Chapter 1 The Loser

Written by: Chris Mitchell

I woke up to the sound of crashing thunder. Something is wrong. The ground beneath me is shaking. I got up and ran out of my makeshift housing.

The nearby metropolis was on fire. Destruction was rampant. A figure was emerging from the city on fire. I could see an evil grin on the backlit figure. Somehow I knew he was responsible for the travesty before me.

I ran toward him, gaining speed. I pulled my right arm back to prepare myself for an attack that would surely end him. It missed!

His speed was on par with mine. I could tell I was stronger, but he had more experience.

I hear the music to a song I'm familiar with.

He jabbed at me over a dozen times in a second. I narrowly dodged each one.

I can't remember the lyrics for the life of me, but I know the song well.

I lifted my leg at mach speed, aiming a kick for his head.

It was a pleasant melody.

He blocked it with both arms.

Everything comes to an end eventually.

He leaped back at least 100 yards and began gathering power.

This song is no exception.

I decided to do the same. This was the finale.

The song ended.

I was getting ready to unleash an attack of incalculable measure when...

The music started again from the beginning.

The same song.

The repetition forced me to realize that I am still dreaming and not stopping the alarm on my cell phone. I tapped the stop alarm button for the fourth time. I finally decided to get out of bed and take a shower.

I stepped out of the shower. There was only one towel rack with multiple towels. I always fold my towels in a certain way. I could tell someone had used mine. The need to get to work was greater than my desire to complain. I got dressed for work as usual. My short brown hair was combed over to my left.

I'm Lake Andrus. I'm 29 years old. No girlfriend.

I live in California with my parents and my brother. I work and I play video games whenever I'm not working. Average American height and weight.

I went to bed late last night. That's why it was difficult to wake up. My car ride to work was not unpleasant. I got to my work, a mailbox and package shipping store, in a timely manner.

"IDIOT!"

My manager was nice, pretty, and rude all at the same time.

"Idiot, idiot! Why did you put a package for box 122 in box 12?"

I casually took the small plastic-wrapped package from her to get a better look. I pointed at the name.

"The name is for box 12, the company that sent it, put 122 on it."

I said to her as though it were an everyday conversation before I handed it back.

"Oh shit, you're right. My bad."

She put on a smile and replaced the small package into the customer's mailbox. The rest of the day was mostly boring.

One customer tried to ship alcohol and got angry when I said we are not allowed to.

"Why can't you ship this? It's just a bottle of wine. I need to send it to my boss. He specifically told me to ship it next day. What's the problem?"

I could only think that he was either just an ignorant employee, or he is making excuses.

"I'm sorry sir, alcohol is federally regulated just like tobacco and firearms. Shipping those kinds of items is out of the question."

I figured it would be easier to get him out of my hair if I told him to come back later with a package of unknown contents, but he decided to interrupt my thought.

"Listen, you shit. If you can't send this, I can kiss my job goodbye. Do you really want to get someone fired? I'll never be able to get a job like this again."

My response was cold and emotionless.

"And if I send it, 'I' could get fired. If you need that job so much, you might want to start driving. You might make it in time if you pull an all-nighter."

I stared at him, unwavering. He finally realized that I was not joking. I saw a look of worry in his eyes before he ran out the door. My manager walked up to me after finishing with her customer.

"What happen' there?"

She asked. I sipped on a cup of ice water that I got from the coffee place next door.

"He wanted to ship alcohol. When I said we can't, he got rude."

She leaned over the counter to get a look at him as he drove away.

"Good riddance. Stupid people."

After a few more hours, all that was left was cleaning duties before I could leave. My co-workers and I said our goodbyes for the day.

Little did I know, it would be the last time I would talk to them.

The drive home was just as uneventful as the drive in. I picked up fast food on the way home. I thought to myself, I need to work on doing some exercise more often. I knew it would never happen.

I played my favorite MMO until midnight.

I finally decided to go to bed so that I could get up for work in the morning.

The next morning was the same routine as the last. Except, I decided to shave the stubble on my face that day.

For some reason, I remember that morning so much more vividly than the day previous. Before I walked out the front door, I checked my pockets.

"Keys, phone, wallet, wireless earbuds, knife. Okay, good to go."

I said out loud to myself.

My parents were at work already and my brother was probably asleep.

I never got to say goodbye.

I took five paces to my right after I locked the front door behind me. I turned right again.

Two steps down were before me.

I stepped down once with my right foot.

I picked up my left foot, intending to skip over both steps.

My eyes were blinded by a flash of light. I thought it must have been the reflection of the sun off of a car going down my street.

Something was wrong. My left foot was still going down. I should have made landfall already.

I reached out with my arms, bracing for the landing that would come in front of me. My right foot was freed from the feeling of solid ground.

Where was it? Where was the ground?

Wind...?

Where is all this wind coming from? My stomach felt as though it were in my throat. My eyes began to open. I could see green.

Grass from my front yard?

I rubbed my eyes and opened them wide.

