Vali’s first reaction upon seeing a weird blue screen in front of him was to try and slap it away. However, his body didn’t share the same sentiments. The sudden burst of movement after waking up from a full day of sleep combined with his attempts of hastily getting up resulted in him falling back again. He grunted through clenched teeth as he swore. “Fuck! Get out of my- Huh? It’s gone.” He had not caught what it had been in his confusion, but seeing what lay behind it, he felt it couldn’t compare. “Where the fuck am I?” He exclaimed, a mix of confusion and anger.

What greeted him when he woke up wasn’t his familiar room, no. It was a sight straight out of a countryside picture book. All he could see from where he stood was green hills and green hills, going on as far as he could see. He slowly got up, careful not to fall again. What littered the landscape seemed weirder to him, somehow. People, so many people. Some were grouped up and sitting in circles, some were walking around with an unknown goal. Yet there was not a single building in sight. He saw a few random objects like cars and bikes in the distance, but not a single thing that would explain why so many people were in the middle of nowhere. Including him.

The last thing I did… I went to bed? It’s so fuzzy. He looked down on himself, realizing something. Right! Bed! I’m practically naked damnit! How do I go home without a wallet? After thinking about it for a few seconds, he pushed that problem to the back of his mind. He had to learn how he ended up here, and where ‘here’ was exactly. Did I get kidnapped? He quickly dismissed that thought. It seemed too absurd.

After stretching for a while to get his sore body to relax a bit, he inspected himself. What he found out shocked him. The wounds are gone? He could feel neither the bruises nor the wound on his forehead. If not for the dried-out blood he wouldn’t even know if there had ever been a wound there. He dropped the now useless blood-soaked gauze to the ground and felt for the flesh. Not even a scar? How? As far as Vali’s knowledge about human biology was concerned, that was impossible.

He collected himself, noting to himself he would think about it later. After picking the closes group he started walking. They were a gathering of seven people, and Vali observed them while approaching. It didn’t look like they had any belongings with them except themselves. So no extra clothes? Damn. When the distance between them was around a few dozen feet, the group took notice of Vali. He was hard to miss. He could see the group members point at him and saw a few of them snicker. Vali’s eyes darkened as he realized what they were laughing about.

When Vali was close, someone spoke. “Hey guys, sleeping beauty’s here.” It was a middle-aged man. The group snickered with him.

The next person who spoke was in his late twenties, probably a few years older than Vali. “Bahaha! Who was the prince, big guy?” He joined the joke, not seeming to care about the obvious anger on Vali’s face.

Cunts. He breathed, trying to calm himself. No Val. Remember what happened last time. Stay calm. He had things he needed to know. “Where the hell is this? And which fucker brought me here?”

The group groaned, a few ‘not again’s clearly audible to Vali. An old man answered him with considerably more patience. “Nobody knows. There is no reception here.” When he saw the confused Vali he started explaining. “The ‘fucker’ that brought you here is yourself. You must have seen the rift too if you’re here.”

“What the hell are you talking about old man? I was in my bed.” Vali asked, not satisfied with the answer.

The old man sighed. “That explains your attire.” By this point, every other member of the group was minding their own business. They didn’t look like they had any interest in the talk. “Did you not see the rift? Everyone here came here with them. They have this weird mind control like effect on people. Once you see them you just walk through them.” He hummed in thought. “Though the effect seems to differ from person to person.”

I must have hit my head pretty good… He kept looking at the old man expecting him to laugh and tell him ‘Got you!’, but it didn’t happen. To make it worse, he kept saying even more bizarre things.

“Did you read your ‘status’?” He asked. “Your face tells me you don’t know that too. Just say the word ‘status’.”

Vali couldn’t take it anymore. “Have you gone senile, old man?” He watched his unchanging expression, it looked like he was serious. “Fine. Status, there- Holy Shit!”

