Etson - 4:01 PM

There was a moment of disorientation as my consciousness flooded into my younger body. Pain hammered through my head, though it quickly receded as I blinked away the stars in my vision. I loosened the black and green paisley tie from my neck.

When the system first began alerting people that our world was about to become a living nightmare, I had been on my way to a job interview for an assistant manager position at a small mom and pop bagel shop. Guaranteed to get me nowhere in life but would keep me from spending all my tuition money on rent.

I pulled my phone from my black slacks. The system started at 4:22. I groaned when I saw it was 4:01. About a half hour, my ass. Spinning, I started running back to where I came from. I still had twenty minutes. Not sure if I’d call that plenty of time, but I’d make it work.

I unlocked my phone, scrolled through my contacts, and hit the dial button. It rang twice before someone answered.

“Etson College Security,” a gruff voice said. “This is security officer Davis.”

“Hi, my name is Anthony Franklin, business major,” I began. I was already starting to feel winded and I had only run about a hundred feet at most. Nothing whipped you into shape like artificially inflating your stats. “I just overheard two guys talking about blowing up the library.”

A pause. “Is this a prank?”

“I gave you my name, man,” I said. “These two dudes were talking about how they planted a bomb in the library to get back at the school. They said 4:25 was boom time, their words. I don’t know where they planted it, I ran before they could say. I’m still running.” And sounding very out of breath.

“Are you sure?” Davis asked, panic rising in his voice. "You’re completely serious?”

“I saw who they were, so I could…” I took a breath. “I can identify them.”

“Okay, stay on the line, Anthony,” Davis ordered before yelling something I couldn’t make out to someone else.

“Yes, sir,” I lied before hanging up. Since I still had another few blocks before I reached the cafe, I would use them.

I sent out a message to every contact I had with a warning to get somewhere safe. Not everyone would get it, but some would and, as much as I hated it, I had to keep my sights on the big picture. Turning off the sound, I slid my phone back into my pocket just as it started vibrating from the responses.

It continued to do so for the next four blocks before I arrived at my destination: Garcia’s Café. A cozy place not too far from the college, it was a common hangout spot for students who didn’t want to stay at school.

My vision tunneled as soon as I went in. A young woman with dark, curly hair and a blue apron looked at me from behind the counter with concern. “You okay, dude?” she asked as she looked me over.

“Yeah, water and whatever energy drink you have on hand, please,” I panted out. Leaning on the counter, I looked at the clock on the register. 4:09. Plenty of time. Probably.

“Six dollars, fifty-three cents,” she said, ringing it up before heading to a fridge against the far wall.

Gabrielle Garcia, daughter of the proprietor of Garcia’s Café. Without my intervention, she never saw the dawn of the second day. That was a shame because, every time I saved her, she went on to do remarkable things.

More often than not, Gabrielle became a powerful healer of some sort. In fact, she was working at her father’s shop in order to pay for school, working towards becoming a certified nursing assistant. In the coming days, many would flock to her, and many would be saved due to her powers.

I began weaving my web of lies. “Hey,” I panted. “You know what’s up with the square?”

Gabrielle pulled an Aquafina and a Red Bull from the fridge and started heading back my way. “Haven’t heard anything,” she said. “You running from there? You’re not exactly in the right clothes for a workout.”

“Just got out of a job interview, got a lot of nervous energy,” I lied as I plucked at my long sleeves. “But no, there were a bunch of firefighters, cops, and EMTs there. Looked like they were setting up a barricade or something.”

The downtown square was one of the few natural safe zones the system laid down and was only about ten blocks from here. Gabrielle wouldn’t have too much trouble getting down there. I had sent her down that path before, at least, and she had always made it. Then, I wouldn’t have to worry.

“News to me,” Gabrielle said. She placed my drinks in a small paper bag. “Six fifty-three.”

“Right, yeah,” I said, pulling my wallet out of my back pocket to grab my debit card, which I swiped. “I don’t know if it’s just nervous energy or whatever, but I have a feeling something is going to go wrong today. You stay safe, yeah?” I punched in my pin after changing the tip to 50 dollars. You will remember me, Gabrielle.

“Yeah, sure thing,” Gabrielle said skeptically. Her eyes bulged when she saw the tip.

“Awesome, thanks,” I told her before grabbing my things and dashing out. It was 4:12. For sure, it certainly hadn’t felt like three minutes inside. The clock must have been fast or something.

I grabbed the energy drink, popped it, and drank the best I could while running. Some of it dribbled onto my dark green button-up, but I didn’t care about that. The taste of it almost made me gag; how could people drink this regularly? Once the can was empty, I drank half of the bottle of water to rinse away the taste.

