So tired Drew thought to himself. Hungry too. Being out of work sucked. Having little food was even worse. As he ate the last bit of cheerios in the box, he thought about his place in life. Where had he gone wrong? In his mind, he’d done nothing to put himself in this predicament. He had gone to school and gotten a degree. Sure this put him into debt, but he had worked hard at his job as a floor manager at an automobile plant and was slowly paying off his student loans. It wasn’t his fault the company decided to get rid of his position. He had no luck the past two weeks finding a new job either. No where he wanted to work was hiring, even with his experience. In the morning he'd check his email for his one last hope. He had applied at Wal-Mart for an assistant manager position. He prayed for an interview. As a last resort, he would have to lower his expectations and take any job he could find, especially if he wanted to make rent and eat a decent meal any time soon.

Laying down, trying not to stress about his current situation, Drew opened a book and began to read. For him, it was the easiest way to fall asleep. And right now, falling asleep was incredibly difficult. He read page after page until he finally drifted to sleep, hopeful for a better day tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What the hell? Why’s the sun so damn bright this morning?” Drew grumbled. He grabbed his pillow and put it over his head to block the sun coming in his window only then to feel pin pricks on his neck. Taking the pillow off his head and opening his eyes in a panic, he quickly shut them again when he noticed his surroundings.

“Dreaming, I must still be dreaming. I’m so worried about getting a job and eating, that I’m just not thinking right. Stress has finally gotten to me. I’m wigging out,” he said aloud. His heart was pounding, and he was struggling to catch his breath. “No way was that real. No way no way no way,” he continued rambling, squeezing the pillow against his face.

After several minutes trying to calm himself, he put down the pillow. Slowly opening his eyes again, he was met with a scene that completely confused him. He was in a forest. He was still covered with his blanket with his pillow now sitting next to him. Behind him, forest. In front him, forest. Cutting its way from left to right through the forest was a path. He lay about 10 feet away from it, close to the trees and some small rocks. Now that he looked around and concentrated on his surroundings, he could even hear birds singing nearby. “What. In. The. Hell!” he yelled, panicking again. Scrambling to his feet, he noticed he was still wearing his sweatpants and a t-shirt. Scared to death, Drew quickly gathered his blanket and pillow and moved away from the path to sit by some rocks.

“Calm down, buddy. Get a grip. It’s bad enough you’re talking to yourself. You gotta figure this out.” His eyes roamed across the area. Nothing but trees, rocks, and the path in front of him. He walked out onto the path to see if he could see farther down, but it wasn’t straight so he couldn’t see more than maybe a hundred meters in each direction.

“Okay. Okay. That didn’t help. That only made me feel worse. Where the hell am I? I guess I could still be in Illinois, but maybe in a forest? Shawnee?” Drew questioned himself. “Get a grip you damn idiot. I was asleep in my apartment last night. How did I get here? Who brought me here? Have I gone insane? I mean, I know I was freaking out about getting a job, but nothing to cause this!” he yelled at himself.

He paced back and forth from the rocks to the path for what seemed like hours. Occasionally he would look up and shout at no one only to be answered back with bird chirps. Finally convinced that maybe he wasn’t crazy and that he really was in the middle of a forest, he plopped to the ground and put his face into his hands. He quietly sobbed to himself.

Drew wasn’t outdoorsy, and he knew it. No way could he survive out here by himself. He was 33 years old, kinda pudgy, and honestly not in all that great of shape. If he was lucky, maybe he would be found by a game warden or some people hiking through the woods. Yea, maybe. Being a little more optimistic at that thought, he sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes. After looking around, Drew said, “May as well start walking then. I’m sure as hell gonna die here if I don’t. If not from an animal then from starvation. Maybe, just maybe, this path will go somewhere with some people. There has to be a town, a campground, something nearby.”

As he stood up and readied himself to head off, he heard a sound. It was distant but constant. It was getting closer, too. It was the sound a large animal made when walking, like a horse or a cow. And it was getting louder, definitely moving his direction down the path.

Quickly, Drew grabbed his blanket and pillow and hid behind a nearby tree, far enough off the path that he thought he wouldn’t be noticed. He couldn’t see much of the path from his hiding spot, but he hoped to catch a glimpse of the animal. When it finally came into view, it was a horse. Then he nearly crapped himself. “You’re an idiot,” he scolded himself under his breath. Of course the horse wasn’t alone.

Next to the horse, burdened with packs and various items as it was, walked a man. He’s what made Drew nervous. He had a sword attached to his belt and walked confidently. He had a pipe in one hand and the reins to the horse in the other. The stranger continued to walk down the path, seemingly oblivious to Drew hidden in the trees. After a few tense moments for Drew, he sighed in relief as the man passed without incident. So he thought. About a dozen meters down the path, the man had stopped.

