Ace finally had some time to process and think about all the things he just heard. This was all too crazy but Ace forced himself to accept it as reality. He was a little more calm and accepting once he realized he wasn’t stuck here forever.

Wiping away the final bits of tears with his arms, he analyzed each answer one by one to make sure he had a clear understanding on everything that this “god” told him.

“Ahhhhh, fuck, it had to be me.”

He regained his cool. His body stopped trembling and his mind was clear. He could now properly think about everything that happened.

“Okay, first there was the white light and the apology. He wasn’t even sincere, throwing me into some other world without any explanation, —tch.”

“Then, I appeared here, and could see words visualized in my head. Three time limits, a map, and a support that I can only use once for 2 minutes. Ahhh can’t even provide me support for more than 120 seconds, useless god.”

“A map?”

Ace just realized he hasn’t tested this last word on his menu.

“Let’s test it out.”

He closed his eyes and focused on the word “map”, repeating what he did with “support”.

A map was visualized in his head. It was completely black except for one marker that was shaped like an arrow, like one you would see on a GPS. The marker was standing on a patch of green.

“This must be me and where I’m standing.”

There was also some writing next to the marker..

“Palio Forest? Must be the forest next to me.”

On the outside of the map, there was two magnifying glasses, one with a plus and one with a minus. Ace focused on the minus one, already knowing what to expect when focusing on it.

The map zoomed out to reveal more black and more writing.

“As expected.”

This wasn’t surprising, it was just like the GPS you would find on your smartphone.

“Furio Village? That’s the closest one, guess I’ll make a stop there first, I can’t go back home until tomorrow anyways.”

“—?!”

As he was going to stand up, Ace realized something, he’s dressed in his pyjamas, shorts and a t-shirt. Also, there was a backpack on his back that wasn’t there when he went to sleep.

He took off the bag to inspect what was inside. He just grabbed the first thing that was inside without bothering to look what he was grabbing.

“Wha—?!”

He jumped back and dropped the item he grabbed in shock of what he just picked up.

It was a short dagger in a leather sheath with a handle that had “Ace” written in gold. He was expecting to buy one of these soon but, on the first day?! He’s still getting used to the environment and this god is giving him a dagger?

“He better not be expecting me to fight some monster on the first day..”

He could imagine that kiddish voice laughing at him right now, he already hated that bastard for dragging him into this.

He knew that he was transported to this world to fight monsters but, he still hesitated to pick up the dagger, unable to face the reality of the situation.

After a few seconds, he grabbed the dagger and placed it back into his bag, never wanting to see that thing again.

He looked at what else was inside the bag..

There was some sandwiches, a water bottle, a change of clothes, and a big metal plate.

“What’s this?”

He grabbed the metal plate to see some writing on it. There was a big rectangle in the middle, a 1 directly to the left of the rectangle and a 2 directly to the right of it.

Ace’s hobbies come in handy once again. He knew exactly what this was as soon as he picked it up. This was a status plate.

He turned the plate over to see the word, “Skills”, written at the top. The rest of the plate was unused, Ace disappointed at the sight.

“*sigh* No free skills right of the bat..”

Ace thought this would be one of those, overpowered main character type of scenarios, not one where he was forced to level up on his own.

He put the plate back into the bag and went to change into the clothes given to him when…

“I’m gonna kill that bastard.”

Ace pulled a clown costume out of his bag.

That god was playing with him. He thought the clothes were going to be something for him to fit in with the rest of the crowd.

A letter came flying out with the costume.

It read...

--Have fun, hehe...

“AHH, YOU ASK ME FOR HELP AND THEN LEAVE ME WITH THIS BULLSHIT!!”

Ace shouts into the air, trying to expel his rage onto the god, who he knows is listening.

After a few seconds of heavy breathing from his expulsion of sound, Ace calms down and takes a good look around him.

He was surrounded by trees and bushes, animals and insects, a nearby river and rocks surrounding it. They were all illuminated in the same moonlight that he was drenched in, which finally brought him to his senses once again and made him realize...

This was reality.

He finally fully accepted it.

This wasn’t some dream.

He wasn’t sleeping.

----

He was sitting in a field in some other world.

He just spoke to the god that looked over his world and this world.

He had to save this world to return to his own.

Ace raised both his hands and...

