Year 2023 **** town , United States.
1:26PM. Monday afternoon.
Normal people would find the bugs really annoying. Normally I would too.
I don’t hate bugs nor am I frightened of them, I just simply don’t appreciate how they somehow manage to find its way into my food without me noticing, or how they buzz around my ear, or when they crawl onto my skin. But the most annoying aspect of these little buggers, is the moment they burst out into their loud and screechy chorus. It drives me insane.
It's like listening to a dying turtle, and I don’t even know what a turtle sounds like.
No, I don’t hate bugs. I simply really, really dislike them. I understand and appreciate that they are a part of the Earth’s ecosystem and that they are necessary for the planet’s survival, but that doesn’t mean I have to like them. They’re so small, irritating, and so difficult to get rid of them.
But today. Right now. At this current moment in time, I found myself wishing to God that those bugs would come back, or rather revert back to the way they were.
Because buzzing right in front of my face was a ridiculously large hornet the size of… well… me. Actually, probably bigger than me.
It was definitely a hornet alright. The system told me so. And even without the system, I could easily tell by its trademark black and yellow pattern on its bodies and translucent wings that fluttered like mad, it's razor sharp mandible clicking in the air, coupled by the unmistakable and now enlarged stinger at the butt end of its body.
A normal sized hornets’ sting hurts. A lot. I can attest to that. However, a single hornet sting isn’t fatal. But this thing? It’s stinger is the size of my f*cking fist!
It was unmistakably a hornet no doubt about that. But what in the goddamn world did this thing eat to get so big?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s shorter than me that’s for sure. But that’s when it’s on all fours...sorry all sixes. If it could go on its hind legs...that's a different story.
The system? Oh that’s right. The system. I forgot to explain, considering that I am currently face to face with a human sized hornet with a stinger the size of my fist, and didn't look like it was here to make friends. Definitely not.
So yeah… cut me some slack, I’m not really in my best state of mind.
In order to explain, I must travel back in time. Luckily it’s not too far back, so it won’t take too long.
Did you know that in the state of an emergency, the human brain can actually process millions or even billions of thoughts in the span of a split second? Ok maybe that’s exaggerated, but bare with me.
Anyways let's go back to a only a couple moments ago. To be more specific 1 hour, 26 minutes, and 23 seconds back.
...
Here we are. Ok see one of those large buildings at the center of campus? Oh I’m 19 years old by the way, so first year in college. But yeah, the large building in the center facing south, the “Omega Dorms.”
The other dorms are called the “Alpha”, “Beta”, “Gamma” and face the north, west, and east respectively.
All the way up to the top, to the highest floor, which happens to be the 20th floor. There's quite a lot of rooms aren't there? Don't worry, head toward the 2040 area. Right next to the 2049 door, there's a bathroom. Yup, go on in.
See that guy with the messy brown hair just coming out of the shower with only a towel to cover himself? I must say I look pretty well built, lean yet muscular. Must be from training all the time. Nevermind me, the show is about to begin.
Ok I gotta go back now, to go deal with that giant, menacing, scary, frightening, and uhhh… abnormally large hornet? Yep. Meet my 1 hour, 21 minute, and 23 second past self.
Oh right, one last thing.
My name is Soren.
Soren Hall.
12:00am, Monday morning.
It’s not every day when everything that you knew and trust is taken by the head and thrown upside down on itself, turned inside out, and then burned in a fire. In fact, it never really should.
Well unfortunately, today it did.
I stared long and hard at the unbelievable sight in front of me.
“What in the world… ?” I couldn’t help but voice my thoughts allowed. Part of me still thought I was dreaming, another part of me thought I was hallucinating from staying in the shower too long and the heat got to my head, while another part of me thought my mind had finally snapped because I had to finals coming up in the next week.
It had been a regular day, I finished my morning classes and got back from training to enjoy a nice and refreshing hot shower. I was supposed to meet up with my friend Rachel to go for lunch so I thought it would be nice to look the part. I literally just walked out of the shower on my dorm floor bathroom, when I suddenly heard a light sound. It sounded like somebody had flipped a light switch.
“Click!”
“Ah!”
The second I heard the “Click!”, I jumped with fright. I wasn’t surprised by the sound, but because a light blue screen suddenly appeared in front of my face and nearly causing me to drop my towel, almost exposing my precious family jewels in the process.
Status Window
Name:
Soren Hall
Race:
Human
Age:
19
Gender
Male
Titles:
Strength
1
Vitality
1
Agility
1
Dexterity
1
Intelligence
1
Wisdom
1
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
Active
← Ablities/Skills→
Passive
N/A
N/A
What the f*ck? Status? Skills? What is this, an RPG? Isn’t this something you would see in a game?
And aren’t those numbers kind of low? Like… really low?
I ferociously rubbed my eyes with one hand, praying in my heart that it would go away.
I opened them. Nope, it was still there. A bright transparent blue screen smack in front of my face filled with information that seemed exactly like those RPG games that I used to play in my middle school and early high school years.
Can I touch it?
With my left hand holding onto my towel, I tentatively reached out with my right hand. To my surprise, my hand went right through it, as if nothing was there. I pulled it back, and tried it again, and again, and again.
If anyone else saw me, they probably would have thought I was an idiot, pawing my hand into thin air inside a bathroom, staring intently at nothing. Fortunately no one was around to see it.
However the screen was clearly there, there was absolutely no doubt about it. I even looked at the mirror, and on it was a clear yet backwards display of the content of the screen on front of me. Maybe I actually did go insane.
Might as well play along right? I mean I’m alone in the bathroom, with nothing on except for my towel and sandals, with no one in sight. Why not. It wasn’t like somebody could potentially walk into the bathroom at any moment in time.
