To say that was unpleasant would be putting it mildly. My head felt like someone took a swing at it with a hammer, and my body ached like I had the worst flu of my life. Sweat literally dripped off my body. Even my feet were soaked. The pain lasted for a solid minute before subsiding. I found myself in the fetal position and I opened my eyes to discover I was alone again. The panther had gone its way.

My breath caught as I realized something–I was still me. My memories, my name, where I’m from… everything. I remembered it all.

Something tells me that shouldn’t have happened.

New Trait Unlocked – The Power of Memories

Trait description – Hidden

That sounds about right. Why bother explaining things in great detail to me? It's not like I’m stuck in a new world with game-like statistics. That would be too advantageous.

I took a minute to compose myself, using the insanely itchy farmer's shirt to wipe the sweat from my face and brow. The smells, sounds, and movement of the forest had returned. I walked through the moss, branches, and dirt of the landscape making all the noise one might expect.

I tried calling out for help and for my wife again, with no response. My stomach scrunched into a tight knot and a lump formed in my throat thinking of her waking up, with me having seemingly vanished. My car still in the driveway, wallet, keys… I couldn’t imagine.

Pushing those thoughts from my mind, I searched the forest for any sign of life or path that could lead me to a town. I remember the status screen stating something about my new memories, but I had none. I assumed the cost of keeping my old ones was any new memory that could have assisted me on where to go was not applied. So I was walking around blind.

Towns in RPGs usually had a trainer or introductory person to talk to, so I knew that would be a good start. I would have to be circumspect regarding figuring out how to return home. I assumed most, if not all, members of society I would encounter were from here or like me, except they had their memories wiped. So, returning “home” would be a difficult thing for them to understand.

I examined my status screen in a bit more detail. I had 100/100 HP and 100/100 Mana. Without having a change in my statistics, it was unclear how my ability scores contributed to my overall hit points and mana totals.

Mana Manipulation confused me. Normally there was intelligence and willpower, or some combination, that determined my total mana supply and how much damage magic could do. I saw none of that, so I had to assume I either was missing a stat, or I was not understanding what Mana Manipulation actually meant.

Stamina was missing as well, which was odd. I could already feel some minor exhaustion just walking through the terrain of the forest, so did stamina not have a stat? Or was it something hidden from me, like my bloodline or traits?

Speaking of, bloodline made no sense. I’m not from here, so why did my bloodline have anything to do with this world? The more I thought about the situation, the more questions arose, leading to a dizzying whirlwind of thoughts spinning around my head. Where did the panther go? Why did I keep my memories? Why was I teleported here? What did my stats exactly mean in terms of my overall strength? How do I get home? Could I get home? When do I get to cast spells? I can’t believe these are thoughts I’m actually having to consider right now.

A hour went by, at least as far as I could tell, before I heard a stream echoing in the distance. Just the sound of running water made me realize I was starting to get thirs—

Warning! You’re starting to get thirsty! -10 % to your mana pool.

—ty. No sooner had I realized it, a screen appeared along the top of my vision. It was translucent, so it didn’t completely obstruct anything. It seems this world took care in notifications placement to not distract. So just like in some MMORPGs, not eating or drinking can lead to various debuffs. At least it wasn’t a hidden debuff… I swear if I saw another message telling me something else was hidden…

At the stream, I cupped my hands and drank the water. It was clear, and if my clothes were any indication, I doubted there was a water purifying plant here. Not the time to be picky. As soon as I drank a few mouthfuls, the debuff disappeared.

While hunched over the stream, I heard movement through the shrubbery behind me. A rabbit was peeking through the bushes. It was a little bit bigger than rabbits from Earth, but not drastically so, maybe a few inches taller and with a few more pounds of girth. It sat there, staring at me, and me it.

I waited for the connection I had felt with the panther, maybe I was beast tamer class and that was what I had experienced earlier. I felt nothing, and clearly the rabbit had similar emotions towards me, because it hopped up to the stream a few feet from me and began to drink. If this is like RPGs, I should be able to look at the rabbit’s level or something right?

Inspect… nothing. Inspect rabbit? Nope. Analyze?

Rabbit – Level 1

Disposition – Neutral

Faction - None

Well fuck me, it actually worked.

