Welcome Citizens of Planet Earth.

Your civilization has been selected to be Player’s in our newly created Multiverse Gaming System.

This is a voluntary invitation, so you are free to reject the offer. Any and all individuals will continue living in an unaltered instance of your Planet Earth. Those of you who accept shall be removed from your home world and sent to the Tutorial.  Neither group will interact with each other afterword.

If you join the MGS server, you will be granted near limitless opportunity to gain strength in various ways. Technology and abilities seen in only fiction will be cheap commodities, with grander and more powerful tools to be seized by those worthy enough to claim them. But be warned, as any gift is not without its risks to be gained.

For further information, please join the Tutorial.

Do you wish to enter?

Yes No

The range of emotions you feel are vast. Confusion. Curiosity. Excitement. Fear.

You look at the floating box in aw, bewildered by a hologram like screen floating in front of your face, following your gaze lazily regardless of which direction you face. Even closing your eyes dose not banish it, always present no matter what you do.

You turn to look at your surroundings, the screen not entirely obscuring your vision. There are others like you, seemingly looking at nothing. Their reactions are far more dynamic and diverse. Some speak religious verse, seemingly attempting to banish this unnatural event. Others seem to read the words over and over, each with their own mixed expression. A few are conversing amongst themselves, validating what they see between each other, some even begin to raise their voices as arguments of weather to accept or deny the offer springs up.

Even taking a glance at the sports channel in the restaurant shows this is happening worldwide. A sports game has seemingly ground to a halt, as everyone is preoccupied with things other than the game. The cameras have stopped moving, the cameramen obviously distracted themselves. The crowd and players stay in place, looking around, possibly hoping for someone that could have answers. The spokesman, in a shallow attempt to maintain some sense of normality, is trying to follow a game that is clearly not happening.

By happenstance, your eyes leave the screen and land on a family of three. The parents argue, one denying the whole situation while the other is clearly fear stricken by the unnatural experience overall. But they aren’t what grabs your attention. It’s the little girl, seemingly forgotten by her parents, who is looking at the screen with interest. Her hand rises into the air, up to nothing from your point of view, and you just know she has it in front of the screen. Her eyes wander, and you both lock gazes. It is but for a second, but it feels like an eternity.

Before you can react in any way, her finger moves. And in a flash of light, she’s gone.

Silence befalls the restaurant. It weighs heavily on everyone. Some look around, having missed the origin of the lightshow. Other’s like you had looked at her just as she vanished and can only stair at where what essentially could be considered teleportation took place. Everyone stands still, unable to process what events had just transpired. Then the mother screams. And like a damn breaking, chaos erupts.

People fully panic, the underlying stress everyone was feeling breaking their composure. People begin to yell, fold in on themselves in rejection of realty, or attempt to escape physically as much as they can. Tables are flipped, cutlery and food thrown to the floor, bodies press against each other as a swarm of bodies move. You observe all of this in a disconnected manner, only able to see the now tipped over chair of where a child used to be. The mother is on her knees crying, wailing at her lost daughter. The father holds her in his arms, more in control but also as shocked as her.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

And then more flashes of light start mixing into the crowd. The mass panic stops for a moment as everyone turns to look at the direction it came from. An empty spot in a group of teenagers. One of them speaks quietly but is still heard over the subdued panic.  “It worked...? So, its true? We-we can be stronger...?” As their words drift off, you see an expression you have yet to see on anyone’s face. Wonder. Completely and utter joy at the thought that crossed their mind. And then their eyes harden, resolution taking hold.

They rase a fist in the air, a war cry screamed loud and unmistakable. “I won’t be weak anymore!”. The fist falls, a hammer deciding his fate and the screen a chisel that shall carve out their new life. Other adolescents around him cry out, attempts to dissuade their associates seemingly rash decision. But in a similar flash, before the words can fully leave their lips, they’re gone.

The chaos returns with a vengeance, a far more violent tone then before. You see fights break out as people start shoving their way to the exit and others retaliate at the unprovoked physical contact. You even see a rush of people outside through the restaurant’s windows. But more personal conflicts come out from inside. A group of men are holding down another man, and the fight is becoming bloody as the man becomes more desperate with each second.

“Fuck you! I can leave this shithole if I want! You can’t make me stay with that bitch and those parasites!” One of his hands goes free and grabs a fork on the floor. He shoves it into a man’s eye. He screams, clutching his face and releasing the other man’s arm in the process. He slams his hand onto the invisible screen in front of him. Like the others, he’s gone in a flash, the group of men holding him down falling to the floor shortly after.

Someone crashes into you, pushing you to the ground. You hit a table on your way down, a relatively hard hit as it leaves you breathless. It takes a moment to breath again, the pain and constant noise of chaos making it hard to focus. Blurred eyes look upon the TV once again, and you can see the same anarchy has taken the stadium. Numerous flashes are appearing, piles of bodies as free for all fights are taking place, and just a flood of people trying to find a safer place then where they are. You struggle but eventually manage to stand up again.

An explosion rocks the ground, the sound itself overwhelming the shouting of those around you. The panic has fully set in, so no one even reacts. Having focused on the blast from outside, you are able to pick up even more disturbing sounds. Broken glass, smashed cars, cries for help and full of despair, all bundled up in one endless song of terror that is taking hold of the world.

Your eyes return the blue window. The one responsible for all this undesired insanity that has taken hold of your world. You wonder, in a moment of insignificant peace what you will do. If it is to be believed, everyone who disappears in a flash has been sentence somewhere else. Where they will have an opportunity to live out a fantastical life that they could only ever dream of. And if it’s truly the multiverse, things man kind could never have thought of. The possibilities would be endless.

But at the same time, what about the inherent danger? What about all the unintended consequences if you do go? Most games have lose conditions. The more realistic or authentic the game, the more brutal and numerous the ways to fail a game there are. Hell, most games have you dyeing as a constant game over. Do you want to put your life in that clear open sort of danger? Are you brave enough to face something like that?

And what about everyone else here? You have a life here, family, friends. Could you throw all that away for the chance of a wish fulfilling dream that may not even be worth it? But-but what if they already left themselves? What if they saw the opportunity and took the chance themselves? Your parents aren’t as young as they used to be, and this may be a chance at a second life.  And your friends, well they have always dreamed big. This could be the golden ticket you have all been waiting for.

You could leave and never see them. You could live your wildest fantasies with the push of a button. You could die horribly in the process. You could have been lied to and this screen is a way to sell your soul to the devil for all of eternity. You could stay and keep the life you have. You could watch as the world is forever changed by today’s events. You could find yourself alone, everyone you have ever known already leaving for better lives. You could put this all behind you and live a normal satisfying life.

You could do so many things and face so many unexpected consequences because of your choices.

What are you going to do?

Select Yes

Select No

Call someone before you choose.

Find somewhere safe before you do anything.

Try to take care of anyone injured first.