Pain. Hitting the ground at speed hurts. It hurt a lot. I realized that one from experience. As I fell out of what I now assume was a portal, my momentum slowed, which is definitely what kept me from dying, but I regained a considerable amount of speed in the 12 feet above the ground I was dropped afterward.

I laid there in a daze for longer than I would like to admit. I had been a pretty normal guy before this. Not a seal, or super marathon runner, or martial artist, or any other sort of super tough, savvy, action movies guy. That, maybe, would have prepared me for the absolute shit storm I had just gone through.

After allowing myself what was probably 10-15 minutes to self pity, just sorta laying there and staring at the sky, I eased myself up. My back protested. So did my joints. It would probably be easier to list what didn’t hurt than what did.

I took a minute to look around. Then a minute more.

Where the fuck am I? These have got to be the creepiest woods I’ve ever seen. I was sitting in the middle of a clearing, with a ring a trees and thick flora formed a barrier around me nearly completely impenetrable to my sight. Pale, sickly bark covered the tree, and the leaves were a shallow green. Claw marks marred some of the trees, as if an enraged grizzly bear had decided to go wild on them.

The breeze was practically non-existent, but what little airflow there was wafted a scent of rot, a sickly, metallic diseasy smell.

An immediate sense of unease filled me. I was in a foreign area, maybe in some wilderness in Russia or Alaska or any other number of wild locations. I might be dozens or hundreds of miles away from the nearest human. Nobody would even know I was out here. Hell, I doubt anyone even knew I was missing.

I started to hyperventilate, my breath coming quicker and quicker, chest heaving up and down. I was going to die out here alone, with nobody knowing I was even gone. I didn’t have anybody close enough to me to check on me. They would probably just think I’d decided to ghost them. Even If I did get back to my life, my job was most certainly going to be gone, and I probably wouldn’t have my apartment either. My life has fallen apart before my eyes.

Rustling in the bushes in front of me distracted me from my spiraling mental state. My heart started hammering in my chest. What if the creature that mauled those trees earlier was coming back? I couldn’t fight a bear.

I slowly got to my feet, crouching down low, and started backing out of the clearing. The rustling was getting closer too fast for me to make it, but I had to hope whatever was coming wouldn’t notice me backing out. It’s not like I could outrun a wild animal.

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Heart hammering, I inched closer and closer to cover. Could I really make it? I was almost there! Come on, come on…

A branch snapped.

Oh shit… it was here.

I whipped my head back around towards the source of the noise.

A man stepped into the clearing, a calm expression on his face. He was young, probably in his mid 20’s. He had shoulder-length light green hair. He had on some sort of silver armor, the plates covering a fair amount of his body. He left his hand resting on the long sword hanging on his right hip. He stood tall, confidently, yet he looked like he was wound like a spring, as if he could launch into motion at any moment. His boots were covered in mud, but it didn’t reach up any higher than his ankles.

The man glanced around the clearing, his eyes scanning over everything. Once he was satisfied that there wasn’t anyone or anything else with us, he turned to me. His golden eyes locked onto mine. It felt as if he could stare right through me.

“Are you alright?”

His voice sounded weird in my ears, as if he was speaking some other language underneath his words. It took me a second to realize he was talking to me.

“Y-yeah, I think I’m ok”

He opened his mouth, but I quickly butt in again.

“Where am I? I fell through this hole and fell and fell and fell and I hit this glowing light and then landed here and I don’t know where I am and I have to get back home and I can’t miss work tomorrow and I have responsibilities and I really need you to help me get out of here!”

The words poured from my mouth like a water fall. Once I started, I couldn’t stop, and it all came out in a rush. I normally would have been embarrassed, but I was far too frantic to care.

An amused look crossed over his face, but then disappeared, almost too quickly for me to catch.

“You are in another place now. A new world, you might say. Unfortunately, you cannot go back. I would be glad to help you, however. My name is Rycress. It is nice to meet you”.

Oh no.

Oh no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no

I need to calm down. This guy was probably crazy. He was dressed up like a 17th century knight. This guy was probably delusional or role-playing. It’s fine, it’s fine.

Except it’s not fine. I just fell for 15 minutes through a dark void, through a magic fucking portal, to a place with trees like I’ve never seen and a fantasy ass knight who stepped out and TOLD me it was a different world. If he’s crazy, I don’t want to imagine how crazy I must be.

It hit me. It hit me hard. I’ll never be able to go back. I’m stuck here. Forever.

I cannot go home.