Opening your eyes, you see a man sitting by a fireplace. He's reading what seems to be a book while sipping on some tea. Noticing you he closes his book and smiles.

"A Reader! Welcome! I'm Coroad. A hard name to say, so you can just call me [The Guide]"

Standing up from his armchair, you see his short dark hair, with a long blue coat.

"Where am I? This isn't how Auxiliary chapters work...." Getting on your feet you can see the man's soft smile. "You're right, usually it's just an info dump place, but I'm here to ensure that it's not."

*Clap* With a single clap, the room mirrors itself, granting you an armchair to sit in. Signaling you to take a seat, Coroad says. "Before we start, I'd like to inform you that you don't need to be here. You can start the story right away. This is just an explanation if you want to know more before heading in."

Crossing his legs, he takes a sip of his tea.

...

"You're still here? Very well." Clapping his hands, he yells. "Welcome to Aquaria!"

A large hologram of the earth is shown before you. Zooming in, you see the mountains and forests until you arrive at a clearing—a giant metropolis, with towering skyscrapers that touch the clouds.

"The City of Aquaria, The Capital of Humanity, Year 2096," Coroad explains as he spins the large image of the city. Noticing something weird you ask him to stop the image.

Seeing the large slums, poor and barely standing buildings you ask Coroad what's that.

"Those are The Southern Aquarian Slums, The center of crime and illegal activities. You can see it clearly here, the city is split in half by the large river, The Northern Metropolis, And The Southern Slums. Together they make the city."

Spinning it again, the hologram zooms out and shows the whole planet.

"The Earth in..." Looking around Coroad finds a book and reads.

"The Earth in 2096 has been drastically changed by the cataclysm of 2020. The biggest change is the unification of continents which killed 50% of the human population, afterwards new beasts, and Blah blah..... The classic Magic became a thing, AKA The Sephs, and the evolution of beasts that killed another 20%.... Aquar is equal to 1/5 of a Euro... Yeah, that's it."

Smiling, he closes the book. "That's the minimum knowledge you kinda need about this world. But there are still a lot of things, which are not as important."

Moving the hologram to the side, it changes itself into a giant 3D model of the previous city. Sliding the armchairs over to the table, a slight breeze lifts you off the armchair.

"Magic..." You whisper.

"Kinda" Nodding his head, Coroad, explains. "This world calls it Sephs. It's a pretty complex system." Forming an exciting formation out of colored balls, he explains.

"Sephiroth that's what these are called. They're also connected to a plant that causes this to even be possible."

Out of nowhere, the room gets overgrown by a dark hard thorny rose. Pricking his finger on the rose, Coroad picks up the rose. "Black rose, it's the plant that changed the world."

Spinning it in his hand, the dark pellets fly into the air.

"Black Rose began its growth after the cataclysm. It's not sure what caused it, but one thing is sure. It's thanks to the existence of this flower that Sephs exist."

But's also because of it, humanity is shattered. Making holograms of certain streets he points to the difference between the human,

Animal traits.

"In the year 2025, the first humanity's survival attempt began, but some were less fortunate than others. The ones that were in a [Black Rose] rich area begun to experienced the first symptoms. Dehydration increased body temptation and skin irritation."

Showing a picture of a man laying on some leaves in a makeshift tent he continues.

"There are two outcomes to the infection. First, if enough nutrients are present, the human body will replace the unrepairable cells with the ones they've absorbed, let it be, plants cattle, feline, and avian. They will cast a mutation, the most common traits is the growth of tails and change of ears."

Showing some pictures, he smiles. "AKA, The classical fantasy animal humanoids."

Changing the holograms of pictures into mini-figures, Coroad places them on top of the fireplace.

"Do you want one?" Throwing you a figure of a cat-like woman with soft red hair, he remarks on remembering her. cause she's going to be in the story. Before you can ask anything, Coroad cuts you off and proceeds to speak.

"Sadly, The Depraved, or the ones who lost their humanity. Don't get along with pure humans. A long bloody war happened because of it, 40 years of life and generations were wasted, only to call a truce and not get anywhere."

Throwing a picture into the flame, he smiles.

"My dear Reader, I might be the creation of an imagination like everything around us, but it was a fine while, this is the basic premise behind the world that was created from a yer long hobby, of course. There's a lot more in this world that can't be just said in this small conversation, but still. I hope you..... you will enjoy these stories."