Friday, approximately 15 minutes after school.

It was a typical day, I was on a walk with my friend after a long day at school. It wasn't supposed to be anything special that day. But while we were walking towards the busy subway, which had people coming from here and there, some bumping into others, their footsteps combined made quite a noise. It suddenly appeared. A hand. A hand so massive it looked to be able to cover the entirety of Earth. It was what started it all.

"Hey! look at the sky!" Shouts a stranger.

"What the fuck is that!?" Another person shouts.

Murmurs could be heard from everywhere. The surrounding area was dim, as if a solar eclipse was occurring. I looked towards the direction the person said and was pointing to, I saw a hand. It was closing in minute by minute, rapidly turning to seconds. The crowd cried out in despair, hopeless.

"This has to be God's punishment to the sinners!"

I saw people panic, some prayed, begging for mercy. But nothing was stopping the hand from moving in closer. I too was panicking. I was so scared to the point that I did not even realized I had been holding— no, more correctly, crushing my friend's hand the whole time, which was probably what made her gain composure.

"Ugh, Sim, you're hurting my hand," She groaned.

"Ah! I'm sorry, Lulu. I just can't think straight."

We said this to each other as if nothing abnormal was happening. Maybe it's because we knew that it was the end that we had no choice but to accept it and calm ourselves.

"...To think this was how my life was going to end… I thought I would've lived a fulfilling life, having married, raising kids and such." I said after a brief pause.

"Well, it could've ended a different way anyway, like getting hit by a lightning or something. Just saying, you never know, I guess."

"Is that supposed to cheer me up?" I looked at her eye to eye, perhaps I looked really pitiful that she had decided to crack a joke while the crowd was in chaos.

"In a way."

"Haha, thanks, it worked," I said. It wasn't a lie that it cheered me up, even if just a little.

To think that would've been our last conversation in that place…

As the hand came closer, people got quieter, looking at the sky – hand. We were basically counting down, knowing our lives are going to end the moment we reach zero.

"God, if you're out there, please give u—"

Those words were the last words I heard before we left that place.

***

"P… Wak… Wake up!"

"Huh!?" I gasped, startled, my eyes blurry as I slowly opened it.

In front of me, a fair skinned person. Bangs covered her forehead, her long white straight hair reached to her waist. It looked unnatural, but it was white to the roots. As if to rebel, her eyebrows, eyelashes, and eyes were black, her nose sharp with high bridge, reddish pink lips, with a strong jawline. She looked to be around 18 years old.

"Sim, you're finally awake."

"W - what's going on? Was I just dreaming? What was that hand?" I was dazed and confused, as if I had drank too much alcohol. It took me a second to realize it was Lulu.

"No, Sim, everything that happened, happened... I think."

"This doesn't make any sense. Does that mean we're in hell or heaven together?"

"No, you dumb nut, we're still alive. Look around us."

I looked around us and realized we were in a different place. A field of grass, not concrete, far ahead a forest. A place full of greenery, not a building in sight, this was a rare sight to many. Surrounding Lulu and I were people. The wind sweeped on my face and it felt nice to breathe.

"Fuah~ woah, the air feels nice. The breeze feels amazing." I said, exhaling, feeling refreshed.

"I know, right? But enough of that. Where are we?"

"I have no idea."

"Just like everyone else here, I guess."

As I looked around, I recognized some people, some of them were the ones begging for mercy or panicking. But now everyone looked calmer. But it also looked like there were not as many of us.

"I feel kind of dizzy still," I said, feeling the hint of drowsiness after surveying with my eyes.

"I guess you would be, since I was too."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Like 10 or 15 minutes, I think."

"Hmm, maybe it's like one of those manga, where people become stone and wake up after a long time," With a bright smile on my face, knowing some fantasy stuff is happening.

"Don't be stupid. Look, I still have charge on my phone, though I have no service. We got off school at like 4:00 PM, and it's only 7:00 PM right now," Lulu said as she shoved her phone right in front of my face, though I still felt dizzy, so I couldn't really properly see what she was showing.

"Hey, maybe it's been over like a day or two," I replied, hoping for something, but not anything specific.

"Phones have calendar. It's still the same day," She retorted.

"Ahhh, I was really hoping for something… thanks for crushing my dreams," I sighed, feeling a bit disappointed.

"Come on, get up already."

"Alright, alright, just let me settle my dizziness a bit."

***

Time passed, and it looked like most of the people around started waking up.

"It's been a while now. How are some of those people still not awake?" I asked.

"Maybe they're all heavy sleepers," Lulu said with a chuckle.

All of a sudden, A glowing white light appeared above the crowd. It wasn't just in the area we were in. Some were beyond the forest or maybe in the forest. There were multiple places, it was glowing bright, not enough to brighten the whole area like the sun, but it was bright enough to be seen from different areas.

"Greetings, humans."

The voice was a sweet bliss to listen to. It was as if a mother was caressing the head of a baby after giving birth to them. No one wanted the voice to stop from speaking. They all wanted the voice to continue.

"All of you may be wondering what happened, And worry not, I am here to explain what exactly happened.

"I will go straight to the point, humans. Your planet was targeted by an evil God. They decided to destroy your planet and humans as a species. But we were able to stop them, more accurately, have their plans altered."

"…" The whole crowd was speechless. They had no idea how to respond. There was a slight pause as the 'God' was explaining.

