I was on my back, staring up into the night sky. My throat was hoarse, worn down from all the screaming. My panic had now gone making way for a sort of tense, distraught calmness.

  What the hell happened to me?

  I lifted my head and looked down at what was left of my body. There was not much of it. Whatever had occurred, it had taken almost everything. All that was left of me was my left arm, upper chest, and head. Instead of bloody gore, a sort of rough, red flesh was found in the connected areas to the missing portions. Almost as if the torn off areas had scarred over a long time ago.

  How am I still alive? And breathing? With most of my torso gone, I shouldn’t have any lungs left. Yet here I was, still breathing; though such breaths were quick and shallow due to my distraught state. And my legs…

  I should have legs, shouldn’t I? I thought long and hard, but couldn’t quite remember. Yet something told me that I should have legs. Two of them.

  I lay my head back down against the hard, cold dirt. Above me was that stupid blue box with the words that made no sense. I could understand them, somehow, but their true meaning eluded me.

  What was all this? Name… Species… Strength, endurance, dexterity…

  Were these words all supposed to describe me? But unnamed? I had a name! My name was…

  I searched my mind but could find nothing. But I knew I had a name! I was certain of it! Yet try as I might, I just could not recall what it was.

  I continued to scan the information in the box. My species was listed as a Dirtborn. Quite the insulting description, actually. And it said that I was a monster? That was wrong, too. I wasn’t a monster, I was a…

  No, no, no! Why couldn’t I remember anything? Obviously, whatever had caused my injuries had also affected my memory. Whatever the case, I know I wasn’t a monster. I was certain of it. But what was I? Think! Two arms, two legs, one head. What had two arms, two legs, and a head?

  Human.

  Yes! That’s right! I was a human! That was my species! As for my race… was I an elf? A dwarf? Sapien? I just could not remember.

  But what happened to me? With this amount of damage, I should be dead. Could I even still call myself a human as I was now?

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  I continued to scan through the words in front of me. Gender: N/A. Not applicable? Why? Was it because my lower torso was missing? I tried to recall whether I was a man or a woman, but nothing came to mind. How could I forget something so important as that?

  My age was listed as zero. How the hell could I be zero years old? This made no sense.

  I looked at the line labeled Titles. It had one entry: Original. What did that mean?

  As if reacting to the question in my mind, another blue box opened in front of the first one.

  First of my kind? Ancestor Might? What? I wanted to go look at the first box, but this new one was blocking my view. I wished for it to go away, and suddenly it vanished. Interesting. These things were responding to my thoughts.

  Looking at the first blue box, I scrolled past the listing with numbers and got all the way down to the Attributes line. Its lone entry was Ancestor Might. I focused on it and another blue box popped up.

  So the more children I had, the stronger I got? I lifted my head and looked at the mangled remains of my body which was notably missing some very important parts necessary for having children. I sighed.

  The line below Attributes was Abilities and it had two listings: Mind Sight D and Language Comprehension S. I was about to focus on them to learn more when a loud howl suddenly pierced the still air.

  I tensed, the remains of my body going rigid. For the first time since I dug myself out of that hole, I suddenly recalled my surroundings. I lifted my head and scanned the area. The sky was wide and open above me, with numerous twinkling stars visible in the black night sky. The moon was wide and bright tonight, casting light down upon the landscape I found myself in. It seemed that I had emerged near the banks of a lake, the waters of which were calm and still several meters away from where I lay. I could see numerous dead trees dotting the landscape, which was barren, flat, and empty.

  Where was I? I didn’t recognize the area, which wasn’t much of a surprise since I couldn’t even recognize myself. Well, wherever I was, it was dark and desolate. Everything around me looked dead, though that earlier howling told me that there was still life nearby. And that life would most likely be hostile.

  I mentally told the blue box in front of me to go away, and it obeyed. I then twisted my body a bit, trying to turn myself over. It took a long while, but with a lot of effort I managed to twist about until my face was resting in the dirt. Long strands of black fell in front of my face, and I quickly realized that those unfamiliar strands belonged to me. Dirt was caked tightly to each hair, making them lumpy and hard. I quickly ignored its poor state as I had bigger things to worry about right now.

  With my cheek pressed against the ground, I tried to use my remaining arm to drag myself to some place safer. It seemed to take all my strength just to move myself a few inches. Damn it, if only I had my right arm I could at least crawl around somewhat. Maybe I could find a branch and make a cane. Something to help me move around.

  Movement to my right caught my attention. I flicked my vision towards it and saw several small rocks rolling towards me. At first I was alarmed, but then the rocks stopped as they clumped together about a foot in front of my face. I then saw a branch and some roots slowly moving towards me.

  What was going on?

  The branch fitted itself into a notch in the rocks, then the roots untangled themselves and slowly wound around both. Pretty soon the roots had tied together the rocks to the branch and I found what looked like a makeshift weighted cane in front of me.

  Did I do this? I did wish to have a cane, and suddenly one assembled itself right in front of me. Was this some type of magic? It had to be, right?

  I reached out my pale, thin arm to grasp the makeshift cane that had just magically created itself. I was amazed when I touched it, feeling the solid shape of the branch. It was real! I wasn’t hallucinating.

  I planted the weighted edge of the cane in the dirt, then used it to pull myself forward. It was much better than simply using my arm, but it was still slow going. I was about to try again when I heard a rustling nearby. From behind some dead shrubs emerged the lanky body of some type of animal. It looked like a mix between a dog and a rat, with shaggy black fur and thin, scraggly limbs. The creature was nothing but skin and bones, clearly on the verge of starvation. Its glowing yellow eyes focused on me with ill intent.