The System told the world it was coming a week in advance. It was a cruel joke. Humans couldn't stop killing each other for a single day, much less unite to face an apocalypse. If anything, the warning just made things worse.
Governments tried to reach out and assure everyone that everything would be alright – that all people had to do was fall in line and they would be protected. The police and armies came out in force to control the riots that sprung up in just about every city.
That didn't last long. When people got a magical message in their head telling them that the world as they knew it was going to end, threats from talking heads hardly held the weight they once did.
By the time the week came to its end, the world was on fire. It was chaos. Supply chains collapsed. Soldiers deserted. Communities divided. Everyone was desperate to find a way to survive for just a moment longer.
And, as the world collapsed, Alex had a pizza party with his best friend.
"To us." Alex laughed as he raised a red plastic cup full of flat soda to the air. The smell of burnt rubber and ash filtered through their window from the distant fires on the street below. "It's been shit, but sometimes it was slightly less so."
"As eloquent as always." Teddy pushed his glasses back up his nose, then matched Alex's grin and raised his own glass. "I rather liked it myself."
"That's because you were actually good at school." Alex downed his soda. He considered throwing his cup behind him but opted to set it down by his side, next to the go-bag he'd prepared. The end of the world didn't mean he had to start littering.
Teddy tossed his cup over his shoulder. He brushed his long, blonde hair away from his face, tying it back behind his head in a bun. Despite the impending apocalypse, it was still somehow perfectly taken care of. While everyone else had rushed to the stores to steal food and other necessities, Teddy had bought every last bottle of shampoo he could get his hands on and stuffed them into an old blue knapsack that now rested behind him.
Alex's own backpack was stuffed full of food, an old med-kit his late mom had forced him to bring to college that he'd been fortunate enough to keep purely because he couldn't bring himself to part with it, and a few crumpled up old exams that had snuck their way in.
"So, what do you think is going to happen?" Teddy asked, finishing his work and letting his hands drop.
Alex shrugged. The smell of smoke grew stronger. A restaurant had completely been engulfed in flame and thick black clouds were rising up from it in a pillar that aimed to claw its way into the heavens. "Aliens?"
"I'm hoping it's more demons and wizards and the like. If I die, I'd rather die to a cool orc than a tentacle monster."
"Neither will make you any less dead. I'd rather live through this whole thing myself." Alex took a bite of frozen pizza. It tasted like wet cardboard that someone had slapped with a sausage. The electricity to their college dorm was long gone, but he'd let the pizza sit out in the sun for a day to warm it. It wasn't exactly cooked, but food poisoning was the least of his worries.
"Like that's going to happen."
"Says the guy that constantly carries around four sets of his glasses in case one of them breaks."
"And look how it paid off." Teddy shot Alex a smug look. "I'm a genius. Twilight Zone had a message in it, man."
"If I was the last guy alive, I think I'd just kill myself. That sounds awful."
Teddy tilted his head slightly askew, then inclined it in agreement. "Fair point, man."
A twinge of nervous excitement swirled in Alex's stomach, but he didn't let it show on his face. He'd never tell Teddy – or anyone else for that matter – but the day he'd gotten the message from the System had been one of the most exciting ones he'd had in years.
Life is a waste. Wake up, go to school, take shitty exams for a subject that I don't care about, and then go to bed. Rinse and repeat until I get a job and then spend the rest of my life slaving away for something that doesn't even matter.
That's not how things should be. In just a few minutes, everyone gets screwed. No more work. Just a fight for survival – and that means we're all on even ground. The System wouldn't warn us it was happening if we didn't have a way to survive. That means we're going to get challenged, but there should be a way through.
A challenge that isn't ripping my hair out trying to make a piece of code run correctly… I think I'm actually looking forward to the end of the world.
