It was not an easy awakening. I awoke to dirt, debris, and the acrid smell of an electrical fire. The smell forced me to my feet, climbing unsteadily from the container I seemed to have found myself in. It seemed to be circular in shape and made of glass, tubes connected to the top and a sweet smelling liquid spilling out from inside, I could tase it on my lips as I continued my climb to escape the small hole the tube seemed to have crashed in, my hands scrambling and clawing to make purchase on the tough ground. Looking back I could see the test tube's bottom seemed to have a small collection of wires and devices I did not recognize, and it was putting out a small plume of smoke.
"What in the hell?" I spoke aloud, utterly lost at what I was looking at. I looked up and saw a bright light in the sky that was most assuredly not the Sun. It seemed much larger in the sky and, was a dark red instead of the yellow I had grow so accustomed to in my almost 3 decades on Earth. "No no no no, this can't be real... I'll wake up at any moment!" I said more to convince myself than out of any real certainty in my words. I spotted a small hill further away from the site of my awakening, red, rough dirt all that I could see around me so far, bounded on all sides by hills of the same color. As I climbed the hill I finally saw why my hands seemed to have such a hard time finding purchase climbing out of the hole. They were so small. A child's hands, short, chubby and awkwardly made, the form of clay yet to be stretched to it's eventual form. My skin appeared to be a similar shade as I remembered at least, pale but not unhealthily so. "Focus John, get up the hill and figure out where you are." My resolve stiffened I continued my climb in the awkward child's body that now seemed to be mine. As I reached the apex of the hill, my spirits sank, there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. For miles and miles until the next line of hills all I could see was red dirt. "I'm going to die." I said as I sank to my knees. Why? What brought me to this place and why did it put me somewhere so barren and desolate? "No! Snap out of it, you're gonna get out of this and figure out what's happening. First step, water.. Then its food and shelter." I braced myself, climbed to my feet and began walking towards the next line of hills, unsure what direction I was headed in and unsure of what awaited me. "I won't die here." I swore to myself.
I walked for what felt like an hour, focused squarely on a single hill in the distance, my focal point in all this nothing, scared that if I took my eyes off it, that it might disappear like a mirage in the desert. As the ground crawled upwards I felt relief, this hill was much larger that the one by my "tube" and just maybe I'll see something up there. Step after step I kept walking, the wind on my face not nearly as dry as I expected from all the dirt. The air seemed to have a thinness to it, but for some reason I didn't feel particularly bothered by it, my body seeming to adjust quickly to the change quickly and leaving me wondering what differences existed between this body and my old one. Already I wondered how this child's body could walk so far and seem so unbothered, my body feeling just as energized as when I awoke, eager compared to my old form.
My musings on my body carried me on to the top of the hill and never before have I seen a sight crushing I felt my heart stop and drop into my stomach, utter despair whelming up in me as I tried and failed to hold on to the tears falling from my eyes. Miles and miles of red. Only, as my tears dried and I looked closer I could see shapes, leaves! And here and there what might be water running over the red dirt, the leaves were so plentiful and seemed to perfectly match the dirt, though it would seem to make sense if the sun was red, then the plant chlorophyl would need to be the kind that absorbs red light instead, though I can't remember which one that is. I was miles above them, not on a hill at all, but some large mountain crowned with peaks, looking back I could barely see the place I had awoken due to the small plume of smoke rising black and thin. I turned back and scanned the horizon for any signs of humanity. Lights, buildings, I'd even take a fucking road at this point. Anything. But there was nothing. I looked down and saw the steep face leading down a long distance, but it seemed to have plenty of places to grab and work my way down.
"I guess the only way is forward." Mind set, I continued to walk, picking my path carefully, though it seemed as though I couldn't lose my balance if I tried. In my old life I had been tall and gangly, always tripping over myself and not athletic in anyway, but now in this child's body I felt I could almost run down the mountain. Even as rocks tumbled down from under my feet, I didn't so much as flinch and with every minute of travel I felt the placement of my appendages becoming better and better. More assured in every step I took, and my hands were too strong, able to create my own handholds within the dirt by jabbing my fingers forward, deep into them. "What am I?"
I found my path growing more with strange scrubs and defiant mountain grasses I didn't recognize, truly this world was alien to me and I could only pray there was someone out there to help me, maybe I wasn't the only one sent here? The trees were strange, red leaves splotched with orange seemingly at random, and relatively short, assuming I am 3 feet, then these trees topped out at 14 feet at the absolute tallest. I could see a small river through the trees, and chose that as my new point of travel. Approaching the water I looked at it warily, the color that seemed clear from a distance was in fact quite cloudy now that I was closer, the red dirt coloring it in whirls and traveled along being carried by the slow moving river. Movement. There in the deeper end of the water, near the center. A small and dark shape, quick compared to the water. A fish! I see it clearly now, it moves against the water and snaps at the dirt around it in the water, my eyes seem to sharpen and I can see that it is eating smaller fish trying to hide in the dirt swirls. "Well, at least I won't die of starvation or hunger, assuming I can catch those fish." I kneel, cupping my hands in the cool water, and bring it to my face. Running water should be okay to drink... I hope anyways and take a long slurp of the red-tinged water. It tastes of pennies strangely enough, copper? Must be some in the water, but I have no choice for now, I drink my fill and step back to survey my surroundings. "Alright, so what's next on the to-do list? Probably getting a branch to catch a fish, make a fire... fuck I should've seen if I could've taken any of the tubes electrical components to make a fire, though it was already on fire... Moving on, shelter for sure and..." finally looking down and acknowledging my nakedness "Some clothes would be nice, and all that has to be done with my grand inventory-' My self pitying monologue is cut off as a screen appears before me made up of row upon row of empty boxes. "-of nothing..." I slowly continue, utterly befuddled by what I was seeing.
"Are you fucking kidding me? A game system? Where the hell is my tutorial!?"