Prologue
On March 3rd 2018, a disembodied voice began to speak to everyone in the universe and explain how it was all about to change. The voice began, “Attention dear people. I have terrible news for all of you and very little time to relay it. In just a short time, the universe as you have known it will change forever. This universe in which all of us currently live is not the sole universe in existence. We the gods of this universe have been working hard to ensure all of your safety, but we have been BETRAYED!”
The voice seethed with unbridled anger as it practically hissed, “A faction of gods from our nearest sister universe has been eyeing our universe for some time now. These sinister gods feed off of conflict and violence. Their goal was to merge our two universes together into one and use the inevitable chaos from the merger to push their strength to new heights.”
And the voice roared, ”THEY SUCCEEDED DUE TO THE BETRAYAL OF SOME OF OUR OWN. THEY OPENED OUR DEFENSES SO THAT OUR TWO UNIVERSES COULD BECOME ONE.”
Pausing for a moment to compose itself, the voice continued in a much colder tone, “There is no way to stop the merger now, and the danger posed by this merger is immense. Unfortunately, the danger will be the worst for all of you. The universe that is merging with ours is one in which they have access to a number of different energies not found in our own. The primary energy is what all of you would recognize as mana. These energies make the average inhabitant of that universe, even something as small as a rodent, far more powerful than the average inhabitant of our own. When the merger begins momentarily, those energies will become accessible to everyone here as well.
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In order to ensure the survival of as many of you as possible, we have done what we can to accelerate your ability to use these new energies. We have created a System that will guide all of you and when certain milestones are reached it will strengthen your body or impart knowledge directly to your mind. The System has been designed to adjust itself to best match the societies of each world. Besides the system, we have placed a number of dungeons on each inhabited world to serve as both training and resource centers. The merger will on average double the size of each inhabited world. We have done our best to divert the new areas and especially the dangerous areas away from the most heavily populated regions. The universes will finish merging in just a couple of minutes, and when the merger is complete, the inhabitants of our one time sister universe will be momentarily disoriented due to the mana flooding into previously manaless environments. All of you must use this time to get to safety and prepare to survive the inevitable conflicts.”
Hesitating the voice said, “Not everyone from our sister universe, gods and mortals alike, wanted the merger to happen. They are victims in this tragedy as much as any of us are, and if we are to survive this disaster we will need each other. My people, these will be trying times, but no matter what may happen you must not give in to despair or hate. Hate and despair will only lead to the very tragedies that will empower our enemies. STAND STRONG! STAND UP FOR WHAT YOU BELIEVE IN AND HOLD TRUE TO YOUR IDEALS! Only then can hope for the future be born. ... and .... we’re sorry and we hope ... we hope in time ... you will forgive all of us for our failure and for what is to come.”