Before anyone says anything, I know it is short. I'm going to be adding onto it with edits as time comes along. I also added some more to the end of the last chapter, so if you are wondering, it's over there. While you guys are waiting for update, you can read my other fiction Towards the Light. As always, I appreciate comments.

Alistair had fallen for what seemed to him an eternity. The light from top was no longer visible, nor had it been for a while. Alistair had tried to log out after 4 minutes of falling, however, he was unable to. So, he took this time to close his eyes and rest. It was highly probable that he was going to hit the ground and die, so why worry.

As he listened to the air whistling by his head, the weightlessness of falling forever, he began to drift off to sleep. His mind took him to strange places. The in-game sleep function was actually quite useful. It allowed the body to receive REM and Deep Sleep in the real world. Also, with the time conversion factor of 4:1, the amount of sleep one could acquire was 4 times as much. It really was an ingenious design and some people had taken to just buying the capsule and game for the specific reason of sleeping. No dreams visited him and when he awoke, it had felt like no time had passed.

He felt something touching his back, or rather, his back was resting on something. The soft tendrils caressed his back and stimulated the senses. An earthy odor wafted through the air and reached his nose. Alistair opened his eyes to see he was laying down on a forest floor.

Alistair sat up and looked around. What met his eyes caused him wonder if the Gora Venom had a hallucinogenic side effect. The forest that surrounded him was strange to say the least. The trees were twisted in complete loops at the center. The bark was of varying shades of blue and green. The leaves were a bright purple that complimented the shade of bark. The forest wasn’t terrible dense, and there were no branches on the lower trunks, just a cluster near the top. These clusters completely blocked out the sky, and there was no light except the faint blue light that emanated from the trunks of the strange trees. Despite his surroundings he did not panic in this unfamiliar world.

You are the first to arrive at the Borogrove Forest. +50 fame

His eyes widened at this message. He recognized the word Borogrove. It was a made up word that appeared in Lewis Carol’s poem “The Jabberwocky.” Coincidentally, Lewis Carol was also the author of Alice in Wonderland.

‘

Did I actually end up in Wonderland?’

Alistair looked around incredulously.

“Status Window.”

[/ tr][tr]

Status WindowName:AlistairAlignment:NeutralLevel:9Class:NoneRace:HumanGender:MaleTitlesNoneFame:50Infamy:None-Health:3 / 190Mana:86 / 100Stamina:10 / 400Mental Resilience0%-Strength:10Agility:75Satiety34%Intelligence:10Wisdom:10Leadership:10Luck:4

Alistair furrowed his brow at this. His health was still in a critical condition. If his satiety was above 50%, he could regenerate health, however, his satiety was at 34%. What’s worse, he ate his last piece of barley bread, and was separated from his mountain of hunted rabbits. And now, he was in such a strange place. As he began to worry about how dire the situation was, he stopped himself and activated his convenient skill.

‘

Sigh of Acceptance’

His mind calmed and he felt a bit better. The skill acts as a restoration skill because it added 5% to the HP limit as well as. Thus he gained 9.5 HP bringing the grand total to a whole 12.5! Yeah… the situation wasn’t favorable for him.

Alistair looked around and saw that there were berries growing abundantly in little bushes at the bases of the strange trees. The berries where a white that contrasted with the bushes dark blue hue. It almost seemed like the bushes were a night’s sky filled with glimmering stars.

Alistair sighed with relief, with this, he was saved. He walked over to the bushes and started to pick a berry. With a tentative look, he ate it. He chewed and he found the taste quite to his liking. It was nice and sweet. While he chewed, he thought he saw the bush change colors from blue to blood red for an instance. Alistair shrugged it off as he chewed. The berries did not restore much satiety. It took a 5 of them to restore a single percent, so he had to completely empty 3 bushes to fill his satiety to 60%.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Due to you overeating of Star-berries, you will experience weak hallucinations for the next ten minutes

And that’s when things got a bit weird. Alistair sat down as he started to see things. The first minute was occupied by a unicorn that coming up to him and ranting about how great donuts are. Then, that turned into a dragon and flew off into the unseen sky.

The next minute was occupied by a dwarf appearing and mining for gold among the canopy above.