A bulky watch on Teddy's wrist let out a shrill beep. He'd sworn by the thing for years, claiming it was the greatest watch ever made. He claimed it was somehow hooked up to the true clocks that were always perfectly accurate. Alex was convinced the damn thing was slow by a few seconds, but he didn't have the heart to tell Teddy. They both fell silent, looking down at the piece of plastic as it went off, its shrill scream breaking their calm. Teddy reached down and turned it off.
"One minute until the end." Some of Teddy's bravado faded away and he set his droopy pizza down, swallowing. "What are the chances that this whole thing is just a really elaborate prank and the apocalypse never happens?"
Alex looked out the window. The street was littered with shattered barricades and broken glass from protests and fights between the campus police and students. Cars sat abandoned, most of them demolished. Distant sirens rang, but most of them had already run out of battery or had their electricity cut.
"I think it already did."
"In that case, I've changed my mind. I hope I get magic. It would be badass to start slinging fireballs around."
"You'd probably blow yourself up."
"Probably," Teddy agreed.
The two of them fell silent. Seconds ticked by on the watch.
10.
9.
8.
"Alex?"
"Yeah?" Alex raised his eyes from the watch. Staring at it wouldn't change anything.
"It's been–"
The rest of Teddy's sentence vanished in an earth-shattering roar. Brilliant blue light lit up the day with such intensity that it momentarily blinded Alex. He threw his hands up, crying out in surprise.
I knew his goddamn watch was off.
A booming roar slammed into Alex's mind, echoing through his very being. Golden letters scrawled through the air before him.
Welcome, Planet 274-50, colloquially known as Earth.
Your warning period has ended. Earth will now begin to be assimilated into the Infinium. Please sit or lie down for the first stage of Initialization to avoid being injured.
Initialization will take place over 3 stages to minimize critical damage during integration.
Alex blinked the letters away as a rumble shook the building. Blood rushed in his ears as his spine tingled and his hair stood on end. He and Teddy exchanged a wild-eyed look, but they didn't have time to say anything.
As quickly as the first message had faded, a new one appeared before Alex.
Initialization has begun.
Welcome, Alex Vaya. Please remain still while your information is processed. You are number 2,105,294,612 in the queue.
The smell of ozone bit at Alex's nostrils. Energy crackled through the room, tiny arcs of blue light dancing along the walls and racing around their feet.
Alex's hair stood on end. More and more energy gathered around them. Out of the corner of his eye, Alex saw a flash of dark energy through his window. A black beam carved through the air, ripping through the ground. A pillar of black crystal erupted where the energy had struck and a car that had been unfortunate enough to be in its path warped in on itself before getting sucked into an obelisk. Rings of blue light flickered around the rippling black object, humming a shrill whistle.
It was the very same energy that was filling the room.
Oh, shit.
"We need to move!" Alex yelled.
Teddy didn't need to be told twice. He and Alex lurched to their feet. The energy gathering around them grew even stronger. It screamed in Alex's ears like a raging siren. Flashes of blue light swirled around him, forcing him to squint.
A sliver of black light sliced through the air in the center of the room, directly in front of Teddy's path. It carved through the ground like a knife and expanded outward. It split through splitting apart everything in its path.
Alex lunged and shoved Teddy out of the way just as the darkness roared out between them, forming into a crackling obelisk of energy. He hit the ground with a grunt, rolling to the side an instant before the black crystal finished taking form.
A flicker of blue energy arced past Alex's arms and the smell of burnt hair filled the room. He let out a hiss of pain and shook his arm off.
"Alex!" Teddy yelled. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Alex yelled back, stepping around the obelisk. His heart slammed violently in his chest. Dark swirls of smoke twisted and shimmered within the strange object that had materialized in their room. It was oddly mesmerizing – but not nearly enough to get Alex to stand around for a second longer.
Teddy scrambled to his feet and darted around the obelisk. Alex felt energy crackle at his back and jumped forward, just barely managing to avoid another obelisk as it slammed into place in their room, roaring with violent energy.
"Holy shit," Alex breathed. "That was a close call. We need to get out of here."
