"What the fuck was that?!"
Hayden scrambled to his feet and looked around in disbelief.
He was no longer in his house.
Instead, he stood in the middle of a forest that looked like something straight out of a fever dream. At first glance, it reminded him of a rainforest, but the similarities ended there.
The trees were enormous, their twisted trunks reaching dozens of metres into the air. Some were blue, others were deep purple, and a few had bark that shimmered like polished metal. Their branches twisted around each other in strange patterns, growing upwards, sideways and even downwards before curling back towards the sky.
Not a single leaf looked familiar.
One tree had enormous translucent leaves that glowed from within, pulsing gently like a heartbeat. Another was covered in small, glassy spheres that rolled around its branches without falling off. Further away, a cluster of thin trees bent towards Hayden as he moved, their branches turning to follow him.
He stopped walking.
The trees stopped moving.
Hayden slowly raised one hand.
The branches tilted upwards.
He lowered it.
They tilted downwards.
He stared at them for several seconds.
"...Nope."
He took three steps backwards.
"I'm not dealing with that shit."
The air was warm and heavy, carrying a strange smell that reminded him of wet soil mixed with something sweet and rotten. Every breath left a faint metallic taste on his tongue.
Above him, the canopy blocked most of the sky. What little he could see looked wrong.
There were no familiar clouds, only enormous pale shapes drifting across a deep green sky. Two bright circles hung in the distance. One was a dull orange, while the other shone with a cold, bluish light.
Hayden stared upwards.
"Are those two suns?"
He squinted.
"Please tell me one of them is just a really big moon."
Neither disappeared.
"Of course. Why the fuck would anything be normal today?"
He rubbed his eyes, hoping he was still dreaming.
When he opened them again, the two suns were still there.
He looked around at the forest.
Some plants had leaves that resembled feathers. Others had long, fleshy tendrils hanging from their branches, slowly curling and uncurling as if they were tasting the air. Small patches of moss glowed beneath the trees, changing colour whenever shadows passed over them.
A nearby flower opened as Hayden watched.
Inside its petals was a ring of tiny teeth.
He stared at it.
The flower snapped shut.
Hayden took a careful step away.
"Right. So even the fucking flowers have teeth here."
Something moved in the distance.
He turned towards it, but all he could see were trees and strange plants. A low rumbling travelled through the ground beneath his feet, followed by a series of clicks that seemed to come from every direction at once.
Then everything went silent.
No birds.
No insects.
Not even the sound of wind moving through the branches.
Hayden swallowed.
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
He paused.
"Should I tap my shoes together? Maybe that'll get me the fuck out of here."
He looked down at his feet.
He was still wearing his old trainers.
"Well, at least I've got my shoes."
His smile faded as he remembered what had happened before arriving here.
The masked man.
The butter knife.
The pain in his stomach.
Hayden lifted his shirt and examined his abdomen.
There was no wound.
No blood.
No sign that someone had stabbed him to death in his own bathroom.
He ran his fingers over his stomach until he found a small scar.
"A scar?"
He poked it cautiously.
"That's it? I get stabbed with a fucking butter knife and all I have to show for it is a scar?"
He looked around at the alien forest.
"Brilliant. Just fucking brilliant."
He took a deep breath.
"I died, didn't I?"
A strange noise answered him from somewhere above.
It sounded almost like laughter, except it was too deep and too drawn out. Hayden looked up, but whatever had made the sound was hidden behind the enormous branches.
He immediately shut his mouth.
"Okay. Maybe shouting in a strange forest isn't the smartest idea."
Something appeared in front of his face.
Learned Appraisal: Level 0, 0.01%
Hayden froze.
A small blue screen floated in the air, roughly an arm's length away from him.
He stared at it.
Then he waved his hand in front of it.
Nothing happened.
He cautiously extended one finger and poked the screen.
Its surface rippled like water.
Hayden jumped backwards.
"What the fuck is THAT?!"
He watched as the blue screen hovered in place for several seconds before disappearing.
His mouth hung open.
"Has my life turned into a fucking video game?"
He looked around, half expecting someone to jump out from behind a tree and tell him it was all a joke.
Nobody appeared.
"Menu?"
Nothing.
"Start?"
Still nothing.
Hayden frowned.
"Status?"
A blue screen appeared in front of him.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!"
He stumbled backwards and nearly tripped over a root that had curled out of the ground behind him.
He grabbed a nearby tree to steady himself, then immediately regretted it when the bark shifted beneath his fingers.
He snatched his hand away.
The tree made a quiet cracking sound.
Hayden stared at it.
"Don't you fucking start."
He took another step away from the tree and focused on the floating screen.
{I've got to stop jumping every time one of these bloody screens appears. At this rate, I'll give myself a heart attack before anything else gets the chance.}
He read the information carefully.
Name: Hayden Droven
Title: None
Class: None
Race: Human
Level: 0
Progress: 0.00%
Attributes
Strength: 1
Physical damage: 1 to 2
Vitality: 1
Health: 10/10
Lifespan: 100 years per vitality point
Intelligence: 2
Mana: 20/20
Wisdom: 1
Mana regeneration: 1 per minute
Agility: 2
Movement speed: 7 mph
Stamina: 0.5
Stamina: 50/50
Health Regeneration: 0.5 per minute
Stamina Regeneration: 0.5 per minute
Skills
Appraisal: Level 0, 0.01%
Hayden read through the information twice.
Then he frowned.
"Strength of one. Intelligence of two. Stamina of half a point."
