> [System Broadcast: Global Synchronization Complete.]
[Awakened Count: 1,000,000,000 Humans.]
[Mutation Cycle Initiated: 5,143,990,201 Entities Detected.]
[World Expansion: 12.8% Spatial Increase Detected.]
[Warning: 12 Global Calamities Scheduled. Countdown Initiated.]
---
In the span of a single heartbeat, Earth ceased to be the planet it once was.
June 18, 2028, 12:00 AM UTC.
It started with light—if one could call it that. A thin veil of luminous data poured through every crack in reality, as if the world's code was being rewritten in real time.
From the Amazon basin to the Arctic Shelf, from war-torn cities to quiet farming villages, people fell to their knees—not from pain, but overwhelm.
They were waking up.
Across the globe, 1 billion humans simultaneously experienced what Kein had: the interface, the pulsing screen, the choice of class.
Some wept. Some screamed. Others stood frozen, trembling as the invisible system tore through their genetic make-up and rewrote their existence.
> [You have been Chosen. Please Prepare for Assimilation.]
For a second, it was beautiful. Ethereal glyphs danced across skies, oceans shimmered with bioluminescent spirals, and animals lifted their heads in unison, sensing something ancient and terrible.
Then, the screaming began.
---
In Seoul, hundreds collapsed in subways as golden threads surged through their chests.
In Nairobi, a child glowed like a miniature sun before erupting into laughter, his skin glistening with arcane patterns.
In Moscow, entire battalions of sleeping soldiers awoke mid-dream, fists clenched and eyes alight with energy.
It wasn't just the gifted that Awakened. It was random. A baker, a nurse, a prisoner, a scientist, a child.
The world map began to flicker—not with politics, but power. Blue dots lit up everywhere, tracking every new Awakened. Within minutes, it resembled a starfield.
Governments tried to regain control. They couldn't.
Military satellites malfunctioned. Missiles lost their guidance systems. AI security networks went silent or, worse, responded to phantom commands. Panic began to fracture into pure chaos.
---
> [Mutation Sequence Detected…]
[Adapting Flora and Fauna to New World Parameters…]
[Estimated Mutation Coverage: 64.7% of Earth's Wildlife. Projected Completion: 6 Hours.]
---
The animal kingdom was not spared.
In the depths of the Pacific, blue whales groaned with voices that shattered glass. In the forests of Indonesia, tigers howled and twisted into biomech monstrosities. Birds the size of horses took to the sky, trailing feathers like solar flares.
More terrifying were the insects.
Ant colonies mutated first—larger, faster, stronger. Urban pest control units in Manila, São Paulo, and Johannesburg were overwhelmed within the hour as apartment walls burst open with writhing masses of chitin and fang.
The monsters came next.
Rats swelled to the size of wolves, their spines lined with metallic growths. Dogs twisted into nightmare hounds with molten eyes. Even domestic pets turned—some protected their owners. Others did not.
Wild zones were quarantined. Cities burned.
> [Threat Classification System Enabled.]
[Entity Classes: Feral – Mutated – Aberrant – Cataclysmic – Titan.]
[Warning: Mutation exceeds predicted thresholds.]
---
Meanwhile, scientists around the globe had detected something impossible.
Earth... was growing.
At first, it was dismissed as a data error. But instruments from the ISS, satellite relays, and deep-sea pressure sensors all confirmed the same anomaly: the planet's spatial dimensions had increased by nearly 13%.
Not its mass—its usable space.
Entire new mountain ranges rose in the span of hours. Ocean trenches shifted. Deserts tore open, revealing subterranean ecosystems never charted.
Some cities reported missing streets, replaced by ancient, alien-like ruins that shimmered with holographic script.
And above it all, a massive construct now hung in low orbit—black, silent, and watching.
The media called it The Eye.
It never moved. It never answered hails. But every 30 minutes, it pulsed once—like a heartbeat—casting an eerie frequency across the globe.
---
> [Dimensional Stabilizers Engaged.]
[Terraforming in Progress.]
[Initiating Global Disaster Schedule: Cycle 1 of 12.]
---
When the first disaster hit, the world was still reeling.
At 3:03 AM UTC, an earthquake registered at magnitude 9.2 across what used to be the U.S. Midwest. Except it wasn't an earthquake.
The land had cracked open into a canyon over 200 kilometers wide, swallowing towns whole. The ground inside shifted, reorganized, then began building itself into a spiral of obsidian towers.