"The ground you've been standing on is a different ground from Earth. I assume some of you already have an idea of what I am about to say, but… This is a different planet from Earth."

The crowd started murmuring some happy, some unhappy.

"This is a world of Magic and Cold Weapons. There are such things as 'Mana' and 'Stats.' There are even mythical creatures, or just otherworldly creatures in general, of course, canines and felines also roam this world."

The crowd jumped in joy, looking at their faces. They had the face of a child getting their first most wanted toy or a child getting their gift from "Santa." But there are also some that were unhappy and even afraid.

The 'God' continued, "There are multiple races in this world; there's the Elves, Dragon kins, Dwarves, and many more.

"There are multiple places to get started with in this world, but I would recommend starting in 'this' forest. Though it's quite far from here, it's worth the journey. The one near where most of you are is a forest inhabited by a certain race, though most of you will probably not even be able to encounter them unless they choose to."

Suddenly, a map popped up in front of me, and it showed a red dot and an X mark.

"This red dot signifies yourself, The X mark is the place I have suggested. You will see that there is nothing but trees. You all will have to work to start from scratch."

"What…? Really?"

Finally a person spoke up, maybe it's because the mood has lightened up, or maybe they just really hated the idea of building things from scratch that they had to go against the words of a 'God.'

"Yes, truly. There is no human being in this world. They used to not exist here until all of you were sent here. I have not much time, and I will explain something you all may have been wondering some time ago. "Why are there so little amount of people?" That is because some people died of shock, and some, anxiety. We, even as Gods, do not yield infinite power. We were not able to and did not have enough power to bring the sick and the elderly."

A bunch of murmurs began in the crowd yet again. Many sounded sad, full of sorrow. A lot of them if not all, had tears falling from their eyes.

"As I am running out of power, I must rest to regain them back. I wish you all good luck in your journey and survival."

As soon as those words were said, the bright light vanished. After the 'God' left, words began leaving people's mouth, they were chattering away, saying how excited or sad they were. There were also some that kept silent.

"Hey, what now, Lulu? What's the protocol?" I asked, knowing that Lulu has a relative that she was close to that was in the military.

"The God said something about survival. Maybe we should look for foods and such."

"But how would we do that? Hunt animals? Look how fragile looking I am. all bones and no meat. Even though you're healthy, I don't think you can actually hunt."

"Dummy, I assume this world would have fruits too, having trees and everything."

"That's true, I guess. But how would we know if it's safe to eat?"

"I don't know, maybe ask some food expert. Anyway it's getting late let's find something to sleep with."

"Alright."

***

We looked around the area and there was really nothing to see around the field, see except the near forest.

"After a thorough investigation, it looks like that's the only place to search up," I said jokingly.

"What do you mean 'thorough' investigation? You just looked around us." Lulu said as she looked irritated at me yet amused.

"Anyway, do we really have nothing here? if that's the case then we have to go in the forest." I said, feeling the adventure ahead of us

"Yeah, but going there just means putting ourselves in danger, especially since it's night."

As Lulu said that, I knew she was right, the God said that there were otherworldly creatures in this world, and I came to the conclusion that it probably meant something like a Goblin. So, going in the forest most likely meant danger.

"What's the plan? do we group up with other people and hug each other in order to keep one another away from the cold?" I replied, trying to make the best of the situation.

"No! what kind of solution is that. But what can we do, though, what can the two of us do in this grasslands without anything."

"What can any of us here do, honestly... We'd only survive if someone here was a survival expert."

Many of us, maybe all of us here, were just normal civilians a few hours ago. There was no way that we could go to danger.

"That is true, I guess."

"What do we do then? This isn't getting us anywhere."

"Let's just go by ourselves, I don't like to trust my life with a stranger."

"Alright, it's better to go with who we trust anyway."

We walked towards the forest, and as we were getting near it, we both saw how dark and grim it was in there, the leaves were fluttering, making noise, it felt more eerie. No one knew what would happen by venturing in the forest.

"You ready?" I nervously asked.

"Of course, I'm always ready."

She said that as if she was not scared. But looking at her clearly shaking, tells me something otherwise. As we walked in, some people that were hesitating to go in, saw us so they also decided to go in the forest. Who knows if they or any of us would survive. While walking through the forest, Lulu mentioned something we should have discussed long ago.

"Come to think of it, Sim, the God said something about mana, weapons, and stats, right?"

"Oh yeah! they did! how could I forget something as cool as that!"

"Maybe you forgot because of the sudden things that happened."

"It's probably that. Anyway, how do we see our stats?"

"Well, I have some ideas, probably say something like, "System!" Lulu shouted in excitement.

...

Nothing happened. I saw Lulu's face redden from embarrassment, and I laughed uncontrollably.

"I can't believe you actually think that'd work!" I said, still laughing, gradually calming down.

"Haahh..." I gasped for air

"Stop it already," Shaking her head, her face is still red.

"Okay... wait...phew...I'm calm now."

"Anyway, that's one of the ideas I have."

"Hmm... So something like a game."

"Exactly, how else would it work. The God did not even give us a clue."

"Okay, wait, let me try... Open Sesame," I said mockingly.

...

Nothing happened.

"That's not even close to games. That's for magic shows," Lulu facepalmed as she tried again, "View Profile!"

...