Lucius was about to enter the creepy forest to test drive his broken system. And because he was the system and the system was him, there were no system prompts to indicate that he had a system, or even that it was actually on and working. Since this was a game and he had yet to make any improvements on his game character, dying a few times wasn't a problem.
He was about to enter the creepy forest when he received a game notification that someone from the outside world was contacting him.
"Oh, okay. Logout."
The game pods were designed in such a way that in case of an emergency and someone was immersed in the game, there's a button on the pod that one could press and the person playing the game would be alerted and logged out of the game. Lucius opened the pod only to see his panicked sister.
"Quick! Quick! Come outside and see what's happening! Come!" she said hurriedly with a worried face. Lucius didn't even get to say anything when he was pulled away by his sister. Once outside, Lucius was surprised to see that he wasn't the only one outside but the entire community. And everyone was looking at the sky with wide eyes filled with fear, some even started to kneel down and pray.
Lucius also looked up and felt chills run down his spine. He was so scared about what he was seeing that he almost fainted on the spot.
"What…What is that..?!" he stuttered.
No one answered him though since they also didn't have a clue but what everyone did know was that the end of the world had come because of what they were seeing with their own eyes… was a cracked sky with a few pieces falling down slowly. And from the gaps of the cracks, they could see something so enormous that no amount of words could describe how big it was and it was devouring everything around it like a black hole.
The stars, the moon, the planets around Earth, in fact, the entire solar system was disappearing into this 'massive thing' without resistance.
"It shouldn't have been this quick for you to get here. How did you find me so quickly because I'm sure that even with your core fragment, it should have taken light years to get here!"everyone's mouth moved on their own as they spoke the same thing simultaneously.
It was like their minds had been connected together into a single entity that controlled everything. There was silence as though what was asked was nothing but a rhetorical question.
"I see. System Online. I didn't expect you to move so quickly when I was still recuperating from the injury you gave me. But if you think I'll go down without a fight and watch as my children suffer… then you're sorely mistaken!"
From what the voice said, the so-called Meteor Fall incident wasn't a Meteor Fall incident at all but an attack from this 'big thing' and it had used the game System Online to track down the location of Earth in the quickest way possible and while Earth was still recuperating.
"In order to locate the core of this universe, I had to sacrifice a fragment of my core and actually lower myself to the standards of your children and be at their mercy but all's well that ends well. After devouring you, I'll finally be able to reach the last stage of my evolution and finally be part of the peak entities, hahaha. Your energy also hasn't been used since your birth. I gotta say I'm lucky."
A male and domineering voice finally responded. It contained no emotions but was filled with authority just hearing it. All living beings on Earth collapsed, all were bleeding from their mouths, ears, noses and eyes.
"Don't worry my Children, mother will take care of you. With the Authority I have at the #$$$*%%#^&%, I bless all my children with the gift of the cheat code from their game characters in System Online. For those without, I bless you with what you need the most! I'm sorry but mother has to leave you. I hope you survive in the world you're about to enter!"
"Hey now! No wasting of my energy! Don't worry, I'll make sure to take good care of MY CHILDREN! HAHAHA!"
And with that, Earth was also devoured by the 'big thing' with all creatures birthed by Earth covered in a cocoon of golden brilliant light and pulled towards the 'big thing' randomly and disappeared into it.
"Finally I'm about to reach the final stage of my evolution. Sorry Child but I had to do what I did in order to achieve my life mission. Fortunately I'm the one who devoured you or else if it others, your children would have died along with you."
The 'big thing' glowed in a blinding light. If one were to look at it from far, far, far, far away, they would be able to see its outline which looked like a massive planet but if one could see its complete structure, they'd actually understand that it wasn't actually a planet but an Omniverse shaped like a world. The Omniverse then disappeared into thin air without leaving any traces after the golden light covered it in its entirety.
Moments after it disappeared, another presence made its appearance but seeing that there was nothing, it voiced out its thoughts before disappearing.
"It seems I was a little late. Guess I wasn't fated with this opportunity. Lumina, you lucky bastard!"
After presence made itself known but seeing that everything was over, it also disappeared without a trace. And like that, many presences were felt in the now empty space but seeing that there was nothing, all of them disappeared as quick as they appeared.
…
Inside the Omniversal Planet Lumina, the Earthlings were undergoing a massive change that many would know of its benefits a few days after waking up while others would lament the chance missed and some would even regret it for the rest of their lives. One of those people being Lucius, who had put himself in a predicament that would be nigh possible to overcome.
…
Lucius woke up after what he felt like years had passed and he found himself in a comfortable bed and was naked.
'Where am I?' he thought internally as he didn't expect to get an answer but he actually did. Even though the answer sounded programmed, it still answered all the relevant questions he would have pondered about in the next coming days.
"So, we've entered the game world. Lumina is it…"