《Life Is But A Game》
The Game Begins
David set the controller down and stood up from the chair. The TV had disappeared at some point, but the bigger concern was the lack of a ceiling, of walls, and the carpet replaced by red bricks. Sunlight dappled down through tree branches on each side of the road his chair was on and he could only gape inaudibly at the sight.
What... The hell...were his only thoughts as he stood there.
Until a voice rang out from behind him, "Usually they actually speak, but I suppose a few humans have are a copper short of a treasury up there."
He whipped around, startled and stumbling back from the voice. The comfy green chair and controller were gone, in its place a man that was... Fuzzy. Almost like a blur on reality.
"What- Who are you?!" David looked around again before glaring, though his hands couldn''t stop a tremble from passing through them, "Wh- Where am I?!"
"He speaks! Wondrous!" the hands themselves were too fuzzy to see, but the pathetic applause rang out clearly enough to hear the sarcasm, "Let''s get on with the induction: You''ve proven yourself," the man looked to David''s waist, his voice hinting his displeasure, "...Somehow... To be a player here. Riches, rewards, beauty and harems, all of that for your rewards in winning and such."
"Game? What kind of- Where did you take me?!" he tried running towards the man, but no matter how many steps David took the ground didn''t seem to move beneath him, and his spot never seemed to change.
A blurred head shook in disappointment, "I was hoping we''d get another age of the Greek''s this time after the last batch failed so miserably. But what can one do?"
David panted, resting his hands on his knees while glaring back up to the man... Creature. Like it or not, he couldn''t brute force his way into an answer, sweat pooling down his forehead while the brain behind it tried thinking.
"With that supplementary knowledge, just follow the road on up to the starting town. If you aren''t there within four days, we''ll take your forfeit as is and award your seat to the next player."
"Wait... Slow down..." he looked backwards to where the man pointed before glancing back to see the man wasn''t there anymore, "What- Hey!"
Looking around again, there wasn''t a sign of anything even close to the color of grey and white that the thing had been, and only the red bricks curving out of sight around the trees in either direction from him.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
And that started his first day in this new world.
"You flunked it?!" the anger built in that voice wasn''t easily ignored while David flinched under the onslaught of words, "Do you know how much we- That college was- !"
"Honey, stop it!" his mom was a softer voice in the house, "He tried his best! Everyone doesn''t make it through these newfangled schools, we should stay calm."
"Thirty grand down the drain and you want me to stay calm?! Law school should''ve been easy, but no, you must''ve spent the time partying it up with dumb friends and twitty bim-!"
"Erik!"
David couldn''t do anything but fume silently to himself while walking up the road. Or down the road. Or maybe he was going ''left'' on the road. Any direction, the way that blur had pointed was the only clue he had to get out of this mess and get back home.
Stupid shitty spirit thing... His thoughts repeated the same meaning every now and then between periods of resting against trees and sweating as he walked along the bricks. A body not made for hiking for hours on end, his only sustenance was the half granola bar left in his pocket. Already down in his gut, there wasn''t anything else to look forward to eating.
The trees certainly didn''t offer any fruits or nuts to sate the hunger, and the road was barren of even dust and had nothing helpful upon it.
...
...Would he die out here?
It was a gradual thought as he kept walking without any change in the type of trees or the kind of scenery as he followed the twists and turns of the red bricks. The blur had given him four days to reach the ''town'' at the end of the path, but even with a week he didn''t know how far it would be or whether he''d die of starvation before that.
...
The sun had made a full pass above the gap in the trees above him while he marched on, descending back over the tree line to the side. Hunger and thirst nipped and gnawed at his stomach and mouth, the sweat having stopped rolling while his lips seemed cracked together.
...
"Damn... That... Guy..." he let out barely above a whisper as he kept stepping forward on the road. The light was fading above him, stars already peaking out. He''d glanced up once or twice, but couldn''t make heads or tails of whether it was the same sky he was used to.
It did look pretty up there, at least.
What I wouldn''t give for a telescope...his thoughts hazed through his head,Maybe a ham and cheese before that... With some root...beer...
At some point as the sky lost its red color he''d fallen over, face to the bricks as his thoughts trickled out into darkness.
SPLASH
"Pffah!" David startled awake, his head drenched with water. He looked around with panic in his eyes only to see a pair of brown boots in front of him.
"Guess he was alive. Ya owe me ten silvers, Jebediah!" there was a series of laughs around while David looked up the boots to the brown pants and further up to the angry mess of black beard curled sneer holding a pouch with water leaking from it, "As fer you, ye''r a player, yeah?"
"What, who the-"
A spear pointed down to his face from another man to the side made him zip his mouth while looking to the point of it, trembling silently.
"No point in talking and letting ya get some fancy mumbo out yer mouth," the man leaned down to eye level, "Yer jus'' gonna point out what we want, y''here? Now give us yer ''bonus'' or we''ll take yer digits off."
And that started his second day in this new world.