John looked around again, desperately searching for any signs of danger. He knew that anything making an invoker despair would be the death of him, but he would at least fight. He glanced over at Serah again, who seemed surprisingly calm now.

“Serah, any idea what’s happening?”

She shook her head. “Not really. But it’s something bad.”

‘Yeah, no shit. Is this what the Lady was referencing?’

Hans had gotten up on his feet again, but he was pale. Even the aspecters beside him were looking worriedly at him, so they might be just as clueless as John felt.

“Everyone, remember to do what you can to survive! This world now has a ruler, which means a tyrant has been born! Any second now, the world will change, and we will all be separated. I pray to see you again.”

In shock, John looked at Serah, aiming to take her hand. But instead of the expected panic, he saw only sadness in her eyes. She took his hand and pulled it to her cheek, looking at him through tears.

“We’re going to meet again, John. I promise!”

Before he could ask, everything changed. Gravity seemed to change its mind about which direction to go, sending everything straight into the air. Serah was gone, and so were the earth and the sky.

‘What the fuuuuck?!?’

Floating around somewhere in the sky, John was witnessing something unbelievable on such a massive scale he could barely comprehend it. As he floated weightlessly in the air, he could see the entire world twisting and binding itself together in the wrong order. The world was inverting itself, which defied all logic and physics.

John stared in awe as the world started closing around him, in every direction, thousands of kilometers away. The entire planet had inverted itself so that every part could be seen at once, no longer showing the sky. It was like floating inside a sphere, surrounded by ground and sea in every direction.

‘???????’

John couldn’t even imagine the being capable of something like this. Was one creature really responsible for changing the world in such a drastic way?

He looked around, still floating in the air, searching for others in the same situation but not finding any. Seconds passed as he floated there, making him wonder what was next.

‘Will gravity keep me floating here forever? Or do I just need to travel in a direction for gravity to start affecting me? But what happens if it starts affecting me? Will I just splat into the ground eventually?’

Once again, his surroundings warped, placing him back on solid ground. He was standing in the middle of a dense forest, filled with giant yellow and green trees in all directions.

‘Aaaahaaa, so this is how I die. Stranded alone on an alien planet surrounded by monsters, demons, and probably even horrors at this point… Fun.’

His thoughts shifted to Serah, and he wished dearly that she was in a better position than him. Looking up at the sky, he could barely see the rest of the planet past the countless leaves.

‘Did she know something was going to happen? She didn’t seem very surprised by what was happening… Is it related to her fate? Has she always known?’ he wondered, still feeling the warmth of her cheek in his hand.

‘Well, that’s not important now. If I can get to high ground, I might be able to plot out a route to get back to wherever we started. The portal has to still be functioning, right?’

His best bet was finding someone else in his situation who knew the planet better. Seeing something as tiny as a military base from the opposite side of a planet was wishful thinking.

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‘My first priority should be staying hidden and finding a source of food and water. Getting stronger and searching for others will have to come second.’

He looked around, searching for any obvious sources of food or water. Since there was so much green vegetation, he assumed it had to rain on this planet, but the sudden and extreme change in geography might have unpredictable consequences.

‘How is there still light if the sun is gone?’ he wondered, thinking it should be dark inside a sphere of dirt and water.

But questions would have to wait. A sudden roar alerted him to nearby beasts. He quietly ducked behind a tree, hoping his scent wouldn’t attract any beasts to him.

A young man’s screams could suddenly be heard from the same direction, but they stopped as suddenly as they appeared. John felt beads of sweat start trickling down his temple as he imagined what might have happened to his fellow man.

‘Damn, that was fast. Do I need to mask my scent? Would I be safer up in the trees?’

If these massive trees could keep him safe from the beasts on the ground, it might be worth climbing them and jumping around for traversal.

He made the decision and started climbing, gaining a grip simply by stabbing his hands into the tree's softer surface.

The trunks of the trees were truly massive, requiring ten men to reach around them. Climbing them would usually require special tools, but that also made them excellent refuges from beasts once he got up there.

After climbing for about forty meters, John found a spot where he could stand reliably. The trunk was starting to branch, giving plenty of opportunity to climb around.

‘This is perfect, but probably so perfect that other creatures also use these trees as traversal. Hopefully, they’re at least weaker than those on the ground…’

As he suspected, he could see signs of fur and claw marks after studying the branches closely. He would have to be careful not to run into large groups of enemies, but the size of the marks indicated that they were just beasts of the monster tier, at most.

John considered keeping his greatsword out, but he figured it would appear fast enough if needed. The light armor was on, though, giving him some protection.

‘These branches make it difficult to hide. If I meet any enemies, I might have to climb higher to hide in the leaves at the top.’

He still couldn’t see past the treetops, so he started climbing higher to get a better view. It was much easier now, allowing him to reach the top quickly.

The view of the inverted planet was still unbelievable, but it gave him a good idea of what it looked like. It was much like Earth, filled with water and green ground, but there was no ice to be seen.

His immediate surroundings only showed trees, and he could not see where the forest ended. He would have to ascend into the air for that. He didn’t really feel like going any higher, though, due to the massive bird-like creature flying a few kilometers from his position.

It was truly massive, definitely a horror-level beast, with a wingspan of over fifty meters. It was mostly black, and it also seemed to turn the trees below it black. Not through casting a shadow, but some other strange effect.

‘Is that the invocation of the beast? Some strange effect turning its surroundings black?’

Finding it best to steer clear of such a beast, John climbed back down to below the leaves, thinking it best to hide from flying monsters from now on. He did not want to experience that blackness, even though it might be completely harmless.

‘Okay, my first priority should still be water and food, in that order. Making some sort of base here would probably be the best way to survive, but that would mean giving up on returning to the portal any time soon…’

He considered carving a hole inside one of the trees to use as a base. It would be a great hiding spot, and if he took some time with it, he might even be comfortable. Carving holes in the tree might even get him a decent water supply if it started raining.

As he was making plans, he spotted a large humanoid creature staring at him from a few trees away. It was standing completely still, with big black eyes and dark green fur, looking almost like a giant monkey.

John froze as well, staring back at the creature, thinking of his next move.

‘Can I beat that thing? I don’t see anything looking like an aspect, and the size makes me think it’s just monster-tier. It should be fine. But why isn’t it attacking? Is it scouting me?’

Just for the heck of it, John raised his arm in a casual greeting, curious to see the creature's response. He knew monkeys were rather intelligent, but he wasn’t quite sure if the same logic applied to beasts.

The monkey stared for a while longer, but eventually, it raised its arm as well. After doing so, it turned its head slightly, like a curious gesture.

‘What the hell? It’s peaceful? Is it just curious about me? This world doesn’t seem peaceful enough for any creature to be this calm around new things, though… Does it think I’m one of them?’

He tried another gesture, putting his hands together and intertwining his fingers, like in a prayer. The monkey did the same, interlocking its three fingers and again looking curious.

‘... it’s a bit cute, isn’t it? Do I try approaching it?’