I wake up first, facing the sky, watching the tree canopies' edges, avoiding touching each other - they create mesmerizing mosaics that catch my sight for a while.
My head turns to the right to check on the strangers, and a satisfying crunch of fallen autumn leaves crackles in my ear.
They are sleeping on their sides and nothing unusual catches my eye, the forest looks normal, and the air is clean and fresh.
“This was just a dream yesterday, wasn’t it?” I whisper to myself.
Barely unlocking my phone with my dirty fingers, I go to fill my hopes.
"Ah, hell no."
Sadly, it’s the same result as yesterday—no signal, no GPS, no mobile service, nothing.
Turning my head to the other side, I reevaluate everything as shivers run down my body.
The fire inside the bronze bowl burns straight and strong, and the bowl itself is indeed floating in the air—it was no illusion.
How? Why?
I relocate myself quietly closer to it and stick my hand underneath it while still laying on the ground, waving there.
I check for any invisible stand and tap the bowl from the bottom with my fingernails. The metal resonates slightly.
The bowl itself is cold; only the flame radiates a pleasant warmth. I try to push it, but it’s rock solid.
I come to the conclusion that there must be a gigantic magnet underneath. I bet rich people have firepits like this. My only concern is, why is it here? In the middle of nowhere.
For a moment, I think of reality.
Knowing my mom, she has probably already alarmed the whole neighborhood, university, and the police.
"Geez." I sigh. This will be annoying once I’m back.
I take a deep breath of cold morning air and stand up.
Guess it’s time to hike home, but leaving these two alone would be more than rude.
As I observed that the fire is still intact and burning as before, the forest has slightly changed. It's less dense and well-lit.
I can see where it ends, the meadow bathed in sunshine peeking in the distance.
“Impossible to get lost here. I should head out and look for any landmarks. Our tall church will do the best, I bet.”
Waking up these two is definitely inappropriate, so I decide to get a walking stick in the meantime. Now it's time to use my tiny folding knife.
I look around to explore some nearby bushes. A few steps further, carefully avoiding dry branches to minimize sound, I stop in front of a young hazel.
“Ah, this one.” A thick and young catches my sight, heavy and solid. Looks reliable.
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Waiting for them to wake up, I kill time trying to carve some runes and rhombus patterns on my stick, purely out of boredom.
I remove the bark and soften the handle part carefully.
After some time, I catch a glimpse of movement in my peripheral vision; the furball is waking up. That cat is definitely a morning bird.
I stand there silently and watch him doing his probably standard cat routine when waking up.
Stretching the body and extending paws, but against the girl's parka, thus waking her up.
She starts to slowly open her eyes.
“Morning,” she says, looking at me. The guy Michael opens his eyes in the blink of a second and jumps up.
“Heyy, we are going already?” He completely ignores the fact that the forest has changed.
He notices my walking stick and immediately grabs the first stick, long, slim, and flexible.
Is he trying to copy me? His sight then lands on my amateurish carvings.
"Hey! What is this? You got some skills."
I don’t even have time to react to his small talk, and he freaks out, jumping straight into a defensive position with a disoriented, fearful sight.
“Wh.. Wha... What is going on?! What is this? Astrid! You see that too, right? Astrid?” She looks confused while holding the cat.
“Markus? You?!”
Okay, this freaks me out. What the hell is wrong with him?
“What?” I ask, kinda freaked out.
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He says with eyes wide open. “You don't see it? There's a bronze plate levitating, there's my name on it, and some bullshit written.”
“It appeared out of nowhere. Just as I mentioned your carving skills.”
“Fuck, it disappeared!” The girl Astrid still looking startled, holding Pocco, watching this nonsense situation.
I clear my throat and say out loud, “Skills!”
Oh. My. Fucking. God.
I see it—the thick, bronze-brushed plate levitating in front of me, with my name written on it as well.
The font is medieval, carved into the plate. It's beautiful and I extend my hand trying to touch it, but it passes through it like it was not there.
The first thing that comes to my mind: VR glasses. I've seen this before; this is similar yet different. Extremely realistic, not like any other experience.
Apple’s new headset is embarrassing compared to this.
Is this some sort of game or a prank?
“Can you open your eyes wider?” I quickly move into the tall man's private space bubble and look him in the eyes.
“What?!” He frowns.
“I am checking for lenses, contact lenses, whatever.” I explain to him.
“Nothing right?” He assumes after seeing my confusion.
Analyzing this, I wonder why it is way too otherworldly and surreal. Maybe we did fall into a really deep hole and I’m unconscious.
