'Isiah Duncan.' That was his name here, there was nothing he could do nothing to change that, and as fast as he accepted it, he would start to move on with his life.
He knew that the game changed that day, and so did all the rules that controlled him.
Uncontrollably, Isiah looked to the sky immediately when his father walked outside the house while lifting him on his shoulders.
They say only the sky is the limit, referring to how much more significant the distance between the Earth and the atmosphere is, but here he was looking at the sky and seeing that there is actually a limit before that.
His eyes were fixed on it, and his dad noticed that, so he pointed at the sky and said, "There... Where the influential people live… and my poor boy, that's not even the end... There's five more of them!"
Isiah couldn't hold the surprise from his face, he wanted more information, but his dad sighed and looked at the ground with a sad face while his mom focused on gardening without noticing either of them.
Later that year, to simplify what he saw, he learned a lot about the world he was inhabiting this time.
This was not Earth; it was a different world for sure.
People were attached to the ground like on Earth by gravity, but there were a lot of changes here.
Seven regions were set on different levels; from what he heard, people here were divided by their social status or magic ranking, and that's why each level was inhabited by a different category.
Located on the lowest level of them all, where Isiah lived with his family on the 'Delwias island,' a place with a lot of poverty and broken hearts, it seemed.
They say around here that this world is called: 'The old globe' was once a perfect land, like Earth, was just one giant continent, but people had started wars and fought for regions, causing destruction all over the world, which caused a lot of damage to the humans and animals that inhabited this place.
Only one person could stop the war that lasted for centuries, but he had lost his life while doing this in return.
'The Blue Sage' was his name; he was a mage with exquisite talent and magical powers; he was a person that exceeded human levels in using magic. No one knew how he did it, but certainly, he was one of a kind.
He divided the old globe into seven regions situated on different levels.
For thousands of years, people had to awaken their ultimate magic powers to ascend into the next region.
An annual revaluation was made to give people passes to ascend .
That was the dream of most people here, because when a person reached a certain level, he would be able to climb and live in the area above him.
The Sage made it straightforward so that no one could escape the zone he was meant to be in.
If someone with a low magic ranking tried to escape his region to live in the next one, he would die immediately, as every area had different living conditions.
The climate, air, light, energy, and magic compatibility are all conditions that differ between regions.
Throughout the history some people made it to the next level by sneaking to that place and they even adapted to that level but eventually they got caught up and executed after .
Therefore, every person was stuck in their area unless they leveled up.
Those were the rules from the past centuries; nothing changed until five years ago when someone opened the gates of the world beyond this place.
People here used to want to level up just to live a comfortable life, but now they want it so that they can survive.
This place became a mess; people were running away, ignoring the fact that they might die in the process; their fears were more significant, their hopes too, and when Isiah realized that he was trapped in this, he knew that this was not a chance, it was a confirmation to his death, nothing more.
People here died every day, the negative energy was penetrating the core of this place, monsters too, and each day, one after one another, this place felt like it was drowning into the abyss beyond; it was as if something was pulling this region slowly and no one seemed to stop it.
Isiah knew precisely that his parents were low-ranking mages, they used magic in daily practice, but it wasn't much of a power, to begin with. They were unable to fight monsters when they appeared in the village. They always hid in a basement that they created explicitly for that reason. They were just living one day after another, trying to survive, but he didn't like it at all.
The monsters invaded the city once the moons were full, which happened once every ninety days.
Speaking of moons, this place had three moons, and their cycle was different from one another. The full moon phase matched only once every three months, and that day was hell for this place.
Isiah watched his mother, Lisa, gardening, and cooking for the majority of the time, while his father disappeared all day, only to be back in twilight with stuff from the outside like dead animals, fabric that he bought from markets, seeds of plants for his mother's garden, or magic coins that were the currency of this world.
Isiah hated those dead animals; he hid in his room all day whenever his dad brought one home.
They were for food, and he had hunted it on his own; Isiah knew that, but he couldn't accept it.
Every time he saw them, he remembered his old life, his abusive parents, their cults, and their rituals…
Being here was a constant reminder of his weakness, choices, sins, loss, and the mission that he had to fulfill.
Isiah was bright, too brilliant for his age; he knew this world's history just by looking around for a while and analyzing what everyone was saying in front of him.
The world was already collapsing, and its end was very soon. If he doesn't level up, he'll be doomed, and he couldn't afford that.