*SLAP*

He smacked both of his cheeks to stop himself from worrying about things he knew he couldn’t run away from. His cheeks turned a bright red from the slaps, not that anyone would be able to notice, because of how dark it was.

These slaps were a symbol of his newfound resolve and determination to return back home as soon as possible.

Ace was ready to head out. He brought himself to his feet and started heading northwest into the forest, in the direction of the nearest village. Just as he was about to exit the small field and venture into the forest…

*CHOMP*

“AAUUUGHHHH!!”

Ace jerked his head back and screamed at the sharp, sudden pain he felt on the right side of his body as tears started to well up in his eyes from the pain.

He looked behind him to see a small animal with their fangs dug into his waist.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!”

He was distracted resolving himself to realize that he was in the forest of another world, a place which would obviously have monsters lurking in every bush, in every tree, in every waterway.

He started swinging his arms at the monster, one the size of a small child, in a desperate attempt to remove it from the side of his body.

“GET THE FUCK OFF!”

Ace threw punch after punch at the monster, not needing vision to aim at the monster who used him as a chew toy. His daily basketball drills and training made his hands a little more refined than the normal 16 year old’s but, this wasn’t enough to shake the monster who was hanging off the side of his body like it was a branch.

“AUGH!”

A horn ripped into Ace’s fist when he punched, covering his hand in a shade of red that couldn’t be seen this late at night. His punches already weren’t hard enough, and now he lost his dominant hand, his only hope of getting this thing off his body.

His dominant hand made useless, he started repeating the process with his left, but the monster wouldn’t let go of his grasp.

“AUGHH!!”

After a few more seconds of weak, desperate punches, the monster ripped it’s jaws out of Ace’s right side and created some distance between the two.

Ace’s body was screaming in pain and he could hear the sound of his heartbeat coming out of his ears. He held his right hand to his waist, trying to suppress the pain, with no success.

He was just a 16-year-old kid, he had no idea what to do in a situation like this.

“—!”

The pain made Ace completely forget about the weapon he had, stored in his backpack.

He quickly took the bag off his back and went to the grab the dagger from inside when he saw the outline of the monster start to sprint towards him, giving him no time see where the dagger was.

He grabbed the first thing he felt with his left hand, gripped it firmly and swung at the monster.

—

——

————

It was unconscious.

Ace stood there, staring at the body, looked back in his left hand to see what he had grabbed.

It was the status plate.

The monster was struck in the head with a big, metal brick, forcing it’s consciousness to fade away into the dark environment.

After a few seconds of Ace clearing his head and realizing that the battle wasn’t over, he reached back into his bag to grab the dagger to finish the job.

He removed the dagger from his leather sheath and with two hands, held it above his head. He hesitated, realizing that he had to take the life away from this monster.

He was about to perform his first kill.

Another one of the many starting lines that Ace needed to cross was right in front of him.

All he needs to do is swing down at the monster’s neck and it would be over…

So, what’s stopping him?

A clear liquid started slowly climbing out the depths of his eyes.

He was reminded of the fear he had when he was first transported to this world.

He would be alone for a whole year, by himself.

No basketball,

No video games,

No school,

No friends,

No family.

This was the starting line to the 365 days ahead of him, one that he was pushed into. He couldn’t run backwards, and he couldn't escape. He didn’t have a choice.

“AAAAAA!!!”

He yelled out one final battle cry before throwing his body toward the small monster, plunging the dagger into its head.

“*heavy breathing* I did it..”

Finally finishing the monster off, he put the dagger into his pocket to make it more accessible in case he ran into another one of those nightmare inducing animals.

Ace was still in the heat of the moment. Now that he was finally done with the monster, he realized that he was losing blood, and fast.

He had no idea what to do to stop it.

His hobbies come in handy once again, remembering that people tie things on top of the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

But what did he have to stop the wound?

“—!”

He quickly reached into his bag to take out the rainbow-colored costume that filled him with rage just minutes before.

Holding the costume with his right and the dagger in his left, he ripped a piece off the costume to stop the bleeding in his right hand first, then proceeded to tie up his waist right after.

He needed to move towards the village quick and get help or he would bleed out.

He closed his eyes and opened his map, reconfirming the direction of the village.

364 Days

23 Hours

46 Minutes

Map

Support

He started to make his move, taking his first steps into the forest, just hoping to get to the village without being attacked.

