“I exhaled, letting out the negative feelings to reason better. “Seems like too much time–there a catch somewhere?” I asked myself, and finding none explicitly stated, I clapped my hands once in front of my eyes, like the clapperboard for the movie that had now become my drastically more intriguing life.

  “Alright…Fine, I guess it’s rescue time, whoever the fuck. Time to clear my conscience….” I told myself through grit teeth, not truly wanting to help, and still glancing occasionally at the cliff edge for an escape.

  I moved toward the thick foliage ahead, determined to find any weak points. My fingers glided over the slick, glossy surface of the vines, their slimy texture sending shivers down my spine as I searched for a vulnerable spot. I focused on areas that seemed darker or thinner than the rest of their tangled, writhing bodies, roughly yanking at these weaker sections in hopes of breaking through. Each tug was more desperate than the last, my urgency to penetrate the jungle growing by the second. That urgency only intensified as the next notifications flashed before my eyes, one of which was finally different from the usual blocks of text.

  [Tutorial teleportation points have been determined. Those who fail to reach one in time are deemed unworthy and will be brutally killed for divine entertainment. Time remaining before temporary planetary shutdown–for enhancement of difficulty–is 600 minutes.]

  The other notification was an image, almost like a video feed from Google Earth. A large, spinning planet was displayed, nearly unrecognizable from the Earth I had once known. It was absurdly massive, sparsely detailed, with vague patches of green and blue indicating land and water. The globe rotated smoothly, like a basketball spinning effortlessly on an NBA player’s fingertip, and the rapid movement made it dizzying to look at. Continents and islands were scattered strangely across the surface in a pattern that seemed oddly artificial, as though they had been placed there deliberately. Most of the planet was covered in landmass, with maybe only 40% occupied by oceans or other bodies of water.

  “This is the world now? This? It looks aw-” I cut myself short before I could say something I might get punished for by the system, biting my tongue.

  “Alright…Where are we now…”

  What caught my attention were the countless blinking red lights scattered all across the map. They dotted the land and even the oceans, each one pulsing rhythmically, a glaring contrast to the otherwise bland geography. These blinking lights, I realized, were the teleportation points mentioned earlier. What’s more, I felt in my heart that this unfamiliar planet was the new Earth—a twisted, altered version of my home. Absently, I wiped my wet hands on my denim jeans, surprised to feel the coarse fabric clinging to my legs.

  I stared at the map, trying to make sense of where I was and how I could get to one of these points within the next not even half a day, with nothing but my own two feet for transportation. My mind raced, frantically trying to figure out a plan. Then, it hit me—a lightbulb moment (metaphorically speaking, of course, though at this point a literal lightbulb randomly popping into existence wouldn’t have shocked me). I realized I had been overthinking things. With one hand, I reached up and cautiously touched the map. Instead of my hand phasing through it, or disrupting the image as I half-expected, the map froze in place, as if I had pressed pause on a video. The globe stopped spinning, and the image held steady.

  Intrigued, I pulled my hand back, watching as the planet resumed its dizzying rotation. Eager to experiment, I tried a few more gestures, pinching my fingers together to zoom in and pulling them apart to zoom out, just like with a touchscreen. The map responded smoothly to my commands. After playing around a bit, I resolved to find my own location. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as difficult as I had anticipated. As I zoomed in further, the image seemed to force itself toward a specific spot, almost as if it knew where I was. I allowed it to guide me, and soon enough, the notification zoomed in on a blinking yellow dot. My location, perhaps?

  Excitement surged through me as I scanned for the closest teleportation point. Could I be in it right now? My enthusiasm waned when I discovered it was extremely deep within the dense jungle I had been struggling to break into. The map on the notification had become more detailed the more I had zoomed in. Lucky me, right? Not quite. While there were more than enough teleportation points scattered across the globe to accommodate the entire population, many of them were placed in highly inconvenient locations, like mine. Worse still, there might be limits on how many people could use the same point. The idea of a rush of people scrambling to reach these points crossed my mind, and I realized that the distinction between the "worthy" and the "unworthy" might simply come down to who could physically make it there, or who had family members that could assist.

  As if to confirm some of my suspicions, another notification popped up. This one didn’t replace the others but instead layered on top, crowding my vision with even more unsettling information.

