She tossed and turned in her sleep all night, even though she was dead to the world and her dreams were more bizarre than any she’d ever had before. Bright flashes of light, swirling colors all over and she was looking in on herself floating statically, naked with a stoic expression on her bruised and battered face. She watched as the bruises began to go away, tendrils of the bruises being sucked back into the point of origin. Sophia watched on in fascination as she observed the flashing colors shifting around. Every now and again, different shades of bright reds, navy blues, and mustard yellows would soak into her floating self’s skin causing it to twitch slightly.

It was impossible to tell how much time had passed as the swirling colors floated into her skin before she felt herself being pulled towards the image of herself floating in the middle. Powerless to stop it, she watched on in horror and fascination as first her hands merged with the other hands of the figure, with the rest of her quickly enfolding. Once the tip of her head merged, it sent a ripple across the swirling masses as they began to swirl faster and faster around her. Her eyes flashed wide to see sparks of lightning dart across the endless expanse. She opened her mouth to scream and quickly was overcome with the feeling of suffocation. Unable to breathe, her hands went up to her throat in the universal choking sign as her body began to thrash around uncontrollably. Sophia’s twisting and spinning in the expanse ended with her body going limp and the shock was enough to wake her up completely as she shot upright in her bed to some sort of words floating around in the space in front of her eyes bright and painful to see upon first waking up.

[Initializing Tutorial…]

[Universe: 743. Confirmed]

[Galaxy: 14,836,593. Confirmed]

[Planet System: Sol. Confirmed]

[Planet: Earth. Confirmed]

[Continent: North America. Confirmed]

[State: Texas. Confirmed]

[Name: Sophia Espinoza. Confirmed]

[Age: 18. Confirmed]

Sophia raised her hands to defend herself from the words, but nothing seemed to be happening so she sat in her bed, unmoving as the rest of the words floated around her vision in rapid succession. Her breathing was erratic and her heart was pounding in her chest.

[Gender: Female. Confirmed]

[Class: Undetermined. Confirmed]

Not sure what was going on, she actually read some of the text that was floating in front of her. Class? What did Class mean? Unable to think about it more without missing some of the text in front of her, she focused on the words.

[Congratulations, Sophia Espinoza. You have been selected as a representative of Earth to participate in the 1,459th mega annum tournament. Through the expansive tests involved in your selection process, it has been determined that you are within the top 20 percent of your species of physical standards and mental aptitude. In five minutes, you will be transported to the tutorial grounds.]

Five minutes? Tutorial? What is a mega annum? These were the sorts of questions running through her mind as she groggily got out of bed, still thinking that she was dreaming. She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes before stopping dead in her tracks, suddenly wide awake. Her face didn’t hurt. Not even a little bit of pain. She rushed to the mirror that just the night prior had shown her visage of being bruised, battered, and bloodstains smeared across it like a toddler had gotten into the red paint and used her face as a canvas. There was nothing there, not even the slightest hint that she had been knocked unconscious less than 24 hours ago. Skipping on brushing her teeth, she rushed downstairs, still in her tank top, sweats, and little else. Her heart rate was beginning to go up again in fear and panic. What if she was really about to be transported somewhere else? How could she describe what was happening to someone who didn’t have the same dream or the messages in the morning?

Making it downstairs, she began looking around and calling out for her mom and Nathaniel. The house was empty. Looking at the clock on the wall, it was 11:58. Her mom was probably at work and Nathaniel was most likely at school or something. Guessing that three minutes had already passed, she frantically looked around for a piece of paper and pen, pulling out the drawers where they normally kept them, finding it hard to find anything to write with or even on for that matter. Finally finding what she was looking for, she glanced at the clock again in a panic. 11:59. Scrambling, she tries to write out as much as she can.

Mom, Nathaniel. I love you both so much! I had a really bad dream last night and I think that I’m being telepor-

A bright blue light begins to glow as the pen drops through her fingers as it’s all she can do to not scream out. It didn’t hurt, but seeing something phase through your hand was rather unsettling. Uncomfortable with that line of thinking she tried to take a step back only to see that her feet and legs weren’t working either. It was as if her entire body was being pixelated. Letting out a silent scream, as she is no longer able to hold it, she is whisked away.

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What follows after being unceremoniously yanked from her home is a disorienting stream of flashing colors as she is slammed, none too gently, into some sort of metal chair. The abrupt stop as her tiny body connects with the solid steel chair sends her breath whooshing out of her lungs and she struggles for a moment or two to take in her surroundings as well as her breath.

