Tick, tick, tick, tick. The clock on the wall loomed over Benjamin’s shoulder. Another day, seemingly wasted. Benjamin was 21 years old, nearing the end of his college career studying God knows what.
He had dark brown hair that hung on his head in a slightly disheveled shag, bright green eyes and sharp facial features he’d inherited from his mother, or so he’d heard.
He had swapped his major as many times as the school would allow, always interested in the next subject after he had learned “enough” about the previous. He’d always taken the extra courses, Summer/Winter semesters and anything else he could find to learn a new something another.
Definitely not excited for work today… Benjamin’s current employment boiled down to fast food, as he hopped between several fast food facilities to maintain steady work, and therefore disposable income flow.
The life of a college brat I guess, it’s my own fault. He mused.
Some said he had commitment issues, Ben felt he had interest issues. He had managed to gain a tidy scholarship and other financial assistance due to his lot in life that allowed him some level of freedom in his choice of path. This all meant that he had worked up enough credits in enough subjects to essentially finish off his next year or so in just about any subject he could finally commit to, and receive a Bachelors for all his troubles. He was leaning into some type of engineering.
Currently he was in one of the dreaded in between periods of his courses. When classes would line up with a 2 hour, or sometimes even larger, gap between them. Ben usually spent this time in a quiet place on his University’s campus studying or reading his webnovels and trying to relax.
You cannot be serious. He thought as he read through the 336th chapter of the most recent Isekai randomness he could find to keep his stream of consciousness occupied. The plot armor in some of this stuff is so over the top this guy couldn’t lose a fight if he was blind and deaf. He closed the web novel to start looking for another one when he felt it.
A pervasive wrongness, like walking down a hallway in the pitch black of night. Something primordial shook in Ben’s mind.
What the hell was that? Ben thought as he forced down a sudden urge to vomit, and laid down his head on the cool concrete table he was sitting at in seclusion and slid his phone into his pocket.
Hm, maybe it was just something I- Ben’s thought was interrupted by another feeling, an abrupt brightness, like the saturation to life got dialed to 100, on a 10 option scale.
What the hell did I eat! Ben’s thoughts were running amok, fearful he may have consumed some kind of narcotic accidentally he decided to try to make for the campus infirmary.
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He stepped around the corner from the secluded nook he usually haunted on warmer days of the year, only to find people bunching up in the open quad of the campus he attended, all looking concerned or sick.
Suddenly there was a wave of force that blasted across the quad, Ben didn’t even have the chance to think to run before he was struck by it.
Ben’s world became pain in an instant. He fell to his knees and could barely make out others doing the same through squinted eyes. This pain felt like it went on forever, moments ticking by like days. Then suddenly it was gone, and all that was left in its place was a sleek of sweat and the memory of the pain.
Ben began staggering to his feet. What is going on… The only emotion he could feel was fear. It felt existential, like an inexorable reality that couldn’t be stopped. Like death.
Time: 3:17 (Localized)
Day: April 22nd 2023 (Localized)
Activation imminent, initial wave contained.
Local populus cleared for entry.
Integration beginning for local populus.
Integration complete (0.46% lost).
Higher than average loss detected, report filed.
Excess energy condensation beginning.
Planet boom begins shortly.
Temporary suspension of suitably conscious beings initialized.
Ben barely had time to read through the sprawling screen of text in his mind and sight before suddenly there was nothingness, like a heavy sleep.
Ben woke with a start, feeling cold and slightly damp, and was immediately faced with another wall of mental text.
First contact initiating…
Natovians identified as the ideal first contact race.
Allowing proper time for message construction before suspension disbursement.
Ben tried to mentally dismiss the popup, only for it to be immediately replaced by another.
Greetings people of Earth, this is emperor Justias the 11th, from the Empire of Natovia. We were identified as a race with a similar overall mindset and justification for life. We extend the warmest welcome to the Grand Schema, as we call it. Following this message will be another that we devised in the ‘month’ we were given to prepare a so-called “First Steps Guide” for your race. Know that we are limited in the length that the guide can be, so it may seem lacking at first. Some of you may have lost loved ones, please know that your world is not over, it’s just simply no longer as you knew it.