"I don't have time."
"The only chance is the sacrifice of the last dragon... these two knives..."
That's the only way I can touch him... and to get past his army, I have to infuse them with fire and ice...
Amidst the soldiers, you can hear the sound of bones colliding, cracking, crystallizing; the distinct, sharp stench of calcium and phosphorus cuts through the senses on the battlefield.
But they are still far away, and his laughter fills me with disgust...
"SKILL – Flash Steps," and in an instant, I am in front of him. Behind me, ice spikes and fire geysers erupt, and everyone except his commanders is gone... but I'm too far...
"SKILL – Critical Hit," "SKILL – Deadly Blow," "SKILL – Ultimate Dual Dagger..."
I couldn’t... I couldn’t make him bleed, no matter the color of his blood...
In order to avoid getting trapped between him and the commanders, I used "SKILL – Dash" and "SKILL – Wind Shackle..." I’m now tens of meters away... but...
The mask is starting to crumble... and the apocalypse is near...
...
We are in 2025...
Technology evolves around us, and everyone uses artificial intelligence, while I'm among the few who don't have access to it. I never had access to much of anything... and now, at 20 years old, I'm nothing but a waiter, stuck on a shabby and neglected floor.
But at least they let me sleep on the worn-out sofa in the back.
Under the influence of too much alcohol, the owner attracts another customer to what I can only describe as the butchery of a sow in heat...
Sometimes I wonder why I’m so “lucky,” and what I did wrong.
Why did she choose to leave, after she gave birth to me? I don’t even remember her name, and the people never paused to look at me when I was left alone...
" Worthless piece of shit, come on, I’ve got an empty pint again. You’re good for nothing."
The voice of Cain, my former high school classmate.
The one who tortured me with his gang ever since we crossed paths.
And we crossed paths again here... as I was sweeping the front of the bar — a place that's barely hanging on, without even a logo anymore. He makes sure to remind me of who I am...
Yes, my name was given to me by my father, Aaron.
He used to tell me when I was little that I was a mountain of power. That’s what I represented... you could say it’s the fable of the demon and the hero.
But I’m a nobody.
From the many adoption offers, no one accepted me. They just threw me out onto the streets... and that’s been my life for the last ten years...
"Why did you choose to die like a fool in an accident?" I mutter under my breath...
The police said you fell asleep at the wheel and drove off the bridge. I couldn’t even bury you. You didn’t have enough money to be able to pay anyone to search for you... and no one cared. Y
ou were just a bitter miner, like so many others. You suffocated in the water, and dozens more suffocated in the earth. Somehow, that was your destiny.
You were only 32 years old...
...
In the evening... finally, it's just me, myself, and my novels... Here, I can imagine myself as a hero... or a martial arts cultivator... or death and rebirth in another world... or portals full of monsters...
"Where the hell do they get their inspiration from? " I get lost in my thoughts...
...
The next day arrives with the biggest surprise... last time, it was him... Now they’re all here, and I can feel the asphalt beneath me...
My ribs are throbbing... I can taste the blood flowing from my nose...
Humility comes when I feel warm liquid trickling down on me... and all of this because the owner forgot to order the coffee packets...
And I couldn’t make them their morning coffee...
Damn !
...
I woke up in fear... Everything around me was white.
"... Am I dead?"
"Ah, you're awake? That's good..." A female voice, probably around 30, spoke.
But I didn’t have the courage to look at her...
I glance around... Everything is white, I hear the hum of machines, and then it hits me — I’m in the hospital.
Those bastards didn’t manage to finish me off... and a hysterical laughter begins to bubble up inside me. A few days of silence follow, peaceful moments, hot food, and the comfort of a soft bed...
"Tomorrow, we’ll discharge you."
...
When I woke up, I thought it was a beautiful dream...
"Why can’t I leave completely?"
"Zo... Ah... Ve... Um... ivin... grace... Bow... Um... Nihi... h...”
"Zo... Hr... Ve... ner... ivin... grace... Bow... year... Nihi... bed..."
"What the hell... Who's there??" I shout desperately...
"Zohrah.... Nihilith... „
A light... That’s all I saw and felt. I have no idea how much time has passed...
You know those games where you get notifications? "Welcome to Earth."
A new game? Pun intended... We are on Earth, but what the hell is Earth...?
"The universe in which you were summoned... I am the System..." Another notification...
...
Calm... breathe... inhale... "What is the system?"
...
"God... omnipotent... the usual... People call me different things."
"What is Terrea...?" I think vaguely... I need to understand what the hell is going on... who made this game... it’s an aberration... Did he manage to implement the neural chip? Why was it administered to me...?
"There are no chips on Terrea... even though this world is hundreds of times older than Earth, it resets every 2000 years... because of the demon. You call it the Middle Ages... We call it the present. We call it the system, levels, and classes... You only call them that in graphic games... In you’re life on Earth.. here you're on your second cycle... and now... you've been invoked..."
Before my eyes, a thousand notifications appear...
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The first thing I notice... is my image... a twenty-year-old kid. Satin hair, brown eyes, slightly undernourished, but lifeless... just an average kid... and besides... it says...
