The throbbing in his head was a dull ache rather than a searing pain.
He looked around with his gaze sweeping across the endless expanse of trees surrounding him.
The forest was dense with the canopy overhead blocking out much of the sunlight and creating a dim almost oppressive atmosphere.
He could hear the chirping of birds which felt oddly out of place in this unsettling environment.
The air hung heavy and humid and was noticeably warmer than it had been in his apartment.
A trickle of blood rolled down his forehead in a thin crimson line tracing a path through his eyebrow.
He wiped it away with the back of his hand and looked at the blood on his fingers with detached curiosity.
His face remained etched with confusion and his brow furrowed in thought.
"How the hell did I get here?" he muttered into the empty air.
He took a tentative step forward then another and felt the soft give of the grass beneath his feet.
The sound was surprisingly loud with each step making a distinct shushing noise against the quiet hum of the forest.
He was still disoriented and still grappling with the absurdity of his situation but the immediate panic had subsided.
It was replaced by a cautious curiosity that pushed him forward.
The forest despite its strangeness held a certain allure like a silent invitation to explore.
The question of how he had arrived remained unanswered but the pressing need to understand his surroundings began to outweigh the lingering fear.
The impulse to call out for help and to shout for someone or anyone was almost overwhelming.
But he stopped himself before the words could leave his lips.
What if calling out is a mistake? What if it attracts something dangerous?
The thought sent a fresh wave of unease through him and made his skin prickle with anxiety.
Maybe it was better to remain unseen and to observe before acting rashly.
This was his worst nightmare he realized with growing dread.
He had always been terrible with directions and was prone to getting lost even in familiar places.
He remembered one time as a child when he got separated from his family at a crowded amusement park.
The panic and the overwhelming sense of isolation had been terrifying and had haunted him for years.
Now he was truly lost in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by an alien landscape.
The nervousness gnawed at him like a persistent unsettling feeling that burrowed deep into his gut.
Maybe this is not real. Maybe it is all a dream or a bizarre vivid nightmare. I have not woken up yet.
The thought offered a sliver of comfort and a potential escape from the terrifying reality of his situation.
He slapped himself hard across the face and felt the sting as a sharp contrast to the numb feeling of disbelief.
The pain was real and undeniable.
This was not a dream.
He was truly and terrifyingly lost.
He stood for a long moment while contemplating his options with growing frustration.
Trees and endless trees stretched in every direction around him.
North and south and east and west—it all looked exactly the same to his untrained eyes.
He was not even sure he was still in the same city anymore.
There were no forests this dense anywhere near his apartment and the closest thing was a small manicured park several blocks away.
The thought sent a fresh wave of unease through him like ice water in his veins.
He was truly lost and utterly and completely disoriented in this strange place.
He turned south in a seemingly arbitrary choice but one born from desperate hope.
If I walk south surely I will eventually stumble upon some sign of civilization—a road or a house or a person. Anything that could help me.
He took a deep breath while preparing to start walking when a dark bluish glow shimmered into existence before him.
The system.
It pulsed gently and its presence was a stark reminder of his strange new reality.
His immediate concern for survival was momentarily overshadowed by the mystery of this game-like interface.
Where am I? And what is this place?
The familiar dark bluish glow shimmered into existence before him again as a translucent panel floating in the air.
He stared with his mouth slightly agape as he read the information displayed on the screen.
It was not the same as before and this time it was different and more detailed.
SPECIES: Human
NAME: Tyler Evans
RANK: G
LVL: 0
CLASS: Artifact Refiner
HP: 29/30
MP: 0/25
STR: 6
AGI: 5
DEF: 6
STATUS: Minor Bruising (from tree)
SKILLS: Weapon Crafting
INVENTORY: (Click bottom-right corner to access)
A wave of confusion washed over him as he processed the strange information.
The layout and the stats it was strangely familiar in an unsettling way.
The terms Strength and Agility and Defense along with the numerical values assigned to them triggered a vague memory of video games.
Though he had never been much of a gamer himself the presentation felt oddly structured and deliberate.
This was not just some random inexplicable transportation but something else entirely.
But what? What is this place?
The thought sent a shiver down his spine and made his hands tremble slightly.
He was somewhere else and somewhere strange and this interface was a mystery he desperately needed to solve.
The immediate priority was survival but the enigma of the status display was a close second.