Welcome to The Crucible

I woke up feeling like my head was being split open; it was the worst headache I ever had, by far.

“Urgh..” I muttered, bringing my hands to my head and curling up.

I stayed there for sometime, not being able to think of much but of when it would end – fortunately it was slowly going away.

The pain was so strong that it took me some time after it became bearable to notice what I was feeling, or better, not feeling; I felt nothing in contact with my skin and I also didn't feel an up or down, like I was floating.

My headache was getting better, but with my mind still in a daze I couldn't make sense of those feelings, so I opened my eyes to see what was going on.

All I saw was white, and, thinking I become blind, I panicked for a few moments until I realized that I could see my body... and that I was naked.

“Huff..” I said, while my heart slowed down.

I was at least awake for good now, but what I was seeing wasn’t reassuring me at all.

I was floating naked in a white space, and when I tried to remember I wasn't able to recall how I ended up here, I got nothing; I wasn't even sure what was the last thing I was doing.

Before I could do or think anything else, a blue thing popped up in front of me.

I froze up, but relaxed a bit a few moments later when I saw that nothing dangerous was happening.

What startled me was a blue screen with some text on it but, before I could read it, something changed in the white space and a bright light suddenly blinded me.

“Aargh!” I said, bringing my hands to my eyes.

Right after that I felt something cover me and I could finally feel an up and down again, and it seems I was lying on something.

Blinded, scared, and with a still pounding headache, I slowly lowered my hands to feel what was below me; I touched earth and maybe wet leaves.

It was also hot and humid.

After a bit, I slowly began to see again, and I sat while trying to blink away the white spots in my vision, I still had the blue panel in front of me and after I regained enough of my sight, I could see that I was in a forest and that I had clothes on me.

I wanted to look around better but that damn screen was at the center of my vision, and it was getting annoying, so after I looked around a bit with my peripheral vision, to make sure that nothing dangerous was happening, I began reading.

"What the fuck…" I said.

I stared at the screen, mind blank for a while, then I read it again, and again while feeling progressively worse.

I realized my heart was beating a little too fast, and I was heaving, so I tried to calm down and take a few deep breaths.

It seemed to work and my heartbeat gradually slowed down though I was still sweating like crazy – the air was really suffocating here and me getting upset hadn't helped to keep me cool.

I really didn't know what to do or think, and my headache, though it was subsiding, wasn't helping me think.

I was hoping this to be a dream, but it felt too real to be one.

Unsure on what to do I tried to get some clues from what the box told me.

"Let's see… I was called ‘Challenger’ so that means that I am here to challenge someone or something, and seeing that the welcome message told me I'm in a safe zone right now, I would bet this is a dangerous place, so probably the challenge consists in trying to survive here.

There is a so-called resurrection point so it may mean that I can't die, or more like I can come back to life after I die, like a game… I don't really know how to feel about this, but I don't want to find out.

That it will stay for the first month may mean that, whoever is the asshole that put me here, he's expecting me to take multiple months if not years to reach the gate… I really hope that's not the case…" I thought.

I couldn't think of anything else at the moment so, raising my right hand, I tried to see if I could touch the screen and close it.

The moment I reached the message it disappeared, so I put my hand down.

The first thing I did was inspecting my clothes; they fit just right and they were made of a material I didn't recognize but seemed sturdy, my pants were a dark brown color and my shirt dark green.

I also had some brown trekking boots.

I already noticed I was in a forest, it wasn't hard to miss with the trees and all; I was wondering how big it was though.

The trees were huge, and they covered the sky almost completely, so while it was daytime there wasn't much light down here, there was also a lot of undergrowth, so I couldn't see very far from myself.

I wasn't too sure but with the high temperature and humidity I guessed I was in a tropical rainforest since I didn’t know any other forests with those characteristics – the plants also seemed to fit.

"What the hell do I do now?! The asshole said the safe zone only lasted 3 days, so there isn't much I can do, especially since I have no tools on hand – so the question is: What do I do?…. Ok, I think I better stop asking my self the same question over and over and maybe try to think of something useful, so what do I do?… fuck…" I thought.

I was behaving calmly from an outsider perspective, but I surely wasn’t – this was not my typical day.

After a few minutes, seeing that I couldn’t get my mind clear I decided to explore my surroundings.

I didn't want to go too far since I didn’t want to lose the way back and accidentally exit the safe zone, but I wanted to at least know what was around me.

Getting up, I made a pile with some leaves and a few small rocks I saw around me to mark my resurrection point.

