Apocalypse, the English dictionary states that it means "an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale." or the ending of the world in short terms, yet why is it that for some, the apocalypse is the end yet for others it is just the beginning? In short terms the answer is simple, the apocalypse is not a period of time rather it is a brief but immediate end to everything, because the apocalypse can be stopped before that moment of destruction happens. the leading up to the apocalypse however is always a bit messy to say the least.
The Earth was currently on its downward spiral into that moment, and yes things where indeed messy. Rifts started appearing one day monsters, demons, and all things from fantasy started pouring out like a never ending tide to wreak havoc on humanity. At first humanity fought back with their technology killing the smaller weaker monsters, but soon monsters that could stand the blow of a full frontal missile barrage to the chest started appearing and wreaking havoc pushing mankind back to small bastions of hope. mankind even started nuking the areas where rifts appeared killing all in its wake, all that is except the lords of beasts ,and monsters. the lords might as well have been taking a sauna in the nuclear blasts. After which they summoned more of their minions and kin and started slaughtering humankind once more, all until the Fated came to be, humans who had awakened to mana, who gained a system from the Earth itself.
The Fated where given skills, and talents to fend off the invasion to their world. The Fated came crashing down on the tide of monsters like a hurricane wielding swords, and magic. bows and beasts of their own. all kinds of powers, skills, and other things rained down upon the tide of beasts fighting them all the way back to the rifts where their lords where, and even with all their newfound power the Fated could only hold off the lords but not defeat them, because as the Fated had their system to help them grow so to did the lords have a way of growing through battle by devouring the fallen.
Thus the war stagnated and in a fashion a semblance of peace came back to the bastions of humanity. It has now been 20 years since that period and humanity has adapted making technological advances into fusion of magic and science, and almost every being awoke to becoming a Fated in those 20 years, those who did not awaken by the time they where 15 where deemed the Fateless, and deemed as wastes, unless they could get their hands on exceedingly pricey skill orbs that cost over $25,000, which would forcibly awaken them to their system.
This being where we meet our protagonist, Alex Demitrie who after 5 whole years of excruciating work at back end jobs just to barely make ends meet so he could save the rest of his money to save up for a skill orb, finally was able to purchase a skill orb albeit the lowest end skill orb, nicknamed scavenger orb due to the fact that it was like scavenging through trash hoping to find a gold watch when you knew that nothing but refuse was inside. Yet Alex did not moan nor complain even once during his thankless jobs, he didn't cry when his family died, he didn't frown when he had to quit school just to make ends meet, and to survive, and he CERTAINLY would not yield now, no matter what he got from the skill orb, no matter what system he got, no matter what talent or powers he got, Alex would see it all through to the end, and he would not falter from any amount of hardships put in front of him, not now not ever.
Alex sighed, and breathed in deeply contemplating on what the worst that could happen versus the best, while looking in the mirror seeing his average looks, and brown hair so dark it might as well be black. with eyes of sky blue being his best feature on him. looking down he saw the skill orb, and thought "Well I could either get a farmer system as the worst or reality bending at the best lets hope for at least something in the middle shall we?" he than took the skill orb and crushed it in his hand, waves of energy flowing through his hand into his brain, and throughout the rest of his body, changing it altering it. From it came a searing pain throughout his body and yet he simply raised an eyebrow in response " interesting." soon the raging energy in his body calmed down, and a golden screen appeared in front of him showcasing his status.
NAME: Alex Demitrie
TITLE: None
BOD: F- (body or all physical stats lie under this category. average human is a F)
MAG: F- (magic deals with everything from magic all the way to intelligence. average human is a F)
CHA: F- (charisma how good you look or how well you can communicate. average human is F)
TALENT
Eternal Will: Evolution Possible: You have infinite willpower from which you may draw immense strength from. you will no longer need rest you may draw on your mana with no backlashes to your mind should you drain all mana. (WARNING USER'S BODY WILL DEGRADE SHOULD HE KEEP USING MAGIC PAST THAT POINT) Can minorly bend reality to create effects at the level of the users combined BOD, MAG, and CHA current ability to bend reality is E- effects. comes with skills, UNDYING, UNYEILDING, and EVOLUTIONARY MINDSET.
SKILLS
UNDYING:RANK UNIQUE: Gives a 10% chance to not die for 24 hours when struck a deadly blow, and instead regenerate all lost health for a 24 hours period.
UNYEILDING:RANK UNIQUE: immune to all negative effects towards the mind, and soul. A 50% chance to negate negative effects to the body, and once a day gain Invulnerability for 10 minutes.
