I felt as though I’d been asleep for a very, very long time. Occasionally I’d rouse from my torpor to a world of utter, impenetrable darkness only to have my fleeting consciousness fly away from me back into a dreamless slumber. My bouts of lucidity had recently grown more frequent and lasted longer. It felt like I was being pushed on all sides and after testing my limbs, it became clear that my range of motion was severely limited. The limited movement I was capable of felt sluggish and unresponsive.

As terrifying and confusing as the experience was, it was actually not uncomfortable. The sensation might be likened to being tightly wrapped in a warm cushion where no matter how much time passed, I never needed to eat, drink, or use the restroom. In fact, I wasn't certain I was even breathing. 'Am I dead? Is this what death is? Or could I have had some kind of aneurysm or stroke, and I’m still alive in a hospital bed somewhere?' Those kinds of thoughts floated up between gaps in my memory where I'd drifted away from self awareness. While fidgeting in my dark prison, I combed over anything I could remember that might illuminate the dark fog pervading my memories. Even thinking proved to be difficult and my thoughts and memories felt as though they were coming from a vast distance through great effort.

My name is Naomi. I’m 19 years old as of last October and I’m a first year college student. If I had to describe myself, it would be that I’m remarkably unremarkable. Average grades, average looks, average intelligence, I’m basically the definition of a normal girl. The last thing I remember… is just going to sleep after a long night of gaming. I had school in the morning. I somehow get the impression that I won’t be making my classes.

I’d long since given up on seeing anything in this unassailable cloud of absolute darkness. My new world was a sea of constricting shadows but in a rare moment where I opened my eyes, I caught sight of a flicker of movement in the corner of my vision. A blinking dot. How long had that been there? I didn’t remember seeing anything like it the last time I had opened my eyes. I tried to wiggle my head in the direction of the dot only to find that its position remained fixed in one spot in my periphery even as I turned to look at it.

I focused on the blinking dot in the corner of my eye and a transparent window popped into my vision, the first thing I’d seen besides darkness in what felt like weeks. The window looked… wrong. It was like staring into the static on a TV. It hurt to even look at. I tried to close my eyes to banish the painful box but it remained in my vision even with my eyes closed. Slowly the static faded and innumerable shifting lines condensed into barely legible, distorted letters in the window.

Non system compliant entity detected. Deleting… Failed. Converting entity to match system compliancy… Failed. Translating system to match entity specification… Success. Enabling entity interface… Success. Entity is now classified as system compliant. Assigning…

As I read the message in the window, the disconcertingly shifting and vibrating text seemed to calm until it was perfectly legible. The experience was not unlike staring into a computer screen in a pitch dark room. Non system compliant entity? Was that supposed to be me? And the first thing it tried to do was delete me?

The window suddenly and without provocation blinked out of my vision and I was left again in darkness. Darting my attention again to the periphery of my vision like a drowning person clutching at straw, I found the dot again and focused on it. Another window popped up, this one much smaller than the previous one with a single word on it: Status. Confused, I focused on the word and the window expanded before my eyes.

Status information limited due to deficient Intelligence and Wisdom scores. Name: Naomi Race: Unknown Level: 1 (0 / 30) HP: 2 / 2 SP: 4 / 4 Strength: 1 Agility: 2 Constitution: 1 Endurance: 2 Intelligence: 0 Wisdom: 1

Uh, excuse me? My intelligence is a whopping ZERO? More importantly, this is definitely a character status sheet for something like a game character. This must be what it meant by ‘entity interface,’ then? It’s also really bare bones as there isn’t much of note in here. Would I see more information if my intelligence and wisdom were higher? Also, why is my race unknown? Last time I checked, I was definitely human.

HP, that’s health points… and SP must be stamina points. I’d played enough games to recognize those right off the bat. My HP is only 2, though? Doesn’t that mean I’m super weak? I feel like that’s way too low, like I’m gonna fall over dead the moment a strong breeze blows past.

I tried to focus on anything else in the window to try and glean any more information from the prompt to no avail. I did, however, succeed at creating health and stamina indicators in the corner of my vision by… willing them into existence? Evidently the interface display could be altered by thinking about the changes you wanted made. The end result was a little HP: 2 / 2 and SP: 4 / 4 in the corner of my vision.

'Well, this finally solves it.' I mused to myself 'I’ve clearly lost my sanity.' I’d have thrown my arms up in defeat if I were capable of the movement, but I settled for a non committal shudder before drifting back to sleep.

It seemed as though my cushy prison had been shrinking. My already limited range of movement had decreased even more from how cramped it had become. Nothing had changed in my status window in the innumerable amount of times that I’d checked it since. I wanted nothing more than to stretch out my aching legs. While I wouldn’t consider myself to be claustrophobic, my fear of being slowly crushed to death seemed extremely rational at the moment.

Out of frustration I fought back against my cage, pushing against it as I attempted to stretch and wiggle my body as much as I could. I was about to give up my struggle when I felt something give, even if only slightly. A very dim light faded into my vision as part of my prison gave way with an audible crunch. I very nearly cried out in joy at the sound.

Time to pack my bags, I’m breaking out of this prison!

I redoubled my efforts, unceremoniously smashing my face against the weak spot. I pushed with all my strength using muscles I didn’t know I had. Really, muscles I didn’t know I had. Is that a tail? The spot finally gave way with a crack as bright light streamed into my eyes, momentarily blinding me. My vision slowly came into focus as I crawled on my belly and used the last of my energy to push myself the rest of the way out of my egg. I crawled out, exhausted, into the thick mud beneath.