Darkness.
It was deep, suffocating- silent.
But then... a faint pulse of red began to creep in.
Like a bleeding heart.
Slowly, Caius began to feel the things around him. He reached out to his senses, prying through the walls blocking their function, as he began to feel the world around him.
He was on the ground. The surface felt harsh beneath him- rough, cold, with jagged stones scraping his skin. Shingles? No, it didn't feel quite like that either.
His mind was muddled. Was he… still alive?
This wasn't the dark room he had been trapped in moments before.
He tried to move, but his body felt alien to him. Heavy. Weak.
Faint voices echoed in his ears, distant yet somehow all-encompassing. They whispered in the corners of his brain, fragments of words cutting through the haze like knives.
'…Where am I?'
The ringing in his skull was deafening. It drowned out even his own thoughts.
The voices outside his head seemed to be asking the same questions.
"Where the hell am I?"
"Who are you?"
"Let me out!"
"Help me!"
"Why the hell are you half-naked?!"
"I was taking a shit?!"
"I— I don't— Mom? MOM?!"
They were… loud. Unbearably loud. The irritation burned through him like a fire. His brows furrowed as he tried to block out the noise...
...No, wait- His pursuers…!
The realization hit him like a freight train.
The dark room. The banging door. The feeling of finally having fate catch up to you.
He had to act. Now.
His heart hammered in his chest as his eyes snapped open- only to be assaulted by blinding light. A cacophony of panicked voices crashed over him, filling his mind with a storm of sound.
Slowly, Ethan Brooks-... No, Caius Falsis. He pulled himself up.
He looked at his arms.
The same windbreaker. The artificial skin on his hand was starting to peel off.
His limbs felt like they were made of lead, but he forced himself to stand. The last thing he remembered was the chaos- a dark room, pounding fists on the door, accepting the mysterious invite on his phone…
'[Would you like to play a game?]'
A burning pain hit his brain as he winced, a hand flying to his temple, as another person fell onto him, and another pushed their way around him.
He dodged, only to hit the back of someone else.
Where the hell was he..? And why were there so many people?!
He stopped. His head whipped around. His eyes widened as the world around him, above the heads of the others, came into focus.
A colosseum.
No, wait. It was more than that.
The scale of it was beyond anything he'd ever seen before. An amphitheater, seemingly made out of a dark grey stone that seemed to devour the light around it, massive, towering, filled to the brim with people.
On the cold, stone walls behind the billions of empty seats, hung large banners with a strange symbol he didn't recognize. The only light was coming from the millions of large torches held on stone platforms in the spaces carved delicately into the wall's complex exterior.
There were thousands of heads sticking out. No. Millions…
He had never seen so many people in his life.
The sky above was non-existence. Only the looming darkness of an unknown abyss. The others' voices, their panic, the collective wave of fear and confusion everywhere he looked, in the body language of anyone he saw... It was deafening. Disorienting. Overwhelming.
But despite the deafening noise of the people around him, everything felt... off.
Where was he? Who were these people..?
Was this a dream?
He closed his eyes. A creeping sense of unreality pressed down on him, settling into the marrow of his bones.
He had to test it.
His gaze shifted, and landed on a nearby man, standing out from the waves of panicking people around him. Bald, older - his wrinkled face scrunched up as he muttered something, probably in fear. A bitter knot formed in Ethan' stomach. He didn't like bald people.
Without thinking, his hand shot out.
Slap!
The old man tumbled backward, a strangled grunt escaping him as he crashed into the crowd, chaos swirling around him. Ethan stared at his own hand, his chest rising and falling with harsh breaths.
The stinging. The reactions. The sound of the man's body hitting the floor, and panicked people actively tripping and stepping on him as they ran around, tried to make sense of the situation.
This... wasn't a dream.
But before he could process the absurdity of it, the dark sky above them cracked, a sound like shattering glass, but too… Rough.
A golden light shattered the heavens.
The light was pure. Unblemished. It bathed the colosseum in a divine glow, an aura that felt too vast, too unreal for this world.
It felt like the sun. A star of brilliance.
Everyone immediately looked up, using their hands to block out the light.
Then, something else unfolded from the heavens - a terrifying pair of wings. Wings of pure radiance, stretching across the sky like a burst of celestial energy.
The panic in the crowd stilled, as if the very presence of this… being suffocated it.
A woman.
No, not just a woman. She hovered above them, her silhouette draped in golden light. Her halo burned brighter than the sun, and her eyes…
Her eyes held the weight of the cosmos.
Beautiful.
That was the only world Ethan could think of.
People around him fell to their knees, as they raised their hands up to her.
"Ah... Angel!"
"Our god!"
"Are we saved..?"
But... Caius stood still, glaring up at the being in the sky. Something about it wasn't right. Something itched as his brain, telling him to run.
When the being spoke, her voice was like honeyed music… Smooth, melodic, and somehow, everyone heard her.
"Welcome, players."
Her tone was smooth, polite, almost sweet. But there was something cold beneath it, something far too calculated.
Ethan knew this tone. The hollow sound of a false front.
The being looked down at them, her wings shimmering and waving in an invisible wind.
"First of all, I'd like to thank you all for accepting the invitation."
Ethan's stomach twisted.
"One-seventh of your kind has gathered here today."
The murmurs started immediately, rippling through the crowd.
'One-seventh? Billions of people? Here?'
He could feel the disbelief spreading through the mass of strangers.
"You now stand on the First Floor of the Tutorial Tower."
The woman's smile was nothing short of insincere. The same kind that Caius had seen in the mirrors so many times.
"From this moment forward, you are contestants." She continued, her voice now carrying a strange edge. "You will fight. You will learn. And, if you prove yourselves worthy..."
Her eyes narrowed, and the cold smile grew darker.