"You may as well come out, ya know. You weren't as well hidden as you thought," the man stated matter-of-factly, letting the horse’s reins go and putting his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Slowly and scared for his life, Drew raised up and walked from behind the tree onto the path. "I-I'm sorry. I wasn't planning on attacking you. I-I don't know where I am. I heard your horse and hid. I didn't know what you'd do if you saw me. I'm sorry," he nervously blurted out.

A minute passed. Then two. The man seemed interested with Drew and stepped closer, eyes squinting as if trying to see something. "What's that on your shirt? Is that. What is that? Is that, Pac-man?" The man was visibly shaken while pointing at me.

Looking down at his t-shirt nervously, "Yea. Yea. I woke up here a few hours ago I think. 3 maybe 4 hours. I’ve just been sitting here. Where am I? What's going on?" Drew asked.

"That's not important right now," the man replied. "What's important is where you're from. What year is it there?"

"What year? April something 2020. Why? What's going on?" Drew continued now worried.

The man was taken aback. After a few moments, he seemed to calm himself some. The man sighed and looked at Drew in earnest. "Well, I've got good news and bad news for ya. Bad news is you're not on Earth anymore. Good news is you happened to run into me and not someone else. You’re either really lucky, or it’s fate we met in these woods, and I don’t believe in luck." The man continued to walk towards Drew while talking and put out his hand. "I'm John Mitchell from St. Louis or thereabouts. You’ve got nothing to be scared of by me. Walk with me and let’s talk."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Hungry?” John asked, chewing on his own piece of charred meat. They had stopped about an hour down the path for a break. Not one word had been spoken during their short time walking, but John could tell Drew was having trouble keeping even the slow pace they kept. Even though he had wanted to talk to Drew while they walked, he didn’t push him as he too had gone through this years before. 6 years to be exact if it really was 2020. John used the time to figure out what he was going to say to Drew so as not to scare him even more than he seemed to be.

“No thanks,” Drew replied. “I’m starving, but I don’t think it would agree with me right now. Maybe in a while. I’ll take some water though.” John pointed to the small keg of water strapped to his horse. Drew walked over, grabbed a mug out of a bag, and filled it. He gulped it down, filling the cup a second time. After the third fill, Drew’s stomach began to ache, so he decided he’d had enough. He walked back over and sat across from John.

“So, uh, John. Can you tell me where I am? What’s happened to me? What do you mean I’m no longer on Earth?” Drew asked, quickly shooting out his questions.

“Well, let me tell you what happened to me about 6 years ago, and then you decide if your story is similar, okay?” Staring into his bowl, John started, “It was 2 weeks before finals and summer break, 2014. I was stressing about them, like most kids. I was having trouble sleeping so I read a book to help. It usually worked. At some point it must have, because I woke up, probably similar to how you did. Only I was near a pond and in my skivvies. Lucky you to sleep in sweats and a t-shirt. Anyway, I started to freak out when I saw my surroundings. I thought I was having some kind of mental breakdown. I started hyperventilating and questioning my sanity. Some ducks on the pond startled me out of my stupor and brought me back down to Earth so to speak, even though that’s not where we are anymore. I don’t think anyway."

"I walked over to the pond and splashed some water on my face, thinking the shock of cold water would wake me up from whatever bad dream this was. I was wrong. As the hours ticked by, I decided it did no good to just sit there in my solo pity-party, so I started walking. I just picked a direction and started walking. When day turned to night, I crawled up into a tree for some safety. That’s when, in the distance, I saw some light. Hot Damn! I had thought to myself. In the morning, I’d head in that direction for help. No way was I going to go at night and get myself shot sneaking up to a home in the middle of nowhere."

"As it was, I didn’t sleep much that night. I kept my eyes glued on the area around my tree and the light in the distance. When the sun came up, I started walking. It was way farther than I thought it was. It took me forever to get to what I finally saw was a small house with a barn. As I approached, I saw an old man leading a cow to a field. He must have heard me because he stopped and turned to look at me. I was scared to death standing there in my underwear. That’s when he hollered, ‘Hey boy! You look lost! Get your ass over here and help an old man out for a minute hooking up this plow to this stupid cow.’ And dumbfounded and scared as I was, of course I walked over. Don’t ask me why. I just did. For some reason, I felt no threat from this old man, so I went over and helped him hitch the plow to the cow. Ha." John laughed at himself. "

He thanked me and invited me over to a small table where he had a pitcher of water, cheese, some fruit, and bread. I ate and drank ‘til my stomach hurt, like you just did. And that’s where I’ll stop, for now. I mean it’s been 6 years I guess, but feels so much longer so I’ve got lots to tell, but for another time. So what do you think, similar to what happened to you? Other than the farmer that is.” John finished his story.