Close. I thought in my head. Since this looked like a game, it would probably act like one. I read too many novels where the protagonist would say it out loud like a dumbass. There is no way that I would shout ‘Status” out loud and embarrass myself.
“...”
Nothing happened.
I tried it again.
Nothing happened. Ok.
Fine. Maybe I actually have to say it.
“Close!” I said, probably louder than I needed to. But maybe it was because the acoustics in the washroom are better than the ones in the auditorium. Yeah let's just go with that.
This time, the status table in front of me flickered and vanished, giving me a full view of myself in the mirror.
My brain froze. I didn’t actually expect it to work.
“Status.” This time I made sure I didn't sound like an idiot.
And on queue, the pale blue Status Table appeared in front of me.
Sighing, I said “Status” one more time to make it go away, and I immediately turned on the faucet and splashed my face with water. Lifting my dripping wet face I stared at myself in the shower fogged mirror.
That water was really cold. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that.
What the hell is happening to me.
I always thought that I was a pretty average and level headed guy. I’m actually also a bit of a weeb, I watched some anime and I really liked reading light novels online. Other than that, I was just an average guy who loved his good food and enjoyed spending time with his friends.
I stood at a 5’5 height, unfortunately shorter than the average guy. However, I was pretty well built, slender yet really defined muscles. I may not look like it but I’m actually an amateur fighter looking to go professional. I don’t lift weights, so I’m not that big. But my muscles are hard as iron from consistent training and conditioning of my body. Not to mention I also studying Japanese swordplay. I even have a blade in my dorm hidden under my bed.
I recently got a haircut where I shaved off the sides of my dark brown hair and left the top long, but not long enough for a ponytail. I have pretty long sideburns too and a scrappy little beard which I haven’t shaved for a while because I’ve been too busy studying for finals.
But I never expected to go insane during college, not to mention my first year in college. I mean I heard college could be brutal, but really now.
Recalibrating…
…
...
Um… what? Recalibrating?
“Ding..ding...ding!”
Three other blue screens popped up in his vision, and all I could do was gawk like an idiot.
Recalibration!
Strength +1
Agility +2
Dexterity +2
Wisdom +2
Physical Resistance +2
Title Discovered!
Novice Martial Artist
Evidence of long periods of time training in Novice Martial Arts
Effects
All stats +2
Status Window
Name:
Soren Hall
Race:
Human
Age:
19
Gender
Male
Titles: Novice Martial Artist
Strength
2 (2)
Vitality
1 (2)
Agility
3 (2)
Dexterity
3 (2)
Intelligence
2 (2)
Wisdom
3 (2)
Abilities
← Abilities/Skills→
Passive
N/A
N/A
Status Effects:
N/A
My “stats” increased? And what is with this title “Novice Martial Arts?” What the f*ck? Excuse my language but I don’t think anyone would really mind if I cuss a little bit in this kind of situation.
I stared at the screen, dazed.
It was at this moment, when suddenly the lights suddenly flickered, and everything began to tremble.
What the hell! First this strange game like thing, now an earthquake?
I steadied myself, and hid under the bathroom sink. Strange, we've never had an earthquake here before.
“...”
Everything was still shaking, even after a minute or so. Something wasn’t right.
Struggling not to faceplant in the slippery bathroom and lose potentially lose and ruin my only article of clothing(if you count a towel as clothing) that I currrenly possess. I slowly walked over to the bathroom exit.
I walked around and made my way towards my room at 1643. No sooner had I entered my room, I noticed it. There was something wrong with the sky. Like...seriously wrong.
Hypnotized by the sky, I walked over to my room’s little balcony overlooking the campus, struggling not to trip over anything, and just stared.
I didn’t even bother to change. I just gripped my towel even tighter and hoped it wouldn’t fly away.
There was an incredibly powerful wind surging in all sorts of direction, causing my wet hair to fly around and becoming even messier. The trembling of the ground didn’t stop either, and I used one hand firmly grab onto the railing to steady myself. The other hand, you know where it is. No way in hell was I going to allow the world see my sacred jewels.
The best way for me to describe it, would be that the sky was breaking.
Imagine the gradual cracking of a glass window as if someone was applying a lot of pressure, where the cracks spread like spider webs. That’s exactly what it looked like. Every second there would be more and larger cracks, and it felt that at any moment it would shatter into pieces.
Some of the smaller pieces even began to fall off completely.
“The sky is falling!” A high pitched voice screamed out.
No shit.
Tearing my eyes away from the sky, I noticed that pretty much everyone else like me, staring out of their balcony and into the sky. Everyone below walking around on campus stopped whatever they were doing, footballs left untouched, papers fell to the floor, hell, even her Starbucks coffee was spilled by some girl and she didn’t even notice. I think it was a frappuchino.
There was a faint crackling sound. The trembling grew stronger and stronger, and a low deep hum grew louder and louder, increasing in intensity.
“Crack….creak….BANG.”
And finally it happened. I jumped with fright and stared wide eyed at the scene, as a large portion of the sky shattered into millions of pieces of blindingly bright shards that looked like colored glass. In this hole, there was a sinister swirling black light laced with red and purple streaks.
“EEK!” Beside me I could hear some loud screams.
Like the formation of a hurricane, the black light swirled, and the darkness seemed to grow ever darker.
“Oh man, maybe it really isn’t just me.” I mumbled, eyes glued to the sky as pieces of the sky fell and vanished into thin air. I couldn’t help but shiver.
It felt like the sky had merely been a shell of an egg, and we were living inside this egg shell.
And something just broke a hole in it.