It all happened in the blink of an eye. One moment, the world was normal, the train station alive with the sounds of everyday life—people chatting, trains arriving and departing, announcements echoing through the hallways. The next moment, everything had changed.
The sky outside darkened at an unnatural speed, like a curtain of shadows being drawn over the city. It was as if a massive storm had rolled in from nowhere, swallowing the sunlight and plunging the world into an eerie twilight.
The air grew thick and heavy, humming with an unseen force that made the hairs on the back of Laura's neck stand up. She had felt this before—the moment when reality itself began to break.
Around her, confusion rippled through the crowd. People glanced nervously at the sky, whispering to one another, their voices tinged with concern.
"Is it some kind of eclipse?" a man near the ticket counter asked, his brow furrowed as he stared up at the darkening sky.
"Eclipse? It wasn't in the news," a woman replied, clutching her purse tightly. "This is… I don't know. It feels wrong."
Before anyone could come up with an answer, the first set of notifications hit. Phones, tablets, even the station's digital screens lit up in unison, displaying a message that made every person stop in their tracks.
Ding!
[The class selection period has ended. You will now receive a random class to aid in the coming apocalypse.]
Laura watched as the people around her began pulling out their phones to read the message. Panic and confusion were clear in their expressions, disbelief mixed with dread.
"This has to be a joke, right?" a young man muttered, glancing at the screen of his phone. "The 'apocalypse'? What kind of sick prank is this?"
"Assigned to the Alchemist class?" another person murmured, reading their notification aloud. "What does that even mean?"
Some people ignored the notifications entirely, slipping their phones back into their pockets and shaking their heads as if dismissing the whole thing as nonsense. Others tapped frantically at their screens, trying to figure out if this was some kind of elaborate hoax.
Laura's gaze remained steady on the sky, which continued to grow darker by the second. She could feel it in the air now—the way it crackled with energy, the atmosphere vibrating with a low hum. There was no more time.
Then, the second notification came, and this time, it carried a tone of finality that made her grip her knife tighter.
Ding!
[The countdown has reached zero. The apocalypse will now begin. Good luck, and may you survive.]
And then, all digital devices went off.
Almost instantly, the sky seemed to tear open with a deafening crack. It was like the fabric of the world itself had split, giving way to massive, gaping rifts that spread across the heavens. Jagged lines of darkness tore through the sky, forming rips that resembled the open maw of a monstrous creature ready to devour the earth.
Laura glanced at the station clock. It was 13:00 on the dot. Right on schedule.
Chaos erupted as people pointed at the rifts, shouting in alarm. "What is that?!" someone yelled, their voice breaking with panic. "Is it some kind of… storm?"
"No," Laura whispered under her breath, her eyes fixed on the first forms emerging from the sky. "It's much worse."
From the rifts came the monsters, dropping down like raindrops in a storm, their bodies twisting and writhing as they fell. Each creature was a grotesque sight, like a bizarre mix of animals and nightmares. One landed not far from where Laura stood—a creature resembling a kangaroo, except it had long, blade-like scythes where its forelimbs should have been. Its skin was leathery and covered in sickly green veins, and its eyes glowed a dull red.
"Ahhhh!" The woman nearest to the creature let out a high-pitched scream as it landed in front of her.
The monster mirrored her scream with a screech of its own, a shrill, bone-chilling sound that echoed through the station. In the blink of an eye, it lunged forward, swinging one of its scythe-like limbs.
The woman's head fell from her shoulders before she even realized what had happened, her body collapsing to the ground in a lifeless heap. For a split second, there was a stunned silence. Then, all hell broke loose.
"It killed her!"
"What the hell?!"
"She's dead, she really dead!"
Screams of terror filled the air as people ran in every direction, trampling over one another in their desperate attempts to escape. The monsters continued to rain down from the rifts, hitting the ground with bone-crushing force and immediately charging at anything that moved. More kangaroo-like creatures, alongside wolf-sized insects with jagged mandibles and multi-eyed reptilian beasts, spread throughout the station, slashing and tearing at the panicking crowd.
Laura's pulse quickened as she witnessed the chaos unfold, but she forced herself to stay calm. She had prepared for this. She knew the first wave consisted of low-ranked creatures—dangerous, but not nearly as deadly as what would come later. Still, even the weakest of monsters were more than capable of taking down an unarmed civilian.
"Focus," she muttered to herself. "Just like we planned."
Her heart pounded as she drew the knife from her belt, the cool metal a reassuring weight in her hand. She slipped into the shadows near one of the station's support pillars, watching the nearest kangaroo-like monster as it stalked another fleeing person. It would be distracted for just a moment, but a moment was all she needed.
Laura lunged forward, striking fast and hard. Her knife slashed across the creature's exposed side, the blade digging deep into its leathery skin. It let out a screech of pain and whirled around, one scythe-arm swinging toward her. She ducked just in time, the blade slicing the air above her head. Without hesitating, she followed up with another quick strike, stabbing at the base of its neck.
The monster shuddered and collapsed to the ground, twitching as its life drained away. Laura stood over it, catching her breath. This was only the beginning—she needed to keep her momentum, stay on the offensive.
From nearby, a voice shouted at her. "Hey! How did you…?" A man, clutching a bloodied wound on his arm, stared at her in disbelief. "Did you just kill that thing?!"
"Yes," Laura replied, wiping the blade clean on her pants. "And if you want to survive, you'd better start fighting too."
Ding!
This time, they all saw a panel appear in front of them individually.
[The first blood has been drawn! The Slayer's name has been recorded in the Records of Time!]
That was all they got.
However, Laura got a different write-up on her panel.
[You have drawn the first blood!]
[You have performed an inhuman feat!]
[Your name has been recorded in the Records of Time!]
[Calculating rewards...]
The smile on her face couldn't be mistaken. She achieved her first goal. Getting the first kill as well as the rewards that came with it.
[Would you like to see the rewards?]
Laura would've loved to answer but she didn't have time to wait for a response. Another rift was opening above the platform, and more creatures were descending.
Laura's eyes narrowed as she assessed the battlefield. She needed to make each kill count and keep moving. The clock was ticking—if she could take down enough monsters within the next half hour, she'd secure her second goal. The reward for the most recorded monster kill by an "unawakened human."
Without another word, she sprinted toward the next beast, knife in hand and determination burning in her chest. There was no time to be afraid; only time to fight.