I jaywalked across the street when I saw a moment free of traffic. Lucky, honestly; Etson College was right off of the main road and things were pretty busy this time of day.

Regardless of my luck, I couldn’t afford to stop. The mostly glass building at the front of campus loomed over me, but it wasn’t my destination. I ran around it and into the large courtyard that had always seemed like a waste of space to me. Like, sure grass is green, but some tables and benches would go a long way.

Shaking my head, I emptied my mind of those thoughts. My opinion on the courtyard never mattered, and it would matter even less in—I checked my phone—four minutes.

The library was on the far end of the campus, but now it was a straight shot from me. The Jody Etson Library was a large, two-story brick building that was much older than the rest of the campus.

People were congregated a safe distance away from the building. I didn’t see any police officers yet, but I did see three men in gray uniforms. Those were the security officers. Mentally, I thanked them for working as quickly as I needed them to. They were always gone by the time I had made it to the library, so I wasn’t sure of their efficiency.

Gone as in run away, not dead. I never found their bodies. Though that could have been something else entirely.

I slowed to a stop as I neared the crowd, positioning myself close by but away from the security guards. There was no way in for me except the front door. If I had more time, I could find a brick or something and smash a window, though that wasn’t an option with so little time remaining. My body ached, but adrenaline pumped through my veins and gave me life.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

The crowd was talking about the bomb threat that had been called in. A lot of students thought it was a hoax and complained, loudly, to anyone who was in earshot. Most of the faculty were taking it seriously, which was good. If anyone was left in that building when the system dropped, they would be dead. They were always dead.

I checked the phone again to see it tick to 4:22. We were seconds away. I thought about the layout of the library. The staircase to the second floor was across from the entrance with a mostly open floor plan. The book I needed would be on a return cart up the stairs and near the librarian’s desk. Maybe, if I hurried, I could make it before the bookshelves started shifting.

The world turned into static for just a moment as the system connected to the world’s population. I had already started running by the time my vision returned. I could barely hear my own thoughts as my blood rushed through my ears. In front of me, a bright yellow light erupted from the library, shattering all of the glass with a deafening boom. If anyone called after me, I couldn’t hear them.

A deep, smooth, male voice filled my mind. It would fill everyone’s mind.

“Greetings, population of Earth. I am the Angel of the Beginning, Seraphim.”

I ducked under the metal in the middle of the broken glass door to enter the library, doing the same for the next set of glass doors. I never understood why they needed two sets, but now wasn’t the time to contemplate that.

“Congratulations to all. You have been judged worthy of joining us under the umbrella of the system that allows us to ascend ever higher.”

This was usually the part where I scoffed and rolled my eyes, but I had no time for it now. My eyes darted around the library. It looked like the bookshelves hadn’t moved yet, but the tables on the ground floor had tilted and moved to block the way to the stairs.

Once I was fully standing again, I continued sprinting. To the left of the path forward were doors leading into small rooms, nothing but dead ends there. To the right were a few large counters for librarians to speak to students. If I wanted to avoid most of the tables, which were shifting so that they were facing me, I would have to take the detour to the right.

“You may ask what this means for you and your planet, and all will be revealed soon. For now, your world will change. But the system does not just take, it gives new life to all things.”

The table closest to me surged forward in an attempt to bowl me over, but I was ready. I jumped, leaping into the air as best I could and twisting so that I would slide over the table’s edge and land on the other side of the counter. The tables, grounded as they were, couldn’t hit me here.

The chairs, on the other hand, accelerated in an attempt to knock me over.

“You may have noticed that your ails are gone, and any physical disability that has plagued your existence has been fixed. This is the power of the system. This is the power we offer. We give it freely, and yet, it is anything but free.”

With adrenaline-fueled recklessness I jumped onto one of the wheeled office chairs and used it as a springboard to get onto the counter. Leaping from one to the next, I jumped onto the floor where the tables were attempting, and failing, to turn around. It was good for me that they were each acting as individual entities.

My gawking was soon put to an end when office supplies such as pens, staplers, and straightened paper clips started flying towards my head. Dodging the projectiles, I ascended the stairs.

“The system demands that you earn the power it allows you. Your world will be populated with monsters, some of which are native to your various mythos and some that are not. These beasts are powerful, but now, so are you.”

“I don’t feel powerful yet, jackass!” I yelled breathlessly as I ran up the stairs. I noted with elation that the second floor hadn’t been set up yet. If the right path had been closed off as it normally was, I would have been forced to go left and around through a small room connecting the two sides above the entrance. A less than ideal path, that.

