"now reporting live from BBC National News. I'm your host for the day Cassie Talis, and today we are live in a helicopter witnessing a day of the ages."
here we see giant glowing ovals, resembling portals from Fantasy have appeared all over the globe. As our live editor shows, we have shocking evidence of these 'portals' appearing in all major countries."
"ranging from green to blue to orange and even some violet and red ones have appeared like the one in front of us. floating what looks to be 300 meters above the English channel is the biggest reported portal-like thing."
"Brief estimates put this portal to be 20 meters wide and 60 meters tall," the young blond-haired reporter yelled over the helicopter blades, her voice a mix of excitement and fear as the helicopter floated down to it.
"as we are speaking our military informants have sent news that they will be launching two fully armed carrier helicopters inside it to gather information."
"meanwhile they will also be launching a joint co-operation with the police forces in your area to check all the smaller portals within your towns and cities. so stay calm folks. who knows maybe they are just some strange optical illusions."
while reporting, four much louder helicopter sounds overtake all Sound on my TV. causing me to reduce my volume drastically. as the screen shows 2 behemoths. chinooks as I recall them being named fly past the camera.
taking a glance out of my bedroom window the ominous glare of a green portal on my road covers my room in its glow. the thought of what could be a portal being so close to me makes me giddy with excitement. 'what could be within' I wonder with childlike glee. excited to see the world beyond.
the sound of police cars is already resounding a few streets down the road from my apartment. eagerly I turn my eyes back onto the emergency broadcast.
"We already are receiving reports from the more native portals in the English area stating that the other sides of these portals are lush landscapes. and decrepit ruins. yet there seems to be no sign of contact on the other side for now." you can hear Cassie sigh with relief. mixed with a tinge of disappointment.
"what do you viewers believe is in this larger one? judging from the reports they all seem to have breathable air. we have a few close-by scientists monitoring the conditions of the portals closest to their labs. so we currently are just waiting for the teams to find more information about the insides."
'from what I can recall. the portal closest to me started shining a mere hour ago or something, these scientists sure do work wonders' I sigh to myself.
just as Cassie asked the question. not directed at anyone. the camera pans to the large portals side. where a small object can be seen pointing out of it. before a large claw-like ghost reaches out and slashes apart the 2 chinooks in one motion. before gipping the edge of the portal. and physically stretching it apart.
the slash was so fast the camera couldn't even really catch it. a mere 2 frames were shown. the helicopters in one piece in one. and then a direct dissection through front to back in the next. followed by 2 ear-deafening explosions. while my mind was still caught on the image of several dozen soldiers disappearing in the blink of an eye the portal is stretched to what seems to be its breaking point.
"a-aah omg guys" panic laced Cassie's voice. "I-it something is pushing its way out of the portal. those soldiers.. my god. save us please."
the camera knocked back by the explosion re-centres on the portal. where a giant ethereal dragon-like head with 8 eyes going up from its nose. to the top of its pitch-black horns can be seen. its skin a see-through purplish color.
the creature sniffs, its black eyes scanning the ocean below it before they all lock onto Cassie's helicopter.
{WEAK} The voice waves echo through my body. but the sound didn't come from my screen. looking at the live comments. it seems every living person in England. and America. even some languages I can't understand are spamming the chat. from what I could tell. that thing's voice was heard by the entire world.
I'm stunned. looking into the screen with fervent joy I lock eyes with the creature. one from my wildest fantasies. "a dragon! a real living breathing dragon. he looks so cool!"
the portal ripped close around it. the 'dragon' barely pulling back in time. however, a large drop of purplish-red liquid fell from the edge of the portal and dripped into the ocean below.
although I could describe it as a drop. it was large. much larger than the helicopter Cassie and her crew were in. Maybe not everyone could tell. but I think. 'that was its blood'.
*splash* giant waves covered it in an instant. the camera followed it down only to see a fluorescent purple emanating throughout the surrounding ocean. the glow spread and soon it covered our entire screens.
at this point, the thing I was hoping for happened. As an avid novel and comic reader, I knew this text too well.
[world system initializing...]
unadulterated joy covered my face. I was glowing in delight. I instantly forgot about the tragic scene I just saw. and the desolation I felt the moment I saw those soldiers die. the thought never crossed my mind after seeing this. there was only me and it. the dragon. the cool scenes I imagined from all my favorite novels came to life.
and I saw myself staff in hand like a god standing upon his slain skull. "will I, be able to visit that dragon one day. Meet it with my very own eyes before vanquishing it and draping myself with cool dragon Armor like the novels".
