It pauses for a moment, as if trying to gauge my reaction. There’s little I can hide. I’m breathing hard, my face is undoubtedly red and twisted in an expression of confusion and fury. Forget everyone I knew and just… deal with it? What I am now, the person that stands here, is the culmination of everyone and everything that came before. I had friends, family… people I cared for more than for myself. But the strange being isn’t lying. I can’t call to mind any names, nor locations. I have memories of places I’ve been, aspects of people, but when I try to imagine a face or a landscape, there are no defining features. It’s like imagining the face on a mannequin. Empty. Devoid of meaning.

Seeming unsatisfied, the being continues. ~ “Regardless, the individual that emerges will not be the same as who you are now, and the same will be true for any individuals you used to know. Those you knew perished the moment they were selected for the trials, so profound is the change.”

I barely register the words. This isn’t right; none of this makes sense. Aliens, and a trial for humanity? I feel like movie producers would love this… if only I could remember the names of any producers.

Dealing with shitty situations with equally shitty humor: that’s my coping mechanism. You can’t be hurt if you’re too sarcastic to care, right?

The bitter irony being that such a statement is completely false and barely masks the pain. My thoughts spin in circles, trying and failing to make any sense of what’s happening. I think the sudden life or death situation and endless action enabled me to postpone the impending mental breakdown, but that’s in full swing now. I turn around and slowly meander away from the being. I need some time to think, process, and generally freak out, or I think my mind will break. Not like there’s any shortage of space to walk here, seeing as it appears to go on forever. It’s weird not having a horizon… you just stop seeing when your eyes can’t discern any more detail. Not that there's anything to see.

The situation? Aliens abducted me, possibly the rest of the planet. No way to verify. They also suppressed my memory of names and faces. Additionally, I now appear to be in a sort of 'gamified' state where… something is capable of making notifications pop up in my vision. And I… probably have some kind of Stats now, seeing as I got a tangible number of something called Power. Whether that’s just this game’s version of Strength or something else, it’s probably better to have more… and right now I don’t know how to get more. Finally, I got something called a 'Secondary Skill' after using Energy to...possess(?) the shiny rock. So there’s some kind of skill system for, at the very least, Energy related tasks. And, obviously, Primary Skills as well, unless the aliens didn’t have much grasp on how humans communicate and forgot 'secondary' implies at least a 'primary'. Maybe more.

Part two: How do I address the situation? I have many questions that need answering, and I need to be formidable under these new rules. I need to secure the means to protect my life and, secondarily, my principles.

I would say that I want to return things to the way they were, but… that seems both pointless and, frankly, untrue. Being bored with the world as it is-...was, was never an uncommon thing. Why else have so many video games, movies, and comics to distance people from the real world?

No, I don’t want things to go back to the way they were. If this is the new world order, I’ll adapt. Maybe it will be fun? I shiver slightly as I remember the shadow monster that scared me off the cliff. Hopefully nothing will be quite that…(ahem) terrifying, again. And if something is, that’s just a lot more motivation to adapt quickly and effectively. Who knows what kinds of laws or reason the aliens will enforce, but something about the word 'trial' makes me think it will be uncomfortable. The best way to prevent your rights and happiness from being taken away is to be powerful enough to stop anyone from doing so.

Solve the mystery, gain strength, and win the game. Simple enough.

Thoughts gathered, and having walked for at least ten minutes, I turn around, curious how far I managed to get.

The being is 20 feet away from me max. The...fuck? I’m struck with the thought that perhaps it was just following me, but it’s seated, the same way it was before, and seems entirely relaxed. As amusing as the thought of this thing following me and sneakily plopping into a sitting position the moment I turn around is, it’s… unlikely, at best.

Suddenly interested, I turn away again and sprint as best I can. As I turn around, instead of the sight of the distance I covered, I’m met with another notification.

[Congratulations! You learned the secondary skill: Sprint (Active). Sprint: 1]

More skills. I wonder what degree of granularity this skill system goes down to. Can I get a skill for moving my eyes? Wiggling my toes?...Eyebrow raising? A small endeavor into that last idea bares no fruit. Alas.

Also worthy of note: the notifications seem to sense my intent and dismiss when I feel like they’re being obtrusive. Worrying, but convenient.

