As soon as the end came, the end was over. Suddenly, something was different around him. Opening his eyes, he found himself outside and in a forest unlike any he had ever seen or heard about before. There were purple leaves upon willowy branches all around him. Giant trees were visible in the distance, with faint oranges and dull reds interspersed throughout their leaves. The nearby trees seemed to sway ever so slightly, and the trees in the distance reached higher than he thought possible.

  Before he could even comprehend what was happening, text appeared in his vision, somehow completely readable but also not blocking his view of the surroundings simultaneously.

  “What the hell is going on?” eyes still red from sobbing, Lee tried to orient himself and uncover what was happening. On the one hand, he was happy he wasn't dead; on the other hand... “What caused me to appear here? What the hell is this game-like status scre...”

  Instantly the text disappeared.

  Tentatively, Lee spoke out loud, “Status,”

  The text appeared again, and he said it once more to make it disappear. “I’m hallucinating. I must be in my death throes.”

  Attempting to sit up would usually cause Lee a great deal of pain, discomfort at minimum. Instead, he felt completely fine. Surprised, Lee looked down to discover that the slight bump that used to be right above his heart was gone. Shocked, he slowly felt around his chest and felt his heart pumping vigorously, just like it used to many years before his diagnosis.

  Tears began streaming down Lee's face again, but this time with confused happiness. No pain, no abnormality on his chest, and hopefully no more of a threat to his life.

  Slowly, Lee began to stand, tested his footing, and now saw and felt the weird purple grass beneath him. Slowly, he began to get some of his bearings. He appeared to be in a beautiful glade with a small pool of water and a small offshoot from a crystal-clear stream. Lee noticed that the trees surrounding him were fantastical in nature. Some were too tall to estimate accurately. He heard a few birds singing, the environmental sounds of insects, and other small wildlife around, but he could not see any of them.

  Still in his hospital gown and with nothing with him to help in what he assumed to be a survival scenario hallucination on his deathbed, Lee decided to review his status.

  “What do these stats even do for me?”

  After reading each of the stats listed, he wondered whether or not his stats were above average or really low. It wouldn’t be good for him to have the stats of some sort of infant. Hopefully, he was some sort of superhuman in his own hallucination.

  He looked at his pitiful strength and wondered what strength even meant in the grand scheme of things. He then got another text box, also being able to read it as well as see through it at the same time.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Well, that’s useful…” Said Lee while instantly thinking about the rest of the stats.

  “Interesting; at least this gives me some additional information.” Knowing what HP meant was critical for survival—also, learning about drops. Like looting enemies in games?

  Having been bedridden for quite a bit towards the end of his life, Lee dabbled in some games. He knew roughly how most games with these kinds of stats were played, but he didn’t actually ever play any. He had no knowledge advantage here, having mostly played building games or online card games. So why would his hallucinations be of this genre?

  Do I actually want this to be a hallucination? I’m apparently healed, alive, and can hopefully stay so for the foreseeable future.

  “Well, let's pretend this is real, completely ignoring how I got here in the first place, how a game-like page appears with my stats, and how royally fucked I am if this is real. I don’t want to die for real if I don't take things seriously.”

  Lee decided to explore a bit to find some food or a road. He followed the small stream downstream to avoid getting lost. He would always have water nearby as well. After observing his surroundings more thoroughly, Lee was astonished by the sheer beauty of his surroundings. He obviously wasn't on Earth, as he would have heard about a forest with purple grass and giant trees. At least, Lee hoped he would have. Some of the trees were what he would call average height, only having purple leaves and very thick trunks and branches reminiscent of a thick willow tree. The orange and reddish trees were a completely different story, similar in appearance as a mix between an Oak and Redwood. There were only a few in sight much farther away, but they made the redwoods of Earth look like potted plants. With their thick branches running all along their trunks, stretching farther than he could see with his limited view from beneath the canopy down on the forest floor.

  After about 10 minutes of following the stream, he discovered how terrible walking in a forest without shoes was. Stepping on a branch hurt, and the pain reinforced his idea that all of this might be real. He had to slow down to about half his normal walking pace to avoid hurting his feet on sticks, stones, and branches. Slowly, Lee arrived at where the stream connects to a small crystal clear river.

  The river was roughly 60 feet wide and slowly curved back and forth downstream. With crystal clear blue water and a rocky bottom, it appears to be around 5 to 7 feet deep. After looking up and down, seeing if he could spot anything on or around the river, he decided to continue downstream.

  Before he actually began his trek, he decided to take a drink. He was wary of potential germs from the water, but as he had nothing to prevent it, he decided to drink anyway. The water looked clean, so he decided to take some risk at least.

  As Lee leaned over to cup some water, he saw his reflection. His gaunt frame from cancer remained unchanged, but he didn't look as sickly as before. He was still bald from chemotherapy, and having no eyebrows made his 6 ft height less prominent. The hospital gown he wore was not ideal for a forest, but at least he wasn’t completely naked. He might need to find a way to get warm when the sun begins to set.

  Looking up after taking a drink, Lee tried to tell roughly what time it was. His best guess was around 2 PM, but he could be completely wrong, as this is probably not Earth. The temperature is around 70°F, not too hot or cold for now. I better get to finding some shelter or some civilization. Lee finished drinking his fill and proceeded on his journey.

  After about an hour of walking downstream, Lee discovered a berry bush. The problem is he had never seen any berries with the colors of the rainbow. Glistening multi-colored berries, the shape of blackberries, hung upon a medium-sized, light purple berry bush right beside the river. On the one hand, he was glad he had found some food; on the other hand, this seemed like prime real estate for any animal who wanted a snack. Fresh berries right by the water source? And none of the local wildlife wanted any of it? It sounded way too good to be true.

  After deciding to inspect the very colorful-looking berries some more, strictly because they were unreasonably beautiful, a text window appeared.

  “Well, that answers why they have not been eaten yet.” Lee grabbed around 5 of the berries and put them in the hospital gown pocket.

  Thinking about how he gained a new skill, Lee decided to see if he could glean any additional information about his abilities. Perhaps he could find the difference between skills and abilities.

  “I don’t feel as if I suddenly know all languages.” He determined that he probably had to encounter the language before he could speak it. since he was currently alone, he would return to this ability later.

  Absolutely shocked and unable to come to grips with this new discovery, Lee read the ability repeatedly for the next few minutes. Slowly, Lee started to frown, then proceeded to get angry, that anger turned into pure rage and fury. “Why didn’t I have this a few hours ago?!” Dropping to his knees, Lee smashed the ground with his fists, trying to get rid of his building rage. After a few moments, his rage and fury slowly turned into sadness, grief, and sorrow. Tears began to stream down his cheeks, as he silently knelt on the purple forest floor, alone.