"Yeah," Teddy agreed, steadying Alex. For a moment, it looked like he wanted to say something. Teddy's mouth opened for just an instant before he closed it, pressing his lips together as his features darkened.
Then Teddy shoved him.
Alex's back hit the churning energy and a roar filled his mind, the words stolen from his mouth as it opened in shock. The determined look in Teddy's eyes was the last thing Alex saw before the darkness took him.
***
Alex was surprised to find his eyes open. He was sprawled across cold, clammy floor, his body intact and somehow entirely unsevered.
It was silent. The sirens had vanished and the crackle of energy and flame was gone. It was so silent that he could hear the thump of his heart like a metronome. Alex groaned and pushed himself upright, the taste of iron stinging his clammy tongue. For a moment, it looked like he was still in his dorm room, but something was deeply wrong with all of it.
The same ratty walls rose up around him, and he could see the door to his room in the far wall, but that was where the similarities ended. The knitted Shrek rug he'd found in a thrift store had been replaced by warped, glittering stone. None of the furniture was quite where it should have been and all of it was just slightly wrong. A cabinet twisted like a spiral staircase, a desk with three legs that sat askew and partially lodged in the wall — a mirror that definitely hadn't been there before, its reflection nothing but a black void.
What the hell was that? Did Teddy just try to kill me?
Did he succeed?
I don't feel dead.
Alex swallowed as the dim light revealed shadows that were just long enough to be noticeably out of place. His skin prickled. The feeling of being watched gripped at him and he turned in a slow circle, but the room seemed to be empty. It certainly didn't feel empty, though. Alex was denied the opportunity to look around for any longer when a flash of blocky golden lettering appeared before him.
[Trial Assigned: The Mirrorlands]
Objective: Escape.
No sooner than Alex had read the words did they vanish, replaced by new, considerably fancier ones.
Alex Vaya. It is now your turn in queue. Please select your class.
You may choose –
ERROR.
All living beings must obtain a class before departing their origin area. You may not leave Planet 274-50 until you have selected a class.
ERROR. Current location is [FORBIDDEN]. Dimension mismatch.
Attempting to manually assign class…
ERROR. No available classes are available to select from location [FORBIDDEN]. Dimension mismatch.
Anomaly detected.
Alex stared at the golden letters, then swallowed heavily. He'd had a week to process that the apocalypse was coming. There was no room to wonder if he was hallucinating or somehow asleep.
Of course, he hadn't expected his best friend to shove him through a portal into hell, but no plan ever held up through first contact. Panic wouldn't help him now.
This was real life. He'd mentally prepared himself to fight. He'd prepared himself to die. Teddy could be dealt with later. Right now, his concern was survival and getting angry wasn't going to help anything.
I'm punching that asshole in the face if I ever see him again, though.
The System wasn't satisfied with leaving Alex to his thoughts. The floating messages disappeared as a new one replaced them.
Title Acquired.
Anomaly (FORBIDDEN): You were successfully marked as an Anomaly by the System. This Title cannot be removed.
ERROR. [Alex Vaya] has not finished the first stage of Initialization and cannot earn Titles. Removing Title…
ERROR. Title [Anomaly] cannot be removed.
Setting origin for [Alex Vaya] to [Mirrorlands].
Title Fragment Acquired.
Mirrorlander: Granted to all native Mirrorlanders, however few of them there may be.
Alex squinted, the sudden glare of flashing letters in the darkness stinging his eyes. It felt simultaneously burning hot and freezing cold. His internal organs lurched and he stumbled, catching himself on the wall as the world swam before him.
As quickly as the sensation had started, it vanished. A loud ding echoed through Alex's mind – the very same noise that had heralded the beginning of the nightmare that the world had been plunged into for the past week.
You have access to [4] new Classes.
Please select your class. Your choice will unlock the power latent within you and allow it to take shape according to your soul's desires. Though many classes start with the same name, no two ever remain identical.
