Consciousness came slowly, Shawn’s senses slowly filing in and sitting down where they were supposed to in his brain. First, touch. The feeling of uneven ground pressed into his back, sharp and uncomfortable. Hearing and smell came second, the buzz of insects and the smell of damp ground invading his nose and ears. Finally, Shawn’s vision woke up, lighting up his closed eyelids as the sunshine beat down on his face. All at once, however, everything rushed back and Shawn sat up, head pounding.
“What the…” said Shawn, looking down. Low grass fluttered in the slight breeze, a tight patch crushed beneath his body. He clambered to his feet, turning in a full circle. He stood in a vibrant field which stretched out as far as he could see to his left and a forest to the right, deep and primeval. The canopy was so thick that it quickly formed deep shadows beneath it. Glancing down at himself, he noticed a small, brown object on the ground between his feet. Shawn crouched down, looking more closely at the strange object. It was a small leather pouch, similar to a dice bag. He tipped the pouch, upending the contents into his hand. All that emerged was a singular tile. It was about the size of a domino, a pale off-white color, and engraved in black upon it was a single figure. The exact one that he’d drawn on his paper.
The forest rustled behind him, and Shawn spun, on high alert. He was in a strange world with nothing but a quirky domino, and he had no idea how he’d gotten there. It suddenly struck him how much danger he was in. Abruptly, a large, ruddy blur burst from the undergrowth, diving towards Shawn. Instinctively, he stumbled backwards, trying to identify what the hell that was. The thing paused, snorting, and Shawn was able to focus on it. It was some kind of mottled red warthog, with massive tusks as long as his forearms, with twisting red patterns up and down their length. Its nostrils flared, eyes rolling, and it turned, red eyes focusing directly on him.
It pawed at the ground, lowering its head. “Nice pig…” Shawn said, stuttering. Slowly, he stepped backwards, holding his hands up as if he could hope to stop it if it charged. It lowered its head to goring level and pawed one final time, then rushed straight at Shawn. Instinctively, he jumped, reaching for an overhead branch. The tips of his shoes scraped against the hog’s rough back, but he had dodged. The branch snapped under his weight a moment later, but that only left Shawn behind the hog, and with a sharp stick, to boot. With a savage cry, he thrust the branch towards the hog, spearing it through the back, severely hindering its back legs.
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However, after only a moment, the hog got back up, blood flowing from its wounds, and it advanced on Shawn once more. Now weaponless, he backed up, frantically searching for anything he could use. His hand still gripped that weird tile, which seemed hard enough. Maybe if I throw it hard enough it’ll be stunned long enough for me to run off, Shawn thought. He lifted the tile and threw it with all his might, but instead of hurtling towards the hog’s head, it simply did not leave his palm.
“Wait, what?” Shawn said out loud. As if waiting for him, a blast of blue fire shot from his hand and engulfed the hog, dancing and crackling across its body. It began to squeal, a loud, jarring sound that quickly cut off, as well as the flames. It had completely stopped moving at all. “So I’m some kind of freaking wizard now?” he said, incredulous. The hog was frozen solid.
The tile, Shawn guessed it was a rune, had disappeared, and was now back within the leather pouch. A tinkling sound suddenly passed through the clearing, and Shawn turned to see a swirl of light condense into a single point in mid air. The tinkling continued, faster, until the inwards swirl slowed to a stop, leaving a single star hovering at chest height.
A second tile tumbled out of it, falling to the grass. Shawn hurried over and picked it up. As expected, it had another rune carved into it, this one much simpler than the first. A small swirl led into two curved triangles, forming almost a sharpened “C”. Shawn added it to his pouch and stood. He could ponder the mysteries of these runes later. Right now, he was still in a strange world with no food. Maybe he could walk along the edge of the forest until he found a path, which might lead to civilization. His only other option was to wait here for more things to find him.
Shawn started walking.