Less happily, I find my efforts are, once again, entirely in vain. It might differ by a foot or 2, but the being is still there, waiting… somewhat less patiently than last time.

~ “Please attend to the task at hand” It doesn’t appear capable of anger, but the way it’s speaking feels more along that vein now. Fine, step one in the Alien Survival Guide: don’t piss off an alien with unknown ability or motivation.

“Sorry, let’s proceed.” I walk over to about half our starting distance and sit. “I’m ready.”

It inclines its head, just barely.

~ “Good. Now, you chose to be trained in the workings of applied Energy. You were allowed to take this tutorial because you have some small modicum of ability using Energy already, which allowed you to more efficiently gather Power from that source. You should have received recognition from the World Intelligence that you demonstrated capability with Energy Manipulation.” It looks at me expectantly.

“Oh, yeah, I got a notification about something like that. An active and a passive version.”

It nods ~ “Good. Those will fill your first and second Secondary Skill slots-” It stops as it sees my obvious confusion ~ “The first of your 3 Secondary Skills you can learn while here?” It seems confused at my increased confusion. ~ “They… told you nothing of this place… at all… did they.” The being remarks the last part as more of a statement, despite it being formatted as a question. It gives another slight nod and continues ~ “You can learn 3 Secondary Skills while in this 'tutorial'. You can have a distributed level in those skills that sum to 5-... 8, for you, as part of the bonus. I will guide you through the last skill as well.”

Fuck. “Wait, I think I ‘accidentally’ picked up a Secondary Skill called sprint?”

The being just stares.

“How can I… um… fix… that?”

The being closes its eyes and sighs deeply. ~ “Bring up the menu and select the skill you wish to remove. Most options are disabled in the tutorial, but ‘forgetting’ skills is allowed. All progress is lost on skills that are ‘forgotten’. They may be learned again, for a price.”

The mention of a ‘price’ fills me with dread. “What kind of price? Money?”

~ “The price is the resource known as ‘Power’.”

Ok, it seems like Power functions a lot like experience points in most games. Use experience to buy abilities.

“But leveling them up is free?”

It looks thoughtful for a second before responding ~ “Everything has a price, but skill growth comes through effort. To a point.”

To a point, caveats in caveats.

I realize I don’t actually know how to access this menu thing it mentioned. I try thinking “menu”. A small screen pops into view. It has white text on a light blue background that seems to adapt to best contrast whatever is behind it. The screen appears to attempt to maximize its readability… which is useful, but might present problems later. Getting a sudden notification might block my view of a critical moment in battle or interrupt planning… maybe there are usability settings? Later. There are different categories listed on the screen: Inventory, Equipment, Statistics, Options. Like for a game. I wonder briefly how to select something, but as I feel the desire to select the ‘equipment’ tab, it opens. The page has a weirdly realistic picture of me in the clothes I’m wearing. I notice that the menu responds to where I’m focussing and seems to sense my desire to know more, causing descriptions to pop up. A once-over of my clothing reveals that it is ‘standard clothing (M)’ and offers no more benefits than the protection of my modesty. The same holds for every article of clothing, from my socks to the contacts that help me see. I navigate to my skills screen, which is in the ‘Statistics’ tab, and focus on the Sprint skill. The only option that comes up is “Forget”, which I select. Nothing obviously changes except for the lack of Sprint being on my skills screen anymore. As I’m about to start looking through the rest of the menu, the alien interjects:

~ “Like many things in this world, there is more to see than what is apparent.”

I pause. This thing must be desperately determined to give me no information while ensuring I’m as confused AND curious as possible.

“What.” It isn’t even a question, at this point the stupid thing is either fucking with me for fun or it deserves to recognize how useless it’s being. The alien in question, however, only deepens its frown in response. Ohhh I’m so sorry I disappointed you. Dear god, fuck off.

I realize a small part of my mind is warning me that I’m being irrationally angry with something that isn’t at fault, and I struggle to reign it in. This thing is an ally, if only temporarily.

~”Think on it, the answer will be provided later should you need it.” This freakin’ thing is definitely trying to give me an aneurysm. ”let’s move on. For your final secondary skill, you’re going to learn to heal.” it looks me over quickly “This will be very useful for you.” Hey! That’s... actually very accurate.

I nod. “Please proceed.”