The notification was unnerving.
What is this system message?
A great calamity? What is it? And how does it concern me?
Perhaps it had something to with my transmigration.
Well if I did, I wish it good luck...I had no interest in figuring out why...or how I ended up here. And this system was clearly a foreshadowing to something deeply troublesome.
Since I had zero ideas or answers, I was just inclined to ignore it and continue like it never existed. But the message, and choice of words were truly disconcerting.
Calamity.
Death.
Ughh.
These aren't words I could easily overlook in a situation like his one.
It could at least provide me with a bit more information.
What exactly was the calamity, and when? The duration section on the screen is blank.
Was it a few years, months, or even weeks? And what does it mean for me to be seeing this? This is clearly a danger warning, yet everyone else seem to be carrying about with their days without a single care in the world.
And most importantly, if I ignored this, would I really die?
Stupid...it clearly says 'get stronger AND SURVIVE', and then there's the totally unfair penalty.
...
[Penalty-: Death, ???]
...
What exactly could be much worse than death...on second thought, I don't wanna know.
Those questions marks were unnerving.
Ugh, come on, Harper, use your superior and rich experience gained from reading over worn system troupes and think!
Shouldn't there be a manual for this sort of stuff? Like some goddess, or charming angel descending in my dreams or something?
In retrospect, that was a red flag.
I gave up and dismissed the system notification with a sigh before falling back on my bed. I stared up at my wooden ceiling, feeling a gloom loom over my heart.
This was supposed to be my second chance to live peacefully, and on the right track...hehe, even after two lifetimes, i'm still unlucky, I mocked internally.
And feeling only dark amusement and self-mockery, I smiled then said aloud.
"Fate's a bitch."
Then an ethereal voice rang inside my head as the interface appeared again. Various screens and tabs with long strings of characters overlapped before my eyes in rapid succession.
...
[Authorization Code Confirmed]
[Authorization granted... Access granted...]
...
Eh?
...
[Beginning Sequence... Sequence initiated]
[First Sequence granted]
[Beginning Start-up... Start-up complete]
[System Activation complete]
.
.
.
[Welcome, Host]
...
A couple of seconds passed and the notifications finally ended. Once more peace and silence reigned on the inside of my buzzing head. Total silence. Too silent maybe.
I skimmed through the numerous tabs once again using my eyes.
Authorization... access... start-up... complete...
Er, does that mean I cracked the password or something? I jolted up and sat straight. The blue interface still staring at me. These were the first strings of different characters the system had presented to me since the beginning.
I calmed my heart and began pondering.
It says authorization code confirmed, was there really some kind of password? Like an access key? Was that why the screen had never shown anything aside from that blasted message?
I was locked out.
But all of a sudden, I was granted authorization.
Was it something I said? The authorization and messages were sudden, perhaps the stupid password was an actual keyword. A word meant to jumpstart the system and begin whatever sequence it mentioned.
I think the last thing I said was...
Bitch was the fucking password?! The password was Bitch all along!?
I shot a meaningful glance at the interface then curled my lips...what a bitc—
[No it was not.]
Before I could finish that thought, a piercing ring rang in my head.
A strange voice...a voice that sounded both illusionary and synthetic like an overlap of various echoes scolded in a strangely stern tone?
The voice was familiar so I quickly drew my attention to the interface before me, but there was no new strings of letters like before.
"...who said that?" The corresponding silence that followed was disturbing.
I must have been hearing things... wiping a trail of sweat that was down my neck, I thought feeling uneasy.
[Negative. This is not an illusionary auditory phenomenon. Your human senses are not deceiving you.] The synthetic voice reminiscent of an ai from Earth rebuked inside my head, with what resembled a mocking tone when it said 'human'
I gave a dry self-deprecating laugh.
I was running mad, this time I was sure.
[Negative. You are only, and I quote 'lacking brain cells' end quote, to comprehend.]
Gathering my thoughts and dismissing the obvious diss, I asked.
"... you're the 'system', aren't you? And you can speak?!"
[Affirmative.] A curt reply. Too curt.
In any case, this made things easier.
Since the sassy system could speak, I could clarify the numerous questions I had.
"What are you exactly?"
[I am your Guide.] The voice responded.
I frowned at such an unclear reply.
"Elaborate."
[You lack the proper authorization for that information.]
Authorization?
[Yes.]
"Huh? You can hear my thoughts too?!" I jolted, startled.
[...]
It wasn't exactly comforting to have my inner monologues be invaded by an outsider.
[I am not an 'outsider'. I exist in you and are one and the same. You are my Host.] The voice —System remarked after listening to my thought again.
I suppressed a frown then raised my head to the interface.
"You keep saying Host, are you some kind of parasite?"
[How rude. As already established, I am your Guide — and nice try.]
"Tsk. You noticed?" I was hoping I could trick the voice into disclosing more about itself by obviously trying to taunt it.
I heaved a mental sigh and moved on to other matters. I would come back to the issue of the system identity.
I looked at the various interface tabs spread open before me then brought up the very first message I had received.
...
[A New Quest has been issued:-
Type:- SURVIVAL
Name:- Quest To Becoming Stronger:
Description:
The {Great Calamity} is coming...Get stronger and survive.
Duration-: ...
Reward:- ...
Penalty:- Death, ??? ]
...
"What's the meaning of this?" I asked in a low voice.
[A Quest alert.The {Great Calamity} is impending, the details of the quest is to grow stronger and survive, or suffer the penalty of death and ???] The system responded but the voice grew distorted and incomprehensible at the last word.
I sounded like the grating of metal and made me almost wince.
"Wh-what was that?" I quickly asked and the system responded in its usually deadpan voice.
[That is what happens when the Host authorization sequence is low]
Authorization again?
