Dull aching pain reverberated throughout my body. My ears felt like a phone was constantly vibrating in them and my head had a very persistent door salesman knocking on the surface.

My insides threatened to escape from my mouth while all sorts of nausea attacked me at once. I kept still, waiting for the storm to subside, ages passed and thankfully everything dulled enough for me to at least think. That's when I laid my eyes on the purple sky staring down at me.

I took a moment longer to collect myself and figure out what happened. I couldn't remember any reason why I was partially buried in mud and dirt with a body that felt as if it went through three marathons back to back.

I sat a bit longer hoping anyone passing by would call an ambulance after noticing me. The only thing I heard was the increasing sounds of nature exacerbating my headache. I probably was off the park's path somewhere, or it was too early in the morning for joggers to spot me.

The first attempt to upright myself failed once I got to my knees, the exhaustion too overwhelming and my muscles too stiff. The second attempt involved me leveraging a tree and was successful. I noted the fact that I ended up tilting the tree at a weird angle. I glanced at the tree, its trunk as thick as my waist, yet bent at a 25-degree angle as if it was thin aluminum.

I shook my head clear of the delusions and leaned against a different tree. "Hello! Is anyone there?" I managed to exclaim, nearly falling from the force of my voice. "Please, I need help! Someone?" birds chuckled to themselves in the trees above.

I waited until the world stopped spinning completely before checking my body for injuries. Instead of injuries, I found myself being completely caked in mud and dirt from head to toe.

Absentmindedly I started scrubbing away at the dirt with my dirt-covered hands, it was as effective as I expected. The pace sped up as nearby bushes generously donated their leaves to me.

As I scrubbed away, my mind wandered to the big question. Why am I here? My memories failed me again, only bringing up nightmares of falling from the sky. I searched again for anything earlier.

The last memory was of me relaxing in the dorm room of my college. Enjoying games- wait that pizza. My roommate might of had drugs for his slice and he may of gotten ours mixed up. I had no evidence, but anger threatened to wash over me anyway, intensifying the scrubbing and revealing a portion of my torso.

An ashy grey metal shirt revealed itself. I was wearing a car hood as a shirt. The headache cleared enough for me to hear the subtle sound of rushing water nearby. Following the source of the sound brought me to a rocky bed creek, significantly speeding up my cleaning process.

My worst fears came to fruition, I am wearing cosplay. After last year's incident, I swore to them I wouldn't touch cosplay again. Was this trip so bad I went back on that rule?

I groaned as I took in my reflection from the water, the suit colors need work but I can admire the professional work that was put into it. The annoyance soon faded to guilt, I pretty much ruined whoever work this was.

The more I stared at my reflection the more shame I felt. The suit covered the entire body, with no seams besides extremely subtle ones in the areas that need to bend. No problems using water to clean the outside, light as a normal shirt and easy to move around in. Wait, my head is covered in dirt too?

My brain broke, I could see clearly but according to my reflection, my entire head was encased in dirt. I raised my metallic hand to my head and for a brief moment my hand turned transparent. The shock was enough to push me into the creek.

Feeling guilty I quickly tried to get up before I ruined the suit further only to stumble forwards and face-plant in the creek immersing my entire body in the water. But nothing leaked in, no added weight from the water, no uncomfortable liquids trapped in the suit itself.

Collecting myself, I finally scrape off the last of the dirt revealing the ash silver suit that gave off a similar shine to a decade-late car. My head was encased in the same material but despite that, I can breathe, see and hear as if it didn't exist.

My mind wandered to a novel featuring humans turning into robots. The next 10 minutes were spent trying to pull off various parts of the suit to no avail, I was sealed completely in.

My mind raced for a believable lie to soothe the creeping unease. I yelled to the heavens, "HELP, someone please!" The forest returned its version of silence. Within moments, panic came all at once as my metal hands scraped all over my body to free myself from this silver coffin.

I succeeded only at tiring myself out, acceptance came quickly as I tried to keep my mind positive. As long as I follow the river, surely I could make my way to a road or path that leads home right?

---

"Hey there buddy, it's the fourth day already can you believe it?"

"I know you can hear me, don't be shy it's only us out here."

