“Hey Cade, wait up.” A voice calls out from the closing door of a frequented restaurant down the street from his apartment. As he turned to look behind him, he put his green Portland Timbers beanie over his shortly cut, graying brown hair. Out of the door following Cade came a mid 20’s with a smile on his face, quickly catching up with his friend as he waited. “Thanks for the food man.” Brandon thanked him as he fell into step with Cade. Cade looked down at his watch, seeing the time, and excitedly told Brandon, “We still have plenty of time to catch the Timbers game too. Let's get home before it starts.”
Cade, in a great mood, was looking forward to seeing the Timbers hopefully slap the Sounders silly on the field. The two made their way back towards the apartment they shared, only needing to go a couple streets over. It was a normal day in Portland, Oregon; partly cloudy but not yet raining. They made their way past the many people going about their business on Hawthorne, being careful to avoid the cyclists and runners moving back and forth along the busy Portland street. They crossed the road and headed North, talking about soccer and other things, or checking their phones. Cade looked up at a bird that was flying overhead, but was confused when he noticed the bird had stopped midair. Cade chuckled internally before trying to raise his hand to show Brandon. When he went to speak, his voice didn’t come out.
[What the hell, why is that bird completely stopped?] Panic set in momentarily as the realization came that he could not move. [Wait a minute… Why can’t I look away? I can’t move my eyes, I can’t move my head! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!]
Before he could recover from his panic, everything went black. He passed out in the frozen panicked state, unsure of how long he had been blacked out for when he suddenly regained consciousness. The only thing he did notice was a floating blue screen overhead, between him and the bird, which was still frozen in flight behind it. The screen appeared opaque and Cade couldn’t tell if he was imagining it.
The panic remained, filling his head, widening his eyes, as he was still unable to even blink. He wasn’t even breathing, or at least he couldn't consciously breathe, and the realization of this did nothing to alleviate the panic he felt. He wasn’t sure where Brandon was and couldn’t see or hear him. The only thing visible to him was the sky, some power lines overhead, and the single bird frozen behind the screen.
Without warning, a voice resounded in his head, some sort of deep throaty laugh echoing out from somewhere Cade couldn’t tell.
[Hello Humanity. Your leaders have attempted to make contact with me, I did not entertain them. Their following attempts to destroy me did little more than inconvenience me.]
As Cade listened, trying to figure out how someone was speaking to him from within his own head, he was finding it harder and harder to calm himself down. Being forcibly frozen and unable to move gave him an uneasiness that he had never experienced. Fear had started to set in, and it continued to deepen as the voice kept speaking.
[I am THE ONE, and I have come to your rock for a singular reason. I wish for entertainment. You will see in front of you a gift from me; I have named it in your language, Vision of The One. This will allow me to view you and speak with you, and will be very useful to you in your final days.]
[You will compete in a game, a fight with only two outcomes; death, or defeat. The first outcome is much more fun, and likely, but if some of you succeed in not dying, you may have the privilege of fighting me. Before we go further, I must take care of the trash that fills your planet. I will now shut down any of you who have been led astray by false “Gods.”] It spits the last word with contempt and distaste.
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Confused and unable to move or understand what is happening, found himself unable to understand what The One is referring to and is forced to keep listening.
[For those of you who have attachments to false idols, engage in idolatry, cultism, or have forced others to do so against their will, you are no more. For those of you who still hear my voice, you are of the chosen. You survive as of yet, chosen on this planet to provide entertainment to me.]
Cade, upon hearing The One declare the supposed deaths of billions of humans, was unable to keep the screams of his inner voice from echoing in his head. So many people gone. He didn’t believe it. Only stillness and the laughing ethereal voice of the thing speaking to him persisted above the terror he was starting to feel.
[I expect some of you will feel anger or cold hatred towards me. Good, let it fuel you. For those of you who wish to join my Following, you must only reach out in thought and I will hear you. After all, I am the only One.]
[On to the rules. My rules are absolute. Appearing in front of each and every one of you is a selectable tab. This is The Guidebook. It will assist you in understanding how your new world will work.] The One chuckles strangely at this last statement. A bright pulse appeared on his screen, labeled “The Guidebook” Below it, another tab appeared, labeled Stats.
Cade, still stuck and unable to move, sees these options appear on the display window in front of him as The One lists them off, although no attempt at selecting them works.
The One laughs. [You not only need to fight Animals, but you had best hold hope that the darker minded of your kind do not become corrupted by my power. I offer to all the chance to gain some of my power; to gain rewards and boons from me. You must simply kill other Humans in my name. I will see your offer.]
Cade was having a tough time comprehending what was happening, but he had managed to calm himself down enough to slowly catch up to what The One was telling them. He had spent many hundreds of hours in his childhood sucked into whatever tabletop games he could get a hold of, and was very familiar with basic game lore. He quickly realized he was starting to equate what was being told to him to some of the RPG elements of his childhood favorites. Cades' parents had been killed in a car accident just before his 11th birthday, leaving him under the care of his uncle. Although he had been greatly wounded by the death of his parents, his Uncle Mike was a pleasant man and took good care of Cade. He had purchased as many guidebooks for Cade as he could afford; Dungeons and Dragons, video game walkthroughs, and various other board games that had quickly become an obsession for Cade. He found that his ability to escape within a new world really helped him through cope with his own.
Cade was brought out of his thoughts by the same perverse voice booming in his head.
[Now, here is where you should make sure you pay attention. Although my location won’t be hidden, access to me will be limited. Only once my Divine Protectors have been defeated in combat can I be reached. But, there are other requirements.]
[In order to reach my Divine Protectors, of which there are 15 distributed to territories randomly throughout the planet, you must defeat all 100 Dark Scions. These Scions can be found scattered throughout, and the best part is… the longer they go without being defeated, the stronger they get. So get to killing if you want to ever have hope of reaching me.]
[None of your inventions, of any kind, will work anymore. No technologies whatsoever. I also am beholden to informing you to read the Guidebook section on Mana Generation, although I refuse to give you further chances to gain knowledge… after all, I want to watch you die.]
[If you manage to defeat me, your world will be restored. The animals returned to normal, and I will leave you alone.]
[Finally, after I release you, you will be presented with a choice of weaponry. You will have 15 minutes to choose a weapon type or one will be assigned to you at random. Once that 15 minutes ends, your world will resume, with all changes having taken effect from then on.]
[Fight for your lives, Humanity. I look forward to watching you all perish.]