Amongst All Other Worlds, Why Did It Choose Such A Clichéd Setting?

“Ughh, what another shitty day.”

Verbally venting my frustration at the stressful day I just survived, I continued walking down the usual busy sidewalk filled with equally annoyed business people in fancy suits also ranting to colleagues. Cigarette smoke filled the air, as complaining and conversations were drowned out by the sounds of car horns and engines.

Eventually I thought, I would move up in my role. After graduating university late, I eventually started working at the largest stock exchange in the country. The Next York Stock Exchange, or NYSE for short. While I had considered it my dream job, it left much to be desired. Filled with long days, and no options for taking time off, I was suffering severe burnout. All around me, everyone had the same, defeated, empty stares as they shuffled towards their homeward commute.

“Eat, Sleep, Work, Repeat” I mumbled.

Turning my attention back to my Peartm Smartphone, I started sifting through all the social media messages that collected throughout the day.

John Johnny

Instachat

Hey Ko, you free tonight? We’re gonna go to that new sushi restaurant that opened!

6:33pm

Can’t, busy, lots of reports to complete

6:34pm

Sucks man, enjoy, we’ll toast a beer to ya

6:34pm

Thx >.<

6:34pm – Read

---

Yep, another night, alone with myself, having to pass on any social life because of work. Well, to be honest, I didn’t “exactly” want to go out for food with friends. I usually did the bare minimum in social situations just to maintain good relations with my workmates. What I really wanted to do, was finish my work so I could start playing my favourite RPG again.

It didn’t take long, but once I started thinking about my “actual” interest, my mind had already started to imagine the future prospects of finally beating the encounter I had been stuck on for several days. I was excited thinking about how I was going to tackle the upcoming boss fight, and had already planned three new strategies while at work. Hopefully these reports wouldn’t take up too much of my time.

Absorbed in my thoughts, I continued walking amongst the sea of people and concrete towards my rental unit while looking down at my phone. Everything was grey, grey, grey. I turned the corner to more buildings, also grey, and continued.

If only something could happen to change this. A thought I’d often think about during my walks home. I continued viewing the amazing scenery of grey sidewalks, trash tumbling through the streets and a sea of, you guessed it, grey buildings. I continued walking while playing this game in my head. Grey, grey, grey, different grey, grey, clouds, more clouds.

“Wait, clouds??! What the ahhh--”

Suddenly, my mind jumped back to reality as I screamed. I realized something was very, very wrong. Below my feet was not concrete, but nothing at all! To add insult to this predicament, I, was now falling downwards at incredible speeds! In a shocking response to this recent event, I, also managed to drop my phone, which was now happily racing me towards the quickly approaching ground!

At a complete loss for words, the only audible sound I could make were screams of pure terror, as I desperately tried to figure out which god I had pissed off so much, that they decided to kill me with death from a thousand feet!!!

Clearly, this was how I would die, not of old age, after living a fulfilling life in retirement, but randomly plummeting from the sky in the middle of nowhere! Seriously, how the heck did this happen?!?!?

I frantically looked around, desperate to find anything to help me slow my descent. I could see a large castle in the distance, with various mountain ranges behind it, and directly below me, a sea of trees and scattered lakes. The air was clear, and the ground eagerly awaited to embrace me with open arms as I continued my unconsented approach.

As much as I kicked, struggled, and flailed about, nothing seemed to be helping. I was now roughly at the altitude of the mountains. While I was sure my vocal cords had already ruptured from my screaming, the pain of a sore throat was nothing compared to the violent, icy wind that revenged my face like thousands of tiny blades cutting into my skin! Falling at terminal velocity without any protective gear like goggles, a thick suit, and not to mention a parachute, was not something I would recommend!!! If I made it out of this, I could confidently say I will NEVER go sky diving!!!

Somehow, through all of this chaos, I managed to collect my words and yelled the only word I could think of.

“STOOOOOP!!!!!”

And as if the world understood itself that it’s cruel prank had gone on for far too long, I felt a surge of wind from underneath my body helping slow my descent. As thankful as I was confused by this change of events, one thing remained consistent.

