When I opened my eyes, I was falling at an incredible rate. My arms flailing wildly as fear overtook me. I figured I would be dead soon, screaming like a madman. Frantically, I looked around for my companion, shouting his name, but the only sound I could hear was the wind buzzing against my ears.

  Tears streaming, I noticed my phone flying away from me as I frantically tried to grab it. I reached for it, my fingers almost closing around it—in an instant an air pocket rocked me, pushing me further away.

  “Shit,” I said, as my phone disappeared.

  That’s when I noticed a display overlaying my vision—something that looked like a first-person shooter’s interface.

  At the bottom, it showed HP: 500.

  Above that, my condition and pulse rate both read as normal.

  I shook my head from side to side, trying to get the numbers to leave, but couldn’t. It looked like it was for good. Something I’d have to worry about if I survived the fall.

  After several seconds of panicking, Cashius finally drifted beside me, like a bird. He held his jacket closed, smiling like everything was perfectly normal. “Lamont, calm down, please, and try to get a grip on yourself,” he screamed.

  I hollered. “Get a grip? We’re about to die on impact!” I shouted, my voice cracking under the stress.

  A bright smile spread across his face, undisturbed by the rushing wind. “If you’d only pay attention, you’d notice the ground is the other way,” he said calmly.

  I paused long enough to stop flailing my arms and calm down. Then turning my head upward, I froze in confusion. “What—what’s happening? Where am I?”

  “Currently, we’re flying through the skies of Orbralis heading for the surface. There you’ll get some armor, among other things, and I’ll explain to you how the rules of this world work,” he explained. “Now, if you’d relax and orient yourself, I can tell you where we’re headed.”

  I spread my arms and took a deep breath, letting the cool, exhilarating air fill my lungs. “Flying, huh?” I asked Cashius, who now flew in a pointed, streamlined shape.

  “Not quite,” he remarked. “For now… enjoy the ride.”

  I mimicked his posture, and that’s when I noticed something strange—he wasn’t translucent anymore. His appearance had shifted. The drab jacket he’d worn back home was now a deep, rich blue. His hair was as white as the clouds we were sailing through.

  I peered closer, surprised to see his shoes glowing electric green and his age more pronounced. More dignified.

  Wherever I was, it wasn’t Earth.

  After calming down, I started to appreciate the surreal beauty of what was happening and even broke into a smile.

  “There.” Cashius pointed into the distance, “are the mountains of Hiskum—home to the giants. And there, under the waterfall, is the entrance to the underworld, where everything is reversed. And over here—”

  “Wait,” I interrupted, my voice sharp with disbelief. “Are you serious? All of this is real?”

  “Sure is. And if I do the job correctly, you’ll be my savior.”

  Ha, a savior. I mused. I couldn’t even save myself.

  I glanced toward the mountains, their jagged peaks shrouded by dark clouds and streaks of lightning. As I focused, I saw what Cashius meant—the giants. Their massive heads disappeared into the clouds, like ancient titans standing guard.

  “Incredible,” I breathed.

  “They’re not for play,” Cashius warned, his tone serious. “They must be handled with care. Big bodies mean big brains. When we approach them, we’ll need to be on high alert.”

  I stared at him, incredulous. Giants existed here? And I was supposed to approach them? This was insane. The only giants I would approach were the big, green, jolly kind on the cans of corn.

  “Now, let me get back to showing you our lovely world,” Cashius continued. “Coming up, the large patch of desert—the Harshlands. It’s home to the Flish’ar, the sand people. Fierce nomads, but relatively peaceful.”

  We soared so high that the desert looked like a colorful blur as we rushed past it. I couldn’t help but notice the striking hue of the sand—a deep purple or something close to it.

  I blinked, struggling to believe what I was seeing, and let the rushing air whip around me.

  Flying through the air felt incredible. This world I was suddenly thrust into felt like it had been pulled straight out of an author’s imagination. Or an artist.

  At that moment, something even stranger happened—a reverberation, deep and unsettling. I turned my head, scanning the skies and the plains below, but saw nothing. Only a harsh, discordant sound filled the air, yanking me from my wonder and amazement.