Sophia looks around the room, her panic rising faster than a thermometer thrown into lava, and finds the only things in the room were the metal chair and her. The sharp-edged corners and walls looked like it was made of stainless steel, a single light above her causing everything within to appear incredibly bright. Shielding her eyes, some more words appear in front of her vision.

[You have been transported to the tutorial room. It is here that you will select your class. **NOTICE** You will NOT be authorized to change your class once you have locked in your selection. Choose carefully.]

“Wait! How do I know what the classes are, or what this is, or really anything at this point?” She screams out into the empty room, her panic rising rapidly. Without furniture or anything, she expected her voice to have reverberated back to her in some form or another, but silence was all that was returned as more floating words appeared in front of her, answering her first question at least.

[Initializing Class Options…]

[Healer: Healers are vital on the battlefield. They keep those on the brink of death alive and ensure the longevity of their teammates. Due to their healing magic, Healers are often sought to round out the team. More specializations will follow for more specialized options once this choice is selected.]

[Mage: Mages use the weave to alter reality. They have the ability to use combative or defensive magic to destroy their enemies or to help their allies. More specializations will follow for more specialized options once this choice is selected.]

[Ranger: Rangers are in tune with nature and have an uncanny ability to shift through a wide variety of biomes. Lightly armored warriors that usually specialize with a bow or two-weapon fighting. More specializations will follow for more specialized options once this choice is selected.]

[Tank: Heavily armored and difficult to take down. Tanks are those that stand resolute on the front lines, often drawing the fight to them ensuring the rest of the team is protected. For what they lack in damage output, they make up for in defense. More specializations will follow for more specialized options once this choice is selected.]

[Warrior: Warriors are the elites on the front lines. They usually wield swords, hammers, war picks, and in some cases, their fists to engage the enemy face to face to decisively win in confrontations. More specializations will follow for more specialized options once this choice is selected.]

Seeing the lack of choices, she let out a heavy sigh. Looking at them, she grimaced at the [Warrior] and [Tank] options floating in front of her. The last time she had gotten into a fight, her face was smashed in repeatedly. No thank you on those, she thought as she discounted them entirely. Standing on the front lines, whatever that was, was not something that she was interested in doing. She then took a look at the second option of [Ranger]. Using a bow would be cool. She’d never shot a bow before but considered that one to be considerably higher on the list than [Warrior] or [Tank]. That fact she was certain of. Shaking her head at [Ranger], she homed in on the last two choices, [Healer] and [Mage]. She could hopefully avoid physically fighting if she was a healer and it seemed like whatever these floating words claiming some sort of tutorial made it apparent that most of what she did would be involving a team. Her eyes darted back and forth between the two as she thought about the [Mage] choice.

As a mage, it did seem like she could probably avoid the front lines and still be able to protect herself, unlike as a healer. Her biggest fear was that if she picked [Healer] and this all turned out to be real, then she would be practically dependent on others to fight for her. She would always need someone else to protect her. After her fight with Genette, she didn’t want to feel like she couldn’t take care of herself anymore. Feeling like she was making the right decision, Sophia closed her eyes and thought some more, still sitting in that odd metal chair.

Just as she was about to call out that she wanted to be a [Mage], she hesitated. Making decisions that impacted her own future really wasn’t her strong suit. She usually took each day as it came and never really had much of a goal in mind. She didn’t even know what she wanted her major to be in college. All she was focused on was getting in. Biting her bottom lip in concern, she figured that of all the choices, [Mage] really did seem like the best choice.

“Uhmm,” she called out to the empty room, “I’ll do uhh, mage I guess.”

As she spoke to the words, the letters, she decided to call them the system at this point, appeared in front of her eyes almost immediately.

[You have selected [Mage] as your choice. Confirm your selection now: Yes/No]

Taking a deep breath, still unsure if any of this was real, she nods her head, sure of her decision. Before she could utter her confirmation out loud, the system flared before her again. Simultaneously, she felt a weird tingly sensation in her head, pricking the rest of her skin as it radiated from the top down the rest of her body, leaving an odd sensation coursing through her. Concern racing across her mind, she tries to mentally shake off the sensation before returning to the magical words before her eyes.

[Congratulations, Sophia Espinoza. You have selected [Mage] as your class. The following stat bonuses are applied: +2 Int, +2 Wis. Select your class specialization now.]