Lord of Lights - [Apocalyptic Progression LitRPG]

When Grayson woke up this morning, he didn't expect this day to be any different. The first thing he did when he got out of bed was brush his teeth, take a shower, and get ready for the day. The same old schedule, he has been consistently doing for as long as he could remember. Well, today was a bit different in fact. His parents were currently out of the country, celebrating their anniversary, so he had the house to himself. He kind of missed having someone make breakfast in the morning, whether it be his father's famous grits or his mother's lovely pancakes. Even though Grayson was a senior in college, he still lived with his parents because it was the smarter financial decision. Luckily today was a Saturday so he didn't have to go to school today. "God I hate waking up early in the morning." Like most students who lived away from campus, the one thing they had to dread was the commute to school. For Grayson, it was the one thing he despised more than anything. He would much prefer to sleep in until noon than have to wake up a whole 7 hours earlier in the morning. "Home alone, no school, no work to worry about, life is good," Grayson said to himself as he prepared himself a cup of coffee. "Today is gonna be a good day." He sat at the dining table enjoying his plate of breakfast and his cup of coffee enjoying the peace and quiet in the air. He told himself that he wouldn't do anything that would cause him to use more energy than necessary today, he did finish a major project for one of his engineering classes in college, and boy did he deserve a break today. As much of a lout as he could be sometimes when push came to shove, Grayson always made sure to do what was needed of him. It was one of the qualities he found he liked about himself. Some others may have called this quality of his as being a professional procrastinator, but he prided himself in what he liked to call, "working smarter." "Today's the day the final episode of that show I like is supposed to air, how could I almost forget." After finishing his breakfast, he made his way to the living room. Everything was aligning perfectly, for this peacefully mundane day, well that was until it wasn't. "What's that sound?" Grayson thought he was hearing a slight buzz in his ear and it just continued to get louder. "What the hell!?" The sound he thought he was imagining was getting louder and louder until he had to clutch his ears. The ground started shaking, and Grayson found himself swinging side to side. "Is this an earthquake!? Damn, not when I was just about to watch the last episode of Sparkles and Knights!" A huge sound of what seemed like lightning echoed throughout the air throwing Grayson straight to the ground as he was blinded by a huge light that flashed his eyes. "Come on man, why can't anything ever go right." Grayson struggled to pick himself up as he rubbed his eyes trying to make out what was in front of him. "Look's like it was a success." a strange voice sounded above Grayson. "What was that?" Grayson replied as he finally found himself standing up clutching at his head. "Wait… What the hell!" Grayson jumped back as he realized that there was an older man an inch of two taller, looking down at him. "Who are you? And what are you doing in my house," Grayon said, while he took a defensive stance in front of the strange man, who looked somewhat familiar. The man just stood there for a second as he looked around the house with a hint of nostalgia..? "Do you believe in magic?" the older man asked without looking back at Grayson. This has to be a drug addict or something. Those ragged clothes and the fact that he's just standing there awkwardly. Grayson eyed the man with even more suspicion, "How did you get into my house and what does magic have anything to do with this?" "Well, I didn't expect this to be easy." The older man sighed as he stopped staring about and looked straight at Grayson, "It will be easier to explain if I just do this," the man lifted up his hands, which caused Grayson to take a step back wondering if he should tackle the man. That was when strange lights started flowing around the older man, like fireflies in all sorts of colors wisping around the man in a coiling pattern. An image of a boy zipping through his living room with a blanket over his shoulders as he watched his favorite superheroes fighting the bad guy, flashed in Grayson's mind. Magic. "I will ask you again, " The little lights started to coalesce into an aura around the man. "Do you believe in magic," The older man reached his hand out toward Grayon, "Because, when you ask who I am, I would tell you that I am Grayson, Grayon Alderwood, and I happen to be the future version of you?" What is he talking about? Grayson found himself to be in a trance as he stared at the hand in front of him. That's why he seems so familiar. It was like a lightbulb clicked in his mind as he slowly reached his hand toward the man. He didn't even feel like he needed to question whether it was the truth or not because his body, his mind, and his soul told him that he was telling the truth. Sitting at the dining table with Grayon was… Grayson, Future Grayson not to be confusing. He looked very composed as he sat and drank out of a mug of coffee, which was the complete opposite of the other Grayson who looked like he had just seen a ghost, which wasn't that far off from the truth. Current Grayson looked at the future version of himself as he hesitated before spluttering the words out of his mouth, "Did I ever lose my virginity!" Grayson started turning beet red immediately after hearing what came out of his mouth. Future Grayson looked at the child version of himself, relative to his own age, and just stared at the boy for a few seconds, who covered his own eyes trying not to think about what he just said. After a silent few seconds, the older man couldn't help it anymore and burst out laughing as hard as he could. "Out of all the things you could have asked me, why was I here, whether you ended up getting married, or how I know magic, you ask whether or not you participated in the birds and bees." The younger man looked at the laughing man and became more red. "Oh come on, if you really are me, you would know how things… have been for me." Grayson couldn't take it anymore and angrily yelled back at the old man. "Well, I suppose I do understand." Future Grayson coughed, "Don't worry boy, you'll definitely experience some love in your life." At that moment for just a second, it looked like his older self looked sad for a moment, before he covered it up. "You know it's been a long time since I have seen this place, it looks as homey as I remember it." The older man clapped, "That's enough fun for the moment, I should get onto the reason why I am here." Future Grayson stared straight into the eyes of his young self with