  [Current capacity of closest teleportation point: 17/100]

  With my initial guess, I had assumed at least a thousand people would be allowed into a given teleportation point. If there were only 100 slots, that meant Earth's population might start dwindling soon—assuming all of this wasn’t just some wild, convoluted dream. But no, I didn’t think I was dreaming. Or maybe I just didn’t want to believe it. It didn’t matter. I had gotten here already. Where here was? Not far from where I started. But a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

  “Wait a second…seventeen already? Were they practically on top of it?” My confidence lessened even further as my chances to make it to the point before it filled up seemed quite slim. Still, it’s worth a shot.

  Adrenaline surged through me, clearing the last haze of doubt clouding my mind. Fueled by this sudden burst of strength, I seized a thick, green vine blocking my way and tore it apart with sheer force, little by little, a very unclean severance. It did not give for a few seconds, but when it did, it was practically already done.

  The severed tendrils started to…twist and writhe as if in pain, their once-unfeeling texture now eerily alive. It was as though the plant had recognized me as its enemy. Great. So, now the plants were sentient—and deadly. Really wonderful.

  “Hey now…let’s be civil here!”

  Before I could react properly, the remaining vines whipped forward, lashing out with startling precision, their movements sharp and mechanical, like projectiles from a weapon trained on its target. The green tendrils, now hostile extensions of the forest itself, zipped through the air with an unsettling speed, closing in on me as if drawn by an unseen force.

  I acted on instinct, throwing myself to the ground. The impact jarred through my body, and the gritty earth scraped against my skin as I dove beneath the oncoming assault, narrowly avoiding a direct hit. I squeezed through the narrow, thorny path I’d managed to create, trying to ignore how my arm was dangerously being dug into, wriggling under the twisting plants until I could pull myself to safety on the other side. I couldn’t breathe, so I clawed forward with all I had. As I scrambled back to my feet, I caught a glimpse of the tattered remains of my shirt—ripped almost to ribbons, its fibers hanging in shreds. I exhaled deeply and inhaled even deeper, clutching my arm and cradled it in hopes of lessened pain. The back of my shirt had been torn open completely, and a sharp, stinging sensation from my lower back reminded me that the rest of me hadn’t escaped unscathed either; blood trickled down my skin, each droplet warm against the cold earth beneath me.

  The only things running through my head were a mixture of: ‘What in the world just happened?’ and ‘Damn, that hurts,’ as well as ‘I…almost just died there. So easily, my life could’ve just been snuffed out.’ I don’t think I liked that. It wasn’t exactly pleasant.

  The shirt was polyester, gray, and had some faded band logo on it—something my parents had bought for me years ago. Now it lay abandoned in the cold dirt, a relic of the life I had left behind. My body, in all its glory, was now exposed to the world. Of course I felt self conscious about it, but not enough to actually fix it. Before anything else, I backed up slowly to create some distance between me and the vines, then, changing my mind, I lunged to grab the shirt back to tie around my still bleeding arm and prevent further blood loss; a long gash had been torn from wrist to shoulder, and I was just able to cover the majority of it by using several of the shirt pieces that had fallen from the main thing. Even still, the shirt was soaked with blood in moments, and I felt a bit dizzy.

  The vibrant green grass I had seen at the forest's edge had all but disappeared, leaving behind only bare, packed dirt. Towering monstrosities that could hardly be called trees loomed over me. The ones I had seen before were an ashen, blackish-gray, but these had a sickly green tint to their bark, which blended into the dense, unnatural shadows cast by the forest's canopy. The multicolored leaves that adorned the treetops were a kaleidoscope of autumn hues—brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows—but they didn’t add any warmth to the cold, eerie atmosphere below. The vines behind me still writhed faintly but seemed to retreat and made no moves towards me, so I accepted that and started to move.

  There was no clear path through this overgrown wilderness, much to my disappointment. It was a chaotic mess of trees, rocks, and branches. Massive, unmovable boulders blocked several routes, creating natural barriers that forced me to move northwest, navigating around these stony walls. The forest felt ancient, untouched by human hands, despite the fact that they likely had just appeared at the will of the system. There were no animals, no sounds of life—just silence, broken only by the occasional crackle of leaves underfoot or the creaking of trees in the wind. The ground was littered with twisted roots and fallen branches, but none of it truly hindered my movement. So, I ran.

