Tess woke up with a migraine and a strange box in front of her. One of those was much more pressing than the other.

“Gah, my head,” she groaned.

The last thing she remembered was that territorial mountain lion and—

“The landslide,” she muttured.

Tess stood, quickly recalling the training she’d gotten. Stay alert, landslides happen at a moment’s—

She stared. Unfamiliar greenery grew all around her on a flat forest as far as she could see. Trees with broad leaves blocked a glowing yellow sun, the light spilling through in golden lines. Something was off about the light, but a lot of things were off. The flowering vegetation was the wrong colors, the tree bark was slightly off-brown, and even the dirt had an odd yellowish tinge that was unfamiliar.

It didn’t make any sense, Tess knew she had been on a trail in the Rockies. There wasn’t a forest like this near her.

That was when the box thrust itself into her vision.

Tess rubbed her eyes, then her temples.

“I’m hallucinating,” she said. “I’ve been hit in the head wrong, and now I see boxes of text and strange forests.”

The box vanished, only to be replaced by a new one.

Tess slapped herself, trying to see if the pain could wake her up. All she got for the trouble was a stinging cheek. She stayed calm even as the panic inside her rose. She was good at staying calm.

First off, find things she can control.

Tess looked down. She still had her clothes, so that was good. Staying warm was important for survival. And there was the can of bear spray on her belt. Her firearm holster was empty, but she hadn’t brought that with her on the search. She’d still brought her knife, however, which was sitting snug in its sheath. Beside it sat a clip pouch with matches and water tablets. The day pack clipped to her waist still had all her equipment: a flashlight, a compass, her watch, a signal mirror, her radio, a small water bottle, and sunglasses.

The radio produced static no matter how many channels Tess switched to. That was alright, signals were often spotty in the mountains. There was still a chance she was on Earth and had people searching for her. She kneeled down, unhooking her equipment and arranging it in front of her on the ground just to make sure she hadn’t missed anything.

Everything except the signal mirror was in good shape. Tess frowned. The mirror was unfortunately cracked through the middle, which did confirm that she had been through a tumble of some kind.

Another box appeared in her vision.

Tess scoffed. As if she would think status just because—

“Dang it,” Tess said.

The status box vanished after about a minute, replaced by more conversational text from the supposed god who had pulled her across dimensions.

Sighing, Tess thought the word, skills. Best to get the hallucinations out of the way so she could get back to focusing on survival.

A second box appeared over the skill list.

“This is insane,” Tess said.

Great, now the boxes were talking back. Tess had never heard of a GACHA game, but all these boxes looked like the RPG video games friends of hers played. She’d gotten sucked into a few, mainly the simulations like Stardew Valley. So she knew how to navigate the character sheet. But all this sounded like the Roguelikes one of her coworkers liked to play.

Roger had shown her his current game one day while the two were relaxing.

“It’s all about managing randomness,” he’d said.

Tess remembered making a face. She hated randomness. She liked steady progression in her entertainment. There was already enough randomness in her job. She felt herself making the same face again.

A noise to her side pulled the woman’s focus.

Tess whipped her head around as a nearby bush rustled. Quietly, she picked up her knife and bear spray. Her knees unbent until she was in a low crouch, ready to face whatever appeared.