Arthur Raven Wood slowly emerged from a deep fog, his consciousness distant, like someone drowning in a thick, misty sea. At first, his thoughts were murky, almost nonexistent, but then, gradually, like the tide returning to shore, his mind began to clear. The second thing to return was his sense of smell, bringing with it an intense and penetrating aroma of wet earth, leaves, and something slightly damp—perhaps moss. It was a strong, fresh scent, like the air after a storm.
Suddenly, as if waking from a suffocating nightmare, Arthur opened his eyes. The sight of the ground, his face pressed into the cold, slightly damp earth, was the first scene he encountered. With careful effort and muscles still somewhat numb, he rose, feeling the stiffness in his own body. Leaning on a nearby tree, he pressed his back against its rough trunk and looked around, allowing the vastness of the forest to take shape in his mind.
Everywhere, the forest extended, green and immense, like an ocean of leaves and shadows. Tall trees covered the sky, their branches intertwined, forming a canopy that allowed only small beams of light to pass through. It was surreal, almost enchanting in its magnitude.
"This… can't be real, can it?" Arthur whispered as his heart raced. The throb of his pulse echoed in his ears, his body responding with a surge of adrenaline that made him feel suddenly alert.
Arthur closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling his chest rise and fall. His mind, still confused, tried to grasp onto some idea of logic, something that could make sense of it all. In an attempt to calm himself, he began muttering to himself in a low, hoarse voice that sounded almost unrecognizable.
"Calm down, Arthur. Calm down. Losing your head now won't help… Quite the opposite, it'll just make everything worse. Breathe and think," he whispered to himself, repeating the phrase almost like a mantra. His tone held a touch of determination, but a slight hesitation betrayed him.
Breathing in again, he filled his lungs with the air around him, and a new detail caught his attention. The air here felt different from anything he had ever experienced: so pure it was almost tangible, as if he could sense it with more than just his sense of smell.
It was the absolute opposite of the dense, polluted air he breathed every day in the "concrete jungle" where he lived, surrounded by skyscrapers and concrete. Here, everything smelled of life, of living and vibrant earth, and it brought a slight comfort, almost like a forgotten memory of something ancestral.
After a few moments, when he finally felt more centered, Arthur closed his eyes again, trying to recall what might have happened before waking up in this strange place.
...
A few minutes earlier.
...
Sitting in my swivel chair, I felt the cold leather against my skin as I could barely contain the frustration bubbling inside me. The blue light from the computer screen illuminated my face, and my fingers danced across the keyboard, typing furiously. The chat window blinked, filled with heated messages exchanged with a user calling himself "nameless deity." He was full of himself, of course, and I was on the verge of losing my patience.
"A Force user could easily survive in The Gamer universe!" I typed, every word laced with anger.
"Are you kidding me?!" he replied, using a barrage of ridiculous emojis. "A Force user has limited potential. The protagonist in The Gamer is a mage; the guy can use magic! And he has infinite mana!"
My hand paused for a second but quickly resumed typing. "Infinite? You're dreaming! If a Force user were also a player, he'd crush the protagonist! The peak of the Force is omniscience! The guy can sense and control entire galaxies! He can bend gravity and turn a sun into a black hole to swallow everything around it!"
"Nameless deity" wasn't intimidated. "And you think that's enough? A player's power is about skill! The protagonist can evolve and gain powers you can't even imagine!"
The muscles in my jaw tightened. I was tired of his arrogance. "Skill power? So what? If I knew how to control gravity, I could crush your beloved protagonist with a thought! I'm talking about planets being destroyed like paper!"
"You're just a fanboy! That's not an argument; it's just your wish for your favorite character to be stronger! The reality is that the powers in The Gamer far exceed any concept of strength you have in mind!"
"Screw you! You don't understand anything about real power! A character who can turn suns into black holes has insane potential. The protagonist may be a mage, but that doesn't mean he'd defeat someone who controls the Force, which is literally limitless. He could easily crush someone's heart with a thought because the Force is omniscient!"
The messages flew back and forth at a frantic pace. My heart raced, and adrenaline coursed through my veins like a thread of hot electricity. It was a clash of egos, and I wasn't going to let him win. Every message was an explosion of arguments and insults, a virtual battle that made me forget the world around me.
"Just because you've watched some movie doesn't mean you understand how the real Force works!" he replied, now practically shouting with his typed words.
"And just because you're a superhero fan doesn't mean your opinion makes any sense! The protagonist might be powerful, but the Force is something ancient! Do you really think he could defeat another player who knows how to use it? Imagine the destruction he would cause!"
The debate continued, words flying between us like a duel of spells. "If I could travel to another world as a player with access to the Force as my first ability, I'd prove once and for all that I'm right."
Anger still pulsed within me as I stared at the screen, waiting for his reply. But instead of the usual response — full of emojis and random arguments — "nameless deity" replied in an unexpected way.
"Are you sure about that?"
I frowned. The tone felt different, as if something was hidden behind the words. But with my usual disdain, I responded without hesitation.
"Yes."
Moments later, a smiling emoji appeared on the screen. Its simplicity irritated me even more, as if he knew something I didn't, as if he were mocking me. Before I could type another response, a new message appeared:
"Good luck."
"Zuzuzu~~~"
Then, a chill ran down my spine, making the hair on my arms stand up. The temperature around me seemed to drop, and the air vibrated slightly, as if reality itself was wavering. I blinked, thinking it was fatigue or imagination. But in an instant — in the blink of an eye — everything went dark...
...
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End of chapter.