I was in a freefall above a massive forest. It extended almost as far as I could see.

I could see the ocean. It was nowhere near where I was going to land.

Land!

The ground! Where would I hit?

This high up, no. No no no!

I wracked my brain. I could see no immediate way to survive. I had never been skydiving before, but this was just too much.

I'm gonna die!

I closed my eyes. Calm down, breath, look around I told myself.

It must have been five or six seconds but, it felt like 30 in the middle of a free fall. When I opened them again, I saw one tree sticking out. Not like a sore thumb, more like an Eiffel Tower.

If I put my body in the correct shape, maybe I could move toward it. Smaller branches at the top meant, more feeble branches to slow my fall as they give way.

Maybe, just maybe, that's my best bet to survive this fall.

Broken and bruised, I'm sure. This much, at the least.

It's all I can think of.

Time seemed to slow as I adjusted my body to form a shape that would allow me to move toward the tree. I was a bit slower in my forward momentum than I thought. Or maybe the tree was further than I had guessed. I had no idea if I would make it to the tree or not. Either way, I figured I was probably going to die.

Before that, I looked around as best I could. Was I somewhere I could identify? Were there any landmarks visible? To my right, pure forest as far as the eyes could see. In front of me, I could glimpse the ocean at a far edge. The ocean I saw before was behind me.

A bridge of landmass? A Peninsula? I had few seconds left. The tree was before me now. I was about to begin my painful descent down.

I glanced to my left.

Immediately I knew.

I had no idea where I was.

A mountain. Not just any mountain, it had structured holes all the way up to the top. Vegetation was present but, not overwhelming like the forest below me. Vines and Buildings?

Pain!

I closed my eyes, I was hitting the branches now. It hurt but not that bad.

"OUF!"

A larger branch knocked the wind out of me. Even so, It did not feel like the descent had slowed at all.

More pain. Impacts all over my body. Time felt like it slowed yet again.

I was in so much pain. I couldn't take it.

Please let the next branch impale me or something! No more, please! Just end.

The branches stopped hitting me. I was still falling, why? I had to have only been halfway down the tree, if that.

I mustered all my remaining strength to open my eyes. My left eye wouldn't open. It was either bruised shut or gouged out. It was hard to focus with my right eye. A stone floor?

"Oh shi..."

*Wham!*

I could no longer feel anything. My mind was still racing.

Was I dead?

I feel warmth all over me. My blood?

The hard surface that I landed on, was giving way beneath me. I fell yet again. I could no longer feel any pain.

Maybe I 'was' dead. As long as the pain was gone, I didn't care if I was dead at that point.

I can hear something? Screaming? Men and women.

"...UT OF TH..."

I can't make it out. The crashing sound of rocks below me and around me, had drowned it out.

Did I land again? The sounds are fading away. Is my brain finally shutting down before I become a lump of dead flesh?

One last thud. I heard it, close to my ear. Did I hit something?

COLD!

The warmth from before was a gradual feeling. This Is a sharp, almost stabbing feeling. Like a limb that fell asleep and is trying to wake up but freezing cold.

I can feel my neck again. I can feel. I thought I was dead, why can I feel? No, I don't want that pain back.

SO COLD!

That feeling is spreading outwards from my neck. Did something spill on my neck that's freezing?

"...omeone ge... ... ...way fr..."

I can hear again. My ears have that uneasy feeling of freezing and stabbing wakening.

My neck, it's warming up again. A slow shockwave of feeling?

Warm, cold, piercing, warm?

No, the pain. It's coming back! It's dull but it's there.

My right eye, I can feel it again. Can I open it?

"Wait, Is he still alive?"

A female voice?

"No. It can't be. That last fall should have killed him, let alone the impact with the ceiling."

That voice sounded like an elderly man.

Who are these peo...

Pain! Oh god, the pain!

The waves of prickly uneasiness spread fast now and enveloped my entire body almost instantly. Where I first felt the freezing cold on my neck, I now felt the most intense pain of my life.

"AAAAAHHHHHH! THE PAAAAAIIINNN!"

I screamed out. Probably the loudest sounds I have ever made in my existence.

I could feel my body twisting involuntarily.

My right arm felt like the elbow snapped backward.

My left arm twisted around multiple times.

Both legs, breaking in a dozen different places.

My eyes opened and I saw the elderly man that I heard before, yelling at others in green robes. Most were running to what must have been an exit.

The pain was only getting worse.

I stood up and reached out to the old man, intending to beg for either salvation or death.

All at once, I realized three things.

First. Both of my eyes were open. I had thought that my left eye was out of commission.

Second. I was standing on both of my legs and reaching outward with assumedly broken limbs.

Lastly. The man I was staring at, reaching for and walking toward.

He is an elf.

His ears were long and pointy. Did I seriously crash land in the middle of a group of role players? Or Could I be actually be looking at a real live elf?

An elf of all things.

"Huh..."

I managed, as the only word out of my mouth before I blacked out.