He looked at the screen with growing disbelief.
"Am I seriously below average in a world where the fucking trees move?"
The screen remained silent.
"Great. Fantastic. I can already tell we're going to get along."
He continued reading.
His lifespan was listed as one hundred years, apparently linked to his vitality. At least that was something.
His intelligence gave him twenty mana, while his wisdom allowed him to recover one mana every minute.
He had no idea what mana was supposed to do, but he assumed he'd figure it out eventually.
"Well, at least I'm not dead."
He stopped.
"...Actually, I am dead, aren't I?"
He rubbed his forehead.
"This is getting confusing."
The screen vanished.
Hayden looked around again, trying to ignore the strange noises coming from the trees.
He needed food, water and somewhere safe to spend the night.
Preferably somewhere without murderous flowers.
His attention settled on a nearby bush. It had dark green leaves and several bright green berries covered in pink spots.
They looked almost edible.
Almost.
Hayden crouched beside the bush.
"Right. Let's see what we've got here."
He reached towards a berry, then stopped himself.
"Actually, eating random plants in an alien forest sounds like a brilliant way to die twice in one day."
He remembered the blue screen.
"Appraisal."
Nothing happened.
"Appraisal!"
Still nothing.
Hayden sighed.
"Come on, you useless piece of shit."
He focused on one of the berries and concentrated.
A small message appeared.
Unknown Berry.
Hayden stared at it.
"Unknown berry? That's fucking helpful."
He waited for more information.
Nothing.
He opened his status screen again and checked his skills.
Appraisal: Level 0, 1%
His eyebrows rose.
"Hold on."
He looked back at the berry.
Then at his status.
"My appraisal went up."
He examined the berry again.
Unknown Berry.
He checked his status once more.
Nothing had changed.
Hayden scratched his chin.
"So the skill improves when I use it?"
He looked around at the strange plants surrounding him.
"Let's test that theory."
For the next several minutes, Hayden appraised everything he could find.
A nearby stone.
Unknown Stone.
A patch of glowing moss.
Unknown Plant.
A flower with transparent petals.
Unknown Flower.
A strange mushroom that seemed to breathe.
Unknown Fungus.
Hayden stared at the mushroom as its cap expanded and contracted.
"You're probably poisonous."
The mushroom released a cloud of purple dust.
Hayden scrambled backwards, coughing.
"FUCKING HELL!"
He waved his arms in front of his face and retreated several metres before stopping to catch his breath.
He looked back at the mushroom.
It had stopped moving.
"Right. No touching the weird breathing mushrooms. Got it."
Despite the unhelpful results, his appraisal skill continued to improve.
He examined more plants, several rocks and even a tree whose bark appeared to have tiny blue lights moving beneath its surface.
The lights followed his hand as he passed it over the trunk.
Hayden decided not to touch it.
By the time he finished, his Appraisal progress had reached nineteen percent.
He opened his status screen to check.
Appraisal: Level 0, 19%
He grinned.
"Well, look at that. I'm a fucking genius."
He paused.
"All right, maybe not. But at least I've figured something out."
He still had no idea what most of the things around him were, but at least he had a skill that might eventually tell him.
Then he noticed something strange.
A nearby plant had slowly turned towards him while he'd been checking his status.
Its long, narrow leaves pointed directly at his chest.
Hayden stared at it.
The leaves twitched.
He took one step to the left.
The plant turned to follow him.
He took one step to the right.
It followed him again.
"...Are you taking the piss?"
He moved backwards.
The plant stopped moving.
Hayden waited.
After several seconds, he cautiously approached it again.
The leaves snapped towards him.
"FUCK THAT!"
He turned and hurried away.
He had officially decided that the plant could mind its own fucking business.
As he moved through the forest, the light began to change.
The two suns were sinking behind the strange canopy, casting long shadows across the ground. The glowing moss became brighter, while the colours of the trees grew darker and more intense.
The forest was changing with the light.
Small points of light appeared between the branches, drifting through the air like fireflies. Some moved in straight lines, while others travelled in sharp angles that made no sense.
One passed close to Hayden's face.
It was a tiny floating creature with six thin wings and a round, transparent body. Inside its body, something that looked like a miniature eye rotated slowly.
It stopped directly in front of him.
Hayden held his breath.
The creature tilted sideways.
Then it shot upwards and disappeared through the canopy.
He watched it go.
"...Nope. Not even going to ask."
He looked towards the sky.
The orange sun had almost disappeared, leaving the greenish light of the second sun to illuminate the forest.
He had no idea how long he had been here, but night was approaching.
And he had a serious problem.
He had no food, no water, no shelter and absolutely no idea what lived in this place.
For all he knew, the harmless-looking little flying creature might have been the least dangerous thing in the entire forest.
Hayden swallowed nervously.
"Right. Time to think."
He looked around carefully.
First, he needed somewhere safe to spend the night.
Second, he needed water.
Third, he needed food, preferably something that wouldn't kill him.
Finally, he needed to figure out where the hell he was.
A deep rumble travelled through the forest.
This time, it was much closer.
The ground trembled beneath his feet, and several nearby trees bent away from something moving between them.
Hayden couldn't see what it was.
But whatever it was, it was big.
He slowly backed away.
"Okay. New plan."
He looked towards a nearby tree with thick branches and a sturdy-looking trunk.
"Find somewhere to hide, stay alive and try not to become dinner."
Another rumble shook the ground.
A cluster of glowing plants suddenly went dark.
Hayden stared into the shadows between the trees.
"...I'm so fucked."