Adam woke disorientated again. He reflected that the simple knowledge that he woke rather than appeared was an improvement, but not by much. Once his brain had caught up with processing the events of the day before he sat up and realised very quickly that it had not all been a dream.

For a start, he was in a tent. Simple brown material formed a triangle over his head leaving just enough room to sit up comfortably. Beneath and around him were what he would generously call a roll mat and blanket and under his head a small backpack that he had been using as a pillow. This was very odd. He was sure that he heard Person right when he said Adam was becoming a God. Maybe that meant something else than Adam thought but he would imagine being all-powerful wouldn’t leave him sleeping in a tent.

Having looked around him Adam looked down at himself as well. The plain white outfit had been replaced by brown cloth trousers and tunic. He was pleased to see he was wearing some leather boots rather than having bare feet but this still wasn’t really giving him hope anything that happened in that strange white room meant much.

Getting out of the tent was a simple start. He needed to work out where he was and what would happen next. Maybe the tent was a comfortable starting place before he stepped out into the void and started creating the universe with his new godly powers.

Adam was partly relieved to find a small clearing outside his tent rather than an empty void waiting. Other than a small burnt down campfire in a ring of stones there were no other signs of life.

Great, Adam thought. Whatever has happened to me I am now in the middle of nowhere with no help and no way of working out what was going on.

*Ping* “What do you need help with?” Said a voice.

Adam span around, looking in all directions. There was no-one there. He double checked around and in the tent. Again, no-one there.

“Who said that?” He asked curiously.

“This is Person; I am here to help you.” Came the reply.

“But where are you?” Asked Adam, realising he did recognise the voice.

“I am here.” Came the less than useful reply.

Bloody useless. Thought Adam. Person is here, but where is here and why can’t I see them? With this last thought he had an odd sensation that was difficult to describe. It was the mental equivalent of a text box or notification appearing on your phone.

HELP   Visual Cues  on / OFF Audio Cues ON / off

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Adam thought for a second. Willing both options to the on position. As he did this Person appeared in front of him and waved smiling.

“Oh great, you’re here.” Adam said sarcastically. He did think Person was on his side but there were obviously other factors at play that he wasn’t aware of yet. “Can you tell me where I am and what’s going on?” Adam asked hopefully.

“I am sorry, you do not have access to that information.” Said Person. Another round of the looking up and pointing gesture was performed.

Adam rolled his eyes and sat down by the campfire causing Person to do the same opposite him. This was going to get very tedious very soon if that was a typical response from Person. He remembered their previous encounter in the white room and realised there was another way to get information from Person.

So, you can read my thoughts? Adam thought. Nod from Person. And they, he looked up, can’t? Another nod. But they can hear what we are saying? A small round of charades followed from which Adam understood that it was more like what was being said was recorded and Person was not allowed to give up information and therefore couldn’t say things that would be helpful.

Adam sat in silence for a moment. He was in a strange place, with a stranger Person, and was having to extract information by charades. Could things get any better? Right, time to prioritise. Person seemed very willing to share information as long as they didn’t have to speak. That meant all Adam had to do was think through the likely scenario to work out what was going on. He looked up and Person nodded, smiling again.

First things first he thought. Where am I? Person shrugged. Great thought Adam not the most helpful answer. Ok, am I on Earth? Person shook their head. So, somewhere other than Earth. Is this Heaven or the Afterlife? Shake of the head. He remembered the text box. Where had he seen something like that before? Is this a game? He thought. Person shrugged their shoulders then started a complex mime.

This carried on with a non-verbal back and forth for a couple of hours. During this time Adam learnt several things.

First, that Person was quite philosophical. In that the reason they shrugged to the question of whether it was a game is because they thought all life was a game of some sort. It was then clarified that Adam was not in a game in the sense fo a computer game. What happened here was real. Though he had been brought here for a reason, by a more powerful being who had set certain rules in place to govern how he could act.

Second, Person was his personal user interface. This was why Person wanted to help him and how he could read Adam’s thoughts. Person had been directly created for Adam and out of a part of Adam that was incredibly hard to work out from charades but Adam was going to say it was his soul. So Person was part of him. This revelation led Adam to get side tracked down a rabbit warren of user interface options regarding Person. He could change Person’s appearance; size; gender and even species if he wanted to. This got very confusing quite quickly and led to the return to default settings other than size. Person was now six inches tall but looked the same as previously. Adam had also activated a setting to make sure Person was only visible to him.

Third. As Person was technically part of him, they knew very little more than he did. Other than knowing that Adam’s soul had been caught by the powerful being or beings and a small amount of background to get him here Person knew very little more. Fortunately Adam had remembered the folder in the white room, as Person had not. Once again showing Person was very much not perfect in design. This led to the most important discovery.

Fourth. He learnt some details. They, Adam and Person, were on a different planet or rather in a different world. This world was designated M142L1 whatever that meant. There was magic on this planet. Adam had to stop at that revelation - magic! He didn't know how it worked yet, but if he continued to believe the scenario he was in then magic was real here. The papers had also confirmed that he was designated as a "God" but with no clarifying information what this meant. There was also a human population and structured society already in place that had been classed by the system as "adequate".

Adam shook his head. He had been so absorbed in the challenge of working out what was going on that it was mid-morning already. Once he realised this, he also realised that he was getting hungry and thirsty and that he needed to pee. Right, he thought, time to stop thinking and do something. Person, who was now sat on his shoulder, gave a thumbs up in the corner of his eye.