I woke up to find myself in a desert. The sun is scorching, and the sand sticking to my back as I sit up and cover my eyes is uncomfortable.
I jolt and groan as something I hadn't been aware was laying on my chest slipped off my torso and fell into my lap. To make matters worse, I'm stark naked.
Wincing as I held my bruised jewels, I opened my eyes, blinking back tears of pain to look at the object of my ire. A book.
Finally once the pain has faded some, I picked up the book and contemplated chucking it as far as I could in anger, but my desire to figure out just what the heck is going on overpowers that.
Opening the book, a bright flash of light blinds me and I toss the book away as I shield my eyes. Once I'm sure the light is gone, I lower my arm. The book is still there, though partially embedded in the sand. Gingerly, I go over and pick it back up.
Hesitantly, I look inside, only to blink. The book only consists of a single page.
Dear Matthew!
Congratulations! You've been picked for a challenge! The name of the game is survival! I've left you on a barren world and its your job to get off it and make it back home!
I'm not joking about the barren part. Literally nothing there. Just a ball of rock and dust. I was tempted to drop you off on a completely dead planet, but I wanted to make this challenge interesting, not impossible!
Now, I know what you're thinking. How am I supposed to survive on a barren planet with no food or water that's only half the size of my home planet's moon?
Well, the simple answer is: don't worry about it. I'm sure you noticed that bright flash of light right? That was me giving you a bit of a twist. You'll survive. Probably. It's up to you to figure out how. I'm sure you'll figure out the gift I gave you soon.
In fact, you should be feeling it right about now.
I blinked. In fact, I could feel something. It felt like a creepy crawling sensation on the back of my arms.
Turning it over, I blinked as I noticed that my veins were starting to darken from the point of contact from the book and was spreading down at a slow, but visibly noticeable, rate.
"What's happening to me?" I asked, my eyes wide in panic.
I looked back to the book for answers.
Don't worry, it'll become obvious what it is soon enough. You'll probably freak out, but don't worry, you won't die from shock or anything. That would be stupid and a waste of the effort I put into this.
And don't take my earlier words out of context. You can still die. Quite easily in fact. In all the normal ways too. You just get a grace period for a little bit. Once that's up... Well, I'm sure you'll figure out quite easily how to get yourself food and shelter and all that jazz. You're not an idiot.
As for why I'm doing this? Eh... boredom? Honestly, your life is what you make of it. I'm just making it a bit more interesting for you. I do have my reasons though. Once you see where you are... Well, I'll be interested to see what choices you make in the future. Maybe you'll impress me. Maybe not. We'll see.
Good luck!
By this point my arms were shaking as I dropped the book. My veins were getting steadily more grey and the veins in my hands almost appeared black. It felt like ice. I could feel it travelling through my chest and up my neck, and it was making me feel both hot and cold at the same time.
It felt like it was getting hard to breathe.
I didn't know what to do. The book said I wouldn't die, but whoever left the message could've been lying.
And what was all that crap about watching me? I got dropped off here naked because they were bored and wanted to see what I would do? Bunch of cryptic bullcrap!
I don't know how long I lay there. I felt cold inside and hot outside and I couldn't stop shaking. I felt nauseous and had a headache and sore everywhere the cold touched, which after a while proved to be everywhere. I made a mental note to myself if I ever ran into the person who did this to me, I'd kick them where it hurts. Repeatedly.
I think in a desperate bid to think of anything to get my focus off of my body, I recalled how easily I burned in the sun. If the planet is really barren and nothing but this rocky desert, I may as well take advantage of the sand I'm currently lying in.
Struggling for each movement and counting it as a victory, I did a snow angel impression, then partially sat up and slowly, jerkily, covered sand over myself. It was slow going, and my muscles protested as they felt like they kept locking up. Not cramping, persay, but just going stiff, like they were turning into rods or something.
Eventually, I got the sand covering my lower half, which still felt unbearably warm, but at least I was protected from the sun for now. I lay back down and worked to cover my torso, then I laid back and put the book over my head, which just barely covered it, then did my best to cover my arms.
I think it was something like half an hour later that I felt a pinch in my chest and suddenly the ice turned into fire.
Mercifully enough, at that point I blacked out.
A/N: Been sitting on this one for a while. Well, been sitting on a number of unfinished fics for a while actually... This one was just one of the ones I really liked and decided to pick back up and post.