Licht felt like he had dreamt of boundless blue skies.
Under them, an island full of mysterious places waiting to be explored. Some of its patches were green, filled with forests and wildlife, some were desolate, and others were filled with sand that stretched till it met the sea.
This place was all he had hoped for, full of serenity and peace. A place far away from the bounds of prison, from the chains of his trauma...
Living with no care of the world, just passing the days listening to the chirping of birds, feeling the wind flowing past his face, seeing the water rushing towards the coast in the day and staring at the sky full of stars, having small shivers from the cold wind blowing through the coast, and excitement from the anticipation of the next day before sleep.
But he knew it was just a dream somewhere inside him, as he had expected.
It all came crashing down. The world vanished from his eyes as if it were just a lie and instead, a horrifying face abruptly came in front of him.
In a dark, desolated space, faces phased in and out of reality. This was his nightmare. Sometimes it was the face of his mother, sometimes the other five people that had died that day, but today was something different.
Two ugly faces appeared, surrounding him from the front and back. Their expressions contorted in anger and anguish. They were the horrified faces of the executioner and Richard. Asking him the same question over and over, circling around him.
'Why wasn't it you? Why us? WHY?!' Enveloping him in their madness, shaking his body again and again.
They drowned him under the weight of his sins and guilt, forever pushing him back down…
Till that slightly familiar yet unfamiliar voice resounded in his ears.
'Wake up, Licht, it isn't time yet.'
As if experiencing a sudden push to the back, he woke up under a new ceiling, totally not smelling the rotten insides of jail but fresh air coming in and out of his lungs.
Remembering the situation he was in before, Licht stood up in a hurry, causing the blood to suddenly flow into his head and cause dizziness. Just as he got his senses back, he analyzed the current situation.
He looked around everywhere in the room, spotting hundreds of people, but the most notable thing was that everybody was wary of the next person and why wouldn't they be?
Everyone here was a killer. A person who had done murder could do it again, and even if someone didn't kill a human but another creature, there was no way to identify nor trust between them.
He moved his head, trying to find anyone that he could have known.
Even after Licht had gone through some people here, he couldn't find anyone he had seen or known. No inmates from the prison, guards, civilians, or his so-called distant family.
Without wasting more time on the pointless searching, he moved to a small open space between ppl on his right side. Sitting with his back to the back wall, he could now see that the room was truly big.
Most of the people were sitting beside the walls, some daring ones were roaming around in the middle and some were still not awake from this disaster.
With time, people slowly started to wake up, suffering from the boredom of doing nothing. Licht remembered the command and started browsing through the blue window like many others.
This was the best time pass as well as the only way to get some more information about the situation.
Apparently, no one except him could see the blue screen with his information. Sighing, he finally looked at the translucent screen and only a sound of wonder came from his mouth.
"Woah!"
===========
[Host Attributes]
[Name]: Licht Vanrir
[Race]: Human
[Spiritual Energy]: 0.2
[Martial Arts]:
[Monster]:
____
[Strength]: 1.9
[Endurance]: 1.9
[Agility]: 1.4
[Stamina]: 1.6
[Mentality]: 4.9
===========
[Calamity Soul]: 400
'This is like a status screen from those old games!' Licht recalled the games that were available before the downfall of Earth. They were quite the vintage products of this era.
'What are these calamity souls, though?' Just as he thought of this, the dreadful cute looking being appeared again, right before his eyes.
"Hoho," the hamster said. It was in the same exact dress, the same black tuxedo with a matching hat, and in its left hand was an umbrella.
"I would like to congratulate you all for surviving the first trial. It has been hard on you all," It said while materializing a chair from thin air, holding and creasing the seams of his coat, he sat.
"You all can call me Mr. Flare, and I am an interdimensional seeker. I will be the administrator of you all from now on. You can call me for any problem, but there will be a hefty price for it hehe." He added.
"Currently you all are on the same earth you call home, but soon that will change when this planet goes into the supermassive black hole in the center of the Andromeda galaxy. But you won't be living on the planet from now on." Twiddling with his paws, he looked at everyone from his seat.
"A virtual reality will be launched for you all, which borders on the current reality, all to make you humans transcend mortality. Now comes the question: why? Why make you guys stronger? And the answer is quite simple."
"The calamities are the apocalypse that plagues the whole universe and to save living beings from them, the old gods created safe havens inside Supermassive Black holes of some galaxies, shielded by powerful combatants and a 4th-dimensional barrier, no calamity can even find it."
"The problem arises when newer lifeforms like you emerge somewhere in the universe, and we have to get to you all before calamities. It is a tough race to save billions of lifeforms. Oh, and isn't it better to save some rather than letting all die? It doesn't cost us much to help you this much, and even if one of you becomes stronger than me, then this all could be worth it. " Just as he said as a tense atmosphere enveloped everyone.
Someone interjected during his speech, "Excuse me, I have a question-"
"No, I won't take questions," the hamster said, looking down at the person who asked him.
"Anyway, as you all have gotten answers to some of the basic questions plaguing your minds, I will advance onto the real stuff. First, you will be transported to the trials and only by passing those trials will you be able to become stronger, Second I won't explain your status screen and it will be done by the system, Third Calamity souls are the currency and fuel to everything in the universe, you can buy martial arts and other necessities from it."
"Lastly, I will now awaken the monster inside of you all. The monster is a spiritual manifestation of the power deep hidden within oneself. It can only be awakened through rigorous training, death encounters, or by higher realm beings like me. But the most important thing is to have an ample amount of spiritual energy present in the atmosphere. Without it, the awakening isn't possible" A blue ethereal light surrounded his paws, and gusts of wind started to spread from them.
The glow climbed onto his umbrella, and then suddenly a loud noise erupted. The ground to his right had a big crevice in it, which slowly started to fill back up.