  The world jolted.

  The plains beneath me lurched violently, shifting and settling with a tremendous force. I whipped my head toward Cashius, whose mouth hung open in alarm.

  “We’re too late,” he said, his voice trembling. “The process has already begun.”

  “What are you talking about?” I shouted as heavy raindrops began to fall.

  “The Reckoning,” he replied grimly. “A world-ending event brought on by The Nameless One.” He bit his lip, his expression tight with urgency. “Quick—head for the ground!”

  “Umm, how do I control this—” I stared down at my body, panic creeping into my voice.

  “Sorry, but yes, you can,” Cashius said. “Try harder!”

  My blood pounded violently through my veins, my heart fluttering with fear. “You’re speaking nonsense! I can’t fly!”

  “Neither can I, but when entering the world or riding thermals, you can glide,” he admitted, his tone growing sharper. “But time is of the essence. Grab onto my shoulders, and I’ll get us to the ground. Quickly—the Fearless are close.”

  Fearless?

  I was losing my mind. Everything about this place defied logic as if the laws of physics had been rewritten. I had no choice but to suspend my disbelief.

  Cashius flew toward me, his dark blue jacket whipping violently in the wind. I reached out and grabbed his shoulders, the sound of the wind battering against the fabric roaring in my ears.

  “Hold on,” he instructed, his voice firm.

  At that moment, I saw it—my first glimpse of the Fearless.

  Large, grotesque forms with ghastly feathers and wrinkled flesh, their bodies were nightmarish abstractions. No faces, no limbs—simply wings and sinewy skin, held together by a dingy gray collar. The stench they emitted hit me like a wave, acrid and vile, making me retch.

  I shrieked as one flew dangerously close. “Holy shit!” I yelled into Cashius’s ear.

  “Don’t let it touch you!” he shouted, glancing back at me with wide eyes. “If they do, they’ll pull you to your death.”

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Now I was terrified.

  Cashius banked hard to the left, trying to maneuver away, but the thing followed, its grotesque form flapping with unnatural speed. A team of them emerged from the clouds, encircling us.

  “Not today,” Cashius muttered, his shoulders stiffening beneath my grip.

  I eyed my surroundings, my heart pounding, and counted five of the hellish creatures. Two formed a circle ahead of us, while three closed in from behind. Their movements were precise and deliberate—hunters closing in on prey.

  Cashius dove sharply, the wind howling as black electricity crackled, forming a pentagram above us. The creatures hesitated for a split second, their formation faltering.

  “They almost had us,” he said, his voice steady. “Lucky for us, I know all their tricks.”

  My heart was now in my throat.

  Cashius kept going, pointing toward the ground like a bolt of lightning. I closed my eyes as the ground got closer and closer.

  Seconds before we hit the surface, two fearless hovered over us, their shadows covering Cashius’s head. “Brace yourself,” he said.

  We dropped the last few feet to the ground, skidding for several paces as the fearless backed off.

  Our screams filled the air as dirt and debris covered everything I saw.

  After a few minutes, I regained my bearings and surveyed my surroundings.

  The earth was green, with large paths of stone laid over the ground. Roads, I suspected, but after landing from flying with those nightmarish creatures chasing us, I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.

  That was when I noticed a bar hovering over Cashius’s head, about five feet away from me. It was green with a white border, about five percent empty before it disappeared.

  I blinked my eyes, thinking I was imagining it.

  “Cashius,” I said. “Is this world like a video game?”

  He stared, looking puzzled. “Why, of course, it is. But not the regular kind with a reset button. Here,” he looked around. “Anything is possible.”

  “You’re not making any sense,” I said, dusting off my clothes and rising to my feet. “A game?” I asked.

  “Yes. Now hurry, let’s get out of here before we’re spotted. This area of the map is crawling with elves,” Cashius warned.

  I couldn’t wrap my head around the events unfolding around me. A game? It made no sense. How did I end up inside a game? Standing in what looked like a massive valley, I felt the urge to yell in frustration.