"One of you may claim the throne of a god."
At first, everyone was silent. But a single voice pierced through the crowd.
"...L-Lies! Who the hell are you? S-Send me back-!"
That was all it took.
And just like that… The voice set off the chain reaction.
Driven by fear, confusion, and a desperate urge of survival…
Chaos erupted.
"This is some sick joke!"
"I didn't sign up for this!"
"I'll call the police!"
"Send us back right now, or we'll SUE you!"
"Help! Dad!!!"
Ethan's hand twitched as he gritted his teeth. This wasn't a dream. That woman was dangerous. He put his hand on the people nearby, pulling them back.
"Stop! Don't provoke that thing!"
But nobody listened.
The woman's expression remained perfectly calm, as if their outbursts didn't even register. She exhaled slowly, her smile fading.
The next moment, her halo flickered- a subtle change at first, but then it darkened, shifting from gold to a blood-red hue.
Immediately, Caius knew something was wrong. The hair on his neck stood, as his eyes widened in terror.
Something he had never felt in a long time.
True Fear. A desperate urge for survival.
A shift in the very air, like the temperature had dropped, the atmosphere now thick with palpable menace.
Then…
She opened a third eye.
The eye appeared on her forehead, glowing with a fiery, molten light. A terrible, searing gaze that seemed to pierce through everything- through the very fabric of reality.
Ethan's muscles screamed for him to move as he instinctively jumped back, crashing into the arms of the people standing behind him.
And then it blinked.
A millisecond of a pause.
BOOM.
The sound was deafening. A wave of blood erupted across the front of the colosseum, splattering across the stone floor, painting it crimson.
It started raining.
Crimson red.
The people in the front row- the ones who had been just inches away- were gone. Erased.
Ethan stood frozen, his mind blank, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Blood splattered across his face, warm and sickening, as his body trembled. He could still smell it, the coppery tang of death in the air.
…Hell…
This was hell.
The crowd fell into a stunned silence.
And then, the screams came.
The panic was instant. People scattered, tripping over one another, hands clutching their heads in desperation.
Others collapsed, sobbing uncontrollably as their minds cracked under the pressure. Caius remained standing, staring at the gore where he had been seconds ago- his breath coming in short, shallow gasps.
'If I hadn't moved…'
The angel's gaze fell on the trembling mass of humanity, and Caius felt as though an invisible weight had descended upon him.
It was as if the air had thickened, as though an elephant had settled on his chest, squeezing the life from him, blocking all thoughts from reaching his head, as he clawed at his throat and chest... Yet a single thought slipped through.
Sh*t. Sh*t. Sh*t…
'Was this how he was going to die..?'
The angel's melodic voice morphed, growing deeper, more guttural.
"Know. Your. Place."
The pressure vanished as suddenly as it had arrived.
The crowd collectively exhaled, gasping for air, some vomiting on the floor, others simply crumpling to the stone. Caius remained still, sweat streaming down his face as he glanced up.
Her words echoed, laced with disdain, as if muttering to herself.
"Why am I even here? Out of all the worlds in the system… humans are the most disgusting."
She swept her gaze across the cowering masses, her red halo flickering ominously.
"It's utterly despicable to know that my form looks like one of you swines in your lowly perspectives."
The third eye on her head pulsed, as the iris shrunk. "...Maybe I should just kill you all."
Her hand rose, power gathering in her palm- shimmering, crackling with energy.
But then...
A voice rang out.
"You just violated the 117th game rule."
A flinch. The halo over her head darkened.
The angel's surprised eyes snapped toward the source, her third eye narrowing with sudden fury.
Her head snapped toward the speaker, tilting at an impossible angle.
Caius did the same... Minus the neck breaking tilt.
A young black-haired man stepped amidst the bodies and the rivers of blood. Unlike the others, he wasn't trembling. He was composed. Calm. Measured.
Irritatingly handsome.
The angel's lips curled. Interested. "Oh? And who told you that?"
The man said nothing. His silence was defiant, unyielding.
A tense moment stretched between them, the world holding its breath.
Then, to everyone's shock, the angel laughed.
It started as a soft chuckle, then built into a full-bodied laugh.
She tilted her head again, her smile never fading.
"Perhaps I was too hasty. Maybe some of you are worth saving."
Her halo flickered again- from crimson back to gold. She glanced at the young man once more before turning back to the crowd, as the third eye on his forehead closed, slowly bleeding back into her skin, leaving no trace of it ever being there before.
"Listen well."
Her voice rang out, steady, commanding.
"Your survival depends on what I am about to tell you."
She didn't just sound it - he could see it in her eyes.
Others started to panic. "Help… S-Spare me.." "L-Let me out! Please!"
He heard many voices, as Caius scowled, sweat running down his face.
These idiots..! They were going to get them killed..!
But… The angel continued to explain.
"You are now players in the Divine Game. You have stats, abilities, and classes."
Caius blinked, as something in his mind clicked.
"You will also have traits based on your personality."
Ah…
"Classes are awakened at Level 5 and 10, where you choose to either keep evolving your class or get a multiclass, then evolve exponentially."
This is like one of the books he read as Ethan Brooks.
"In a moment… The sky will shatter. Monsters will descend upon you. All you have to do is survive for five minutes. Proof that you primates are worthy of this game."
…What?
"However, if you die… You'll be sent back to 'Earth'."
Silence.
The crowd suddenly started murmuring. Sharing glances. Hesitating. But Caius knew the truth.
She was lying.
He could tell by the damn smug look on her face.
"So… Try your best. Struggle. Show us your worth."
The sky shattered once again.
A bright, red semi-transparent screen appeared in the air, floating ominously, unaffected by the shattering sky.
[ Time left: 9:59 ]
[ Objective: Survive. ]
…
F*ck.