Who knew the end of the world would be this good for me? I had wanted to play Eternium since it first came out but with university and how much a reasonable set up cost, I couldn’t convince myself or my parents to buy myself a copy. I had to abide by watching YouStreamers play it and while it now means I have more information on the secrets as well as all the random glitches they managed to catch.

Of course, with that Joe guy freeing the mage college and unlocking those classes, now is one of the best times to join as when I heard of the rarity of mage classes I was disappointed, as what's the point of fantasy if you don’t have magic. If only it didn’t also mean that the regular world didn’t have to end but looking at the bright side I no longer needed to do my essays.

I followed the crowds of people towards the government building as people queued for their Cores.

I was messaging my friends and family making plans on where to meet in game, obviously checking up on them but not overly concerned as the majority of us did not live anywhere near the coast.

I watched the person in front of me in the queue vanish without a trace, which certainly was a weird experience, but my brain quickly adapted to the information. I took the blue rock into my hand and like all the people before me I took a deep breath and placed it on my forehead.

A small line of text appeared in my vision.

Do you want power*? Yes / No

I clicked yes instantly, as who would say no to that, then realised that ‘power’ had an asterisk next to it as it disappeared. I really need to read the small print; what did I just agree to?

Do you know what is about to happen? Have you read the terms and conditions*?

Ok, the terms and conditions, the most skippable contract. But as I missed the previous link I may as well give them a cursory read, as I have heard of things being hidden in them such as money and things which go undiscovered for years. The driest writing I had read, included things such as what happens to kids in the new world, which I skipped, and things about mental effects which were mildly concerning. I skimmed the majority of it as it was so many pages long and I’d had enough of dry informative writing with my degree that I didn’t need it in my video game. I got the gist of it; I clicked yes on the question.

Ah, so close, closer than most, but yet so far away. Ok. Prepare for pain. Also, fun! Maybe? You don’t have much choice anyway. Yes / Yes

With that omnibus warning, I should have guessed a world saving AI was actually going to be evil.

After a blink I was in a white void with the only feature being a line of text floating in front of me:

Welcome to Eternium! There is no saved data for your profile. Would you like to make a new character, choosing ‘no’ will result in true death? Yes/ No

Yes! Obviously yes, why is ‘no’ an option at this point?

Great! You will only be able to have a single character profile at any given time while in Eternium, and this will be the only chance you will get to make a character as in saving you, your body was destroyed. Sorry ‘bout that but the world ending causes necessity, I’m sure you understand. Would you like to select an available starting class or undergo tests and trials to see what the right choice is for you? These tests may unlock different or even unique classes based on your ability. But be warned! Taking the tests and showing low aptitudes may reduce the number of available classes! You can exit these tests at any time! Start Game / Take Tests.

Well, I have all the time in the world now, it probably would just limit any dexterity classes I could take, plus based on the YouStreamers you can get classes in game not just at this point so if I get suckered with a bad class there are options. I clicked take tests.

The air shimmered and suddenly I was in a cave hallway, I could smell the damp rocky smell that hadn’t been there a second before.

“Cool.” I said out loud as the graphics were as realistic as I was told, though isn’t this supposed to just be a new reality or something? Still cool, nonetheless.

I rolled my shoulder blades, stretching out my back standing up straighter out of habit. I heard my back click slightly, “Huh, I guess they just copied my body.”

The light breeze was nice, I was reminded of beach holidays. Ok, what would a long hallway test?

As if to answer my thoughts a word shimmered in front of me, before I had a chance to work it out myself: RUN!

I started moving as instructed; I wasn’t going to wait for whatever they were going to use to motivate me. I watched my steps as the ground was not a smooth track. The hall was endless, increasing in angle as I ran. My thoughts were consumed as I concentrated on the impact of my feet on the ground. I was extremely conscious of the damp smell that might mean I could slip. I moved to the flattest part of the ground to not trip. I was thankful of the fact that the world didn’t end on a holiday as I would be way more unfit then; even now I could taste metal, as I was breathing hard. I kept running as my muscles burned.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

I could hear the motivation behind me as the bolder chasing me gridded against the sides of the hall. In response I became bolder, as I focused more on speed than not tripping and– Fuck.

One wrong foot placement was fatal.

Dang, I was doing so well.

***

The scene changed and suddenly it was night, I could feel the cold air against my back. I recognised the scene as walking back alone after a night out in York. I heard a scream behind me which made me stop.

Decide.

I walked towards the scream to see what was happening, and if I would make the situation better or worse. There was a crowd of women surrounding a collapsed lady who seemed out of it. My assessment of the situation was that my presence would likely be unwanted, but I should double check.