a serious look on his face, which caused young Grayson to straighten up. It's not like I didn't want to ask, it's just that I'm kind of afraid, to know what he has to say. Grayson clutched his sweaty hands. In front of him was an old man with a long gray beard, wearing tattered robes, and scars that ran down the arms of the man. "Tell me Grayson, do you care about the life of a stranger? Would you cry if you saw a child die in front of your eyes? What about your classmates or friends? What about your father? Mother?" Why are you asking this? Of course, I would care if someone died in front of me, regardless of their relation to me." It was like the air grew sharp for a second as the old man contemplated his next words, "Of course, I know these answers already because I am you. I ask you this because in less than an hour, the world will end." Grayson's eyes opened wide open as he looked at the old man trying to search his face for a joke somewhere, only to find a deep sadness in him. "The world is going… to… end?" "I'm sorry, but that is the truth." Grayon slammed the table, unable to control his emotions. Because the man sitting in front of him was himself, he knew that he was not lying. Had it been anyone else he would have laughed at them, even if they were able to make lights flash in the air. "Explain. You can't just say 'that is the truth' and expect me to believe that shit coming out your mouth." He couldn't help himself from cursing at the man, who looked older than he was just a second ago. "You're right, I should probably explain from the beginning, forgive me if I am unable to provide any details, as there are things I'm not allowed to tell you." Like that Current Grayson and Future Grayon found themselves deep into a conversation about the future of the world and what was to come. The basic jist of what went down between the two of them was as follows: In less than an hour, the world an apocalypse will descend onto Earth, in which humans would be summoned to a tutorial to gain powers and fight back. Beings called Constellations would grant powers to those they deem worthy, but in the end, everything was naught as all of humanity would still end up dying. There was still a lot more to the story, but those were the basics. A lot of details were skipped about how Future Grayson was able to return to the past, but thanks to the help of powerful beings and the last remnants of humanity he was able to return with their help. "There's one thing I don't understand, how are you going to save humanity if you weren't able to do it with the help of these powerful beings?" "That's the thing I won't be saving humanity, you will," laughed the older man. "What do you mean me? Aren't you supposed to be some ultra-powerful monster? I'm just an ordinary guy who gets tired after walking up two flights of steps." Future Grayson simply smiled as he looked back at the young him who stared at him like he was crazy. As if right on queue it happened.  [SYSTEM MESSAGE TO HUMANITY] To all of Humanity, you have been called In five minutes, the Origin Path opens. All will enter, and only the worthy will survive. Prepare to awaken to trials unknown, Survival is a privilege earned, not given. Welcome to the— [ERROR: ANOMALY DETECTED.] [Analyzing entity threat level…] [Unauthorized entity detected: Classification – Temporal Calamity.] [Initiating emergency protocol…] [Deletion commencing…] "This is insane!" A Blue screen appeared in front of Grayson. He stumbled out of his chair onto the ground. "God that hurt." He rubbed at his back he fell on. "There's your answer. To be more precise I can't fight back against the system, time and space travel takes a lot out of someone." The old man helped Grayson back up. "Quickly we don't have much time before it's too late." "You're going to die, why are you smiling?" The old man continued to smile as he looked at Grayson. His body slowly started to burn of blue light as parts of his body started to evaporate into the air. "You know how I told you that I wasn't going to save the world but you were, there are two important things I need to tell you: in order to save the world you're going to have to kill me." "Wha—" Grayson tried to yell. "I'm not done yet. When I die, I don't know what you will exactly receive since you're unawakened, but nonetheless, you will most likely receive a reward that allows you some sort of privilege." The man continued burning away at a rapid pace, a huge hole in his chest had already formed. He continued, "What you need to do is refuse to join the tutorial and that's it, do you understand." Grayson stood there dazed looking at the man, not even a minute ago, whom he was having fun talking to. "You can't be serious, after all, you went through you can't possibly just give up on your life like that, no I can't allow this." The old man spoke over him, "Listen, Grayson, when I came back into the past I was fully determined to do what must be done, even if it meant forcing the younger version of me to kill myself." A knife appeared out of thin air which the old man pushed into the younger man's hands. This can't be happening. Today was supposed to be a normal day. I can't lose the old man now. Grayson didn't know it but he had begun thinking of the future version of himself as more than just a version of him. He was him but not him, someone who lived an entirely different life than him, who loved, who saw his loved ones perish, and someone whose goals were completely different from him. Before he knew what even happened, the knife that was in his hands was halfway through the area where the old man's heart was. "No!" He tried stepping back, but the older man just stepped forward. "Grayson, I'm sorry for forcing you down this path, I don't expect you to forgive me, if I had another chance at redoing this encounter I would have still done the same, although I would have loved to spare a few minutes to talk about Sparkles and Knights." The old man smiled one last time, and then his body completely exploded into dust. Grayson watched this scene as tears streamed down his eyes. Why did this have to happen? I too wish I could have spent more time with you, and instead of questioning you like an idiot, learned more about the life that you lived.  [SYSTEM MESSAGE]Quasi-Mythical [REDACTED] Slain Congratulations, Grayson Alderwood! You are the first of humanity to slay a Quasi-Mythical being!0 XP awarded.Note: As you are currently unawakened, no experience points are awarded for this encounter. Rewards Withheld. Due to your current soul capacity, some rewards will be withheld at this time.One-Time Use System Change Authorization Granted. You may now alter your system parameters at your discretion. Use wisely.Unique Skill Card Obtained. Skill Card, "Past Echo" Activate to receive a random skill from [REDACTED], enhancing your abilities with unpredictable effects.