I wake from my shallow rest in a tranquil forest. As my bleary eyes adjusted to the world around me, I confused myself about the situation I don't remember ever being in such a forest. The area around me was a vibrant green filled with life; the trees reminded me of redwoods with their height and size going further, then my vision could see. I sit up trying to orient myself to the situation as I rack my memories of earlier today.

2020 July 25 midday, "We are men as swift as a coursing river!! BE A MAN!! With all the force of A GREAT Typhoon!!" We yelled through the air as my crew, and I hiked up this steep mountain drenched in sweat from the hot Fresno weather. I was part of a wildland firefighting crew on the new pain in the ass Mineral Fire. To alleviate the load on our tired selves, we had a habit of singing up hikes, usually to the displeasure of our captains.

" Hey, Colin, remember to switch off your dolmar if you need to," I said through tired breaths to my puller. " Don't worry, ray, I got." He said back, calling me by my less embarrassing nickname short for Raymond. I gave a quick nod and returned to my burden of caring for this godforsaken chainsaw. I quickly get back in rhythm for our off sounding chorus.

Right, when I got back on with the song, my voice went quiet with a painful dryness, my vision gained blacked spots, but my feet kept pace with the crew. A heat stroke was my first thought; my mind raced with the need to say something. Any type of gibberish would alert my team of the impending symptoms. Sadly no words escaped my throat before everything went black.

"hmmm," how did I end up in a forest compared to the bone desert of mountains in Fresno? I thought as I sat. Crosslegged trying to support my overbearing pack on my back. Then my world changed forever as a floating message popped in front of my vision.

*Welcome to Avalon's world, do you wish to take the secure, life-threatening, or demon level tutorial?*

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"what the fuck?" I was suddenly overwhelmed with confusion. I tried to reach for the message to comprehend what in the world was this thing.

*Ding, Demon level selected*

I felt my stomach turn at my accidental clicking of the terrifying sounding tutorial, with my knowledge of video games, I knew this was a dreadful mistake. Once again, my vision got distorted, and my world changed to a gloomy, miserable tunnel.

*Ding, select your weapon*

Once over, the floating screen appears with a list of cold steel weaponry, many of which I don't recognize scimitar, khopesh, kukri ulfberht sword, gladius, with countless more. This time I stop myself from touching the screen, causing another mistake. I take a deep breath to calm my anxieties, which bounce from my fear of an unknown scenario im in or the terrifying choice of demon level. This time I reevaluate my circumstances.

Im still wearing my Nomex, smokejumper boots, and fire pack: which carries my 10-pound lunch, one and a half gallons of water which went down from 2 from work. I also have my space blanket, MRE, two Fusee, meds, and my multi-tool. I felt rather good at my stockpile of assets. I focus back at the square artificial cave in front of me lit by weird blue crystals on the walls. I turn around to see a dead end, so I focus on the prompt ahead of me.

I scroll over my selections, which many of which I don't recognize; should I go for the range with a halberd something more mid-range like a sword maybe? I eventually narrowed it down to either The Miao Dao, a Chinese sword which I once watched a documentary where it says they brought it to WW2; The Ulfberht was known as a legendary Viking weapon years ahead of its time. I held off from selecting when a thought abruptly hit me.

"status," I said rather excited.

* Raymond Levy level: 1 class: none

* Health 100/100 Energy 0/0 Seed: None

* Strength: intermediate (low)

* Endurance: intermediate

* Agility: intermediate (low)

* mana: low (low)

* luck: intermediate (high)

* Class ability: none personal ability: none

"awesome!!" I always believed status screens were cool in video games, and I must say im not looking sorry in stats. What's a seed? I tried pressing down on it for more information only to find nothing happened. I suppose I'll find out sooner or later.

Now back to the task at hand, accepting my weapon for the demonic trail ahead of me. I steel my resolve for what awaits.