《Travel the World》 A Little Slip "Hey, Tony." "What" "Mind if I ask a little question?" "Well I do mind, but that won''t stop you... so go ahead." "It''s about what you''re doing. I don''t wanna spoil the fun, but it''s really a-" "Hey, you know, it''s not me doing this, it''s us!" "It''s only ''us'' because I don''t have any hands to slap you, or legs to get away. I mean, I''m a fucking ring! I didn''t have any say in this!" "Then shut up if you can''t change it anyway. I need to concentrate!" "About that... You do realize it''s a bad idea to sneak into an old, haunted cave that could very well collapse anymoment?" Silence followed these words. The youngman named Tony, hidden in the dark of the cave, frowned while trying to think up a reason why it indeed was necessary to do this. He failed to find an acceptable one though, and every passing second only helped to prove the voice coming from the ring hanging around his neck right. "See, I told you this dare is stupid. Now get your ass outta here." "I won''t. We won''t. I''m not gonna turn around after crawling through this hole for an hour!" Tony moved on, trying not to slip on the uneven and wet stones while stuffing thering under his t-shirt, ignoring its loud and angry protest at spending time pressed against his sweaty chest. Holding one hand close to the wall, he pointed the flashlight at the darkness ahead, hoping to find something. A wall, specifically. His class had spent almost two full days in the small camp near the Prayon Mountains until a group of curious and bored boys stumbled upon the mossy entrance to what was called the "Little Slip" by the natives. Since then, it had been an ongoing quest kept secret from the teachers for any pupil to discover the end of the ''little'' cave, which was anything but that. The reason Tony was determined to end this game today - or rather tonight - was Bennett Clearwater. Handsome, sweetly innocent and tipsy whenever in the presence of girls. Absolutely detestable to Tony since he overheard him talking to the ring and instantly labeling him a freak. It wouldn''t be so bad if not all of the girls and most of the boys stood behind him like a looming wall of public doom, and Tony had planned to evade becoming the official outcast of the school as long as possible. Besides, what could happen to him inside an old cave? Even if it was haunted, Tony''s life wasn''t exactly spirit-free. Hisunusual companionhad been the beginning of that. Never did he think that the black, dull ring he found next to a broken Disney cup and a collection of banana stamps would start talking to him after he picked it up. But it did, and after the initial shock and denying, he ended up becoming friends with ''Black''. He wasn''t a spirit though, but he had refused to tell him anything more about himself. Not who he was, how he came to be a ring, why he was laying in the trash. Especially not the last one. The only thing he knew was that Black was some kind of guardian, as he had proposed to guard Tony if he would wear him always around his neck. Life as a ring must have been pretty monotonous for him. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Since then, Black had helped him a few times when spirits tried to do anything funny to him, and Tony had come to realize how many of those invisible, condensed shapesof energy were floating around them all the time. Not entirely malicious, just being there, evasive and diverse like thoughts. Because of this, Tony felt in some ways secure inside the cave, even though the darkness frightened him. It became clear very quickly after their short talk that this wasn''t the case at all. The last thing Tony saw before suddenly loosing consciousness was akind of crack in midairfollowed by a blinding light. He wanted to scream, but his voice was stuck, and as silent as it appeared, the flash disappeared again. The next morning, the teacher was walking down the tents, making sure everybody was awake to go to breakfast, when she noticed the empty, red sleeping bag in the corner of tent four. Not giving it much thought, she shrugged it off as one of the guys going to the bathroom and continued her control while yawning widely. It was a beautiful day, all sunlight and warm grass, and the trip to the mountains today would hopefully be just as peaceful as right now. It wasn''t until midday that Ms. Beddel became worried and asked about Tony, and not until evening that one of the pupils could be convinced to talk about the little "game" they had created during their stay. The next days were hectic and bad with the camp members searching frantically through the cave together with the natives, and the pupils standing together silently, growing even more frightened with every hour that passed, and with every man that exited the cave with the same desperate look he had when he went inside. The makeshift search team couldn''t find Tony, and gave up after a day, calling in the local police to help. The police gave up combing through the cave after almost three days, and started searching the surroundings, looking just as helpless as they all felt. What was supposed to be a fun summer trip ended up becoming every teachers worst nightmare. They didn''t find him. Not that day the police talked to Ms. Beddel before driving off, not after the class had boarded the bus, not after they arrived at home. A month later,apolice officeraccidentally spilled his coffee onthe report ofa missing person, one Tony March,that he was supposed to archivetogether with a few other fruitless cases. He curgedabout the extra work. Almost half a year later, native boys near the Prayon mountains told nosy tourists the story of the young boy that went inside the "Little Slip" and never came back out. And somewhere, laying on the ground, a youngman with tussled brown hair, a dusty, blue shirt and a pair of trousers looking as if he crawled through a cave opened his eyes, only to find himself surrounded by dense forest. The First Step
Critical bodliy functions have been adapted
Essential bodily functions have been adapted
Full body adaption in progress...