Class: None... Level: 1... Name: Aaron...
The only funny thing is that I have only one skill – Inventory Space... so life’s still making fun of me... Am I going to be a pack mule?
And the stats... they’re bad... I’ve got a max of 12 in Intelligence... probably from all that reading... the rest are a max of 7...
"ST – Strength, attack power, lifting power..." It sounds like a tutorial from the MMO genres...
"AG – Speed, agility, subtlety..." At least here, I have 7, not 4 like in ST...
"IT – Intelligence, magical ability, cosmic energy (the force that shapes us, exists in everything, and can be absorbed and manipulated...)" WTF?!
"CN – Constitution, health points, resistances..."
"MEN – Resistance to poisons, mental manipulations..." Okay... a 7...
In short... with this information, at least I understand...
"Do you accept the invocation?"
What happens if I don’t?
"Do you accept the invocation?"
Am I dead?
"Do you accept the invocation?"
I accept the invocation. What else is there for me? Nothing. I have no one. My life has been a series of unbearable days, each one more miserable than the last... darkness consumes me. I feel as though I’ve been trapped in this hopeless pit for far too long, with no way out.
I hear voices around me... I don’t understand anything...
“Initializing Voice Translator…” again, the system's voice... something familiar...
“I don’t think so!! What is this fool doing here?” My heart starts racing. How can this be?!
Why... if I’m dead and I’m dreaming... why?
Why does it have to be a nightmare? Cain’s voice echoes loudly, laughing... and again... I hear Dante and Nemir, the two parrots licking Cain’s feet...
“Silence!”
The most commanding voice... a man in his mid-forties, slightly graying with a rough beard, holding a sword pointed at us...
“You’ve been invoked. Now listen... or die.”
“Grandmaster Kavatari, explain.”
"Heh, mhh, Ahh... You are the invoked heroes... summoned once every 2000 years... the demon is reborn from transcendental death... and again, the caves... the forests become the domain of his troops and demons... your task is to kill them..."
"What nonsense, us, with that fool?" Cain comments briefly, his tone dismissive.
"We'll check your classes, and then I'll explain," Kavatari says, cutting through the laughter of the others as he approaches us.
He begins with me, then moves on to the others, finally stopping in front of the gloomy man... who I deduce must be the king. Kavatari speaks to him in whispers for a few long minutes.
" The Hero’s are to be delivered to their bedrooms, the guards are in place... no one leaves. Tomorrow, on the 13th day of summer, year 2000 of Demon 98, we gather here at 10 o'clock."
...
I feel like crying. What are they expecting from us?
"System," I ask desperately, "what the hell is going on?!"
"The invocation results in the summoning of 10 people. Others have already arrived..."
...
At 10 o'clock...
"Cain... statuses in the 20-30 range... Paladin class..."
"Dante... statuses in the 15-25 range... Archer class..."
"Nemir... statuses in the 15-20 range... Healer class..."
Everyone in the royal court exclaims in surprise and joy. They’re impressed by the numbers. So far, they look like a strong team... probably even with the other six, they are a formidable force.
...
Fear, humiliation, helplessness, anger... Anger... to be so weak...
The moment I hear my name...
„Aaron... You're not a hero... you're a nobody... and you'll be treated like a nobody... we will ask you to leave the Teranium Citadel.'"
...
A week since the humiliation... and yet, I'm strangely happy...
I secured shelter after traveling from carriage to carriage, climbing a mountain, and eventually finding a cave beside a lake. The absolute luck is the abundance of fish in the lake. In the distance, I can still see the castle and the walls of the citadel, but I don't want to think about it anymore.
For now, I need to survive, understand the system, and learn about this world from the stories I keep hearing from the people.
"This cave... This cave... it looks like it was human hands that dug it...
"Because I did it... 1980 years ago!" I shuddered at the sound of a soft, familiar, but aged voice behind me...
When I turned around, there stood a relic of a man in power: silver in his hair, wrinkles marking the passage of time, but peaceful. With his hands behind his back, he sat by the fire in silence.
"Can I recieve a fish? It should be the rent," he said, using a familiar term I've never had the privilege to afford...
We sat in quiet. Ate. And silently, we turned in for the night..
The deep stillness of the cave wrapped around us. I lay on the bed of grass and branches by the fire...
....
Two weeks later...
Night after night... the cycle repeats itself...
Not a word.
But today was different.
From the forest behind, a monster emerges... Blue fur, no bigger than a small dog, but with much sharper teeth... Running towards me.
I let out a scream of fear... I didn’t understand why it had to end like this... and the tiny beast jumps toward me, literally 10 meters in the air, moving with barely perceptible speed...
"HD," I hear from behind. The old man yells, raising his hand at the beast, and it halts a meter in front of me...
" Young man, is it the female? If so, you should strip and show your body to this old man. But if you are a male, then act like one—spear the beast with fish-spear and kill this miniature, insignificant rodent.”
In the humility I lived...
I’ve never felt such anger...
I wanted to kill him, but the spear pierced the head of the beast, which writhed for a few minutes...