I sighed and stared at my reflection in the shallow puddle. The suit remained the same state as a few days ago despite the amount of dirt, falls and mess I got myself into the last few days. It completely contrasted what I felt inside as if to mock me.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I rubbed my helmet cheek for a few moments, a motion that surprisingly made me feel at ease these last few days before laying down on a makeshift bed of mud and sticks. Tonight will be another sleepless night, but at least the ground was getting easier to rest on each night.

"Do you have some type of internal log or recording you can put on?"

The suit remained quiet as expected. "I'm stuck in a simulation right?"

"The speakers are broken if you are talking to me, or maybe it's a bad connection?"

"If you are still trying to pretend, just give it up, I can feel my body underneath this metal. I can't take you off, but I know I'm still there. If it's some type of psychological testing then I failed, please take me out of this thing... please."

The soft pitter-patter of rain expanded to an overwhelming roar signaling a severe downpour. I stared at the ceiling, fighting the urge to mimic the rain outside.

"No...no no, let's recollect the facts here, maybe I'm wrong." I pull myself up and start pacing around the room, trying to ignore the stinging pain from today's activities.

"The main reason why I thought I was in a simulation was because of four things. The sky, the flora, fauna, and this stupid suit... I'm sorry suit, you aren't stupid I'm just annoyed."

First off the sky, is purple, why would a simulation change the color of the sky to be this way, presuming they can control everything else that would be a waste of time to make that difference as well, right? Maybe it's left there as a clue, or maybe-

A warning popped up in the corner of my eye, pausing my musing. I glanced over to find a blurry red outline shifting shapes at the cave entrance. Thankfully I was deeper in the cave around a bend out of line sight to the entrance, but I was trapped since that was the only exit.

I slid around a rock outcropping, fitting my body roughly between the cracks to hide from the rest of the room. I made myself as small as possible, ignoring the complaints from my muscles. Soon the outline revealed itself from the corner, using its long cone-shaped snout to scout the area.

Its body slowly revealed itself, showcasing white fur and long whiskers on a cone-shaped snout and a rounded armored head. Its torso was thick with brown fur that covered its midsection hiding its limbs like a loose tarp. It continued, sniffing the edges of the cave. Shortly it became satisfied and started digging at the entrance partially covering it with rocks and debris.

It gave a satisfied grunt and dug a bed for itself in the middle of the cave. However in its digging, I noticed the deep gash on its left side, it was the same creature that tried to eat me earlier. Now it'll learn its last lesson, what happens when you fall asleep in someone else den.

I noted the lengthy finger-like claws protruding from underneath its fur which further dissuaded me from even moving. I glanced further into the cave, where a separate large red outline slowly became bigger as it got closer. My suit flared with an oxygen warning, noting that I have 1 hour of oxygen left and to get to a clear and open area.

The animal's snout flared for a few moments, probably panicked and confused, but it was too late. Its eyes were wide open, but its limbs were twitching softly. From the darkness of the cave extended a single root-like limb, slowly coiling around the wide-awake victim. Securing a proper grip, it retracted its haul into the depths of the cave. I refused to look into the abyss, instead focusing on the spot which the animal disappeared from.

Soon the oxygen warning disappeared with 42 minutes left on a timer that slowly refilled itself and I lugged myself from the rocky outcropping. My thighs and arms were sore from being in an awkward position for so long.

"Are we safe?" I asked already knowing the answer, the suit scanned its surroundings giving me weird terms and numbers I couldn't understand before plastering an 'all clear' on the corner of my vision that disappeared shortly afterward.

I relaxed and slid down the wall facing the darkness. "What did I do to deserve this."

Thunder clapped as the rain poured harder. "Suit, tell me, how can I go back home?" It kept silent and I simply stared at the ceiling trying to figure out who in life did I anger enough to warrant this. A plethora of situations pop into my mind and I dismiss the thought with a shake of my head.

"I'm thirsty," I tell the suit, waiting for the straw to poke out from underneath the helmet. I move my mouth around and felt nothing. "Erm, I'm thirsty. Is the water supply low or something?"

The suit remained quiet, ignoring my requests. "Dude, you there?" I start panicking at the lack of response, I'm not going to starve to death in this metal coffin right?

"Features unlocked, primary objective located." the suit said in a monotone voice instead of plastering words on the corner of my screen. A marker pointed to the side of my vision similar to a video game arrow. I followed it and stared at a blue transparent marker labeled 'main objective ~15 km'.

I stared at the marker for a few seconds out of confusion.

"Hello?..."

....

Wait, that wasn't my voice.