He tried to move silently but, he couldn’t focus on that right now because his mind was focused on his flesh that was ripped out and on the fact that he was going to bleed out.

Instead of trying to move silently, he tried to speed up his pace, his heartbeat speeding up along with it from the fear of being heard by the monsters.

He walked,

And walked.

It felt like he was in the forest for hours, struggling to keep himself conscious throughout the journey, pinching his arm every minute to make sure he wouldn’t pass out on the spot.

He continued to walk,

And walk.

He closed his eyes once again to check the distance from the village, also confirming how long he’s been walking for.

364 Days

23 Hours

38 Minutes

Map

Support

8 minutes,

This journey that has felt like an eternity…

Has only been 8 minutes.

He would never reach the village in time, he was already struggling enough as is to keep himself alive, how the hell would he be able to make it there.

His determination to keep himself awake fell off a cliff, thinking it was hopeless to even keep moving his legs.

He might as well check the map anyways to confirm how far away he was.

364 Days

23 Hours

38 Minutes

Map

Support

He was hesitant to focus on this word that would be confirming his demise, but he opened it, thinking he was going to die anyways.

“—?!”

He was halfway there.

Right between the words “Furio Village” and “Palio Forest” was his marker, moving along with his footsteps, towards his saving grace.

The village was just another few minutes ahead of him.

He could make it through this.

Once again determined, he kept up the continuous pace and pinching, but his blood was still flowing out of his body, draining his life away.

Even so,

He walked,

And walked,

And walked,

And walked,

And walked,

And walked.

—

——

————

A light.

Peering into the forest like a little kid looking under their bed for monsters was a light.

It was like Ace was staring into heaven itself, getting closer to the source of the light with each step.

It was a streetlamp.

Surrounding it were houses, made from the same wood that he was holding onto with his right hand.

There were small roads paved in the dirt, showing him all the different directions that he could travel in the village.

There was a blacksmith workshop, small shops for everyday groceries, an inn, a city hall, and everything else you would find in a fantasy village, but...

All their lights were off.

It was 12 in the morning, of course no one would be wandering the streets, conveniently offering to patch up his life-threatening wounds.

His pace was getting slower, with more time and less distance between each step.

But he couldn’t stop now,

He made it this far.

He jerked his head right at the next intersection,

Nothing.

He turned his head in the opposite direction,

A light.

It was a small building with a sign at the front, with letters he wasn’t able to read.

But there was a light.

He still had a chance.

Once he got closer, he saw the picture of beer in a cup on the sign.

It was a bar.

The final steps to survival.

Those final steps were the longest he took throughout this 20 or so minute journey.

He made it to the entrance.

He opened the swinging doors to see a bar full of people,

Or were they people? His vision was so blurry, he couldn’t tell.

All he knew is that he needed help.

He walked inside the bar a little more, limping with his body bent over. His hand was gripped on his waist, trying to suppress the pain.

His dark brown hair hanging over his forehead and his eyes looking desperate,

He started to open his mouth to get something out.

His voice low but pleading...

“Help, pleas--”

And he collapsed.

He had lost way too much blood.

He looked up, hoping the people knew what he wanted.

“W..h…y?”

--

----

They were walking out of the bar.

He got a good look of one person walking by to see dog ears on the top of his head.

“De..mi..hu..mans?”

He was just speaking to himself, wondering why they weren’t helping him while he was bleeding out right in front of them.

He reached out his left arm to grab the leg of one, the demihuman giving him a look of disgust and kicking his hand away.

He was going to die, and these people could do something about it.

So why?

Why were they not helping him?

Tears filled his eyes once again,

He just wanted to live.

He thought back to the start of the day, remembering that he was the one forced into this,

So why?

Why did he have to be the one to go through all this?

“Pl..ea..se..”

One last desperate plea.

He wanted to live,

—please…

—help me…

Words weren’t even escaping from his mouth anymore; he was just thinking to himself.

Tears were now streaming from his eyes, his consciousness going to fade in less than 30 seconds.

—

——

———

“Hey! Hey! Are you okay?! We need to get you help!”

The words he wanted to hear were finally spoken...

A man? A woman? His vision was too blurry and his hearing fading so he couldn’t tell.

All he knew is that someone finally came…

And he passed out.