  I dashed forward with all the speed I could muster, my heart pounding in my chest as adrenaline surged through my veins. But I soon slowed to a strange sort of speed walk out of pure inability to maintain the pace. I hissed something through clenched teeth that it probably wasn’t best for anyone else to hear.

  Pain shot up through my feet with every step. I had forgotten the most important part—I wasn’t wearing any shoes. Each step onto a hidden rock or sharp debris sent waves of agony through my soles, barely protected by the thin, institutional white linen socks I still had on. Every sharp edge dug into my flesh, and the forest floor was relentless. My feet screamed in protest with every movement, making the simple act of running feel like torture.

  Yet, I remained steadfast in my pursuit of survival, as long as that life was different from the one I had endured before. So, I pressed on. I kept searching as well, for whoever had let out that scream. I found no animal tracks, no smoke, no blood splattered on tree bark. My soles, scraped raw, felt the sting of countless rocks and sharp debris slicing into them, a faint trickle of warmth pooling beneath my feet. Blood, no doubt. I pushed through, determined to ignore the pain and just pass by any roots I stumbled on. I had faced worse pain before–Don’t think about it…take it out of your mind…free yourself from those times…

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Finally, I came to a halt, my breathing ragged as I clutched my side, feeling every stab of the ache that had slowed me down. Just as I managed to catch a shaky breath, a voice called out from behind me, light and cautious.

  “Hey, are you alright? Why’d you stop?” The voice, clearly a child’s, carried a gentleness as though she didn’t want to startle me. Naturally, I flinched anyway, stumbling backward, only to land clumsily on the ground. As I blinked in mild shock, I felt my face flush—I'd just been startled by a kid, maybe ten years old, standing there with a curious look. I only noticed it a few moments later, but the voice also had an eerie, ghastly quality to it.

  “Oh no! Are you okay?” she asked, hurrying over to me with a carefulness that somehow managed to avoid the roots and rocks that had tripped me up moments before, just not touching them. She was the picture of innocence, with wide, bright eyes and a ponytail that bounced with every step, framed by a blue shirt with a cartoon cat on it and sweatpants covered in dirt from her adventure, a twig in her ruffled hair.

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m alright,” I replied, standing up and dusting myself off, willing myself to retain whatever scraps of dignity I had left. I crouched down to her height, feeling the sting of fatigue in my knees and a dull ache in my blisters. “How about you? Are you out here on your own? Any family around?”

  “I’m good!” she said, her face lighting up with pride. “My big brother was with me, but he told me to run and keep going so I could get away from the creepy vine monsters.” She spoke with a kind of earnest confidence, like she’d just faced down a dragon. Maybe it was similar to that since they were literal monsters. Her shirt was rumpled, and I noticed a few more leaves caught in her dark hair I hadn’t before, remnants of her adventure in the woods.

  “Well, sounds like you’re quite the little explorer.” I managed a small smile. “Want some company on the way to the teleportation spot? It’s just ahead, presumably.”

  She shook her head vigorously, clearly set on her mission. “Nope! I followed you this far, and I can handle it on my own from here!” Her determination was written all over her face, as if this was some grand journey she was destined to finish alone.

  I held back a laugh, nodding. “Alright, but be careful, okay?” As she turned to go, I watched her small form weave through the trees with an almost effortless grace, leaving me standing alone and wondering how long she’d been behind me.

  “Wait! Come back!” I called out to her, and she subsequently turned back and came to me without a second thought.

  “Yes, mister?” She asked, looking up at me sweetly.

  “I’m sorry for saying you should go…Come with me, you seriously should…I can’t just leave you alone…something is happening and I want you to be safe, nor could I honestly deal with the idea of just leaving you here.”

  “But I don’t wanna!” She cried out, looking just about ready to bawl. I hoisted her up on my shoulders and started to move again; she was quite light and it wasn’t much of a burden. The girl reluctantly reached around my neck to hold on, and didn’t fight to get off.

