Starting up, pop ups, and a fuzzy face

Skyler is awoken by his cat, Cleo. She is relaxing on his body pillow that he uses to help him sleep every night. She's a tortoiseshell cat that he has had for many years. She had let out a soft meow, but continued doing this every 15 seconds or so until he carefully reached over to stroke her back. When she felt his touch, she began to purr softly, turning her head back toward him before letting out a soft trill in appreciation rather than a meow.

It was at that moment that Skyler's eyes had opened wide enough to realize something odd had occurred. There was a health and mana bar with his full name above them in the upper left of his view, to the right was a mini-map, and in the lower right two flashing exclamations marks, one red and one yellow, flashing every few seconds or so. He blinked twice, noticing how clear each of these things were, but when he looked to Cleo, like the rest of his room, she was slightly out of focus. One thing was certain, he clearly wasn't seeing these things with his eyes.

Skyler sighed while thinking, 'I am either dreaming or hallucinating. A video game HUD is clearly my mind slipping.' before looking at Cleo and said. "All right, I'm up." He quickly slipped out of bed of his xl twin sized bed to walk over to his desk a mere four feet away. However, when he picked up his thin framed glasses and phone up, a notification appeared in the middle of his view.

You might wish to check those flashing exclamation marks.

They're important, Skyler.

Skyler simply glared at the message before trying to brush it out of his view with his hand, which surprisingly worked. However, those exclamation marks continued to flash. He sighed softly and thought. 'Is this like a touch screen? How do I get this thing to pop up? Hmm, if it's like my writing. I should be able to use a mental command or touch it.' He looked around his room before shrugging and decided to use the mental command. 'Open all exclamation marks.'

New Quest!

Welcome to the Abyss!

- Open your character sheet and inventory

- Feed the cats outside

- Cook and eat breakfast

Reward: 10 xp, general knowledge that this isn't a dream, and 1 level in Cooking

Optional: Test out your inventory within a secure location.

Reward: 25 xp, 5 inventory slots, and 1 Wisdom

Achievement Unlocked!

Wake up to pussy in bed!

Aren't you the naughty man?

Haha, seriously though, she's adorable.

Reward: 10 xp and my sass.

Skyler touched his right hand's finger tips to his forehead, accidentally hitting himself with his glasses as he thought. 'Of course, I'd make fun of myself in my dreams.' He unfolded his glasses before putting them on, a new notification popped up in the center of his view.

You'll understand after doing the quest, Skyler.

To be clear, I'm not making fun of you.

This is good old fashioned sass!

I know you read that part. ;)

Skyler let out a breath before shaking his head, ignoring that message by brushing it to the side while turning to look at Cleo and said. "Come on, Cleo. I am sure mom is waiting for us." He wasn't planning to have an argument with himself. He was certain that giving this thing his attention would be unwise. This reminded him of a movie called, "A Beautiful Mind." If this was as he suspected, a schizophrenic delusion, then simply ignoring it should yield the desired result. Its silence and removal from his life.

Come to think of it, why would Skyler's mind try to communicate with him through the written word? He's dyslexic, making this way harder than it needed to be for him. Hmm, was this a ploy to get him to pay more attention to it? All Skyler knew for certain was that this was going to be an unpleasant day. This was starting to remind him of some of the stories he had written online. Hmm, no. Gaia's quest hadn't asked him to masturbate and this was clearly the beginning of the story.

Wait, why was Skyler assuming this was Gaia? Ugh, why was he thinking so hard about this? This was simply preposterous. Gaia and the Abyss weren't real, right? Another notification popped up in the center of his view.

Oh, I'm Gaia all right.

You just lucked out with your writing.

You'll just have to see for yourself if the "Abyss" is real or not. ;P

Skyler glared at the message before waving it away and thought. 'This is clearly a delusion. I have finally snapped.' He sighed softly, knowing his luck there was no way he'd be fortunate enough to receive special abilities. This was just another thing he had to deal with from now on. He shook his head while walking out of his bedroom, through the laundry room, part of the kitchen ignoring his mother Verona, all while heading towards the bathroom.

Verona called out as he stepped into the kitchen for a brief moment and said. "Feed the kitties?" Skyler nodded and said while Cleo followed in tow. "I just need to use the restroom first." She glanced to him before saying. "Your girlfriend is following you." He sighed softly again before saying. "I'm aware." Cleo dashed ahead of him, running down the hall and leaped up onto the counter of the sink within the bathroom.