[world system ready... resetting base stats and bodies]
[all base stats set to 1. You have 4 stat points to distribute]
I reached out to press on it. only to see my hand go through the text without any effect. "so it's in my mind?"
I imagined a finger pressing on the blue glowing tooltip. co-incidentally pressing on the glowing 'base stats' words.
[your base stats are the stats you begin with at level 1. for every time you level up. your stats will increase by your base stats]
the system didn't have a voice. I had to read it all myself but that didn't faze me. I spent most of my life reading.
[Please design your class]
[name: Ali Juxi
age: 15
race: human
level: 1
exp: 0/100
HP: 5/5 [HP +5 for every +1 constitution]
MP: 5/5 [MP +5 for every +1 intelligence]
[base stats will be changed to stats after customization]
base stats:
strength: 1 (+)
constitution: 1 (+)
agility: 1 (+)
intelligence: 1 (+)
skills: [you can only choose one of the above: heavy slash. homing shot, backstab, arcane shot]
passive skills: [you can only unlock these by fulfilling certain conditions]
even with my base stats being 'reset' I immediately felt weaker than before, my body felt slow and weak and my mind clouded. thoughts became harder to form, and my head felt stiff.
a cut I had on my arm from failing to cook last night instantly healed. and I saw my ripped fingernail regrow in an instant. it was pretty magical.
"a lot of detail. nice. everything is properly mentioned and I can imagine clicking on any stat to see what I need to know. not even a toddler can get lost on this can they?" I mutter to myself mockingly knowing even with all this people will still mess up everything.
I proceed to spend the next ten minutes checking every single detail I can. even pressing on obsolete things like HP. What can I say, I'm a nerd for information and the nitty-gritty details.
"and done!" I say with a smile looking at my status screen.
[base stats:
strength: 1
constitution: 1
agility: 1
intelligence: 5
skills: arcane shot]
and I may be a nerd for liking a lot of information. but I always play as a glass-cannon in games. so I know that play style best. surely it'll work out fine in real-life too right?
I take one final glance at my skill, dire to check it out once before I decide on what to do next.
[arcane shot level 1: fires a bolt of pure mana at the target dealing 80% intelligence damage to the enemy within a range of 5x(intelligence) cooldown 10 seconds - intelligence cost 2mp]
[exp: 0/10]
"that's more like it. the system seems to be giving me more information than before though. what's up with that?" I question.
[system has noticed Ali Juxi has a un-natural love for details. the system has automatically switched to comprehensive mode in response to this. ask for simple mode to change it back]
"and intuitive. as well, but what's with unnatural?? isn't it normal to want to know more." I scoff at the idea that it's wrong to want to know more. before finalizing my status.
[status finalized]
[displaying status screen]
[name: Ali Juxi
age: 15
race: human
level: 1
exp: 0/100
HP: 5/5
MP: 25/25
stats:
strength: 1
constitution: 1
agility: 1
intelligence: 5
skills: arcane shot level 1
passive skills: minor MP regeneration
(MP regeneration:
requirement: reach base stat 5 in intelligence.
effect: regenerate 1MP every 5 seconds)]
"and I picked up a nifty free passive skill to boot. Seems today is my lucky day". I close the status screen with a flick of my hand, before running over to my windowsill. pushing the blinds aside and gazing down wide-eyed at what's happening below.
my mind felt a sudden burst of freshness, "I guess multiplying your intelligence by 5 does a lot more than material stats. Though my actual intelligence doesn't feel 5 times stronger. It's certainly a lot better than it was before I got reset".
4 floors below me is a flood of hundreds of tiny green creatures. who I presume to be goblins. and much larger dogs. they look like huskies. 'cute, I kind of wanna pet them. they look so fluffy.
the thought barely crosses my mind before I see an older lady. who I think is my neighbor from down the hallway. getting ripped to shreds by at least 5 of them.
arms torn off her body and chunks of flesh ripped out. I puke at the sight. vomiting all across my windowsill. of which a few drops dip down towards the outside.
the goblins' vile laughter echoing in my ears as they mock the people below me. the dogs' teeth ripping into the flesh of the women below me. the blood splattered all over the pavement. brings back repressed memories. ones I'm forced to push back down. as I notice 2 goblins staring up at me, tiny greenish drops on their heads.