In the year 3072, the boundaries of reality blurred like the colors of a dying nebula. A cold wind howled through the ruined aisles of an abandoned supermarket, its shelves stripped bare by time and desperation. Eric stumbled forward, his breath fogging in the dim light filtering through shattered windows. His boots crunched over broken glass and discarded cans, relics of a world that had long since ceased to function.
A sharp beep echoed in his mind. The system had activated.
[Welcome, User Eric.]
His heart pounded. He had heard stories of this—whispers in the darkness, legends among survivors. The System was a relic of an ancient intelligence, granting impossible power to those chosen by fate. But it was also a curse. The last man to receive it had vanished into the void, leaving only a scorched outline where he once stood.
[You have received the 'Newbie Gift Pack.']
Before Eric could react, his vision distorted. The supermarket melted away, replaced by an endless expanse of black. Stars flickered in the void, swirling like a cosmic ocean. He was no longer on Earth. He wasn't anywhere.
A massive stone hovered before him, ancient and pulsing with an eerie blue light. Runes slithered across its jagged surface like living creatures, shifting and rearranging themselves. Then, with a deep, resonant voice that seemed to vibrate through his very bones, the stone spoke.
"Awaken, traveler. You are the last sentinel of this dying universe."
A thousand questions raced through Eric's mind, but before he could speak, the stone's light engulfed him.
**---**
Eric's eyes snapped open. He was back in the supermarket—but something had changed. The air shimmered with a translucent blue hue, and overlaid across his vision were lines of information, status bars, and a single quest notification.
[Primary Mission: Survive]
A cold dread settled over him. The world was no longer the same.
A rustling sound broke the silence. Eric turned sharply, his hand instinctively reaching for the pistol holstered at his side. A shadow slithered between the empty shelves, its movements unnatural. Then, it emerged—a humanoid figure, but wrong. Its limbs were too long, its eyes too hollow, its grin stretched far beyond the limits of human anatomy.
[Entity Detected: Void-Touched Aberration]
Eric exhaled sharply. His fingers tightened around the grip of his weapon.
[Combat Mode Activated. System Synchronization: 10%... 35%... 70%...]
The creature lunged.
Eric fired. The shot rang out, but the bullet passed through the aberration as if it were smoke. It shrieked, its form twisting unnaturally, and in a blink, it was inches from his face.
Then—
[Skill Unlocked: Temporal Shift]
The world slowed to a crawl. Eric's mind expanded, processing information at an inhuman speed. He sidestepped just as the creature's claws slashed through empty air. The moment passed, and time snapped back into place. With an instinct he didn't know he had, Eric drove his knife into the creature's elongated skull. It screeched, convulsed, and then dissolved into black mist.
Silence.
Eric's breath came in ragged gasps. The weight of what had just happened sank into his bones. He had fought something not of this world. And won.
The System's voice returned, calm and emotionless.
[Mission Update: Survive (Progress 1/??)]
Eric clenched his fists. This was only the beginning.
**---**
Beyond the ruined supermarket, the cityscape had changed. The sky was no longer the dull gray of pollution and decay. It was… alive. Nebulae swirled like celestial hurricanes, their colors bleeding into the atmosphere. Jagged spires of obsidian jutted from the earth, humming with an energy that felt both ancient and sentient.
Eric knew what this meant. He was no longer on Earth. At least, not the Earth he once knew.
A sudden movement caught his eye. On the rooftop of a collapsed skyscraper, a figure stood watching him. Clad in a sleek, futuristic suit of armor, the woman's piercing silver eyes locked onto his. A moment later, she leaped down, landing effortlessly in front of him.
She drew a weapon—a blade that pulsed with an energy Eric couldn't comprehend.
"State your designation," she ordered. "Or be eliminated."
Eric raised his hands slowly. "I… I don't even know where I am."
She frowned. Then, after a pause, she sighed and sheathed her weapon. "Then you're either an idiot or a survivor."
Eric swallowed hard. "Can't it be both?"
She smirked. "Welcome to the Transcendent Zone, Eric. If you want to live, follow me."
As she turned and walked into the neon-lit abyss, Eric hesitated only for a moment before following. The System whispered in his mind once more.
[New Objective: Unravel the Secrets of the Transcendent Zone]
Eric had no choice. The game had begun, and he was playing whether he wanted to or not.
The Transcendent Zone was unlike anything Eric had ever seen. Towering spires of obsidian twisted into impossible angles, their surfaces alive with writhing neon veins of energy. The very ground pulsed beneath his feet as if it were breathing. Strange constellations blazed overhead, shifting with each step he took.
His mysterious guide—who had yet to give her name—walked ahead without hesitation. The System remained eerily silent.
"What is this place?" Eric finally asked.
She didn't stop walking. "A junction between worlds. A forgotten nexus where reality frays at the edges."
Eric frowned. "And why am I here?"
She finally turned to face him. "Because you are something that should not exist."
Before Eric could process her words, a deafening hum filled the air. The ground beneath them cracked open, and a massive gateway of swirling cosmic energy erupted before them. Beyond it lay a city suspended in the void—skyscrapers floating like islands, connected by shimmering bridges of light.
[New Location Discovered: The Ruins of Eonspire]
A name surfaced in Eric's mind, unbidden yet undeniable.
He had been here before.
But how?