1 How did I end up here?
"Fuck, my head."
Gray Allister could only clutch his head in deep pain as he struggled to regain his consciousness.
As his vision finally turned clear, the boy's eyes widened as he now finds himself somewhere lost in what seems to be a forest, evident by the enormous trees that surround him.
"How in the freaking blazes did I end up here?" Gray muttered under his breath, utterly confused by his present situation. No doubt, anyone will be asking the same question to himself. If a person is going to wake up in a forest, it's definitely unreal and undeniably a puzzling predicament that would inevitably cause some worry.
The man knows better than to panic, calming himself down as he tried to recollect the events that occurred before ending up here in this weird scenario of his.
'Let's see.' Gray thought while crossing his arms, trying to delve inside the memory lane inside his head. 'I recalled being in my office and working my ass off with my team for the alpha stage of Silverhart Online. We were so exhausted in complying before the deadline, and after we have finally finished most of the game's initial development, I immediately hit the sack in my office.'
Gray, in reflex, smiled with pride as he thought of the game that they were making. It's not precisely in its beta stage yet, with too many bugs and errors that still need rectifying with the addition of the game's content and the story being incomplete. Meaning, he even does not know very much about the game.
Silverhart Online.
It is an MMORPG situated in the vast open world of Silverhart, a magical place where fantasy and adventure awaits. It is also a land filled with reverie and glory, a never-ending battlefield where the player puts his skills up to the test by assuming one of the three primary classes of the game while performing quests and fighting various creatures and people that would hone your different skills to its capacity.
The three classes are simply the Warrior, Rogue, and Mage.
Gray suddenly realized that he was lost in his thoughts. As a result, he snapped himself out in an instant as he has more pressing matters to attend to. There's no use worrying about Silverhart Online right now, and surviving in this godforsaken woods is his number one priority.
Although he also noticed that he seemed a bit rejuvenated, kind of akin to being more energetic like a youthful person as opposed to his real age of 36.
So his first order of business is to find a river as a source for clean water and find out more about his current situation. As a start, he opted to remain alert for whatever dangerous elements that may ambush him from out of nowhere.
After trekking around the forest for a while, Gray instantly breaths a sigh of relief, now finding a nearby open clearing with a river on it.
"Thank God," Gray said. "I thought I was a goner."
The boy then approaches the river to take a sip to quench his thirst. Finding himself at the water source, Gray could not believe his eyes at what he sees at this very moment.
His very own reflection.
"What in the actual fuck?!" Gray suddenly was taken back by the revelation, stumbling down with immense shock.
The reason why he is feeling astonished at this very moment is that Gray Allister is by no means a young teenager.
He could have sworn that he is in his mid-thirties, a single man with no girlfriend since birth, a virgin, no doubt.
Standing up as he regained his senses, Gray once more peered at his reflection, staring down at the very young-looking version of himself.
Gray is now shown to most likely be at 17 years of age, his youthful appearance radiating for the sun to bask upon. His face, now devoid of any wrinkles caused by the stress of his work.
Eyes blinking, Gray scratched his messy black hair as he now witnessed that he is actually wearing something ordinary townsfolk would most probably wear during the medieval ages. He is equipped with a simple white shirt with a brown patch covering a hole on the chest part. His lower garment consists of long khaki pants and a pair of black boots.
"This is so fucked up." Gray felt uneasy by all of this. "This must be some sort of dream, due to the stress that my team and I have accumulated for the past many days. Now I'm here in some kind of fantasy world probably as apparent by the clothes that I'm wearing and the sights that are greeting me."
As he pondered on what his next course of action will be, a small rabbit suddenly appeared as the critter timidly approached Gray.
"What do we have here?" Gray chuckled as he saw the harmless and cute animal. He can't help but resist gazing at the adorable little creature. Leaning below to tame it, Gray reached out his hand at the rabbit's little head. "You lost, little guy?"
Before he could even react, the rabbit suddenly bares it very sharp fangs, instantly ripping Gray's right hand while he now shrieked in unadulterated agony, his fear of death intensifying with each second passing by.
"AHHH!!!!" Gray's black eyes widen in terror at seeing his hand torn out violently, blood gushing out from the severed part of his right hand.