I was still going too fast.

“Ahhhh--- Gahhh- Ofhh- Ouch—Damnit—Fuck.”

Everything went black.

-----

Eventually, my vision started to come back into focus. I tried looking around, but everything was still blurry. The sunlight was painful as it happily stabbed my eyes with it’s piercing, luminous hue. My face felt like it was on fire. I tried touching it with my hands and noticed they now had a gross, slimy feeling afterwards. Most likely from a grotesque mixture of snot and blood.

“hmph” I chuckled.

I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting. Of course I would be bleeding after a fall like that!!!

I did fall… Right?

Finally, my brain started to catch up with the situation and kindly reminded me that the rest of my body was in excruciating pain as well. Breathing was a chore, with each gasp sending sharp pains throughout my chest and torso. I probably had at minimum, several fractures, and broken bones all over my body.

Next, my vision came into focus. I appeared to hanging above the forest’s floor, trapped between a prison of leaves and branches. While my arms and legs could freely move, it was painful to do so.

That’s right, I was wearing a backpack! That’s probably what caught my decent through the tree canopy and stopped me from meeting a fatal end with the forest’s floor. Distance wise, I looked to be about, maybe 18 feet from the ground? Not horrible, but still dangerous.

Nearby, I was able to see what looked like a lake. The water seemed pure, calm, and in tranquility with itself. How I would give anything to trade our two situations right about now!

So, I came back to my current problem... How do I get down from here?

No sooner had the thought entered my head, I heard the classic, undeniably characteristic sound, of branches breaking.

*Chthunk*

“Ughhh.”

Well, at least I was on the ground now. I tried to move my legs, but they wouldn’t budge. In fact, I couldn’t feel much of anything below my waist line now. I looked down and everything was still there, just numb. Unable to move, I looked around me. It appeared my backpack had fallen off during my last tumble and happened to land beside me, and in a rather, cruel turn of fate, a box of bandages I had kept with me for simple First-Aid problems had fallen out. The box had clearly seen better days, but the contents remained oblivious to this fact and remained neatly in their wrappings.

The air crackled around me, and my head was overcome with a mind shattering pain. Almost like the static from a “no signal T.V. channel”. Instinctively, and, in a last attempt at humor, I reached towards one of the bandages with all my might, and managed to peel one open. Then, without a second though, I placed it over my hand as if saying “don’t worry, everything will be alright!”

“Haha” I managed to laugh to myself. So this is how it ends for me. Dead on a forest floor, desperately putting a bandage on my hand.

I heard that staticky noise again, but this time also accompanied by what my eyes could only describe as tears in reality itself.

“Gahhh!”

My head pounded again, but this time I heard words, and it wasn’t my inner monolog talking. Something else was clear speaking, as though directly into my mind. The voice strangely like that helpful assistant on my smart phone…

[Mythical Healing Item Detected, World Compensating…. Processing…]

[Solution Calculated. Applying Effects Of Full Body Restoration]

My hand started to glow, and along with it, the pain in my body gradually began to ease. The blurriness in my vision corrected into crisp images of dirt and twigs, along with my now perfectly, normal looking hand. I could once again feel my legs, and breathing was considerably easier now.

What the hell just happened?

Seeing as I was near some water, I mustered my strength and pulled myself onto my feet. I diligently collected my backpack and hastily put the bandages inside. Clearly, I would want to hold onto these.

At the water’s edge, I leaned down and scooped some of the serene water into my hands and splashed my face. It still felt rather gross, so the experience was one of the more refreshing incidents to happen to me lately. Eventually, the mixture of blood and snot loosened, as I continued to splash myself with the cool water’s gentle embrace.

Satisfied my face was now feeling “somewhat” better, I walked over to sit underneath one of the many trees in the shade. The sun was still diligently trying to stab my eyeballs, but was more bearable now. That staticky sound was still there, but much less painful, and my eyes were still seeing random tears in the universe occasionally. As I sat there, I found myself repeating similar words from earlier.

“What happened to me, and where the hell am I?”