“Uh, hi?” I started to make my presence known, “Are you guys alright, and is there anything I could do to help?”

“We’re fine.” One of the women snapped at me.

“Fair.” I turned back around.

“Actually, do you have a phone on you?” Another lady called out before I walked away, “None of our’s have any charge.”

“Uh yeah, I have thirty percent.” I passed them my phone and they called 999, explaining the situation to the person on the other end. I stand off awkwardly to the side, unsure of what I was supposed to do. It took about fifteen minutes for the ambulance to arrive, and the lady stayed on the phone in case anything happened as we waited. She handed me back my phone.

“Thanks for your help.”

“I didn’t do much, but you're welcome, I guess?” I gave an awkward thumbs up and then after the girl was carried into the ambulance, I walked off, as I didn’t know what else I could do.

The scene changed.

***

Now I was in some jungle, the air humid, insects buzzing nearby. I was currently in a clearing that was surrounded by trees. Words shimmered in front of me like a mirage: SURVIVE!

Great, a jungle, definitely a great place to show off my survival skills that are mostly from doing falconry as a kid.

I sat in the clearing to think instead of impulsively doing anything. I likely will need a weapon of some kind, maybe I could find a stick or something. Then finding water once I have defence, then how do I sterilise the water? I’ll deal with sterilisation when I need to. Oh, and I probably need to cover myself in case of mosquitoes and so I don’t get sunburn. There's mud, which could also work for camouflage.

I did feel slightly dumb in my shirt and trousers covered in mud, but I had to make do with what was there.

I looked around again to see if anything was trying to sneak up on me, the worst I could spot was a snake moving towards me on one of the trees. I thought I recognised it as a boa constrictor based on TV shows I’d watched as a kid and zoo trips, luckily it didn’t seem to be moving too quickly but it meant I needed to move soon.

So, with a plan to find a weapon and water I walked the opposite way to the snake. I could hear other animals far away, like monkeys, but then I could smell smoke. So I did whatever a reasonable person would do when they smelt smoke and went towards it till I found another clearing with a group of what I assumed were goblins.

They had spears and were clearly distracted with something. As if testing me with obvious convenience, which it probably was, there were some spare spears resting nearby which weren’t being watched. There were also some bows and while I have had archery lessons, I did not trust my skill on a moving target, especially since I haven’t fired a bow for at least four years.

Sneaking between the trees, being surprisingly quiet, I actually managed to yoink a spear from the goblins seemingly without them noticing.

Now armed, a dumb ass would try fighting the goblins, that was not my plan, as occasionally even I have good thoughts. Plus, as one of my favourite book characters says ‘No killing goblins’ so instead I moved away from the obvious danger and went deeper into the forest with my pointy stick.

It took me about ten minutes before I found myself in danger again, this time it was a trail that I spotted of dissolving forest like a massive corrosive slug had been here and I had the thought of: I could fight a slime. I had the power of point on my side.

I followed the path till I spotted its creator, which seemed to be a similar hight to me, around six feet. It was a greenish blob with different things floating inside it all in different stages of digestion, things like plants, random bones, a speer similar to mine, and at least one rock.

The main task I had been set upon in this trial was just to survive, therefore the wise thing to do would likely be to go somewhere else and find water like my original plan was. But this was supposed to be a video game and I wanted to see what happened when I poked the acid blob.

I stabbed the blob. The spear tore at the slime’s body but not really doing much damage and only really alerting it to where I was.

It moved and the spear was lodged deeper in as I moved towards me at a slow but steady pace, the weapon stuck as I tried to pull it back out, but it was suctioned into the creature. I had half hoped it would just pop or deflate, but unfortunately for me, it apparently could take more damage than I could give.

Dumb actions gave dumb rewards, as I ran back now spearless, and had a slime slowly chasing me like a murderous snail. I was also thirsty.

I had seen in a book that you can get water from trees, but you needed specialist equipment which I did not have. The next idea was to find a river but for all my exploring I’d only found more trees or clearings.

After what felt like an hour, I was starting to get hungry and more and more tired. I didn’t trust my foraging skills, but I had spotted a bush that I thought looked like a blackberry bush. While yes, the jungle isn’t really the climate for blackberries, this was a fantasy world, so I wasn’t expecting the simulation to be perfect.

I could almost feel the world be insulted by my thoughts as the thorns of what I thought was a bush warped into sharp teeth. I somehow managed to avoid being disarmed a second time as I pulled back my arm before it was bitten off. Mimics. This place has mimics.

After getting away on the adrenaline rush, I smelt the similar smell of smoke, but this time the goblins were not distracted, and I was tired.

Overall, I think I lasted four to five hours. Not bad.