"What the..." Tony tried to speak, still laying on the ground. He couldn''t feel any part of his body, but assuming he hasn''t gone crazy or died, the blue boxes floating in front of his eyes were real. As if to prove their existence to him, another blue box appeared underneath the first, accompanying his strangely weak voice:
Estimated Time until Completion: 22h 7min 39sec
... Okay, maybe he was crazy. He shut his eyes again, searching for the last thing that he could remember. It turned out to be a cave. "The ''Little Slip''... They sure had a cynical way of naming things." As far as he could trust himself, the cave was anything but little. But what about the second part, the ''slip''? Maybe he did just slip. Maybe he really died, cracking his head open on one of those stones. "I should have listened to Black...", he whispered melancholically, before starting to wonder what had happened to his so called ''guardian''. The answer came pretty fast, though not in the way that he expected: "Ohh, so you remember me! I feel so honored that you bothered to remember the name of some insignificant, old ring that only wanted to spoil your fun of falling into a fucking rift!!!" Although Black seemed to be quite enraged about their little trip, Tony felt as relieved as never before when he opened his eyes again. "Black! You''re still here! Oh thank God!" He started to think again: "If Black is still here, then I can''t be dead, can I? Well, I''m not alone anyways, and I didn''t just make the whole cave exploration up... But where am I then?... Wait a minute." "Wait, what do you mean, I ''fell into a rift''?" There was an exhausted sigh and some mumbling too quiet for him to understand, before the ring started to speak loud again: "To keep it simple, you accidentally fell into a hole inside space and ended up somewhere else." "Somewhere else?" "Somewhere not on earth." "... Like, another planet? An alien civilization?" It was quite hard for Tony to imagine some little green men floating through the massive canopy, but he was open for new things. He doubted though that he was open enough to accept aliens until he would finally see them. "I don''t know. I''m a ring, not a map, so don''t expect me to know everything about these lands." Tony could tell from the way Black acted - too emotional, too talkative - that he was insecure too, just better at hiding it. But more than anything, the dull ring seemed to be angry. Angry to be here, angry to not know where ''here'' was. "Alright, calm down. I need you to help me with something." As soon as he asked for his help, Black calmed down and his anger dissolved, along with some of the tension inside Tiny''s body - or at least the part of his body he could feel, his face. He could say much about Black''s bad temper or his habit to nearly strangle him to get his attention, but above all that, Black was his friend, and he could count on him. "You see, I can''t feel my body, so I just wanted to ask... You know, if it''s still there and in one piece..." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. It might seem useless to ask a ring which was obviouslylacking eyes about the condition of his body, but although he never told him how, Black had some way to know what was going on around him. Tony wasn''t disappointed: "Don''t worry, you¡¯re all right. No injuries, no blood or bones... Neither inside nor outside. You''re good... Have you tried moving your body?" "Well, yes. But I can''t, I can''t feel anything other than my face." There was a moment of silence, similar to the moment in which a teacher thinks about how to explain the math problem after the third question. Tony grew impatient and worried, and finally broke the silence: "What?" "No, it''s just... You can see, right?" "Yes. We''re in a forest, there''s the sky and the trees, and those blue boxes." "You see the blue boxes? Good, now tell me, what do they remind you of?" Tony didn''t have to think long. He has always been pretty secluded from people, spending his time digging through books and, later on, games. When your old friends call you a freak for talking to a ring, then it helps escaping into a game world where talking to rings, or trees, or books is common. "It can''t be... Games? This is a game world? But that''s not possible!", Tony exclaimed, frantically moving his eyes over the green around him. It looked far too realistic to be anything other than that: reality. "Relax. It''s not as impossible as it seems. Different worlds simply work differently. And I guess the reason you can''t move your body is that it hasn''t yet adapted to these new rules." More silence followed. Tony was in the thinking-while-trying-not-to-go-crazy phase, and Black was in the... well, he wasn''t in any phase, he was impatient and growing irritated. He knew that a revelation this big wasn''t something a human could easily cope with, but his short temper didn''t listen to his rational thoughts. Luckily, Tony didn''t have to find out just how bad this could have ended, as he spoke again pretty soon: "So what do I do now? Lie around and wait for my body to adapt? That¡¯s gonna take forever." "That''s one way to do this. But we don''t have a clue where we are, and I don''t want to be eaten and digested by a hungry alien creature. So here''s what you do now: Move your arms and legs." Tony rolled his eyes: "I just told you that I can''t move them! Are you even listening?" "You told me you can''t feel them, and that''s a difference. So don''t think about moving them, just move them. Like you always do." What felt like the next hour was thus spent with Tony lying motionless and a tense face on the ground in some forest, while the ring kept advising him how to move his arm, interrupted by a few heated dialogues about uselessness. In the end, Tony only managed to lift his arm when he got so annoyed with the ''Just do it'' that he felt the deep desire to slap the ring off his breast and into the forest. Apparently, his anger had reached a point where his brain disregarded any logical parts telling it that it was impossible to lift an arm you couldn''t feel and just lifted it. Tony stopped surprised halfway through the slapping motion, and Black shut up mid-sentence. Then the fifth blue box appeared:
Adaption has progressed through external means. Estimated Time until Completion: 17h 25min 46sec
And he could feel it. His arms, his legs, his muscles, the ground. He lifted his hand, and watched it rise. He pushed himself off the mossy ground, which was the reason for his wet back, and stood up while the dangling, dull ring on the leather cord kept cheering him on. And finally he stood, his head high, his legs shaky, his breathing fast. He stood in the middle of the forest where maybe no human had stood before, and smelled the air no human had smelled before. He felt like Neil Armstrong, and the all too familiar words echoed in his head: "That''s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Though he rather felt like plunging to the ground than leaping. Unknown Tony''s great moment of maybe being the first human to ever touch this place disappeared pretty fast, and he sat down again. He could feel his body now, but he could have done without the lingering pain in his muscles. "Black, I honestly don''t think I feel good enough to take a walk yet... My whole body feels like a mangled piece of bread!" "Well, we did force the adaption, but the pain should disappear pretty soon. And while you''re still sitting, we could experiment a bit with these game features." His voice sounded excited, and Tony wondered for a moment if it was even possible for him to take any situation serious for longer than a second. His thoughts wandered through the many different games he had played and searched for similarities that he could apply in this world. Of course, Tony also thought about carious fictions he had read on this topic. "Since it''s a game world, there should be a status, and skills and stuff like that, right?" "Right, I figured the same. Try... conjuring up a status, since saying it out loud is obviously not working." Tony groaned inwardly. This sounded like part two of the ''Just-do-it'' bullshit, and he feared that snapping wasn''t going to help him this time. Still, he tried to think the word in his mind with as much of imagination and intention as he could muster, and with a slight ding a big, blue window appeared next to the six small boxes still floating in the air in front of him. It took a few deep breaths for Tony to calm down again. Apart from being in a strange, unknown and undiscovered world, seeing your own status is sonething pretty cool and exciting. He felt like unwrapping a gift on Christmas.
Name: Tony March Race: Human Age: 17
Life Points: 45 --- ---
Vitality: 9 Strength: 7 ---
Intelligence: 15 --- Luck: 11
... It was pretty short. "Hey! What''s with that 7 in strength? I could do better than that on Earth!" Tony''s face heated , knowing that the average number for strength was probably 10 like in most games. Meaning that he was considered ''weak'' in this world. On his breast, Black began to slightly vibrate while he stiffled his laughter. "I guess now... you''re officially a nerd!" He gave up on trying to seem polite or caring and just laughed out loud, the sound carrying lightly through the forest. Tony buried his face in his hands which by now was red like a tomato. "Stop teasing, you stupid ring! At least my intelligence is quite high! If you had a status, you''d probably have just one strength, youpiece of stone!" The laughter subsided as both of them thought about it. Normally, he would either be considered a ring, or some kind of pet or spirit. Maybe he really had a status. "Maybe I can ''identify'' you. Wait a sec..." Tony grabbed the ring between his fingers and held it close to his eyes while Black remained silent. He tried thinking ''Identify'' in his head the same way he thought about opening his status, and to his surprise, it really worked. A small window popped up next to the ring:
Black Ring
A dull, black ring with no noteworthy proportions. Durability: 14/15 Contains: Unknown
"So, this is just a normal ring, and you''re, like, possessing it? It says it contains ''Unknown''..." There was a hint of doubt in his voice, since he never saw Black as some kind of ghost but always as the ring. Apparently, his thinking was wrong.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. "That ''Unknown'' is probably me. It seems thiw world doesn''t have a proper name for me." They both stared at the window a little longer, thinking about the ''Unknown'' tag, before Tony had another idea: "It showed my status when I was thinking about opening it, so what if you think about opening yours?" Just as he finished talking, the ninth window appeared, this time in front of the ring. Black mumbled: "Works just fine..." absentmindedly while he took a closer look at his status.
