One day, Hero suddenly awakened. He was a tall man with broad shoulders and a well-built body, muscles like a chiseled stone statue of a war god. His hair was black and set in gravity defying spikes. However, his eyes were a deep and clear blue, like the endless sky.

A blue tunic covered his torso, paired with a shiny steel breastplate, and he wore baggy black pants that were paired with brown boots.

A shield was strapped on his left arm, and a sword was sheathed at his left side.

In a single instant, that knowledge flooded Hero's mind.

He blinked and then muttered, "Where am I?"

The horizon contained a shimmering blue sea as well as a dirt shoreline. And as Hero turned around, he realized that he was on an island somewhere, with knee-high grass swaying in every direction... and that was all.

He frowned and then started walking around to survey the area.

A few steps. That was all he managed to take. At that time, the air distorted and three blue, goopy creatures popped into existence.

The name for them entered Hero's mind in an instant. "Slimes...?"

He blinked, confused at the strange creatures. But before he knew it, he had taken a step back and drawn his sword, holding his shield out in front of him.

Taking his actions as a show of aggression, the slimes attacked, flying towards him in a blue surge.

Hero swung his sword... and then the slimes vanished, split apart and turned into white smoke.

"Huh?"

Hero blinked, confused at the ease with which he killed the slimes. And then he noticed that he was standing, his shield lowered and sword already sheathed again at his left side. Not only that, but...

[3 experience points gained.]

[Level up!]

...Strange numbers and words were appearing in his mind.

"Weird." Hero frowned and kept walking around the island.

-{^_^}-

A bright blue sky. An endless sea.

A tiny island.

The time of day never changed, and Hero had nothing to do.

Despite having walked around the island hundreds of times, Hero saw the same scenery. The only break in the routine came in the form of random slime invasions. But even that became a chore considering how easily Hero cut them down.

Instead, Hero started pondering his existence.

Why was he here? Was he always here? Why did the sun not cross the sky? Why was there an invisible barrier around the edges of the island preventing him from stepping into the water? Was he the only being alive?

And why did those slimes suddenly appear and disappear after they were killed instead of leaving corpses?

So many questions, but no answers.

Out of boredom, Hero drew his sword and casually cut the grass as he walked, letting pieces fall to the ground. Not that it made a difference since the grass regrew the moment he took a few paces away from them.

Truly, a strange turn of events.

Perhaps he was a lost soul stuck in limbo? It would explain the boredom and constant surroundings.

As Hero lapped the island for what was probably the thousandth time, the familiar sensation of space distorting occurred.

His body moved on its own, drawing his sword and raising his shield. A tense and steady combat stance... but completely denying it was Hero's bored face. He yawned, casually staring at the distortion in space and waiting for the slimes to pop out-

"SKREEE!"

"Hm?"

A change.

Instead of a slime, an oversized bat appeared. One about the size of Hero's chest.

His blue eyes widened and a glimmer of life returned to his dull gaze.

Change! At last!

The bat charged, its maw wide as it flew towards Hero's neck.

He smiled and said, "Come, foul beast! Let us duel to the death!"

His heart pounded, caught up in the thrill of the fight. His body moved, turning to swing his sword, and-

[5 experience points gained.]

[Level up!]

"...Sigh." Hero shook his head and sheathed his sword before continuing on his routine.

How boring.

-{^_^}-

Another few thousand laps.

The bat had joined the slimes in the random encounters, but Hero quickly became accustomed to the ambushes. It got to the point where he could fight them with his eyes closed.

Just to change things up, he even laid down and waited for the creatures to pop into existence and attack him... but it seemed that either time was frozen while he remained unmoving, or that it was his movement that caused the creatures to arrive.

Whatever the case, it meant that it was back to walking around the island.

"Just who am I?"

With nothing better to do, Hero started speaking to himself out loud.

It was pointless, but it made everything seem just a bit more tangible instead of some insane repetitive dream.

"A ghost? A dead man?"

A group of slimes popped into existence.

Without breaking stride, Hero walked forward and swung his sword, cleaving through them all in a single blow.

"No. If I were a dead man, I doubt that I would be experiencing this hell... Unless this is hell? But I always envisioned the place to be more flames and brimstone, not sunshine and grassy plains..."

A bat screeched as it popped into existence before swooping down to try and bite Hero's neck.

He smacked it with the flat of his blade, sending it flying into the distance before turning into white smoke.

"Then perhaps this is a dream? It would explain the unchanging scenery... but not the barrier over the island shore."

And wasn't that annoying? If Hero could at least go swimming, he could be mildly entertained.

Reflexively killing another group of slimes that appeared, Hero frowned and kept walking. "And why are these creatures popping in from thin air? Is there some sort of dimensional gateway sending them here? And how many are there? I've killed enough to fill this island a hundred times over by now..."

No response. Of course, Hero wasn't expecting one.

He sighed and kept walking. "Let's see how many times I can count the laps before losing track. Starting... Now- Hm?"

A change.

As Hero stared off into the distance, he noticed that the sun, frozen in the sky, had started to shift. The immovable bright disk of light had changed its position by a few hairs.

Hero paused and said, "Am I crazy?"

He stared at the sun, ignoring how it seared his eyes... No, he used it to measure the position.

But not matter how much he stared, the sun didn't move.

Hero sighed. "I must just be desperate." Muttering to himself, he took a few more steps.

And then he noticed that the scenery had changed. The bright green grass was now a slightly different shade.

An ordinary person wouldn't have noticed, but to Hero who had burned the tiny island into his very soul from how often he had paced it, such a minor change was impossible to ignore.

Shocked, he glanced back up at the sun. And this time he confirmed it.

The bright disk that had been high in the sky was beginning to sink. And now that he looked at the shadows, Hero saw that they were changing as well, growing longer as the sun fell down.

But that was odd.

Hero glanced back and muttered, "Does time only move when I do?"

Confused, he took a few more steps forward to test his hypothesis, staring at the sun as he did.

And then he saw it.

With every three steps, the sun shifted a finger's width margin across the sky.

"That's new!" Hero grinned and then started to run, seeing if it really was like he thought.

Grass rustled and Hero's armor clanked with his movements. More slimes and bats appeared as well, but he cut them down like usual, knocking them aside.

What was important was the change! Finally, the day was turning into night!

After pacing the island a few more times, it happened.

Nightfall.

Hero came to a stop and stared at the sky.

The once blue expanse had turned into a starry black sea, one reflected by the actual sea surrounding the island.

Hero's eyes watered and he muttered, "Beautiful."

And it was.

Compared to the unchanging and eerily peaceful bright green grass, seeing the soft night hues and the pale milky moon was a sight for sore eyes.

Hero smiled and then laid down, staring at the stars.

Feeling the soft grass beneath him and seeing the starry sky above, Hero closed his eyes to sleep.

One breath.

Two.

Three... and he didn't feel tired at all.

Maybe he should try counting sheep? That was said to help right?

"One. Two. Three. Four..."

HappyVainGlory

Just a silly idea I came up with after remembering that I owned RPGMaker VX. There probably won't be much more to this story and definitely no semblance of plot, but I thought I'd put it up anyway. I might work on this occasionally, but I should definitely get back to work on my other stories too. :sweat: 

Hope it gets a chuckle out of you!