I was happy to see it had a neutral attitude towards me. I was still wrapping my head around my current situation and killing a rabbit with my bare hands seemed like the next step toward losing my mind. I decided to follow the stream in the direction the water was flowing. If I remembered my history channel facts correctly, a lot of old-time settlements were close to water for watermills, access to fish, drinking water, and more fertile lands. At least I was pretty sure. I mean, it sounded like good reasoning in my head, so I just went with that.

I wasn’t sure how long I walked, at least a few hours. The sun had begun the last half of its journey across the sky. I finally heard what I had been waiting to hear, sounds of civilization. Clangs echoed in the distance, like the sound of a blacksmith. I heard rhythmic sounds of water being churned and dumped back in the river.

Sure enough, the forest ended at a plateau of grasslands revealing a small village. “Village” is what came to mind, because this is what I would imagine a poor village would have looked like back in the day. It had enough homes and establishments to maybe support a population of only a few hundred people, at most. The watermill and blacksmith were close to each other, just outside the main cluster of houses. Wood made up most of the structures, with what seemed to be hay or straw forming the roofs. From what I could see, no stone masonry had been done to any of the buildings.

As I approached the village, a thought occurred to me. I went to a high school of only 500 people, and when a transfer student came, that person was instantly recognizable. Especially once we became juniors and seniors, we pretty much knew everyone, or at least recognized everyone’s faces. New people stuck out like a sore thumb, especially with the wide-eyed deer in headlights look they had while getting used to their new surroundings. I was about to be the new kid, and I wasn’t sure how to go about introducing myself. “Hey, my name is Vince, I’m from a different planet. I was supposed to get new memories, but I still have my old ones, so I’m not sure what to do. Any advice?”

As I tried to development a plan of action, I took in this small town. A watermill stood along a stream that ran on through the rolling hills as far as the eye could see. The forest was to my back, stretching to my right and left and out of sight. The blacksmith’s building was next to the watermill, easily identifiable by the sounds of a somebody hard at work. Smoothed dirt paths wove around the town, with the buildings being spaced out fairly well. Several farms took up a lot of real estate on the opposite side of the village, the light beige could be seen of different wheat fields. A forester’s hut could be seen to my left, away from the other buildings. I would imagine being this close to the forest, this was likely their main trade of commerce they could offer to neighboring villages and towns. A horse stable, a church-like building, and a pasture of sheep and cattle could be seen as well, with all other structures looking more like different homes or shops.

People were walking about, and they seemed human, at least the ones I could see.

I returned to the forest to come up with a plan. I couldn't lead with, “I’m not from here.” Assuming most people had their memories wiped, they would not remember they weren’t from this planet. Until I could confirm that, I would tread lightly on that subject. my best bet would be to explain that I went out to the forest from a neighboring village to set traps to catch wildlife, and was chased off by a wolf pack. Hopefully, they will give me the name of a neighboring town, I would agree, and we could go from there. I had no weapons on me, so I hoped I would come across innocently enough.

I made my way to the main path leading from the forest to the village. It would have been helpful to have found it earlier. A few people were strolling the street, with a wagon or two being pulled by horses. As I suspected, I was receiving stares left and right, accompanied by whispers from those not walking alone. One person, a lady who looked to be in her twenties, stared just long enough to grant me an opening to approach.

“Hello! I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of a mayor?” I asked in my best, “I’m from here, don’t worry about me!” tone I could muster.

Shit, what if they don’t speak English?

“Mayor?” the woman responded, in English. I couldn’t place her accent. It was somewhere between a country drawl and cockney. It wasn’t the prettiest of combinations.

“What ya mean by mayor? Who’s that?”

Damn, not called a mayor here.

“Ah my apologies, we call things differently from my village. If you could just direct me to the person who runs the town?”

“That’d be Fenley you be lookin for, our town steward. He be at the house just over there.” She pointed in some nonsensical direction and went on her way, bored of our conversation quite quickly.

I made my way to the general area of her pointing and found myself in front of a house slightly larger than the rest. It seemed to be located very close to the center of town. It also helped that there was a wooden sign that read, “Steward.”

I knocked and heard a rough voice yell enter. The hut was 500 square feet, at best. Wooden floors, wooden walls, with no décor. A fireplace sat in the far corner. The rest of the space was filled with a straw bed, a small cooking area, and a table with disorganized papers and ink spread about.

A man looking like he was in his early fifties, with black and white speckled beard and matching hair looked up from the table. His outfit was not unlike my own, albeit higher quality. He seemed in shape too, filling out his more tailored clothes nicely. A look of surprise crossed his face.