"Alert! Due to the reduced status, you have advanced to level 2. All statuses have increased by 10 points, and the path to a class is unlocked. Reach level 10 in the next 48 hours."
...
"It's a species... of rats... he was probably chased away by the goblins..."
After he told me that night... The goblins are no larger than one meter, very thin, and weaker than I thought possible, but they walk in flocks of 10-20. The thought reminded me of Cain—only, he was strong, a hero...
...
Cain and the rest, what happened to them? Nothing special. They trained in the royal courts, reveled in the banquets held in their honor, and the maids roamed their rooms at night..
...
The dawn broke with violent explosions, the tolling of bells, and distant roars that shook the earth…
The castle, once, i’ve could considere it to be the 8th wonder of my world, now lay in ruins—a mere shadow of its former grandeur. The capital of the kingdom had become a living nightmare.
Flames danced wildly across the horizon, curling and twisting, as smoke rose from the half-destroyed walls.
From the forests surrounding the citadel, tens of thousands of monsters emerged—skeletons rattling with every step, orcs and high-orcs swinging massive axes and maces, demons with eyes glowing like embers, humanoid snakes dripping venom from their fangs, venom that melted everything it touched.
And countless other horrors—merciless creatures of nightmare—ruthlessly attacked the once proud kingdom.
This was no fairytale. The smell of charred flesh and spilt blood mixed with the thick smoke, suffocating the air. The sounds were deafening: the clash of steel, the crumbling of stone, the collapse of buildings that once housed families, and the desperate cries of people in pain and terror.
"Young man, you will see now that the Demon King is not playing. What’s happening here today did not happen 2,000 years ago. That war lasted for years… but now it’s different…he came earlier..." The old man’s voice was cold, heavy with the weight of truth.
His eyes locked with mine, his melancholy gaze freezing the blood in my veins.
Then, the thunder came—deafening, world-shaking. A vortex of swirling purple, black, and red appeared in the sky above.
From the mountaintop, it could be seen clearly—a giant figure in black armor, his face hidden behind a mask, his eyes burning with a malevolent, crimson glow.
"Your heroes are useless. They are still weak. You have failed… and with you, the conquest of the world begins."
His voice echoed like a death sentence, cold and unstoppable.
...
A day later...
The journey through the dense forest with the old man had been grueling.
Together, we hunted goblins, their twisted bodies falling before us as I slowly climbed toward level 9. My progress felt slow—barely anything, really—but the real struggle lay not in the hunt, but in the silence of my heart.
My statuses didn’t increase much; I only gained one point per level now, but at least it was something. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all a cruel game.
Eventually, we reached the citadel. The once-mighty fortress stood as a hollow shell of its former glory. No signs of life. No traces of men, no bones, no corpses… only the remnants of clothing scorched and torn by flames. The stench of ash still lingered in the air, as if the place itself had been forgotten by time.
"What will you do, young man?" The old man's voice was laced with something hard to read—was it disappointment?
"Have you been called a hero? Cast aside like the rest of them? And yet… you are the only one capable of this. Maybe."
...
Without even having the chance to finish, a violent shake reverberates through the air, and from beneath the rubble, three skeletons emerge. They move with a terrifying fluidity, brandishing stones as weapons, and advance toward me, their steps deliberate and deadly.
"It's your test..."
Panic seizes me.
Time slows, distorting, and the image around me becomes a blur...
"SKILL – Inventory Space." I draw out the knives crafted from goblin bones, each one a reminder of my desperation...
...
I'm down.
The left leg... they snap it, and a wave of numbness washes over me, leaving me completely unaware of the pain.
From the right side of my head, I feel the warm flow of blood, partially obscuring my vision. In that moment, it hits me: it was a mistake. I was never meant for life.
"Alert! Life points are in the critical zone!"
"Alert! The skeleton’s weak point is located where the eyes once were. That’s where the magic source lies."
A silent, trembling thank you escapes me, directed at the system. It’s the first moment in this nightmare where I feel like I might have a chance.
...
In a final, frantic attempt, I lunge at the skeleton, but I miss...
One last chance, one final knife... I can feel it.
The sensation when the blade slides into something, not unlike the way a knife sinks into soft bread, absorbing the force... The skeleton that has me pinned to the ground shatters in front of me, disintegrating into pieces as the others search desperately for something to finish me off.
"Alert! Dante's skeleton has been destroyed. Experience points are calculated."
"Alert! Level 10 reached!"
...
A torrent of information floods my senses...
...
"SKILL – Shackle" — the remaining skeletons become ensnared by the thick branches of overgrown trees from my spell...
"SKILL – Wind Dagger" — Two sharp blades of wind materialize from my palms, striking with pinpoint accuracy...
The two skeletons are torn apart in an instant.
"Alert! Nemir's skeleton has been destroyed. Experience points are calculated."
"Alert! Cain's skeleton has been destroyed. Experience points are calculated."
...
A wave of emotions crashes over me, but alongside it, a sudden coldness... I died... or did I?
"I see that you resisted..."
...
Flashback...