The bookshelves weren’t in position, but the books sure were.

“Everybody starts equal in the eyes of the system. You have the same chance of success as all others around you, younger or older, and as those trained in the art of combat or not. All are equal.”

I threw myself to the ground as a volley of books launched themselves from a nearby table, rolling underneath it and toppling over the chair on the other side. It slid only a few inches on the carpeted floor before it changed directions and slammed into me, knocking the wind out of my lungs.

There wasn’t any time to waste recovering, though. The table above me started to hover and flip. I pushed on the chair and scrambled to my feet, diving out of the way just in time for the table to crash down on where I was just paused.

My body ached as I pushed on.

“Those monsters will attack you, but you can defeat them. This is now the task that befalls each and every one of you. I beseech you all, survive.”

I ducked under more thrown books by diving behind the counter of the second-floor librarian’s desk. I knew the book would be on the other side, just two counters away. As I moved to look, a handful of paperclips embedded themselves in my shoulder. I grunted in pain; the wounds were shallow but still hurt. They would have struck my neck if I hadn’t shifted.

“Those who survive are rewarded. Those who thrive will ascend to ever greater heights. Those who do not have faith in the system will perish.”

I rolled out of the way as additional sharp objects slammed into the space I just vacated. Turning the corner, I could see it. A faint yellow glow on a return cart not far away. It started slowly trundling towards my location as soon as I laid eyes on it. Reaching for a fallen stapler, I aimed and threw.

It collided with the tall stack of books atop the cart, which fell over in its path. I moved forward as the fallen books were tossed aside to make room for it to escape.

“Tomorrow morning, everyone who survived the night will be given the chance to partake in a tutorial to enhance your understanding of the system.”

I dove for the glowing book. The return cart tipped in an attempt to keep me away for seconds more, and I heard something loud shifting behind me. It was too late; I reached out and snagged the book before it could crush me.

Not sparing a glance backwards, I rolled to the side and reached for my keys. The book was a large, leather-bound tome in a language that seemed like gibberish. On the front cover, however, was the source of the glow. The Medallion of Uuska. It was a fist-sized, circular clay medallion on a long leather string with a spiral leading from the outside to a toothy maw in the center.

“Until then, I wish you all the best of luck in your survival.”

I fished my keys from my pocket. In particular, I was reaching for the plain, stainless steel bottle opener that was on the key ring. I slid it onto the Medallion, shifted the bottle opener, and it popped right off.

Every item in the library still floating, including the bookshelf that had been the last defense, fell to the ground in a deafening cacophony. Then, all was peaceful.

“Remember these words. I am Seraphim, Angel of the…”

A pause. That was new. I didn’t dwell on it, though. I was too busy catching my breath. My side still hurt. Everything still hurt.

“… Beginning. Have faith in the system, gain strength from the system, and grow within the system. Farewell for now, population of Earth.”

“Suck it, scum sucker!” I croaked, raising my middle finger towards the sky. My speed had even made him stumble, much to my amusement. The administrator claimed to be the Angel of the Beginning, but I knew that as a lie. He wasn’t an angel of anything, just a charlatan who figured out that Florida’s population was religious and decided to call himself an angel to make himself look better. The dick.

I could not dwell on my victory, however, as I had work to do. I opened the tome as a series of text boxes littered my vision.

[[Notice]]

Welcome to the system, Player Anthony Franklin.

[[Item]]

You have received Time Capsule x3. Open your inventory to claim their contents.

Ouroboros Cover-up has been applied automatically.

Administrator Black-out [intermediate] has been applied automatically.

[[Victory!]]

You have defeated the Hidden Boss [Medallion of Uuska]; +100 points.

[[Item]]

You have acquired the Book of the Warmongering Mystic.

This is a class-changing item.

WARNING: once you have selected a class, you may not choose another except under certain circumstances.

Would you like to use the Book of the Warmongering Mystic?

Yes

No

I groaned at the default blue of the initial system messages and vowed to change them to a better color immediately after getting my new class.

Reaching for the box, I tapped Yes. A new text box appeared.

[[Congratulations!]]

Your class has been changed from "None" to "Warmind.”

Wisdom and Willpower stats have been unlocked.

Mental Points (MP) have been unlocked.

[[Notice]]

You are the first player to unlock a class. +500 points.

I grinned as my adrenaline finally failed me, and I fell onto my back. My first major milestone was complete!

Now it was time to sort out the spoils.