You may choose from the following options:
Berserker [Mirrorlands]
Hunter [Mirrorlands]
Mancer [Mirrorlands]
Evoker [Mirrorlands]
This time, the glowing letters didn't float away on their own. It finally looked like the System had figured itself out and was running properly again – for what good that was. As far as Alex could tell, the black obelisk had somehow sucked him into a location that wasn't on Earth before he'd had a chance to select his class, which had thrown the System for a loop. Despite everything that had happened, he let out a snort of amusement. It was funny, in a bleak way.
At least I actually get to choose a class. For a good few seconds there, I thought I was going to end up with nothing.
Alex turned his attention toward the four class names floating in the air before him. As soon as his mind brushed over them, the writing shifted and new information shimmered to life beneath each of them.
Berserker [Mirrorlands]: A close-range fighter with an aggressive combat style. The Berserker focuses on draining energy from their opponents and thrives in the chaos of battle. Class Modification: Gain an appropriate, randomly selected Mirrorlands Weapon upon selecting this Class. The weapon will scale and grow together with you.
Hunter [Mirrorlands]: A long range fighter with a stealth-based fighting style. Hunters possess abilities that allow them to conceal themselves, setting up traps and striking from the darkness. Class Modification: Gain an appropriate, randomly selected Mirrorlands Weapon upon selecting this Class. The weapon will scale and grow together with you.
Mancer [Mirrorlands]: A versatile Class that calls on the Way to wield powerful magic at the cost of their defenses. Mancers have immense destructive force and can specialize into many different branches but are vulnerable to most types of attacks. Class Modification: The Core & first Auxiliary Skill granted by this class will both be improved.
Evoker [Mirrorlands]: A versatile Class that draws power from monsters, summoning and commanding them at will. Evokers can wield enormous power but are limited by their ability to capture and control monsters. Class Modification: Gain a randomly selected Mirrorlands Inhabitant of increased rarity. The first Auxiliary Skill granted by this class will be improved.
Alex's eyes raced over the words, drinking them all in. He re-read each of the classes several times. The System didn't seem to have a time limit on anything, but he didn't want to sit around for long enough to find out if it did.
These hardly seem like proper starting classes. There's no way these were what I was supposed to get as my first class. I guess I've got the Anomaly Title to thank for that. I bet I didn't get access to any normal classes because I got yanked off Earth before the System initialized, or whatever it was talking about.
And, if Alex hadn't gotten the title… he shuddered. The System would have still been stuck spamming him with errors, and he never would have gotten any sort of class.
The first two classes give a scaling weapon. That basically sounds like the equivalent of a legendary weapon or something once I get strong enough, but it didn't say anything about the weapons other than they would be appropriate, which means they could initially suck or just not be something I can use.
Berserker… well, I've never swung any kind of real melee weapon before. It sounds like it could be really strong, but it would also force me to take every single fight up close. It probably wouldn't offer much in the way of range. I'd like to have some way to fight from afar when the time calls for it. It also sounds squishy. I'd probably get killed the first time I got hit by anything.
Going with a bow seems like an overcorrection though. I'm a terrible shot and I don't fancy not being able to have good options for fighting someone when they get right on top of me. I'll probably cross off both Hunter and Berserker, then.
The shadows at the corner of Alex's vision shifted. He stiffened, jerking his head toward them, but nothing was there. He turned his gaze back to the shimmering letters, clenching his fists.
That left Mancer and Evoker. A squishy mage and a summoner. It only took a few moments for Alex to make his decision.
Magic is tempting, but I don't relish the idea of having to worry about dying in a single blow. Mancers sound like they need a frontline to do anything, especially when they're weak and don't have much power to work with yet.
It feels like Evokers are kind of mages as well, but they're more like some weird mix between a warlock and a Pokémon Trainer. That seems pretty damn cool, and I also get a free summon right off the bat so I won't be wandering around completely defenseless.
