Sometimes life seems so dull, much like right now. Staring out the bus window into the light post-lit night, those were my exact thoughts.
The chatter in the bus around me was quiet, the occasional voice quickly dying out when they didn't get a response.
The teachers with us were no doubt asleep at the front, much like most of the kids in the back of the bus. One girl was snoring obnoxiously loud, the gurgling of saliva and her coughing occasionally forcing her awake, just for her to fall back asleep repeating the cycle.
Wiggling across my seat I moved closer to the window, the forecasted snow just now beginning to drop a few hours after a thunderstorm had delayed our return home.
Rubbing my arms I pressed my face to the cold window, eyes closed. Some sleep was better than no sleep. I let my thoughts wander, from the upcoming English essay I hadn't started to the wrestling tournament in two weeks. It couldn't last forever, and soon my blissful wandering was interrupted.
"Hey, Dyon." A familiar voice whispered, a sigh escaping my lips as I opened my eyes. The middle schooler in front of me, Alex, was turned around in his seat, the familiar green eyes staring directly at mine.
"What, Alex," I said rubbing my cheek, just now realizing how cold it was.
"Don't rest your face on the window, it'll freeze to it, you don't wanna be the pole kid from a Christmas Story."
"...... what? No never mind, ok. I'll be fine, if I get stuck you can pour water on me or something." Turning away from the kid I tried to put Alex's words out of my head. A Christmas Story? What the fuck is that, a nursery rhyme?
Resting my face against the window I was about to close my eyes again when Mr. Ben yelled out, waking everyone up.
"Five minutes and we're home everyone! Get up and get ready." His voice floated in one ear and out the other his swollen lips moving back and forth. I can't believe he got into a fight with another teacher. He looked a lot worse than Ben, that's for sure.
Sitting up I leaned over, grabbed my cooler from my side, getting ready to get off. Standing up I walked down the aisle, working my way to a seat in the front, kids waking up and standing up all around me backpacks slung over their shoulders.
That's when shit hit the fan.
The bus driver yelled out, barreling towards an intersection at high speeds, the squealing of the brakes failing to slow us down. Slamming into the back of a green Kia I flew forwards, smashing through the window with a scream.
Time seemed to stop, then everything changed, a swirling vortex of color enveloping the entire four-way intersection, and then I was somewhere else, propped up against a tree in the middle of a forest.
"What the FUCK!"
I sat there for ten minutes, looking up through the bright canopy, then back at the ground. I fiddled with my mechanical watch, the compass built in spinning around faster than a helicopters blades. Running my hands through my hair I sighed, feeling a headache coming on.
"Aaaah fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck fuck fuck......... FUCK!" I shouted, my voice vanishing into the forest, the only response a quiet echo of my own voice.
"This doesn't make any sense. None of this makes any sense." Standing up I checked over myself, not feeling any injuries. Then, I recounted everything that happened.
Okay, first I stood up on the bus. Second I flew out the window, most assuredly getting fatal injuries in the process, I was moving fast. Then some magical shit happened to the sky around me and boom, I'm in a forest in perfect health. Am I in a coma?
Thinking it over, I came to two solutions. One, I was In a coma. this made the most sense as well, no one knows what happens in a coma, so anything could happen. Two, some magical shit really did happen and now I'm… here. Wherever the fuck here is. That is very unlikely, but I'm not taking any chances.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Putting thoughts of magic out of my head I looked around, noticing the clearing I sat in. Surrounded by bushes there was no easy way to see the forest around me, so I got up and started looking.
I inspected high and low from the dirt on the ground to the leaves in the trees, nothing seemingly out of place or weird. Walking over to a large bush I noticed the bright orange berries dangling from long, red stalks, the first sign of something not normal at first glance. Shrugging, I grabbed a few of the berries, popping them in my mouth. Chewing, I grimaced at the tangy taste, deciding not to eat the berries again unless I needed to. Turning, I started walking back to my starting tree, as I called it.
*CRACK!*
Whipping around my eyes popped wide open, staring at the almost human standing in front of me. It was about 4 and a half feet tall, had pale green skin and dog ears that constantly twitched back and forth. It's eyes... it's eyes were staring right at me, the blood red irises maniacally screaming in laughter, promising a slow death.
"Holy fuck your a Gobl- IiiiiiAAAAHHH!" Screaming, I leapt back, long nails digging into my hands as I fell butt-first onto the ground. In moments the goblin was on me, clawing and biting every piece of exposed flesh it could find.
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" I screamed, so high-pitched the goblin stopped, holding its ears. That was its fatal mistake. In less than a second I had a large rock in my hands, swinging it with all my force. A loud *CRACK* Echoed out, the goblin dropping into a lump on the ground the blood red eyes rolling back into it's boney head. Straddling the goblin I screamed manically, adrenaline and blood clouding my vision
*CRUNCH* *THUD* *SQUELCH*
The sounds of an increasingly chunky head being bashed echoed throughout the clearing, only stopping when I realized what I'd done. Dropping the rock from my shaking hands I ran as far away from the goblin as I could, puking and crying at the same time.