Not withholding back my frown, I groaned, expressing my dissatisfaction.
"Fine. Can you at least tell me more information concerning this impeding Calamity and how it concerns me? And don't give me that bullshit about my authorization being too low."
[...That is manageable] surprisingly, the system said.
"Eh? Really? You'll tell me?" I was mostly expecting to be denied access again, but the system had pleasantly surprised me with a positive response.
[No. I will show you]
Before I could understand what it meant by those words, my world darkened as I felt my consciousness sink and pull inwards.
My senses went blank, and then the whole world changed.
***
I opened my eyes to a red fractured sky with billowing maroon clouds like dark fumes.
'What...? ' my thoughts were forced to a halt as the whole world trembled with a mighty rumble like a tremoring space.
Grand meteorites the sizes of small moons, over fifty of them, fell from the boiling sky. Each of the asteroids burning in red blazing heat of crimson flames that left tall trails of black clouds of billowing smoke, like a descending spire.
I watched one land far in the distance and a bright light ensued and swallowed up the world in an explosion. The ground below was made a burning sea of rolling flames as a thunderous shockwave boomed.
I felt the incinerating heat prick away at my illusionary face as the wave hit, despite the distance of kilometers, and I was blown like a rag dog, carried along with the current.
I fell out of the sky, into the withered grounds. My body collided with various ruined building structures, shattering through them like stone through glass.
I crashed into the withered ground, feeling the air knock out of my lungs. My body hurt, my bones were broken and shattered. It was hard to breathe, and pain clouded my thoughts.
It was supposed to be an illusion conjured by the system, but the stimuli were all too real.
It hurt...
My body was broken to the extent I couldn't utter a single sound. My joints were twisted oddly and blood secreted out of my eyes, dying my vision red.
Unable to move a single finger, I laid down like a shattered doll, motionlessly staring at the red sky.
It was then I saw a splendid fissure tear a rift through the fractured sky. It was like a magnificent crack the size of a big city, and only a vast endless purple black void lay on the other side wth tiny shimmering and swirling stars.
They were like distant universes.
-BOOM
The world rocked once more, sending another wave of blinding pain through my allegedly illusionary body.
A distant figure descended from the terrifying rift above. My vision was dimming so I couldn't distinguish their features clearly from where I was.
It resembled a person dressed by the cosmos. Like a cloak of the darkness of space.
Just then, my gaze shifted slightly to a bright speck of distant light that was like a traveling star. A shooting star that traveled through the fractured red sky at the new figure that just descended.
Again, I couldn't clarify, but the moving star was also a person.
Regardless, the two parties both collided at the center just above me and a portion of the remnant of the sky fell with a thunderous boom.
I watched countless weapons of bright light adorn the red sky. There were swords, spears, lances, war hammers, battle axes, arrows, and many more, each humongous and monstrous to dwarf even the tallest buildings of earth. They orbited themselves on one side around the figure coated in light.
And on the other side of the figure draped in the shimmering darkness of space, countless black fissures tore open around him, hiding in their depths something i couldn't begin to fathom.
Once again, the two battling figures collided; the gigantic weapons of light to shimmer like stars in the distance all attacked the opposite figure surrounded by fissures. As they traveled, the world of Aetohria shook.
-BOOM
It concluded in a bright light so blinding and al consuming that my consciousness was erased simply.
***
"Heauk-!!" I awoke with a deep gasp, and jolted straight up from my bed.
I was panting and short of breath, cold sweat drenched down my back and my clothed stuck on to me like an extra layer of skin. Beads of sweat wet my forehead, and I didn't need a mirror to know how ashen my face must have been.
I kept panting deeply, feeling my heart continue to pound inside of my chest.
"Sy...haa...Sy-stem..." I called out between battered breaths and the familiar synthetic voice resounded in its usual manner.
[Yes]
I drew in deep breaths trying to control my racing heart then swallowed down saliva.
"Wh...what was that...what jus happened?!" I demanded, feeling my fingers tremble and sweat trickle down my face.
The system oblivious or uncaring of my current state, emotionlessly answered.
[A glimpse of the {Great Calamity} to come] as always, its response was short and concise, yet leaving so much to desire.
"I...I see," managing to seize some control over my breathing and recover minimum composure, i said.
Actually, I didn't understand. It was all so sudden, yet so real.
Everything is.
I looked up at the message interface that was still before me. The details of the assigned quests were laid out before me and my eyes lingered towards the description then penalty below.
Become stronger and survive, or die.
Strong enough to survive 'that'? Was it even possible?!
"Ku..." Despite the absurdity and unfairness of it all, I gave a self-deprecating laugh.
Even in this lifetime, I still had to fight. The only difference this time around was that I had to fight for my life. I had to fight to live.
Fine then. Dammit.
I took one final deep breaths and exhaled deeply, bringing calm to my still pounding heart. I placed my palm against my sweaty forehead, then pulled back my hair and revealed a self-mocking grin.
"System, I need you to tell me every single thing I need to know about this damned world, the history, the civilization, all of it."
[I will answer according to your authorization] the system said, but I was satisfied with that at the moment.
"That's good enough for now. I'll do the fucking quest. I won't leave my fate to be guided by others anymore, I'll fight for myself this time."
[...]
"...and by the way, isn't there anything else i could call you? It's a bit redundant saying System all the time." I asked the system, and the synthetic voice resounded unchangingly.
[I have no name]
"Really? Then you don't mind if I give you one?"
[That is unnecessary, but do as you wish] , I could imagine the system shrug it's non-existent shoulders as it said this, flatly.
"You and that condescending tone of yours...fine. From today hence forth, your name will be Meta."
[...]
Like a certain ai.