The pain is indeed all too real for Gray, now realizing that it's definitely not a dream.
Adrenaline pumping in, Gray now runs for his life despite the unbearable pain, seeing as the rabbit is now spasming, twitching convulsively with saliva foams pouring from its mouth. The little creature's demeanor suddenly turned demonic and wicked, an unholy entity of pure violence that was actually in disguised as an unassuming little creature to lure unwary travelers before their gory end. To temporarily solve the dire issue regarding his bleeding, severed body part, Gray quickly stripped off his shirt and used it to cover the wound while he's on the run.
The rabbit then chases after Gray, now seeing the human as its delicious prey.
Gray turned his head back to assess his chances of survival. Hope seemed to be out of reach for him, witnessing the rabbit catching up rather quickly, a testament of its unnatural agility that's unquestionably terrifying for a critter.
In conclusion, Gray's desperate attempts in outrunning the rabbit proved to be a failing endeavor, eyes widening at the prospect of his inevitable death at the hands of an animal significantly smaller than him. He always imagined that death would peacefully greet him, surrounded by his loved ones on his death bed, with a future loving wife, children, and grandchildren on his side. But it appears that it is no longer the case, as death itself is personified into a tiny rabid rabbit with a predatory nature that may put a lion to shame.
To his credit, though, Gray, nonetheless, still forcefully strengthened his resolve to live by not succumbing to the endearing pain of his severed hand while running, but slowly by slowly, his life is clearly fading, and any moment now, he's going to be rabbit snack.
'Is this it?' Gray thought with a grimace. 'Is this how my life is going to end, by the hands of a monster rabbit?'
In the last-ditch of effort to perhaps get himself out of this fatal predicament that he's currently experiencing, he did the very first thing that he thought of.
"Somebody help!!!" Gray had no choice but to scream so loud that he felt his vocal cords bursting out at the desperate act that he performed, hoping that someone out there nearby will hear and kind enough to rescue him.
"Okay."
His distressed call for help was seemingly answered as Gray suddenly heard a female voice. Although he had no time in finding out where exactly the source of the sound came from as he still kept on running until his legs will fail him eventually.
It seemed that whatever Gods above had the heart to heed his request as Gray also heard a loud explosion coming from behind him.
Turning his head around, the boy saw that the rabbit that has been chasing him is now reduced to a charred mess, its body horribly burned as caused by the mysterious blast. With this very sight in place, Gray instantly stop on his tracks as he assumed that the coast is perhaps clear for now, his life still among the living. With him extremely exhausted, not to mention, his severed hand is still in place.
In a short while, however, something baffling has happened in front of Gray as the blackened corpse of the rabbit shattered into pixels, before reforming into a crystal-shaped substance lying on the ground.
Just like in a video game.
"Oh my God." Gray's mouth drop with surprise at seeing how the rabbit perished. "You don't fucking see that every day. The way the bastard died is kind of similar to a creature dies in a game."
"You got that right, mortal."
Gray flinched in response as he heard the same female voice again. He tried to look for the source of the sound by eyeing around in every direction. Disappointment was all he got as he found no one in his line of sight.
"Up here." The voice commanded in a regal tone.
Gray obliged as he did so, finding himself at awe at the new figure descending slowly to the ground, bestowing slightly above with his very eyes.
True to the entity's voice, the person is indeed a woman, a beautiful one, in fact. She has long flowing blonde hair with blue eyes and a lovely face that anyone can't resist turning their heads upon. A white sleeveless dress adorned her gorgeous figure, with a golden belt strapped on her delicate waist. Her footwear consisted of a pair of gold sandals that, indeed, is a luxury to have.
"Who are you?" Gray eyed the new figure in curiosity, marveling at the beauty that he thought of as a Goddess.
"Before I introduce myself mortal." The woman smiled teasingly. "Perhaps you should rest for a little bit. Having a clear mind will definitely do you wonders on the next topic that we are going to tackle."
No words are needed as Gray instantly complied with the woman's order, succumbing himself into unconsciousness.
The woman simply eyed Gray with an expression of fascination and wonder as things are definitely about to get hectic with his presence here in this fantasy-driven world.