That doesn't even get into how much of an advantage I'll get when I have more numbers on my side than my opponents do. Even one extra body on my side will heavily tilt pretty much any even fight in my direction. Rolling up to a fight with a horde behind me also just sounds badass.
A grin tugged at Alex's lips and he focused on his chosen class. Cool wasn't really the best criteria with which to base his decision, but the world had ended a few minutes ago. Having at least a little fun as everything burned around him felt like the least he could aim for.
The words floating in the air didn't react in the slightest under Alex's gaze. He frowned and reached out, expecting his finger to pass clean through them. Instead, it made contact, a faint static energy pushing back against his skin.
You have selected Evoker [Mirrorlands].
The prickling feeling covering Alex's body intensified a hundred-fold. He scrambled back on all fours, batting at himself and letting out a startled curse as what felt like thousands of spiders suddenly crawled beneath his skin and along the insides of his organs.
As quickly as the awful sensation arrived, it vanished. The golden lettering faded away as new messages took the previous one's place.
Soul Manifestation Unlocked: [Spatial Mirrors] (Novice 1) – Spatial Mirrors contain the Evoker's bonded creatures. They can only contain bonded creatures that originate from the Mirrorlands. The creatures stored within Spatial Mirrors can be summoned at will. Upon death, the creature's energy will return to the Spatial Mirror until it recovers. Each Spatial Mirror can bond to a single creature.
Only contain monsters that come from the Mirrorlands -- son of a bitch. It never said that in the description!
Sounds like I just got an unintentional trial upgrade. Not only do I have to get out of here, but I've got to make sure I can get back as well.
That said, if I can pull it off... the monsters in this creepy place have to be stronger than the ones back on Earth, right? I'll have a huge advantage if I survive.
Just a tiny little caveat. I have to actually survive.
An invisible band coiled around Alex's chest even as the System's message shimmered, locking in place almost as if it had frozen. For an instant, his lungs refused to draw breath. Then his teeth clenched and he forced himself to inhale. There was a sharp pop as the pressure in his ears changed.
The Improved Auxiliary Skill has insufficient strength to overwrite Singularity Core. Your innate skill has taken priority.
Auxiliary Skill Unlocked: [Requiem to the King] (Novice 1) – Even in death, all must serve. When a bonded creature is slain in battle, a portion of their energy and abilities will empower their summoner. This effect will remain until the bonded creature reforms in their Spatial Mirror.
Alex took in the messages, not sure if he was supposed to be excited or terrified. He had absolutely no idea what a Singularity Core was or what it did, but it seemed that it had somehow provided a skill stronger than what the System had been planning on giving him.
And then there was Soul Manifestation. It certainly seemed like a skill, but it clearly had more relevance to it than just a random ability if it got a whole unique title. Whatever they were, he got the feeling he wasn't going to find answers just sitting around like a duck. He needed to get moving.
Where's my free summon? I thought I got—
A pebble clattered across the floor behind Alex. He spun, his hand waving through the gold letters and blowing them away. A jolt of ice raced through his veins and shot straight into his heart.
Staring at him from the shadows of a doorway, burning with hunger, were two slanted red eyes. Alex took a step back, raising his hands in what he hoped was a soothing motion. The eyes bored into him, and the world was utterly silent.
He almost wished that the monster would do something – make noise, attack – anything. Instead, it just watched him silently, as if it were reveling in his growing fear. The darkness was split apart as a new message from the System arrived before him.
Congratulations on acquiring your new class. Would you like to view the Class Guide? They will aid you in summoning your first [Mirrorlands] inhabitant.
WARNING: The Class Guide will remove you from your current location until it has concluded. Ensure you are prepared before proceeding. Are you prepared to proceed? [Yes/No]
Alex mashed his finger against yes without a second of hesitation.
Anything that gets me the hell out of here for even a few minutes.
The world shattered, falling apart around him like planes of broken glass.
///Author's Note///
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