  [Current capacity: 73/100 - Time remaining: 9 hours, 47 minutes, 33 seconds]

  The number of people who had reached the ‘teleportation point’ had jumped up drastically. Anxiety clawed at me, as how could I not be worried? But I had to believe I was close. I had to feel that way or I’d crumble under the pressure. My time was running out, and with every passing second, my body protested louder. My feet screamed, every step becoming more agonizing, my heart pounded wildly in my chest, and a sharp, stabbing pain lodged itself in my side. I clutched at my ribs, gasping for air, struggling to keep moving forward. Still, my mind held some logic. Every so often, I would halt to pick up a stick and draw an arrow in the dirt so I could more easily find my way back later. I would also number these arrows just in case I got off track for some reason.

  Throughout this, the girl was unmoving. She hummed a little tune and held on gently. The feel of her fingers was fuzzy and barely perceptible. Her stomach grumbled, and she let out a laugh, yawning adorably right after. “Are we there yet?” she asked.

  “No, we may have a while to go,” I replied solemnly, still trying to maintain my pace.

  “How about now?” she asked, not a minute later. Hoping to keep my composure, I chose not to respond this time. I was exhausted from walking and still so unsure at what I was doing here, feeling as though I might just snap at any moment if I wasn’t careful.

  “I’m so bored…” she complained. “Can we do something else?

  “What else is there to do?” I asked her back rhetorically.

  “Let’s go home…”

  “Home’s a long way from here.”

  “Can we stop?”

  “The time is ticking down, I would prefer to keep going, and you aren’t the one walking.” My frustration was rising at all aspects of this situation.

  “But I’m tired!”

  “So am I! Do you see me complaining?”

  “No, but-”

  “Will you shut up?!” I seethed. “I can’t hear myself think! I’m trying to keep you safe!” The girl practically whimpered, slumping dejectedly.

  “I…I didn’t mean that. I’m so sorry, it just slipped out-” I apologized sincerely, feeling awful at my outburst, though it wasn’t nearly enough.

  “No, it’s fine….”

  I picked her up from my shoulders and set her down on the ground, which definitely was a mistake as she tried to make a break for it, tiny sneakers struggling to grip the floor, but I managed to catch her by the sides prior to her getting away.

  “Aww.” She whined, starting to sniffle. A little bit immature for her age, but I found it quite cute and a more positive reaction than I thought I would get from my actions.

  “Are you hungry? Do you need a nap? We can stop here if you want to.” I asked her, crouching down again. I needed a break too, I couldn’t keep moving forever, and it wouldn’t be long before I saw some other hallucination that would make her question whether or not I was mentally stable.

  “On the dirt?”

  “I’m not sure what else. I could try and make you a bed of leaves, but-”

  “Yes! Yes! Yes!” She squealed, elated at the idea.

  “Alright..stay here, then.”

  When I returned, balancing an armful of crisp, multicolored leaves I’d collected along the way, I found only empty space where she’d been. I don't know why I’d expected her to be there, waiting. Maybe it was just a faint glimmer of hope, that silent wish to see her safe, even if her feelings toward me were barely lukewarm. A quiet worry unfurled in the back of my mind, a nagging thought that wouldn’t quite settle down. In spite of everything, I wanted her to be alright.

  I let out a resigned sigh, scanning the quiet clearing one last time. The stillness pressed in, amplifying the absence. I shifted the weight of the leaves in my arms and set off again, pushing myself forward on weary legs that felt heavier with each step. Every so often, I paused, catching my breath and letting the ache in my muscles subside before I picked up my pace once more. Swatting away flies and mosquitoes that buzzed their way by me was just part of the ride, and they were much better than something on par with the vines. My mind drifted back to the map, its distant markings somehow managing to anchor me as I trudged onward, that final destination pulling me like a silent compass through this endless stretch of wilderness. Step by step, I kept going, deliberately focusing on the journey ahead, willing myself not to linger on anyone—or anything—I might be leaving behind.