Where am I even? I ask myself.
In a hole? Hospital? Or dead?
Questioning reality, I admit it must be a dream. Fire that burns out of nowhere and now this? I mutter to myself.
Michael wakes me from my zoned-out state by snapping his fingers in front of my face.
“Mark?” He rolls his sight towards the girl.
“Astrid? What are your plates saying? Mine is..”
Michael Ambers foreigner level 1 Strength 4 no skill Agility 3 no skill Willpower 2 no skill Endurance 4 no skill
*Astrid clears throat*
Astrid Alm foreigner level 1 Strength 2 no skill Agility 4 no skill Willpower 6 no skill Endurance 2 no skill
Comforting myself that this is just a dream, I stop questioning the situation.
Markus Hale foreigner level 1 Strength 4 no skill Agility 3 no skill Willpower 4 no skill Endurance 3 no skill
Everyone is quiet. I bet they are comprehending and thinking. Foreigners? Is this a new world? Country, planet, or even universe? I study the fields on the plate and tap on them.
Looks like it is possible to unlock some sort of skill for every attribute. There is an empty field for it.
I wonder when and how? I'm so curious right now. Are there more skills than one? Are they interchangeable? So many questions.
“What else can we see?” I say out loud and then try to shout words.
“Map!” - nothing happens
“Inventory!” - nothing happens
“Items!” - another bronze window exchanges the skills window.
“There is an Items menu, but it's empty!” I say out loud while I try to hover over it with my stick.
"Whaa!"
I flinch as it starts to shrink and moves inside the bronze plate.
Freaking out, I release the stick quickly from my hand.
For a brief moment, I thought it would suck and shrink myself or my arm with it too.
Astrid watches it shrinking and disappearing from my hands, here eyes wide open.
“Insanity!” she comments on it while slowly zooming her head towards me.
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Everyone keeps fiddling with their own plates.
I try to take out the stick again, and it expands immediately in my hand. The moment it is its original size, I grasp onto it and it perfectly fits.
“Wow, wow. Just stop shaking..” I comfort myself, knowing this is way too exciting.
Still can’t believe my eyes. The illusion and the transition are perfect. Completely realistic.
What is next is my tiny folding knife, smartphone, and keys. As I slip them in they easily fit inside this bronze panel, occupying exactly one spot per item.
Fidgeting around, I pick them up and down, checking for any abnormalities or item changes. My old weathered smartphone still works very well.
Astrid and Mike copy me and store their belongings too.
“What a perfect way to lighten my pockets and transport stuff," the ginger girl notes.
I continue the testing.
“Statistics!” - nothing happens
“Quests! Quest log!” - nothing happens
“Menu! Settings! Map! Spells! Exit! Escape!” - nothing happens
Using all my knowledge from playing a LOT of games, this whole thing feels like the best dream.
“Skills! Skills! Skills! Skills! Skills! Skills!” shouts Michael, and I giggle a little as he tries to abuse the system.
“Any lag?” I question right after.
“Zero. It’s perfect. Beautiful.”
My eyes are watering. I don’t know if this is really just a dream or whatever, but I don't remember being so excited in a while. Completely forgetting what is happening back home, all I want now is to learn more about this system and world if it’s not the same.
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“So what now?” My fidgeting is over as the eager tall man can’t sit there anymore.
“Let's get out of these woods. Come on!” he says and grabs his girlfriend by the hand.
They start moving straight to the meadow. She follows him without any questions, and the cat walks calmly beside her.
We don’t talk much; I simply follow them and occasionally pet the cat as it keeps turning back to see if I follow.
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After a short walk through the forest and tall grass, we are in the middle of the meadow that was beyond the forest.
Surrounded by the woods, there appears to be a muddy crossroad in the distance, dividing this large meadow into four.
The tall grass blades are swaying in the rhythm of the wind and I open my arms wide and allow the wind to blow freely through my turquoise shirt.
The girl's ginger hair with braids is dancing in the wind like flames and she turns around to me, smiles, and copies my gesture.
I notice her straight thin nose covered in freckles and very light skin.
Indeed, the wind is very refreshing, and the air feels oddly clean, yet the tall thin man continues to walk against it, ignoring it while covering his neck with his black jacket.
The whole moment is interrupted as one of the waves of grass stops moving right in front of my legs.
I can feel something heavy pushing against me.
“What the..?” I back away one step.
A huge fluffy brown rat-like creature jumps out in front of me!
I look it in the eye, and a small red bar appears over its head with tiny white letters on top.