  “Did you hear me?” Cashius snapped. “Or are you just going to stand there looking stupid? In the open, no less. Surely you still know how to walk.”

  “I’m not going anywhere until you explain this in a language I can understand,” I shot back.

  Out of nowhere, something whizzed past me, so close I felt the air ripple against my face. I whipped my head around, trying to locate its source, but saw nothing. Right after—twip, twip!—two more projectiles landed a few feet ahead of me.

  “What the fu—” I managed, and then I was on my back—Cashius had pulled me hard.

  “Open your menu, quickly!” he whispered. “Check what items you have.”

  “How do I do that?” I shouted, my frustration boiling over.

  “Quiet, man!” he hissed. “If you keep yelling, they’ll spot us!” He said. “Focus on it with your mind. Think menu and scrunch your eyes or whatever you do when you’re in deep concentration.”

  This whole situation was beyond confusing, and all I wanted at that moment was to go home. “There’s a display overlapping my vision with HP points and a cross with four empty spaces. What is this?”

  “Ah, that’s your heads-up display. You can make it go away and appear at will. All you have to do is ‘wish’ it away. It’ll come back at will,” he explained.

  I blinked in surprise.

  A HUD menu in the real world—if you could even call this real.

  “I’ll try, but don’t get mad if I can’t figure it out,” I mumbled.

  I twisted my mouth to the side, concentrating—and the HUD disappeared.

  Tried it again, and it reappeared.

  Cool.

  After that, I turned my thoughts to the menu.

  Precisely like that, it popped up in my mind’s eye.

  “Holy shit, would you look at that?” I murmured, disbelief thick in my voice.

  It was hard to explain, but the screen—if I could even call it that—was somehow open ahead of me, yet the world around me stayed perfectly visible.

  Two layers, superimposed. Both interactive. Both operating at the same time.

  It was incredible.

  The way I could navigate the menu while still seeing the field ahead was an incredible experience. One I’d remember for a long time.

  The image read Main Menu, with a list beneath it: Items, Spells, Skills, Abilities, Gems, and Quick Commands. Below that was a section labeled Messages, each marked with a notification indicating they were unread.

  “Now go to your items and see what you have,” Cashius urged.

  I concentrated on the word Items, and the menu shifted to the side smoothly, revealing a new screen. This one displayed another list: Weapons, Quest Items, and Trinkets.

  I furiously checked each category, only to find them all empty.

  “There’s nothing here,” I admitted in frustration. “Now how do I close this thing? It’s making it hard to see.”

  “As you did when you opened it—think it,” Cashius replied.

  I twitched my mouth and concentrated hard, and just like that, the menu vanished. Hmm, interesting, I meditated, lying low in the tall grass Cashius had pulled me into.

  “Here, take this sword,” he said, pausing to pull a weapon seemingly out of his jacket. Where he carried it, I couldn’t imagine. The blade gleamed brightly, though it looked plain and unimpressive. “It’s only level one, but it’ll do against wood elves.”

  “Wood elves, huh? This game keeps getting more confusing,” I grumbled, gripping the sword awkwardly.

  Cashius leaned close to me, speaking low and slow. “Wood elves are serious hunters, fiercely protective of the forest. They don’t tolerate outsiders or intruders. Try bringing up the enemy menu and getting more information on them. It could prove useful.”

  “Okay, I’ll try,” I whispered, barely above a breath. “I only hope they don’t kill us before I figure it out.”

  I centered my awareness on the elves, and a box appeared directly before me. It was transparent, much like the menu screen, but smaller.

  Wood Elves—Level 1

  Native to the forest surrounding Glasborough. Very protective, but loyal. Gain their trust, and you’ll have a friend for life. Anger one, and be prepared to be hunted relentlessly. Weak against fire, resistant to air magic.

  Interesting—a whole new race I had never seen before. And they were trying to kill me.

  Ducking down, dodging arrows, I still couldn’t wrap my mind around it. Minutes ago, I was standing on my old high school’s roof after my sister’s graduation. Now, I was trying to survive an ambush from angry elves with bows and arrows.

  Whoever was in charge had a strange sense of humor.

