'Mister, you don't seem to be okay in the head,' said Alto
'Yeah, well, maybe I'm not. I think I'm going crazy' I said
'Yeah, I was just looking at you from a distance, mister, then you got scared all of a sudden and fell'
'What? You don't see this screen?'
'What's a screen?'
'Ah, never mind, you're telling me you're seeing nothing in front of me?'
'Nope, nothing, I think you need to go see a healer, mister'
As I looked at the screen, I saw some new words written on it. There were what seemed to be options on it.
IWEE Candidate E2A ) Level 1 (
-Stats
-Inventory
-Objectives
-Skill
-Help
Like a game menu...
'For now, I should check the help option, maybe that will help,' I thought
I touched the option titled 'Help'. The screen shifted to show:
{ TO ASK FOR HELP FROM THE STATUS WINDOW, PLEASE THINK OF ANY QUESTION YOU WANT TO AFTER YOU HAVE CLICKED ON THE 'HELP' OPTION. I CONTAIN FULL KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD 'ARCHAENIUM' AND WILL HELP YOU TO THE BEST OF MY ABILITIES}
'Where am I, how did I end up here?' I thought.
{ YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN THE WORLD OF ARCHAENIUM, AND YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED AS A CANDIDATE FOR THE INTER-WORLD EXPLORATION EXPERIENCE. AS A RESULT, YOU HAVE BEEN BROUGHT OVER TO THIS WORLD.}
'WHAT?? How can you just do that? I never consented to this. Send me back.'
{ YOU DID GIVE CONSENT TO BEING A CANDIDATE }
'When did I do that? No, I haven't'
{ WHEN YOU AGREED TO THE TERMS AND SERVICES OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA APPLICATION 'Instogram', YOU AGREED TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS 'I consent to give all my data to the company MATA', 'I consent to sell my soul to the devil' AND 'I consent to be in the candidate selection process of the Inter-World Exploration Experience}
'What? But I didn't read the terms, no one reads that! i WANT TO GO BACK'
{I AM SORRY BUT WE CANNOT SEND YOU BACK UNTIL YOU HAVE CLEARED ALL THE OBJECTIVES YOU ARE REQUIRED TO DO IN THIS WORLD}
'Objectives? Ok, how many are there?? What am I supposed to do?'
{ FOR THE MOMENT, YOU HAVE NOT UNLOCKED OBJECTIVES; OBJECTIVES OF THE FUTURE WILL VARY BASED ON WHAT YOU DO IN THE PRESENT. ON AVERAGE, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF OBJECTIVES CANDIDATES GO THROUGH IS AROUND 10,000. TO UNLOCK OBJECTIVES, PLEASE EXPLORE THE WORLD AROUND YOU}
'10,000!!!!??? No this is Kidnapping, this is a crime. This is slavery. I wanna go back'
{ THIS IS NOT SLAVERY, AS YOU WILL BE REWARDED FOR COMPLETING OBJECTIVES, NOT KIDNAPPING, EITHER, AS YOU HAVE CONSENTED TO IT. AS FOR CANDIDATES GOING HOME, THERE IS NO OTHER WAY BUT TO CLEAR ALL OBJECTIVES}
'Mister, are you alright? You've been staring at nothing for an awful long time. Making weird faces too' Asked Alto
'Yeah, I'm ok.' I replied. 'I finally understand it now.'
'You keep babbling strange words, mister.'
'Yeah, well, you see. I have a real special problem with me'
'What's that?'
'Hmm, I'll tell you in a bit'
'Oh, alright then. You've piqued my interest, so this better be really special'
'Yeah sure. By the way, Alto, where am I?'
'Hmm, you don't know where you are?' Alto asked his one eyebrow raised. Even though he had one eye and one eyebrow. He raised the eyebrow only on one side, making it almost look like a proper human-like eyebrow raise.
' I'm sorry I don't. '
' Well, you're in the entrance of the Great Kathura Forest '
'The system told me I should explore the world to gain objectives, maybe I should explore this forest,' I thought.
'Alto, do you know this place well?'
'Oh Mister, The Great Kathura Forest is a very dangerous place with very strong monsters and beasts. Do you think I, a small and weak cyclops, would be able to properly navigate this forest?'
'I see, so monsters exist in this world,' I thought.
'What are their levels?'
'What's a level?'
' Oh, it's nothing. You know me, I babble a lot. '
I realized I was treating this like a game. Maybe it was because of the status window I saw, or maybe it was because of my inability to accept this as my reality.
'Well, if you were talking about monster grades, they all range from class C to A. Meaning, even the weakest ones can cause havoc in a small town.'
'I should leave then,' I thought
'I see, do you have any way to get out of this place, Alto?'
'Well, yeah sure. This is just the entrance. I'll lead the way.'
'Where are we going?'
'The nearest place is the Kluxan Empire, but the people there don't take too kindly to my folk, you see. So we should go to the Magis Kingdom instead. It'll be 3 weeks of walking'
'That's a lot of walking,' I said
'Mister, do you travel by carriage? Because that's not a lot at all.'
'I see'
'I should check about these two kingdoms with the status window,' I thought
'Summon'
[Ping!]
{Menu}--> {Help}
'Give me details about the Kluxan Empire and the Magis Kingdom'
{ SURE, THE KLUXAN EMPIRE IS LOCATED SOUTH OF THE GREAT KATHURA FOREST, FOUNDED BY ITS CURRENT RULER, EMPEROR LUCIUS CORNELIUS. THE EMPIRE VALUES STRENGTH OVER EVERYTHING ELSE. THE EMPIRE, DESPITE BEING RELATIVELY NEW, HAS ALREADY CONQUERED VAST AMOUNTS OF LAND. IT'S EXPANSIVE NATURE HAS BEEN REWARDED WITH PROSPERITY AND RICHES, BUT ALSO ANIMOSITY FROM OTHER KINGDOMS. IT CURRENTLY ACTS AS A COUNTERBALANCE TO THE MAGIS KINGDOM}
{THE MAGIS KINGDOM IS LOCATED SOUTH OF THE KLUXAN EMPIRE AND NORTH OF THE THESEAN SEA. IT BOASTS A THOUSAND-YEAR-OLD HISTORY. IT HAS BEEN ABLE TO DO SO BY DEVELOPING A CULTURE THAT FOCUSES ON MAGIC AND TECHNOLOGY. IT IS CURRENTLY LED BY ARCHMAGE GANADOR THE GREAT. IT CURRENTLY ACTS AS A COUNTERBALANCE AGAINST THE EMERGING KLUXAN EMPIRE}
As I looked into it, the information overwhelmed me. I felt dizzy and nauseous.
'Magic exists in this world, huh? I guess that's a given since monsters exist too.'
I was still in shock at the revelation that I was in another world. Even trying to think about how this was possible hurt my head. I needed to tell this to someone, this was too big for me to handle alone.
'Alto, about that special condition, I'll tell you'
'Well, what is it, Mister?'
'I am a candidate of the Inter-world Exploration Experience'