The Wake Up Call

"Wake up, Noa. Your life is just starting."

I'm not sure how much time has passed... maybe an hour? No, a day? Surely not a week? I'm not exactly positive what time means anymore, but as I drowsily regain consciousness I can feel the blades of grass and tiny leaves still gently brushing my hair along with the honey sweet fragrance of flowers and fresh grass wafting on the wind. Did I run outside into the field by the parking lot and collapse there? No that, can't be it, I don't hear any cars. Or any arguing neighbors from the nearby apartment complex. Or smell the shawarma place. 

As my eyelids hesitantly peek open, I can feel my breath catch in my throat. As far as my eyes can see is a fragrant field of white and purple daisies. Caught between alarm at the unknown and wonder at the beautiful scenery, I bolt upright. I've definitely never been here before, and I'm positive that my city doesn't have a giant flower field hidden in it. I mean I live in the middle of downtown. Where am I? How did I get here? 

I turn to the left and see a river meandering out from a thick patch of woodlands. There's a screen hovering just above the river:

DO YOU WANT TO START OVER?
/ YES /                                     / NO / 

My quickened breath of panic turns into a halting guffaw. And then a giggle. An unstoppable torrent of laughter spilling out of me, as unstoppable as the crying that consumed me earlier. A flock of nearby birds is startled at the sound and they flutter out of the trees and into the vast blue sky above, vanishing behind a pillar of orange and white clouds. It must be close to sunset in this place... I think to myself as I eyeball the screen in front of me inquisitively. I must really be losing it this time. This is one hell of a coping mechanism. If I can afford it, I should really talk to someone about this when I actually wake up.

Still tittering, I press YES.

// CREATE CHARACTER //

I may as well indulge in my little fantasy world since I'm here, after all. As far as sensations go, it doesn't feel too different from the real world. The wind picks up a bit, and blows my ochre hair around my neck and away from me. In some ways it even feels more real. 

As I peruse the options of the character menu, I end up resetting a lot. My base character is just me to begin with and I'm not all that unhappy with myself. I give my new avatar a little thicker and longer of hair, and fill out my body a little bit to put my regular weight back on. I add a few starburst sparkles as the highlight to my eyes and turn them to a seafoam green. But there is one thing that bothers me...

There are only a few options for hair color, and none of them are quite what I'm looking for. A few months ago I'd wanted to dye my hair a deep vibrant blue but never found the time. In this character creator my only options are my existing red, along with varying shades of black, brown, blonde, and grey. This system is not nearly robust enough. If only I had a keyboard with me, I could just modify the colors they coded into this. I wonder what kind of system they chose for this?

Pa-ping! 

A sleek white keyboard suddenly appears in front of me, floating midair. No way. More giggles escape me. You've gotta be kidding me. I scoop up the keyboard and visualize a mouse too. It pops into reality, hovering near my right hand. Nice.

I hit the home key on the keyboard so that the taskbar and search pop up near the bottom of my field of vision. This should be a fine place to start. I dig into the documents tab, scrolling through hundreds of different scripts until I reach the character creator. Bingo! With a few not so swift changes, and a quick control+S, I now have access to a color wheel when selecting my hair tone. 

Closing out all the windows and happily selecting out my favorite shade of light prussian blue, I finish up my character and hit start. She looks like me, but juuuust slightly better than before. The keyboard and mouse remove themselves from my area with a satisfying digital "PLINK".

RANK UP! LEVEL 0 --> 1
CLASS: [REDACTED] MAGE
SKILL: DEBUG
OBJECTIVE: RECOVER
SECRET OBJECTIVES: 1

A cheerful twinkling song begins to play in my ears, one that reminds me of my favorite games and shows. There's an intro with violins alongside what I think may be a koto, accented by piano and triangles. A soft voice hums a gentle melody in a language I don't recognize, but her voice crooning the bittersweet song puts me at ease right away. A gentle drum beat kicks in and I can feel my leg muscles relax and my bare feet sink into the ground. Although I didn't realize I lacked it before, it seems that I just gained the ability to walk by finishing up my character.

And then it hits me like an ocean wave... what am I supposed to do? For the last several years I've been consumed by waking up, logging into work, and working on the game with my team late into the night. But there's no deadline looming anymore, and nobody that needs my help. There's not even a phone anyone can use to message me. I may have imagined myself into a game world, but it feels like I have less objectives now than I ever did. What does "recover" even mean in a situation like this? 

"Heeeeeeeyyy!! You over there! Are you a new spawn?"

Squinting across the river I see someone waving his arms around like an inflatable tube man outside a used car dealership. He appears to be middle aged and healthy enough, although overall slightly damp, but a sturdy man with salt and peppered hair.

"Am I a new spawn?" I realize I'll have to raise my voice a little more for him to hear me across the river. "Like did I just get here?" Yeah!"

"You seem like it! We haven't gotten a new spawn in almost fifty years." His face darkens slightly with momentary concern before he shakes it back into a wide and friendly grin. "Welcome to your new life! Let's get you into town."