After taking it all in and grabbing a piece of meat, Drew replied, “Similar, yea. No, almost exactly the same. I went to bed reading and woke up here. I had just lost my job and was stressing over finding a new one, eating, and paying my bills. When I saw where I was, I had a meltdown. I mean who wouldn’t waking up in this nightmare. Then we met. And here we are. Here we are. Where is here?”

“I don’t honestly know. I’m still not convinced this all is real even after all this time being here. You’ve changed my thoughts a little, but are you real? Are we on Earth, but a different time? Maybe. A whole new world? Maybe. But I’ll tell you this, it’s definitely different than our old lives, what with being able to see our status and levels and whatnot,” John said, taking a drink of water.

“Our what? What are you talking about? Now you’re talking nonsense. Maybe I am crazy after all.” Drew was now seriously doubting his sanity. Status? Levels? What is he talking about, he thought to himself. None of this is real! He’s not real! I’m in a dream. No, a nightmare. Wake up you damn idiot!

To John, Drew looked like he was having a serious conversation with himself. Drew continued to pace back and forth, hands waving in the air. Ha! I had the same reaction when the farmer told me about my status and levels so long ago. He probably thought I was nuts not knowing what he was talking about! He chuckled to himself.

“Drew, I know what you’re thinking. Status? Levels? I’ve got to be crazy right? The best way to explain it would be for you to just see it for yourself. Simply say, ‘status’ and a semi-translucent screen will pop up in your view.”

Drew looked at John incredulously. Crazy bastard. “Why should I? This isn’t real. I just need to wake up.” He continued to pace.

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but right now it’s our reality. Just say ‘status’ and you’ll see I’m at least not crazy in that respect,” John replied.

“Fine. If only to prove you wrong. Status.”

Drew Cooper Level: 1 Class: none Job: none Attributes Vitality 8 Health 80 Strength 8 Health Regen 8/hour Endurance 7 Stamina 70 Agility 7 Stamina Regen 7/minute Intelligence 13 Mana 130 Wisdom 12 Mana Regen 12/minute Trait Timid 10% decreased accuracy while in a fight. Can be changed or removed Job Perks Combat Perks Skills Spells

Drew stared into space wide-eyed. “What in the ever-living….,” he muttered, stumbling with his words and waving his hands trying to get rid of the screen.

“Told ya.” John said, continuing to drink his water with a smirk on his face. “Earth to Drew. Say ‘status’ again or wave it away like you’re doing to exit and come sit over here.” He patted the wooden log sitting next to him. Drew turned to look at him, dumbly walking over and sitting down. “I’m going to do my best to help you here Drew. I didn’t have that help when I woke up. So I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you go blindly along. I’m heading, no, we’re heading to a small town about a day’s journey north of here. The Baron that has the lands around here owes me for some work I did, and I plan to cash it in. He’s kind of a nobody really, but we’re at the edge of civilization out here. So here, he’s a somebody." John paused for a moment.

"On our way to Innsbruck, I’ll do my best to answer your questions. But right now, we need to head out. I’d like to get to the edge of the forest by nightfall. That’s just a few hours away. From there, it’ll be another full day of walking to town. Take the time while walking to think about what’s happened. Look at your status. And yea, before you say anything, it reminds me of a game too. That’s why I still question if what’s happening is truly real. But like I said earlier, this is our reality at the moment like it or not. When we stop for the night, I’ll explain some things to ya. Got me?” John finished speaking and began gathering up the few items they had used, packing them back into bags attached to the horse.

Drew didn’t move. But he had to. John was right. As strange as this all was, he had to go with him. He wouldn’t survive here without him. Not right now. So, gathering himself up, Drew walked over to John. “Thanks. Really. I know I’m a mess right now. It’s a lot to take in. But, yea, I’ll go with you. I can’t stay here for obvious reasons. I’ll try not to slow you down. And I’ll try not to ask too many questions ‘til we stop for the night. It’s just, you know. It’s just so hard to believe.”

“I got you. I know. Let me know if you need a break. I’d like to make it to town quickly, but it won’t be the end of the world if we don’t. Okay? Just let me know. When we stop for the night, like I said, I’ll explain some things.”

“Done. I will. Thanks, thanks” Drew answered as they began walking towards Innsbruck.