  Cashius sighed, shaking his head. “If we weren’t ambushed, we would’ve landed in Glasborough and I could better explain what’s going on. Now we have to get through these blasted elves to survive. Luckily, Glasborough is not far from here. At least you can loot their corpses when you dispose of them.”

  The sword’s leather grip chafed my palm. I’d never held a weapon before—it felt alien and dangerous. “Loot their corpses?” I repeated, more to myself than to him. This world wasn’t merely strange—it was downright insane. “Why can’t you do it?” I asked, unsure of his motives.

  “Because I can’t do a thing in my current form but instruct you.”

  My heart sank.

  “Now, to find their location,” Cashius said, peeking his head above the grass. After a few seconds, he pointed. “There—they’re over that way. I’ll distract them, and you dispose of them.”

  I stared at him, wide-eyed, still fumbling awkwardly with the sword. “Are you crazy? I’ve never killed anything in my life!”

  “Boy, if you don’t listen to me, they’ll strike you down where you stand. And I don’t have a reviving potion on hand!” Cashius snapped, his tone sharp but urgent.

  My adrenaline spiked, making it nearly impossible to process his words. Fear gripped me, leaving my body stiff and unresponsive.

  Forcing myself to move, I peeked over the grass in the direction he pointed. At first, all I saw was more grass swaying in the breeze and tall, twisted trees stretching toward the sky. But then, as I narrowed my eyes, they came into focus.

  Three figures in a triangle formation. Tall and lanky, covered in layers of leaves. Their faces were smeared with streaks of paint—dark greens and browns that blended into their surroundings.

  Two men and one woman. Each stood ready, longbows in hand, arrows already drawn. Their gazes were sharp, scanning the field with deadly precision.

  I whispered for Cashius, but he was nowhere in sight. My crafty guide had already disappeared, executing his plan to distract our enemies. I, on the other hand, was frozen in place, practically shitting bricks.

  A game. A fantasy game. If I survived this encounter, I was going to demand answers.

  I swallowed hard, trying to build what little confidence I had, and began inching toward the elves’ location. Each step was slow and deliberate, careful not to make too much noise. My silent prayers were the only thing keeping me from panicking completely.

  Suddenly, I heard a shout, followed by the sharp twip of an arrow being loosed. I peeked through the grass and saw the elves shifting their focus toward the sound. Their movements were precise, their bodies tense, and their expressions dark and unreadable.

  The grass rustled, followed by the dull thud of something heavy—a stone, perhaps—being thrown. The elves jogged toward the sound, muscles taut and bows ready.

  Somehow, instincts I didn’t realize I had kicked in. Silently, I followed them, gripping my sword with trembling hands. My plan was simple: sneak up behind them, strike one, and hope for the best. But I never got the chance.

  “There he goes!” an elf shouted.

  “Oh shit,” I said, as their piercing gazes locked onto me.

  I bolted, running like my life depended on it—because it did. Arrows whistled past my head, each one closer than the last.

  “You’re not escaping!” One of them snarled.

  Next, a sharp pain shot through my arm.

  My vision blurred, and red bled across “Fuck!” I gasped, the sword slipping from my hands as I scrambled away from them. My arm throbbed, the pain dulled only by adrenaline. “Why me, God?” I whimpered, shivering as I pressed my hand against the wound to halt the flow of blood.

  Up ahead, I spotted a river—and next to it, a path.

  I peeked over my shoulder as another arrow hissed past me, missing by inches. The elves were closing in. I had no choice.

  Biting my lip to dull the pain, I ducked low, sprinting towards the river. Without hesitation, I leaped into the water; the warm current felt welcoming. Thankfully, the river was shallow enough for me to wade across.

  The elves unleashed a final volley of arrows as I reached the opposite bank, their shouts muffled by the rush of water. Whether by luck or something else entirely, I had escaped.

  I dragged myself onto the riverbank, out of breath, my arm still throbbing with pain. Alone. Unarmed. Bleeding. Orbralis had me right where it wanted.

  For now, I was alive. But for how long? I had no idea.