Name: Vali Hemming Title: None Race: Human Level: 0 Experience: 0% Class: 0% Health 840/840 0.7 Regen/h. 0.6 Regen/h Stamina 2000/2000 7 Regen/m. 6 Regen/m Mana 21/21 2 Regen/h. Unused Stat Points: 0 Strength: 14 Intelligence: 2 Constitution: 12 Agility: 6

What he saw made his eyes almost pop out of their sockets. It was a panel you would find in a videogame. Vali pinched his hand, trying to wake up. He was still here, and the panel didn’t disappear. Finally gone insane.

The old man talked once more. “It pops out a while after you pass through the rift. You must have dismissed it in your sleep. If you want to know more go east, people are gathering there close to the river.”

His words didn’t register with Vali as he kept checking his status. He eyed the number two right next to the intelligence stat. Smartn’t. I can be mad at it later. He wished the window away and it was gone without any difficulty. To make sure he summoned and made it disappear a few times, then turned to address the crowd. “Got any spare clothes?” It didn’t hurt to ask, he thought. He was wrong.

“Do we look like a charity to you, asshole? Go bother someone else.” Vali observed the guy who sneered at him. It was the second guy to mock him. Vali hadn’t realized at first, but now he realized his clothes would with him quite nicely. They didn’t have the same build; the man was skinnier than Vali but his clothes were quite baggy. Vali looked down to see some fancy boots and nice pants. The man saw where Vali was looking. “Ew, I don’t swing that way dude, go away.” He laughed once again.

The old man tried to apologize on his behalf, but Vali didn’t hear any of it. His fuse was already blown. He started walking towards the guy, causing the air to get heavier. “What do you think you’re doing? Don’t you dare!” Vali saw the panic in his eyes, but he didn’t run away. Instead, he got up and walked to the middle of the group. “You think they will just watch?” He didn’t think of looking to his little group before saying that, and it was about to bite him in the ass.

Vali walked forward without minding his words. He was well aware of how the people here looked at him and knew what it meant. He had been in a fair number of fights in his life. It made him learn how the audience would react to a fight breaking out with just a glance. None of the people here had neither the courage nor the intention to even try to stop him.

It wasn’t all because they were all cowards, per se. But after taking another glance at Vali, most would do a double-take. His current lack of clothing didn’t make him any less intimidating, it was quite the contrary. His bulky muscles were laid bare in all their glory, causing people to flinch back as he walked next to them. He looked like he could flip a person like a pancake, and his face screamed his inclination to do so.

The guy didn’t realize his fate until Vali was on top of him. He hoped for some intervention until the moment Vali’s hands landed on his collar, freezing him in place. He tried to get rid of the arms holding him and failed miserably. “H-Help! Why is no-” The guy’s voice was cut short by his feet leaving the ground, followed by Vali speaking.

“Do I look like I’m here to make a donation?” The guy felt tears well up in his eyes, but he couldn’t speak as Vali looked down on him. Meanwhile, the people of the group were protesting, but no one made a move.

“Someone stop him! He’s only one guy!” Someone from the back of the group shouted but not even the speaker tried to help.

Vali didn’t pay him any attention. “But you know what? Maybe you should make a donation. I need your clothes, your boots, and an apology. Please?”

The guy kept trying to resist Vali, but it was to no avail. “What? Please, I can’t-” A crunching sound resounded, and the man howled in pain. Vali had headbutted him without loosening his grip.

The crow was stirred. Some people shouted for him to calm down, some asked why, and a few tried to approach. They stopped in their tracks when Vali looked them in the eye. “Only walk forward if you are willing to make donations, please.”

After a few minutes, Vali walked away from the group, now fully clothed. His eyes searched for another group he could talk to; he needed more information. Surely these people weren’t the most knowledgeable ones around here. The next group was a bit further away, but now that he had clothes, a little walk would be no trouble for him. The old man said something about going east? He pondered for a second.

“Wait, which direction is supposed to be east?” He looked up, but the sun hanging overhead held no answers for him. “Goddamnit.”