EVOLUTIONARY MINDSET:RANK UNIQUE: Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger, should an attack of any sort harm the user the user will evolve his stats to the next level depending on the amount of damage taken (should he even survive it) :current damage 0/10
GODLY RAGE:RANK SSS: Boosts all stats x10 for 1 hour but afterwards the user becomes consumed by the BERSERK debuff destroying the consciousness of the user Cooldown time: 1 day
"... well shit" he murmured to himself "best outcome it is I suppose plus a skill from the skill orb UNYEILDING should take care of that debuff from GODLY RAGE but better be careful just incase." a smile slowly finally dawned on his face causing cracks on his lips to form. "been to long since I had good news guess I was just saving up all that good luck for now" he began to immediately formulate a plan to gain as much strength as possible as fast as possible. "ill have to register for the Fated guild unfortunately. they require it by law to stop as many criminal startups as possible.... they'll also appraise my status which means everyone in the top rungs will know about me... greeeaaattt." after years of being taken advantage of by those around him he has gained a distrust of pretty much everyone, especially those with power. If he didn't go and register though since he had to show his ID at the shop when he bought the skill orb they would hunt him down and bring him in forcibly.
"guess theirs no way around it hopefully they don't try anything" he mumbled as he started walking towards the door, and outside towards the other side of town where the Fated guild branch was located, and perhaps his first friendly encounter in years.
As Alex walked into the Fated guild building he was met by a cacophony of sounds, some laughing because of a good raid in rifts, some just chatting idly with their party,and some unfortunate souls crying at the loss of their comrades, or lamenting their losses in the raids.
Alex walked over to the registration counter, and started filling out the paperwork that the beautiful young lady receptionist handed him. He finished and gave the paperwork back to the receptionist, who with the same customer smile that she gives everyone, asked " now if you would be so kind as to put you're hand onto the scanning orb so we can file you're abilities, and give you you're corresponding rank, and card."
Alex grunted in acknowledgement but still asked with hope " Is their any way I can skip the scanning and just take the lowest rank card?"
The receptionist gave him a deadpan stare as if he was saying the most ridiculous thing she's ever heard. " no one can skip the scanning process, otherwise how would we be able to keep the more dangerous ability users from going rampant, and give resources to those that can use them to aid humanity?"
Alex grunted begrudgingly " Makes sense just don't trust the ones in charge to actually help with resources, and not instead suppress those who could threaten their authority eventually."
The receptionist tilted her head and looked at him with questions marks in her eyes " If they did that than humanity wouldn't have been able to survive as long as we have so far seeing as the invaders give us no breathing room whatsoever, which leaves no room for in fighting. to be blunt we are in a never ending war at the brink of collapse or victory which means any major corruption is stamped out brutally, and efficiently so that we don't accidentally stab ourselves in the foot. all in all if you don't commit crimes and use them to help humanity in the war instead than you will only receive major help, and resources to aid you, definitely not to hinder you."
Alex looked at her with doubt " I'll take your word for it, besides don't have a choice either way so we'll see I suppose." He than placed his hand on the scanner which brought up a screen to the receptionist who than read the information with a blank stare, looked at Alex back at the screen, and back at Alex again than proceeded to faint. Alex looked over the counter incredulously, and yelled " OIY DONT FAINT ON ME DAMNIT WAKE UP!" Which promptly got the attention of everyone in the room. Alex just swore " well fuck now everyone is going to know, and I'm probably going to get into trouble somehow." an old receptionist ran over trying to get the woman back awake ,and looked up to yell at Alex when he saw the screen, and his eyes widened , and muttered under his breath " no wonder she fainted If I was less experienced I would to!" but than he calmly stood up, and told the room" Do not panic the receptionist just had a fainting spell because she forgot to eat everything is fine."
A while later after calming the masses, and getting the receptionist taken care of. the seasoned receptionist calmly used the information to print a red card for Alex, and hid it under a envelope as he handed to him he whispered " don't let others see your card unless you want to be famous real fast" than in a normal voice said " here's the envelope containing rules and guidelines, and you're card. please be safe on you're raids."
Alex promptly thanked him , and walked out of the building towards the city walls, towards the monsters that he will use to train.
back at the Fated guild their was a huge ruckus from Alex's ability scans. the top rung immediately had a meeting to discuss Alex's abilities, and who would get to take him into their department.
The fated guild had 5 departments, the combat department, which take on the role of front liners in combat, the support department, which take on the role of the backline support, the logistics department, who take care of equipment, food, housing and so on for the other departments using their life style skills, the beast handling department, who take care of taming and directing beasts into battle, and above all of those is the human evolution department whose main goal is to make humanity surpass their limits and evolve as a whole, which also happens to be the most dangerous group to be in due to how evolution usually happens for fated, which is going beyond you're breaking point in as many areas of the human body as possible. and seeing as human experimentation on others is banned, they have to do it on themselves in extreme circumstances.