Acceptance [IV]

"Is that why my injuries healed so quickly?" Lucian muttered. "But what the hell is a Microlink?"

He didn't know what to think.

What he was currently dealing with defied all logic, and he was struggling to keep from going insane. It felt as if he'd been torn from his home and thrown into some old Sci-Fi horror film.

Lucian shifted his attention to the other hexagon that floated before him. A large majority were greyed-out, but the six directly touching the [Initiate] hexagon held dull red words.

[Strength I]

[Tempering I]

[Endurance I]

[Mental Fortitude I]

[Efficiency I]

[Agility I]

These hexagons started with [Strength] at the upper right side of [Initiate] before running clockwise and ending at [Agility] in the upper left.

"Hmm..."

Lucian stared at the [Strength I] hexagon for three seconds, but nothing changed. The screen didn't zoom in or give him any further information.

"Well, that didn't work..." He sighed loudly. Lucian was rather curious about this screen. "How do I make it go away?"

The moment he thought about closing the screen, it shrunk back into the left-most hexagon in the bottom right corner. He was satisfied that the screen's reaction was almost instant rather than him having to wait for three seconds.

"Okay... so what's next?" Lucian asked himself. He frowned suddenly, realizing that he'd gotten unduly comfortable talking to himself.

He sighed, "I suppose I need to talk to keep sane..."

If he stayed silent for too long, the memories of his last moments with his wife and children would return.

If only he'd known. If only he'd said more sincere goodbyes. If only he...

"No, stop it!" Lucian yelled. "Lamenting over my sudden departure will only drag me further into a state of depression. I need to focus on what's in front of me."

He clenched his teeth as he pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on the second hexagon on his screen.

The screen that appeared looked almost exactly like the previous one.

Hundreds of hexagons expanded as far as the eye could see in every direction. The only one that was visible was the one in the center.

He focused on the tile, and the screen zoomed in.

"Wait... is that...?"

Lucian stared at the tile in disbelief. What he was looking at was an aerial view of the hexagon he was currently sitting on!

There was even a small, red dot indicating his precise location beneath the tree. This was a map!

"Hmm..." He glanced out of his makeshift shelter just in time to see the flash from a bolt of lightning. "It doesn't seem to be a current image."

He stared at the hexagon, watching as the tops of the purple trees swayed lightly back and forth.

Suddenly, a prompt showed up above the map.

At first, it was indecipherable, made up of strange symbols that Lucian had never seen. The characters began to flash as he stared at them, and one by one, they turned into letters that he could read.

[Borol]

[Planet Grade: 17]

[An inhabited planet in the Elenia Sector known for its malleable plant life]

Lucian stared at the message in disbelief.

"An inhabited planet...?" He murmured.

After a long moment of silence and contemplation, the hysteria only worsened. Lucian stared at the strange tree in front of him.

"Does this mean I was abducted by aliens?!" He cried out in alarm, his knuckles turning white around the dagger still clutched to his chest.

Staring at the map, he wasn't sure whether to fear for his life or be awed by this display of technology. His mind drifted back to Earth, and he scoffed at the innovations being worked on.

"We are building smart toilets and polling college students on how many times they fuck in a week. These aliens already have holographic displays and whatever the hell this place is. Wait... Holographic screen..?"

Lucian had been looking around for projectors, but what if it was something that had been put in him?! He dropped the knife and started patting his head frantically, searching for some kind of scar.

After almost ten minutes of searching, he found nothing.

"Of course, you found nothing, you idiot," Lucian laughed outlandishly. "If they are this advanced, they wouldn't leave a scar. It's probably something embedded in my eyes or brain."

He closed one eye and then the other, but the screen was visible through either. The icons in the bottom right and timer stayed in his vision, making him think that it was more likely a brain implant.

He shuddered slightly before opening his eyes to close his map. Before he had completed the thought, he noticed a number on top of the screen.

Lucian focused on the number, and it floated down to the center of the map.

[999,682,371]

"What's this number supposed to be?" Lucian wondered.

"Oh?"

The number dropped by one while he was speaking.

"Another timer, perhaps?" He shrugged and closed the map before turning to the last icon.

This time, he waited for close to ten seconds before a new screen appeared. It was a simple prompt, with just a few words written.

[Educatus]

[Transmit thoughts to define unfamiliar terminology within Menu]

Lucian's eyes widened.

This was just what he needed! If he could learn more about this place, maybe he could find a way to get home!

'Where am I?'

[Land of Nowhere]

'And where is that?'

[Error]

'Okay...' Lucian thought, 'How do I leave this hexagon?'

[Error]

'Great,' He laid his head back against the cold ground. Staring up at the screen, another thought crossed his mind.

'What is the hexagon that I'm sitting on called?' Lucian asked.

[Tile]

'Can you give me all of the information available on tiles?'

[Tile: A section of Nowhere. Nowhere is made up of 100 billion Tiles. Each Tile is a 584.57-meter squared section of one of the planets in the Galaxy. Each Tile contains a sample of what its planet is most known for]

'Oh?' Lucian grew excited. "At least I have something to do while waiting out this storm!"

Lucian sent out a barrage of questions to the [Educatus], though most of them came back as [Error]. He finally realized that when it said that it was available for the terminology in the Menu, it meant it.

If his question weren't pertaining to something directly related to a term in the Menu, the answer would come back as an [Error].

He wasn't sure when, but at some point, he started talking to the [Educatus] as if it were a person. The framed response made no sound, yet when Lucian read the words, he played them in his wife's voice.

"You know, it would be nice if you'd stop berating me for not knowing these things," Lucian chortled. "We both know that you're smarter than me!"

His eyes focused on the most recent [Error] prompt that sat steadily before him.

Talking to the hovering notifications felt a bit strange, but a smile returned to his face. It helped him feel as if his family weren't so far away...

"What about the Microlink?" He asked, "What is that?"

[Microlink: A Microlink is an item crafted from psyons. It is used as both a currency and a source of power. Absorbing a Microlink will afford you a single psyon which you can spend in the Microlink Chart to enhance your natural abilities]

"What's a psyon?" Lucian asked curiously.

[Error]

"Come on! You could have at least given me that!" He chuckled and slapped the ground as if he were joking with an old friend.

The rain began to slow, and he glanced toward the sky. It was still overcast, and he assumed it would still be a few hours before the rain ceased.

"Well, I'm going to take a nap," Lucian yawned, placing his dagger on the ground. "Can you make sure I'm up in a couple of hours?"

[Error]

"If you wanted to take a nap too, all you had to do was say so," He waved at the prompt, and it disappeared. "No need to be so grouchy. Goodnight!"

Lucian closed his eyes, listening to the rain drum against the corpses overhead. A sense of peace washed over him as he began to accept the situation, and with that, he fell asleep.