February 10, 2025

It started as a normal day.

Nothing special. Nothing strange.

Ethan Voss had woken up in his cramped one-bedroom apartment, barely making it to his morning shift at Harrison’s Repair Shop on time.

His boss had been grumbling about late shipments.

Customers had come in, asking about parts they couldn’t afford.

Everything had been mundane. Routine.

Until, suddenly—

It wasn’t.

Ethan had been walking home when it happened.

One second, the city hummed with life. Cars rolling by, streetlights flickering as the sun began to set.

The next—

The sky cracked.

Not a sound. Not an explosion.

A shimmering fracture spread across the atmosphere, glowing with eerie, pulsating red veins.

And then—

The messages appeared.

 [SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE.]

 [WELCOME, HUMANITY. YOUR EXISTENCE HAS BEEN RECALIBRATED.]

 [THE NEW ORDER BEGINS NOW.]

Ethan froze.

It wasn’t just on his phone.

It wasn’t just on a billboard or some kind of elaborate ad.

The text hovered in the air itself, a projection burned into reality.

And when he turned—

Everyone around him was seeing it too.

A man in a suit stumbled back, staring at the sky.

A woman on the phone dropped it, her face pale.

The entire world had just been hijacked.

Something bigger than governments, bigger than science, bigger than anything humanity had ever seen.

And before Ethan could even begin to process it—

The screams started.

The air shuddered.

Not just in one place.

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Everywhere.

All at once.

Across the city, crimson gashes split open reality, swirling masses of darkness forming in their centers.

Ethan’s breath hitched.

People froze in the streets, their gazes locked onto the unnatural distortions.

Then, suddenly—

The first monster emerged.

It lunged forward, claws flashing, eyes burning with a hunger that didn’t belong in this world.

And chaos erupted.

Cars crashed as drivers panicked, swerving onto sidewalks.

People sprinted for their lives, trampling those too slow to move.

And from every Rift, more creatures poured out.

Not just one species.

Not just one kind.

Dozens of different monstrosities.

Some massive, their bodies covered in jagged bone plates.

Some small and fast, darting between the panicked masses with horrifying speed.

And worst of all?

Humanity’s weapons barely slowed them down.

Gunshots rang out as police fired, but the bullets only staggered the larger beasts.

Explosions from military vehicles tore through buildings, but some of the creatures walked through fire untouched.

The world wasn’t just under attack.

It was being reset.

And Ethan?

He only had one thought.

Emma.

Ethan tore through the streets.

His legs burned, his lungs screamed, but he didn’t stop.

His sister’s school was only three blocks away.

If he could get to her—if he could find her before these things did—

But when he rounded the corner, his breath caught in his throat.

The school was already in flames.

Windows shattered.

Bodies—teachers, parents, children—scattered across the pavement, lifeless.

And standing amidst the destruction—

Was a new Rift.

Not like the others.

This one was bigger.

Darker.

And from within—

Something else stepped out.

The Creature That Took Her

It wasn’t like the monsters that had come before.

They had been savage, feral.

This one?

It walked.

Slow. Deliberate. With purpose.

It was tall—easily seven feet, draped in something like armor, but its body wasn’t metal or flesh.

It was wrong.

Like its form didn’t quite fit in this reality.

Its limbs shifted as it moved, its shape flickering for half a second—

As if it was deciding what to be.

And its eyes.

Ethan would never forget those eyes.

Black voids, with a single, glowing red ring in the center.

Not like an animal.

Not like a machine.

Something old. Something watching.

Something choosing.

And when its head tilted, its empty gaze locking onto him—

A sickening pulse of energy rippled outward.

A single, unspoken command.

The monsters around it stopped attacking.

They moved aside.

And Ethan realized—

This thing wasn’t here to kill at random.

It was here to collect.

To take something specific.

And then—

It turned.

And reached for Emma.

Ethan didn’t think.

Didn’t hesitate.

He threw himself forward, his body colliding with the creature, fists slamming against its unnatural form.

It felt like punching stone wrapped in silk.

It didn’t react.

Didn’t even acknowledge him.

It simply gripped Emma’s arm—gently, almost carefully.

She screamed, tears running down her face.

“ETHAN!”

Ethan grabbed her other arm, pulling with everything he had.

“No—NO! You’re not taking her! LET GO!”

The creature studied him.

Then, slowly—

It raised one hand.

And placed it on Ethan’s forehead.

A pulse of energy ripped through him, sending agony tearing through his skull.

His vision blurred.

His body went limp.

His grip on Emma’s hand weakened.

And in that single moment of weakness—

The creature stepped backward.

Into the Rift.

Dragging Emma with it.

The last thing Ethan saw was her terrified face, reaching for him.

The last thing he heard was her scream.

And then—

The Rift collapsed.

Gone.

Like it had never been there at all.

And Ethan—powerless, broken, bleeding—

Was left alone.

Two Years Later

The world had adapted.

Cities rebuilt. Humanity adjusted.

Adventurers, guilds, dungeons.

The strong thrived.

And Ethan?

He was still a nobody.

No class. No Awakening.

Just a porter. A nobody scraping by.

But he wasn’t giving up.

Because if Emma was alive somewhere—

Then he was going to find her.

No matter what it took.