My arms felt like lead, and as the adrenaline rush fell away I passed out, shock dragging me away to sleep in seconds.
Waking up my senses were assaulted, nearly causing me to puke again. Looking over at the now-dead body I saw some key differences from when it was alive. For one, it was bloated, its stomach looking more like a balloon than a stomach would, its bowels emptied all over the ground under it.
Twice more in the next 5 minutes I emptied my stomach all over the forest floor crawling away from the corpse behind me. I didn't care that the body was just being left there, turning I ran into the woods, tearing through the berry bushes without thinking before bursting through into a decidedly less dense forest floor. I was out of the clearing, now lost in an alien forest.
I thought about going back plenty of times, removing the body from the clearing, after all, it was protected and hid me from view, which could be the difference between life and death. Ultimately I decided against it. I couldn't go back there, not right now. Not with what I'd done. Running past tree after tree I put distance between myself and the clearing, the rotting smell fading by the second, only to be replaced by another discomfort, this time in my head.
Stopping, I sat down, my vision now swimming as nausea overtook me. "What is wrong with me?" I whispered, the pressure in my head getting worse and worse, before disappearing altogether like a soap bubble popping in the wind. What replaced it was even more terrifying and confusing.
Dyon, Age: 19yrs
Level: 2
Class: [locked]
Strength 5
Endurance 4
Intelligence 9
Wisdom 8
Magic 1
FSP: 2
Skills: (Max 3)
"...what?"
Okay, I need to think about this. Holding the bridge of my nose I sighed, closing my eyes. Shit. The words were still there. Frowning, I started rattling off words from video games, trying to dismiss the character sheet. "Menu." Blooping away, I was left in darkness, slowly opening my eyes to see just the forest, no creepy game system around. "Okay. Now I can think in peace."
If this is really a game-like system world, then that magical shitshow of a light show at the intersection was some kind of teleportation. That brought me here. Here. Worst case scenario I'm stuck here, so I better find a way to use this system. There's always a way to cheat it, to get powerful enough. Always a way. I'll be fine.
Biting my tongue, I forced down the raging emotions inside, shoving them away in a jail cell never to see the light of day.
"Focus, Dyon. Focus. I'm not dying here today." Standing up, I brushed my sweat pants off, then I started running again, before stopping. Holy shit the FSP is Free Stat Points isn't it!! My mind taken off the killing from earlier I managed to refocus, my Status appearing in front of me yet again. Focusing on one part of my system I wanted I nodded, selecting the Stat points and their intended attribute.
Dyon, Age: 19yrs
Level: 2
Class: [locked]
Strength 5
Endurance 6
Intelligence 9
Wisdom 8
Magic 1
FSP: 0
Skills: (Max 3)
Mumbling to myself I set off running, an objective in mind, the source of all life. Water.
Water was found, but there was a problem. Staring out at the bank I ran over my options, trying to avoid the seemingly inevitable confrontation. Maybe I can climb down the cliffs around the goblins and get water that way? No, it's too dangerous. I don't know what monsters lurk in there, the shore is my only hope.
Pushing back down my conflicted emotions and thoughts, I ran back into the forest. On one hand, I didn't want to die of dehydration. On the other hand, I didn't want to be a murderer. Something happened to me over the next hour though, and changed me, for the better. Returning from deep in the forest, I made my decision.
First, I would call out from a tree, getting the three goblins' attention. Assuming they sent one to check I could kill it quickly, hopping off a branch with a rock. It shouldn't even make a sound. Assuming they sent more than one I would wait, go deeper into the forest and make a louder call, trying to split the goblins up to pick them off one by one.
If none of that worked I'd wait until nighttime, circle down wind so they didn't smell me, and sneak into their camp, killing any guards before burning down their little wooden hut by the river. It had to work, or I'd be dead in a day or two due to dehydration. Finding the largest rock I could reasonably carry with one hand I set my plan into action, out of view of the goblin camp but not too far away they couldn't hear me.
"HELP!!" I yelled out, quickly crouching down, looking around at the forest floor. I was banking on the goblins running under my tree, so if that didn't work I'd have to resort to Plan B. A few minutes passed, and I saw nothing. Shifting uncomfortably I turned, looking as far around me as I possibly could.
The sound of hooting and hollering spashed throughout the forest, and I watched in disbelief as seven goblins came tearing through the forest, all communicating, tracking, hunting. Hunting me.
"Oh fuck shit bitch." Carrying the rock higher into the tree I placed it between two close thick branches, resting my sore arms.
Leaning back, I closed my eyes. Things just got a lot fucking worse, didn't they?
What had I done?