Chapter 1: Rude Awakening

All Aeden could see was darkness. His body felt strange, like it was floating yet falling and rising all at the same time. Then his body was hit with excruciating pain. His body felt like it was being crushed then stretched. Like every single atom was being rearranged in his body. The pain seared through his veins causing them to bulge from his body. It felt like he was suffocating then simultaneously drowning his lungs were on fire. He started screaming but no noise could be heard. This seemed to go on for eternity then the pain stopped, and finally felt something hard and soft beneath him as his body hit the ground

Aeden didn't dare move for fear that the pain may return. He just slightly groaned even though the pain was completely gone. He kept his eyes shut, not daring to open them yet, lest he wake up to a nightmare of sensations again, until he heard a noise. Then he heard another and another, they were people's voices. He slowly opened one eye. His vision was a little blurry but it slowly came into focus after blinking a few times. He was shocked. He opened his other eye slowly lifting his head off the ground to take in the sight before him.

His eyes were filled with the rising of a morning sun just starting to peek over the horizon. He could have sworn he went to the job fair in the afternoon. Instead he saw the morning sun's rays peak through the trees of a lush forest. His eyes widened a bit. The trees were huge. They seemed to be like oak trees but as big redwood sequoias. He looked around and could see buildings but they weren't the campus building. These buildings were crumbling and vines and other vegetation had grown over them for what seemed like a very long time. The buildings looked like ruins, dilapidated and falling apart in some places. He slowly stood up waving a hand in front of to block the bright morning light trying to blind him as he rose. As he did a screen popped into view it said…

Status

Name: Aeden Knight

Lvl: 0

Title: [none]

Class: [none]

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Attributes: [Human] [Doomed Race]

Free Attribute Points: 0

Strength: 11

Dexterity: 13

Constitution: 8

Charisma: 8

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 15

Skills: [None]

Looking over the screen he was taken aback. It looked like the character page to a video game character. It had Levels, Skills, Attributes. He had to be dreaming. Sure Aeden had read stories of people transported into a game and he always thought that it was a cool concept. Maybe he finally lost it after being overcome by the depression of his current life, being drowned from the monotony of his daily life, that had to be it. But what about the sensation he felt earlier. He bent down and touched the grass beneath him. It was soft, wet from morning dew, and prickly just like normal grass. His mind was starting to unravel now, because he could feel the sensation of the grass, he could smell the fresh earth smell. It seemed all too real, he pinched himself and felt pain. No this was no dream he thought to himself, this was real.

As Aeden was running the new reality in his head he was ripped from his concentration when he now heard yelling right next to him. He looked around to see he was not alone; there were hundreds, no… thousands of other people around him. He took a second to take in the scene. There were people crying, arguing, others just stuck in daze just looking around and wandering in circles. He broke out of his own funk when heard yelling next to him. He turned to see two people arguing.

“What the hell is going on, where are we? Is this some kind of sick joke?!”

It was an older man probably somewhere in his fifties. He had on a nice suit, an expensive watch. The man screamed privileged to Aeden and therefore unreasonable and an asshole. Aeden had the O’so great pleasure waiting on hundreds of guys like these at his old retail job. He was yelling and shaking another man by his shoulders, letting spittle fly right into the man's face.

The other man quickly responded “How the hell am I supposed to know, I’m just as confused as you are! And Get the hell off me!”

The other man seemed pretty average. Decent button up shirt, work pants and belt, no distinct characteristics. The Older man didn’t take kindly to the younger man's words because he quickly responded angrily with “Well you better figure it out, I have important matters to attend to rather than be stuck… wherever the hell this is.”

A few minutes into the new world with no rhyme or reason as to why they were here and people were already arguing. Maybe our race was doomed to extinction.