"Uuuugh....where am I?"
Az opened his eyes while rubbing his head. Looking around he couldn't believe his eyes.
"This... this looks like my old college apartment. But that cant be right. That's in the dead zone miles away!"
Suddenly Az felt a familiar tingling in the corner of his consciousness. The System!
"System! Activate last several entries!"
[Initiating Dimensional Assist System. User Azrael Whitman thank you for participating in testing for dimensional conversion. User is qualified for one system reward drawing. Drawing now.]
[User Azrael Whitman has drawn Resonance Fruit.]
[Resonance Fruit has been eaten by user Azrael Whitman.]
[Azrael Whitman has perished. Resonance Fruit effect activated. Users soul will return to instance of fruit consumption and fuse with initial host.]
The "beta test" rewards! Az had completely forgotten about that.
Back before the system owned Earth, he had been dragged into an underground cave system populated with various weak monsters from different fantasy settings. Due to his cowardly nature at the time it took him five days to complete something that should have taken him only one. But the fact he was able to survive was enough to be given a system reward.
Sadly at the time it was completely useless. So when the convergence started he completely forgot about it. Looks like it wasn't as worthless as he first believed.
Az got up off the floor and looked around his old apartment with repressed memories resurfacing. He remember after having a big fight with his parents before going on an exchange program with his school to Germany. How halfway through he had to come rushing back after hearing of their untimely death in a car accident.
After that Az took the rest of the semester off. As their only child, he got a huge amount of money from their life insurance, though he would trade anything to have them back. A few months later while he was moping in his apartment, Azwas dragged into what he called the "beta test" which was just the system calibrating itself to Earth's current level of strength.
A month after he escaped the"beta test" the world changed. Every major population center with over 1 million people became surrounded by a wall of fog with no way out. Any person outside this wall was killed as the world was molded into something new.
Inside the walls the lucky ones were told that their world now belonged to the System. The System would change the world based on the myths and popular culture of the dominant species. The purpose was to promote more powerful organisms in an effort to create powerful warriors but for what reason no one knew.
As he was reminiscing, Az heard movement from his bedroom. Quickly he grabbed a knife before getting into a crouching stance behind the counter. Slowly Az looked around the counters corner only to see a small black cat come walking out of his room.
Gwen! How could he forget about his only companion during those horrible months after his parents death. In fact, the black furball could be said to be the only thing that kept him going.
Sadly shortly after the fog walls came up and the "trial" began Az lost track of Gwen. At first he always worried about her but sadly life got so hectic later he slowly stopped thinking about the cat.
Az put away the knife and went over picking up the furball, getting a small squeak of protest before Gwen settled in his arms and began to purr.
Slowly he walked over to his window and looked out at the city. As he watched the coming and going of the people he lamented. The world was coming to an end and no one knew it. He knew that the System had put in place a variety of fail safes so he couldn't just go off spouting about the end of the world. Not that anyone would believe him.
As he looked out Az began to think. Last time around he had failed miserably. He was a coward during a time where being a coward meant falling behind. For the entire first month he hid in his apartment afraid to even leave. Thanks to that he wasn't able to grow strong enough to survive what was to come.Well not this time.
For the next month Az did nothing but train himself. Using some of the money he had, he bough a bow and arrow as well as a replica sword to train with. Archery, swordsmanship, working out at the gym. Anything to get his body into better shape to better prepare. When he wasn't training his body he would be stock piling food and equipment for surviving in various types of wilderness. All to better prepare for the "trial".
During the next month various news articles appeared about people going missing and strange illnesses began to spread amongst the various countries. Az knew it was all part of the conversion process. Those people were probably more sacrifices to they system that was coming.
Finally the day came where clouds formed over the sky before growing and encasing the city. Outside thousands of people screamed and several cars ended up crashing on the highway as the city was literally enveloped in fog. Az looked out his window and sighed. The new world had come, and it came just as sudden as it would be unforgiving.