Once Skyler arrived in the bathroom and turned on the lights, he reached out a hand to scratch the top of Cleo's head and the back of her neck. Cleo sat down with a soft purr and soon laid down upon the counter top. He smiled and said. "Who's a good girl? You are!" Cleo let out a soft trill, purring away. He looked up from her and saw the image of himself, staring back within the mirror, the door behind him was wide open.

Skyler didn't turn around, using his right hand to lock the doorknob before closing it using his right foot. His brown/green hazel eyes continued to watch Cleo, himself, and the door through the mirror. He could see his own visage, a 5' 11" white overweight man, mostly around the mid section, with male pattern baldness, removing most of the hair that would have been up top. However, the hair he did have was mostly gray. This included the hair that lightly covered his body from his shoulders down to his toes. Or as he and his family called it, fuzz. All the men in his immediate family had, "fuzz" too.

Don't misunderstand, Skyler is actually 34 years old. However, due to a genetic predisposition, he grayed early. He had a neatly trimmed, full mouth goatee and pale/peach skin. He had a light amount of body acne here and there, several stretch marks, minor skin flakes on his scalp and underneath his facial hair, and a reddened area in the shape of a butterfly along the bridge of his nose and cheeks. Mind you, these skin flakes and redness weren't always there. It was likely, seborrheic dermatitis, but he didn't know for sure. Although this was likely because this was also his dad's skin condition.

As for Skyler's redness, that is merely conjecture at this point. He continued to stroke the back of Cleo's neck while using the mental command. 'Open character sheet.' Surprisingly enough, a character sheet showing everything from his age, name, health and mana bars, level, what items he was wearing, and even his current skills, appeared in the center of his view.

These are Skyler's current skills:

(Passive) Gamer's Body: Your body is like a video game character, damage reduces your health rather than actually wounding you. (Disabled in the real world)

(Passive) Gamer's Mind: Mind altering affects will be nullified up to lvl x 3.

(Passive) Gamer's Life: Everything can become a skill and upgraded through practice and/or proper stat modifiers.

Cooking lvl 3 - Channeled

(Passive) Cooking: Allows for easier and better cooking at each lvl. Allows for Mp to be infused into your food during the cooking process for better buffs. Buff type is selected during cooking.

Cooking buffs: All include standard regeneration rate increases, current regen rate increase 3%, buff duration 5 hours.

All stats + 5, 5 hour duration. Cost: 50 Mp.

Any two stats by + 10, 4 hour duration. Cost: 75 Mp.

Any stat by + 25, 3 hour duration. Cost: 150 Mp.

Damage reduction all types by 20%, 2 hour duration. Cost: 200 Mp.

Cost divided over channeling duration, rate vary by food creation time.

(Passive) Depression rank 3

Random, unless triggered by actions or phrases. Drains desire, pleasure, will to live, and general happiness from all sources by 60%. Chance of this occurring and duration vary.

Special note: If Charisma is equal to 9 times the current rank of this ability, this effect will be removed.

(Passive) Hypokalemic Periodic Paralysis rank 3

While under physical or emotional stress, heat, and foods heavy in carbs, may cause random systems of your body to no longer function properly. This ranges from minimal reduction in movement to heavy. However, it can increase to full paralysis of any to all muscles. Although rare, it can include the lungs, heart, and eyes. Trigger chance and duration vary. Full awareness is retained during an attack.

Special note: Potassium rich foods, drinks, and shots can reduce the duration of this effect as can cold and removing the stress factors. In addition, if both Strength and Endurance are equal to 13 times the current rank of this ability, this effect will be removed.

(Passive) Lack of Self Esteem rank 10

Reduces confidence in yourself by 100%. Drains any positive confidence back to 0 over the course of 24 hours.

Special note: If Charisma is equal to 6 times the current rank of this ability, this effect will be removed.

Masturbation lvl 43

Touching yourself now builds up orgasms faster. Orgasm rate and pleasure increased by 43%.

Flat Feet rank 7

Reduces jumping height by 35%.

Reduces maximum run speed by 21%.

Reduces dodge chance by 14%.

Special note: If both Strength and Agility are equal 5 times the current rank of this ability, this effect will be removed.

Skyler read all of that with a nod and says. "Well, that figures." He began to wonder what to look at next, his stats or items. What do you desire to see next?