The morning sun grew intolerable, even with my eyes closed.

What time is it?

A fear gripped me as I woke. A fear that everyone has experienced at least once in their lives. My alarm clock didn’t go off, and I’m absolutely late for work.

I bolted up in my bed… wait. I bolted up in dirt… in a forest? I looked down and found myself clad in tattered clothes that looked borrowed from a poor farmer depicted in some medieval history museum. A beige long sleeved shirt that felt one size too big, dark brown pants, and shin high black boots completed the outfit.

Turns out, the reason the sun was so bright was because I was outside, and it was shining directly on my face between two trees. The fear of being late for work gradually morphed into a myriad of different thoughts. I definitely remember going to sleep next to my wife… Then I was here. I don’t remember being drugged or kidnapped, but that must be what had happened. Why would they put me in weird farmer's clothes though? Some kind of joke?

I finally took a breath and examined my surroundings to see if anything was at all familiar. Most kids went camping growing up, or were boy/girl scouts. That might assist them in identifying trees or plants and offer clues as to their location. I, however, grew up playing video games and Neopets. Not quite as helpful in this situation.

The trees looked like, well, trees. They were huge though, in circumference and height, perhaps 250 feet tall, and at least 80 feet round. They looked like those pictured in national parks, sort of like giant redwoods. Austin definitely didn’t have these, nor did any part of Texas from what I could remember. The forest floor was mostly shrubbery, fallen leaves, and moss. Birds could be heard chirping in the distance and an occasional animal call that was unrecognizable to me.

“Tiffany?” I called out into the empty air.

No one but the birds responded. Had my wife suffered the same fate as I? I walked around, calling out a few more times, looking for any sign of life. Nothing.

At that moment, I heard a chime… in my head?

Welcome, Human, to Laria! You have been teleported from your world, Earth. This world is similar to games you know as "RPGs." To aid in your sanity, we will be removing all your Earthly memories. Bonds to your former life have been shown in the past to prevent full assimilation into society, and thus, the memory wipe initiative came into effect. After its implementation, our rate of rejection plummeted drastically. After experimenting, we found that one hour in a world freeze was enough time to prepare. You may think, "Status," to confirm this. Please use this time wisely, appreciate your old memories, and prepare for new ones.

With that information, I took a deep breath, relaxed, and focused on preparing myself for what was to come...

Just kidding, I fuckin' freaked out. Lots of shouting into the air, crying, fighting the urge to vomit, etc. I began to have tunnel vision and passed out for a few minutes in panic. When I awoke, I ran around like an insane person, screaming for help. That was when I noticed something strange… the birds stopped chirping, and I couldn’t hear my footsteps when I ran. I looked up, and saw a bird frozen midflight in the sky. The branches of trees no longer moved to the sway of the breeze.

A world freeze…

After realizing that time had stopped, I began to wrap my head around my situation as best as I could. What did I know for sure?

I was in some new world that operated on stats, like a video game. Plenty of books were written about something like this, people teleporting to a new world with RPG like elements, so those authors were clearly aliens and knew what was going on. I need to confirm this theory.

The message had said to think of something, like my statistics, and information should pop up if I thought the word “Status.” Well… here we go.

Status.

Name - Vince (Level 1)

HP - 100/100

Skills - None

Abilities - None

Race - Human (Earth)

Mana - 100/100

Power - 3

Agility - 3

Bloodline - Hidden

Buffs - None

Constitution - 3

Mana Manipulation - 3

Class - Undecided

Debuffs - Panic (resolving) Paranoia (active), Fear (active)

Exp: 0/100

Traits - None

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Okay, so theory confirmed. This made me feel better… I think. I sat on the forest's dirt floor, put my head on my knees, and came to grips with my reality. Sadness crept in as I remembered the next part of the announcement… they were going to wipe my memories. My family… my wife…

A memory popped in my head for some reason when I thought of her. Our chocolate lab, Saphira, rolling around on her back, derping it up while my wife and I videoed her like she was our newborn kid. This made me laugh and cry. I swore I could feel the fur of my dog rub against my forearms, and her wet nose trying to make sure I was okay.

Turns out, it wasn't because of a memory that I felt a wet nose, but because of a small white panther that wanted to make itself known in the forest.

You have 60 seconds before the memory wipe initiates.

I made eye contact with the panther, and felt an incredible chill go through my body. It was not a cold chill that made one feel numb, but rather an invigorating chill like getting into a cold shower after a hot day outside. I felt… awake… alive.

30 seconds...

I couldn’t look away from this panther, and it didn’t look away from me. I felt no fear, no nerves, nothing but energy and a sense of peace like I had never experienced before. In just a few seconds, I had forged a connection unlike anything I've ever encountered.

10 seconds...

I reached my hand out and stroked the panther, who purred in response. Then the countdown hit zero, and all I knew was pain.