“Haven’t seen a face I don’t recognize in some time! What are you doing here in our humble village?” the steward asked. His tone was pleasant, and lacked the accent heard from the lady before. His was a neutral american accent, not having any particular nuance to it.

I gave him my story of wolves, traps, and coming from a neighboring village. I picked up that the name of a neighboring village was Furvur, and ran with it. After my tale concluded, he set me up with a bowl of stew cooking on a fire behind his house, and poured me a cup of water in a wooden mug.

The stew granted me a +1 to constitution and my health went up to 110/110. A 1 to 10 ratio, pretty common in most games, which was good to know.

“So tell me Vince, when do you plan on heading back to your village?”

“Well, that’s the thing. I’m not sure I want to head back.”

Plan, stage 2.

“Why is that?”

“My family weren’t kind to me, to say the least Fenley. It was best for both of us, I think, to move on.”

“Ahh, you must have been newly Adopted then, yes?”

“No, no, they were my actual parents, birthed me and everything. Crazy right?”

He took on a puzzled look.“What do you mean they birthed you?”

Uh oh.

“Well… what do YOU mean?” I asked back, politely.

Good work Vince, smooth come back.

“I just have not heard of the term birthed before when it comes to the Adoption process, and I have been around for a few hundred years now, so I’m just surprised about hearing a practice I know nothing about, from a neighboring village no less.”

I was trying to process all the new information I had just received in the span of about 5 seconds.

Apparently, people aren’t born. You get adopted? So where do people come from? He is several hundred years old and doesn’t look older than fifty-five. My plan sucks.

“Ah, yes, sorry. Just a term we use in our house. You see, I was their first, uh… adult, that they had adopted.”

“Oh I see, yes, that is not uncommon” he sighed. “Transports don’t often want to choose a peasant family out in the outskirts of the kingdom.”

“Yes, transports. Exactly.” I nodded confidently with my words.

What the fuck is a transport.

“Were you a transport?” I asked him.

“You ask strange questions, Vince. Of course I was, like us all.” The steward shook his head, befuddled by my line of questioning.

“Well yes, I knew that of course.”

I definitely didn’t.

I attempted to recover. “What I meant was, what family adopted you?”.

“A family that is dedicated to the class line of stewards, such as myself. We are of the Spookright’s. You likely have not heard of us, we are a steward family of only 15, at least that’s how many of us were left after the last adoption period. The new one is coming in a few days, so we might be able to increase our family by one if we're lucky!” He smiled and pondered the thought.

Sure enough, when I inspected him, I received the following screen.

Fenley Spookright (Level - ?)

Class – Steward

Disposition – Hidden

Hidden… Great…

“Where is the Adoption process happening this time around?” I hoped that wouldn’t be a stupid Request.

“In our area, it will be in the city of Johan.” He replied casually.

“Ah, I did not do my adoption process from there, nor have I had the need to venture in that area. Where is Johan, maybe that's where my travels will take me.”

Fenley described how to get there–I. It was around a 12 hour walk, a little less by wagon. He gave me a canteen of water for my travels and told me I could stay at the local inn for the night, however, he recommended I leave before dawn to ariive in Johan by afternoon. Since Johan was where Adoptions would be occurring, I assumed the new memories I’m lacking would have eventually taken me in that direction, so that is where I would go.

The process sounded important, so I needed to learn more and see if it was something I should do, without risking anymore obvious questions that indicated my lack of knowledge about Laria.

The tavern doubled as the inn, and was nothing to write home about. Two stories, with a few small rooms on the upper floor for overnight travelers. Fenley agreed to let me stay for free one night, saying I could pay him back the next time I was through town.

I talked with the barkeep and received a key to my room. On my way toward the stairs I noticed coins of copper and silver on tables where gambling was taking place, sticking with the theme of RPGs. After a lot of stares and questionable looks, I made my way to the room.

It was as good as I expected. A straw bed, a small chest to store items, and that was it. 5-stars! I set myself gently into bed and stared at the empty ceiling, reeling over the day’s events and the information learned from the brief conversation with Fenley. Now that I had a chance to let my brain settle and relax, the immense heaviness of my situation settled on my heart. I was alone, wife, friends, family, all were gone. For the first time in my entire 30 years of existence, I was truly by myself. I closed my eyes, hot tears forming beneath the surface of my lids, as I attempted my first night of sleep in this strange new world.