  “Is anyone there? Does anyone need help?” I continually called out, searching for any other survivors nearby. Soon enough, an unsettling sense of déjà vu seeped into my thoughts. The terrain hadn't shifted in any meaningful way; the trees looked the same, looming and twisted, their roots coiling like dark veins across the ground. The patches of dirt, the cracked and faded leaves, the gnarled undergrowth—it was all uncannily familiar, as though I were retracing my own footsteps. I shook my head, trying to shrug off the feeling. I was moving forward—wasn’t I? But the surroundings were relentless in their sameness, as if the entire forest was looping back on itself, trapping me in a repeating landscape.

  It wasn’t just a feeling anymore—I was caught in a trap. The realization dawned with a chill that seeped through my bones. I glanced down at the faint numbers I’d scratched into the bark of passing trees, watching as they climbed up to sixteen, only to reset back to one. A creeping sense of dread settled in my gut.

  I halted in my tracks, a mix of frustration and confusion coursing through me. Why would the numbers reset? I’d been moving forward this whole time, just trying to make it to this ‘point’. My usual hallucinations, warped as they were, had never twisted reality in this way. I’d seen objects come to life, people appear from thin air, voices muttering from nowhere—but the world itself had always remained intact, a constant I could cling to. Judging by the fact I was still here, the hallucinations couldn’t account for this.

  So, where was that valuable video game explanation for everything now? Where was that reason in a video game that I would be in a looping terrain? Well…It was probably magic. Damn magic. Why had I foolishly assumed magic didn’t exist just because I hadn’t accessed any yet? Magic, unlike the simple imitations and tricks humans were capable of previously, from what I knew, was a power system giving most everything the ability to do almost anything by harnessing the power of mana, a natural element that existed everywhere and functioned similarly to atoms or cells as in it made up everything but also could be harnessed to have a physical effect on the world. I tended to think of it as casting fireballs or freezing someone solid, but generally it had wide use cases. That information was not about to help me right now though; Exhausted and mentally drained from running, I realized I was now the perfect prey for the deadly vines that had seamlessly blended into the trees. That green tint should have been a signal for me but I’d just thought of it as an unimportant detail. In an instant, the vines unraveled from the trees they had tightly wrapped around and they struck, exploding out of the foliage with sonic booms echoing through the air.

  “Oh, come on, really? You’re actually going to do this to me, system? Why does my life have it out for me?” I shouted in frustration as I tried to dodge the incoming vines, which whipped and coiled through the air like serpents ready to strike. I should have had enough time to evade, but the moment I moved, something yanked my arms back, halting me mid-motion.

  I twisted around, startled, and there she was—the girl, back again, her face contorted in that strange, grim smile. Her grip was ironclad, much stronger than it should have been, rooting me in place. Panic spiked through me as I struggled against her grasp, pulling with every ounce of strength I had, but it was like trying to break free from a stone wall.

  "I knew it! There was something off about you from the start! It’s a setup, I fucking knew it, I fucking knew it…You’re with the system, aren’t you? Trying to make me suffer more? Or just another hallucination, cuz’ my life is awful and nothing interesting would ever happen in it?!” I spat, my voice tinged with desperation.

  “Paranoid, much?” she replied with a slight tilt of her head, her voice cool and detached. The vines slowed their approach momentarily, as if they, too, were listening, before they surged toward me again, faster this time. Then, just as suddenly as she’d appeared, she vanished, her form dissolving into thin air. Another fantasmal hallucination. A trick of my mind, one more illusion keeping me bound by my own paranoia. Perhaps it was just the system trying to make a fool of me again. Who knew if the girl before was real either at that rate…her fingers did feel odd, didn’t they?

  The vines closed in from every angle, moving faster this time, like they’d grown impatient with me. Thick and brutal, they slammed into me with the force of battering rams. Pain erupted through my body, sharp and unrelenting, knocking the air from my lungs and leaving me gasping. My muscles locked up instinctively, but no amount of resistance could stop the onslaught. The girl’s laughter echoed, leaving me here again, quite alone.

  “…fuck yo-”

  I crumpled, feeling the crushing weight pinning me down. The vines didn't pierce, didn’t go deep enough to kill—but they left bruises and agonizing aches, each blow reverberating through me. I managed one last, shuddering breath before darkness closed in, swallowing me up. The world faded, the pain dulled. And in that final, merciful instant, I let myself go, drifting into unconsciousness.

  [Randomized trial completed: Vined Venture]”