Name: Black Race: Unknown (Ring) Age: Unknown
Life Points: 70 Mana Points: 86.970 ---
Vitality: 14 Strength: 0 ---
Intelligence: 17.394 Wisdom: 19.629 Luck: 0
Abilities: [ Possession ], Lv. Max
They stood and stared. At first, Tony thought he had read wrong. Then he tried convincing himself that it was just a joke from this world, or some kind of mistake. And finally, when Black didn''t object to those unrealistically high numbers, he broke down. "Alright, what. the. fuck! What is this!! How the everlasting hell are your intelligence and wisdom that high!? How!! ANSWER ME, you traitorous bastard of a ring!" Tony stopped shouting a moment to take a deep breath and then continue, but Black skillfully spotted the opening and butted in. "Calm down, Tony March! Geez, you''re overreacting! Did you really expect my stats to be the same as some human''s? I obviously had more time and opportunity than you to get this strong." Tony was still breathing heavily and clenching the ring inside his hands while looking at it with suspicion, but he gave up trying to shout the reasons out of it. Looking back at the status window, he realized two more small boxes beneath it.
''Mana Points'' discovered
''Abilities'' discovered
"So apparently I can gain new stats and add-ons to my status window just by seing their name." This new discovery helped to distract him from the previous, unbelievable experience, and he thankfully took the chance. Looking back at his own screen, his Mana Points were 75, and his abilities... there were none. Somehow, it made him feel miserable and a little bit depressed. Black, who noticed the crestfallen look of his bearer, tried to cheer him up: "Don''t be like that. See, you just came to this world, and you have plenty of time to get some cool abilities. So pull yourself together, will you!" After a few seconds, Tony then sighed heavily one time before responding: "You''re right. I can change this window, and I will! ... But before that... how do you close them?" His question made both of them go silent as they looked at the abundance of blue boxes that filled Tony''s field of view almost completely. The problem was solved quickly, since it only took a single swipe of his hand for Tony to clear them all. Black needed a bit more time, since his lack of hands made it impossible to swipe, but he discovered that you coulod also close the windows with tought commands. "Alright, so we solved this problem. Now what''s next?", Black asked after their sight was finally free of blue. "Why are you asking me?" "Weeell, because you don''t listen to any reasonable advice of my side anyways." In regard to his stubborness concerning the cave exploration, Tony had a hard time to reply, and chose to simply ignore the comment. "I think we should find someone we can talk to, someone who can maybe help us find a way back." "Like... a city or a village?" Tony was surprised at this question: "Do you think something like that exists here? I mean, this isn''t earth. There could be anything out there." Black was silent. "...Black. Why aren''t you answering? Do I need to know something?", Tony asked, obnvious suspicion coating his voice. He thought he had known the being called Black, but apparently he was better off questioning his actions. He feared the ring held more secrets than he had thought until now. "You know, you should just walk straight. That way we get out of this forest the fastest. And since you''re as strong as a tired toddler, why don''t you start walking righht now?" ... He was evading the question! Tony couldn''t believe it, but he knew Black was stubborn. He wouldn''t get an answer like that. And he was his guardian after all. He wouldn''t keep quiet about matters that could hurt him. So Tony let it go, and instead faced the overgrown jungle around him. He peered through the trees, but was only greeted by more trees ... and more trees behind those. If he wanted to find a good place before nightfall, he would have to hurry. He hated hiking. With an annoyed huff, he started walking.