After marking my starting point I made my way forward while breaking branches so I could see where I passed and in the meantime I was looking around myself, to see if I could find something interesting and hoping maybe to have some idea.

I moved slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible, mostly due to fear and paranoia; I knew it was a safe zone but just thinking beasts or whatever was out there could hear me and maybe wander outside the safe zone waiting was enough to make me move around carefully.

While I was moving forward I noticed the sounds of the birds and insects and other animals getting stronger; it was loud, and I hadn’t noticed how abnormally quiet my surroundings were before.

I supposed it was because animals and insects couldn't enter and, since there was no wind, leaves also didn’t make noise.

After a few minutes when I judged I was getting too close, I turned around backtracked – I wasn't willing to risk going out yet.

Walking back I also took notice again of the absence of sound, it was almost eerie, and I was amazed at how I hadn’t noticed it before; maybe it was because I could still hear some of the sounds outside, though muted.

I found my way back without trouble, so I picked the opposite direction to see if I found something there.

In the meantime I had relaxed quite a bit; there still was a bit of fear there but I was considerably more calm compared to before and my headache had mostly disappeared leaving only a slight pounding in my temples.

While I moved forward I noticed nothing unusual, other than the ever-increasing sounds of insects or birds but, just when I was about to turn back, I heard something new.

I wasn’t sure at first since I was barely able to hear it, but I was reasonably sure it was the sound of water hitting something.

"Mm… should I continue or turn back?" I thought while stopping in place.

I was getting thirsty, but it wasn't anything too uncomfortable yet, so I tried other directions before attempting to go farther.

After I looked around more, I found nothing suspicious so I decided to see if I could find the source of the sound.

I walked until where I was before and carefully made my way forward – I was nervous and hoping it wouldn't be outside the perimeter.

Unfortunately, after some time, I felt some kind of pressure on my skin in front of me I thought was a signal I reached the limit of where it was safe.

It was a strange thing to feel but nothing that would stop me; it wasn’t its purpose.

"Dammit, it seems like it's just a few meters ahead." I thought, biting my lips.

I didn't know if proceeding was a good idea but it really felt like it was just a few meters in front of me.

"Would it really be so dangerous to walk a few meters outside? I mean, maybe I'm panicking a bit too much, after all, if I see something, I can just dash back inside." I thought, reassuring myself.

So I inspected the bushes and trees in front of me which limited my view to about a few meters and tried to listen if there was something there; when I felt reassured there wasn't anything, I stepped outside.

I stopped feeling that pressure on my skin, so halted my steps to see if there was something different, and, not seeing any change, I kept going.

I still tried to not make much noise – which wasn't going very well considering all the things that got in my way when I moved – and after just ten meters out I saw it, it was just a little stream but maybe it would be better than having a river with god knows what inside.

The noise I heard was from water falling from a little pond caused by a branch that fell in the stream's way.

I got closer and, after a few seconds of indecision, I knelt down, scooped up some water with my hands, and drank it.

I should have filtered it but I didn't have the time to see if I could build a filter, and I didn't know how dangerous it was out here.

I didn't drink too much because I wanted to see if it caused me some problems first, but at least it helped a bit with my thirst and now I knew where to find water at least.

I was in the middle of rising to my feet when I heard something behind me.

I had no time to react and before I could even think of something I was a bit behind my neck and an impact on my right shoulder twisting me around.

"Ah?!" I half-shouted while I fell forward.

I didn't understand above or below until I hit the ground.

My head bashed on something when I fell and it dazed me for a few seconds.

I felt something tighten around me and I tried to shake it off, to no avail.

I was being squeezed harder and harder and I was starting having difficulties to breathe.

When my mind cleared a bit, I looked down and saw what I could only think of as the body of an enormous snake coiled around me – it was a really big snake, with a body circumference bigger than my torso.

I panicked and tried to free myself, but it was coiled around me too tightly and I only had my right forearm and my lower legs free.

I couldn't take a breath and I felt like blood was going to be squeezed out of my face.

I was terrorized but my strength was waning and my vision was darkening; I knew I was about to die, and I could do nothing.

And then everything was black.

…

I became conscious again when I started feeling hot, but, before I could feel or think of something, that hot sensation became unbearable and soon I felt like my world was on fire

It was like my body was burning from the inside out.

After what felt like an eternity of agony, the pain receded until it disappeared completely, and I could feel my body again.

I opened my eyes and a blue screen popped up in front of me.

I could only stare at it blankly while the darkness receded, leaving me back in the forest; it was still daytime, and I was on the side of the stone pile I had made before exploring.

I was still for some time; not moving, not thinking.

And then I cried.