Chapter 2: The Game is Afoot

"Oh, you found my portal, did you?"

I moaned out in confusion, and ended up with a mouthful of grass and snow. I turned onto my back, spat onto the ground, and blinked up at the tall man in front of me.

The tall man... in front of me?

Please, God in heaven, no.

"You'd think you would have learned your lesson by now," Maxwell continued.

He was wrapped in a long, striped, violet overcoat, with heavy white fur at the collar. His hair was slicked back as usual, face pale, eyes sunken-in deep beneath his brows. No cigar, actually; his hands were tucked behind his back. Unless he was holding it behind him? But I smelled nothing, only grass and dirt.

"Hmm..." He leaned forward, face sneering. "Let's try something a little more challenging, shall we?"

I was too horrified to respond, and then he was gone, vanishing down into the ground with a puff of black smoke. I groaned to myself. I didn't hurt, but my head was fuzzy, and it would take a minute or two to clear. That was what happened the first time, at least.

It's also probably worth noting that I was cold. Like, really cold. Not fatally cold yet, but there was a chill wind in the air and patches of snow on the ground, and I was wearing nothing but my thin red button-up. At least I had my gloves.

As I slowly rose to my feet and waited for the world to stop spinning, I thought over Maxwell's words.

Let's try something a little more challenging, shall we?

"More challenging than trying not to starve to death and avoiding mutated insects?" I grumbled, dusting myself off.

I turned, and immediately my eyes fell on some kind of small contraption, placed in a little stand. I frowned at it, tilted my head left and right. How odd it was. It had a jagged handle - a handle? - yes, it appeared to be something that you were supposed to hold and carry with you. At the top was a brown box, with knobs and bolts and screws, some kind of speaker, and wires at the top like television antennae.

Despite knowing better, I still reached down and picked it up, half-expecting it to electrocute me or something. No pain, but as soon as I wrapped my fingers around it and removed it from its stand, a low chiming sound emitted from the speaker. I jumped and nearly dropped the damn thing, even though the noise had been quiet.

"Okay. Interesting." I stared at it. "And weird." For now, I simply shoved it in the back of my pants, so I didn't have to carry it. It continued periodically making those tolling-of-a-bell sounds, which was growing annoying, but I tried my best to ignore it.

I raised my hands to rub my arms, shivering, and suddenly my ears picked up on a familar crackling noise. I turned once more, and this time I was faced with a chest sitting beside a roaring campfire. I would have felt better about this if the chest wasn't so dangerously close to the flames. Luckily, it hadn't caught fire yet.

Since I was already chilled to the bone, I wasted no time in getting to the campfire, though I was much more wary about the chest. Something about this just seemed... off. Maxwell had not helped me at all, in the previous world that I'd landed in. There had been no helpful chests at the start. I had to figure everything out on my own.

"Maybe the chest is empty," I mused. "...But, somehow, I doubt that. That accursed man doesn't seem to do things without reason."

After a minute or two of indecision, I finally reached out and opened it, wincing as I did. I'd really been expecting some kind of mutant to jump out at me, but to my surprise, there were a few materials in the chest. Actually, more than a few - the chest was quite full.

I carefully gathered everything into my arms, and then laid out all of my new treasures on the ground. There were seven logs of wood, three pieces of flint, and a thick woolen hat. I was especially puzzled by the hat. Had someone been in this world before me?

"No... no, it doesn't quite feel like that." Cautiously, I reached out and tucked the hat onto my head, flattening my ever-defiant hair. "I suppose Maxwell doesn't want me to die right off the bat. He'd rather watch me suffer. It is winter in this world, after all. This might be significantly harder."

Let's try something a little more challenging, shall we?

I looked towards the sky, and was startled to see that the sun was already nearing the horizon. No time to waste; it would be dusk soon, and then it would be dark.

I had learned the dangers of being in the dark in this world the hard way. I didn't really know what to call it, the monster that only seemed to attack in pitch darkness. In my mind, I had simply called the creature... It. And It was hungry.

"Enough of that. Get your head out of the clouds and get moving, Wilson."

Okay, now I was scolding myself. Maybe this self-talk wasn't completely healthy. But so far, it was keeping me from totally losing my mind, so I wasn't going to stop.

At any rate. I climbed to my feet, warmed my hands by the fire one last time, and then set off to start gathering. There seemed to be plenty of trees, tall grass and twigs around, but I wasn't seeing any carrots or berries. Worse, the birch trees were bare, undoubtedly due to the seasonal change. No nuts to pick and roast over the fire.

And there hadn't been any food in that chest.

(A/N: That was quicker than I'd anticipated. I'm planning on starting Chapter 3 right away, so you guys might get yet another update today. Hope you guys enjoyed. Please leave feedback! Any comments, questions or suggestions will be GREATLY appreciated.)