It was labeled: Zone Alpha: The Cradle of Dread.
Then came the second disaster.
In Greenland, the ice caps didn't melt. They detonated.
Crystalline formations emerged, launching shards into the atmosphere. The temperature in a 500-kilometer radius dropped by 30°C in ten minutes.
Survivors spoke of frostwalkers—humanoid shapes moving across the ice, whispering in languages that froze sound itself.
The System's response was instantaneous.
---
> [Global Calamity Sequence Initiated.]
[12 Calamities Registered:]
– Zone Alpha: Cradle of Dread (Earthquake-Class Terraforming) [ONGOING]
– Glacial Event: Frost Awakening (Cryo-Reclamation Protocol) [ON HOLD]
– Leviathan Surge (Marine-Class Mutation, Pending) [ON HOLD]
– Ashen Sky Phenomenon (Atmospheric Distortion) [ON HOLD]
– Blackroot Bloom (Botanic Contagion) [ON HOLD]
– Titanfall (Interdimensional Collision) [ON HOLD]
– Riftstorm Genesis (Void Gate Emergence [ON HOLD]
– Iron Plague (Nanite Viral Swarm) [ON HOLD]
– Red Choir Broadcast (Cognitive Hazard) [ON HOLD]
– Hollow Moon Protocol (Lunar Awakening Event) [ON HOLD]
– Judgment Engine Activation (Orbital Class Construct Mobilization) [ON HOLD]
– Final Light [LOCKED]
> [Time Until Next Calamity: 87 Hours - 12 Minutes.]
---
Around bonfires and busted radios, survivors gathered—some clinging to old religions, others forming new cults to the System.
Everywhere, murals appeared overnight, drawn in ash, blood, or bioluminescent ink—depicting visions people claimed they received from the System itself.
Some dreamed of being hunted. Others dreamed of stars bleeding into oceans.
One message, however, repeated across regions, across tongues, across dreams:
"Choose, or be chosen."
---
Not all who Awakened survived.
Class Selection was not forgiving. Many had no guidance, no context. Some chose incorrectly—trying to become Dreadnoughts in the wilderness, or Techno Reclaimers in concrete megacities
Those who failed to adapt were consumed—by monsters, madness, or their own mutation.
The corpses of half-awakened beings littered the streets, often half-fused with metal or circuitry. Living warnings to others.
But those who thrived became legends overnight.
In Cairo, a blind woman became the "Oracle Bastion," her voice capable of calming monsters. In Rio, a graffiti artist known only as "KID TEK" bent concrete and metal into weapons and armor, protecting a whole favela from aberrant swarms.
All over Earth, humans were changing—and not just physically.
They began forming bonds with drones, ghosts, weapon-spirits. The line between tech and magic was gone. The new world didn't care for categories.
---
> [System Sub-Networks Formed.]
[Regional Protocols Established.]
[Faction Genesis Detected.]
---
As nations collapsed, Factions emerged.
The Cradle Union formed in Europe, claiming ancient ruins that now floated in midair.
The Dustborn Pact spread through African deserts, riding biomechanical worms and using earth-forged spears that resonated with song.
The Circuit Ascendancy claimed Silicon Valley and much of western North America, integrating with the System at a genetic level.
The Arkhelium Choir took to the seas, sailing glowing vessels powered by whaleblood and storm-cores.
The Vantide Blades—mercenaries turned wardens—roamed the lands in mobile fortresses, offering protection in exchange for tribute.
Each faction had its own version of the truth, its own ideology about the System.
Some worshipped it. Others sought to destroy it.
A few tried to hack it.
---
And above it all, the System watched.
Not with eyes. But with parameters. Metrics. Intentions unknown.
The Eye continued pulsing.
> [1,000,000,000 Awakened… Threshold Achieved.]
[Awakened Integration Phase: 12% Complete.]
[Next Evolution Stage: Awaiting Directive.]
[Monitoring Deviations…]
---
Beneath Earth's surface, something stirred.
A network of tunnels, older than any map, lit up in sequence—hundreds of kilometers deep. At their center, a chamber long buried beneath what once was Tibet flickered awake.
Inside, figures blinked into existence—holographic blueprints of something not human. They bore the same glyphs as the screen Kein saw.
A whisper echoed, though no one heard it. Not yet.
"Prepare for Interface Contact. The Architects return."
---
And somewhere in the city of Lunaris… A new chain of events began to stir—threads that would soon entangle gods, monsters, and the shattered remnants of humanity.
...