rick had, instinctively, started running, escaping would be a more fit way to put it. “This must be a dream… No, a damn nightmare!!!”