THE RANDOM WORD CHALLENGE

Chapter two

I hear the sounds of people moving and talking. What just happened? My breathing is normal, and I don’t feel wet. What the hell is going on?

I open my eyes but immediately put my hand up to block the sun. The sun? It was just around 7 pm and already dark out when I stumbled into that back alley. This must have had something to do with meeting Destiny in that other place; my mind was still confused about all of this.

As my eyes begin to adjust to the light, I notice something that stayed in the same place no matter how I looked. In the top left-hand corner of my view is a blinking blue icon. I focused on it and discovered it was a blinking star.

Suddenly, I was distracted from the icon, something else had caught my attention. My hand was tiny, and suddenly I was aware of the rest of my shrunken body. What the hell? It wasn’t even my skin color.

I had tan skin before, and now it was a pasty white. I look at the small hand and skinny arm attached to it and was not impressed. I stopped my eyes from disappointing me any further when I saw what I was wearing.

“Ok, what is going on here? None of this is making any sense,” I spoke these words quietly and slowly, my brain trying to process all this, but it was like I was drawing blanks.

I took a deep breath. Alright, it seems that I have somehow got myself that second chance I had wanted. I can’t squander this chance, and I will work hard at this new life!

I try to stand up, but it’s like I don’t know what I’m doing and I get tangled in my legs and fall on my face. Stupid, what was wrong with my limbs? It was like I had to learn how to walk all over again, even using my arms and fingers took some getting used to.

At the end of the alley, I could hear two people laughing like crazy people. I looked up to see the two… Things standing at the end of the alley pointing at me doubled over. As I picked myself up with a bit more grace, both lost interest and walked away as if nothing had happened. WAS THAT JUST A BULL MAN AND A BLUE JELLY MAN LAUGHING AT ME???

“All right, I can’t just sit around when there is a whole new world for me to explore!”

I walked to the end of the alley, and when I got to the street, I stopped. Like a complete system pause in a game, but only for me. My mind does that thing to freeze all thought, diverting all power to comprehend what you are seeing. It’s like when you see something that you can’t believe because it’s just too unbelievable. The real issue was that everything was unbelievable.

This place defies the law of…well I think it defied all of them. There were humans and demi-humans, animal people, orcs, gnomes, the Beetles, witches, wizards, lawyers, demons, androids, two for one BOGO shoe salesmen, more alien species than all eight MIB movies. And if that’s not weird enough, none of the buildings matched up. It was like someone had picked one from every era that they had happened on and many that never existed in the first place.

“Grewdsa dersq….” I’m sure smoke was forming at my ears at this point as words failed, and I felt drool forming in the corners of my mouth.

Slapping my cheeks good and hard, I wiped my face off after my brain caught up with the sensory overload and turned around. I went and sat down at the place I had been sitting before, because holy shit, where the hell was I? Sitting down, I inspect myself, no shoes on, and wearing that horrible burlap sack with a hole in it that I had noticed earlier and just denied its existence until now and string around my waist.

What the hell was this shit? The second-hand clothes that I had been wearing before death were a lot better than this used potato sack! Was I to suffer worse this time?

“Ugh, my brain,” I say to myself, rubbing my pounding temples.

The blinking star catches my attention again, and I’ve noticed that it always stays in the same spot no matter where I turn. Looking at the icon, I move to touch it, but my finger can’t reach it. I try a couple more swipes at it, but still nothing.

“Oh great, this is just par for the course. I bet it’s something cool and I’ll never be able to open it,” but an explosion of screens invades my view and cuts my complaints off, making me push against the wall.

Three alerts pulsate in the shape of blue windows, and the first one reads:

WELCOME TO THE RANDOM WORLD CHALLENGE!

The Random World Challenge is a race to the top! You and your team will compete against another team to reach the final round. The last one standing wins the next world choice, a wish, and an advantage for the next game.

Random World Challenge is a combination of all worlds and creatures. The NPCs are randomized, and their quests will be varied. To make it to the next round, you must gain experience through NPC and World quests. World quests will be given to you during special events, and they will come via message.

This round, you have been given two blessings that will help you advance in the random world.

The first is Transmigration, this allows you to retain and regain your memories from your past lives, and you also receive a guide, Elena. Elena is a Pack Faery and will help you this round.

The second is Destiny; this will see random acts to help the player get closer to his goal and ultimate reward. Destiny will be waiting for you in this world. She is waiting for you, Hero.

“So it all was real, and I did get to spend time with her. I would be against another team so I would need to find her and others.”

I absently look at the bottom of the message.

ATTACHMENTS: 3

 1. Extra burlap sack

Wait a minute…

 1. Extra string

Is this some bad joke?

 1. Elena

Oh? Elena, what is this? So I did get something useful after all! Maybe, really, can’t be much worse than the first two disappointing items, and she is supposed to be a guide! Let’s see now, before it worked when I said open, so…

“Accept all?” I say as more of a question than a statement.

Another pulsing blue bar pops up.

ITEMS ACCEPTED

Access your inventory to use these items.

This heads-up-display was the kind of stuff from video games in my previous life, and I was getting excited. A game like this, with the blessings I have, could mean endless possibilities. There were still two more alerts on my HUD and I would get to them, but I was still lost in the potential of my new life.