“Oi! Boy! Can you pass me pickaxe?” Called out the dwarf.

Alistair stayed silent in response to this. The dwarf just shrugged and started to hack away at the canopy with a battle axe. Somehow, he found some gold and left.

3rd through 7th minutes were occupied by seeing a horned demon that looked similar to a satyr face off against a swordsman dressed in black. He swung his dual swords with grace while the satyr demon laid waste to the forest around him. The black swordsman clutched his dual swords close to his body and sprung forward with terrifying speed. He sprung from tree to tree, sometimes completely passing through the loops. The satyr demon swung and swung, but never could land a hit. The swordsman would block the hits that landed and use them to propel himself.

Finally, the swordsman was pushed back by a blow from the satyr. He landed feet on a tree, ready to propel himself forward when something hit him.

It was the tail of the satyr demon, which had previously gone unnoticed. The movement flow of the swordsman was thrown off, and in that moment, the satyr cleaved him in two. His torso separated from his hips and both pieces lay on the forest floor. Alistair watched nonchalantly as the satyr and swordsman disappeared and the trees went back to normal, well as normal as they could be.

After those had disappeared, the strangest delusion visited Alistair’s eyes

As it was previously described, all the strange trees did a complete loop with their trunks at the middle of their height. In one of these little loops, something materialized. It slowly materialized into existence. It looked like…. A completely white thing in the shape of a face. It was a mask, however, there was nothing on to indication of an eye hole or mouth hole. Suddenly a smile grew on the mask. Looks something like this.

That terrifying mouth opened and started to speak directly to him.

“An adventurer? I do believe this is the first time that one has visited my Story! Welcome, welcome!” The mask said in a friendly tone that did not fit its appearance. The wicked teeth snapped open and shut in jerky movements as it spoke.

Alistair sighed. Now the game was telling him he was hoping. The world “Grimm’s World” was actually much smaller than other VR games. However, the gimmick for the game was that it was the meeting place for all sorts of worlds. These worlds, or “Stories”, presented incredible opportunities. The one “Story” that had been found was that of Cinderella. The guild, Slaughtered Hearts, had assisted the story of that magical night by helping Cinderella meet the prince. They were hailed as heroes of “true love.” Champions of the heart, unlike their name. It was rather sad when the prince met his untimely soon after the wedding. In her grief, Cinderella appointed the Guild Leader, known only as “Cupid”, as the chancellor and was currently on a journey of grief. Thus, the Slaughtered Hearts controlled the kingdom. Even more so, they also controlled the portal to the world, so they could regulate the flow of traffic. There had been no other reported findings of extra-dimensional Stories, so Alistair was hopeful when he saw he had appeared in the Borogrove Forest.

Now, his hopes were materializing in his delusions. He said nothing in response to the eyeless mask.

“Aw… a quiet one eh? No fun! Well, since you are the first adventurer here, that means you must play a leading part in my Story! So? What would you like to be your reward for completing the story? Equipment? Influence? Skills? A unique class?”

The mask now smiled at him waiting for him to answer. Alistair decided to answer, as a way to affirm his desires. Vocal affirmation of what he was going to do in this world. (Author’s Note: I do not condone usage of hallucinogenic drugs, or any other illegal drug abuse. Nor do I believe that hallucinogenics draw out the subconcious.).

“Why choose one?” Alistair asked. “I want them all.”

The mask smiled and said the following words.

“Really? Then you can't be the main protagonist, but a secret one. So be it! I look forward to your instatement as the new Mad Hatter. That is… if you survive that long.”

With those words, that terrifying mouth disappeared and it was only a plain, white mask without any visible eyes holes of mouth. There it stood upright, a mask of white. Alistair closed his eyes waiting for that last minute to pass. He made plans to explore. Judging by the amount of fame he gained from discovering the Borogrove Forest, it wasn’t that big. 50 fame was given for a discovery that was under 3 square miles. That included all recorded dungeons. From conclusion, he should be able to exit the forest if he walked in one direction long enough. He heard the click that indicated the hallucinogenic effect had worn off. He opened his eyes. At first he was uncomprehending at the sight that met his eyes, then his eyes widened.

The mask was still there.