In one small corner of the universe, in an unimpressive star system, there is a small blue planet orbiting its yellow star. The inhabitants of this planet call it "Earth" in the most widespread language. In some languages, it's referred to as "Motherland" (rough translation). Earth is a relatively small planet, consisting mainly of water and some land, where its conscious life—humans—can be found.
[Initializing integration protocol..]
[Analyzing existing biome, adjusting parameters..]
[Scanning for possible talents..]
[Targets identified. Launching first phase of integration.]
---
Somewhere on Earth, near the ancient cave structures called "Lord's Castle" or "God's Castle"—depending on how you interpret the local language—there is a small village. At the end of this village stands a house with a yard and a small storage building nearby. Currently, two young men are moving about, working on different tasks. One is bringing sand, cement, and water to mix concrete, while the other is using a power tool to blend the mixture.
"Damn, it's hot as hell. I thought at least here would be cooler," said the shorter one.
"Brah, how long are you gonna complain about the heat? Let's just finish what we started," replied the taller, but younger one.
The older man, with auburn hair, a red beard (for some reason), and dark brown eyes, looked at his younger brother with annoyance and said, "If we had woken up early in the morning, we wouldn't have this funkin' problem, Saba."
Saba looked up while adjusting his dark blond hair and met his brother's eyes. "Sandro, for that, we should have gone to sleep way earlier—and drinking two cans of Red Bull didn't exactly help."
"And who stayed up late?" Sandro pointed a finger. "You."
"Well yeah, but you only went to bed like fifteen minutes before me," countered Saba.
"I was still earlier. The rest are just details," Sandro muttered, refusing to back down.
"Brah," Saba sighed, not even bothering to argue. Well, Sandro was working, so whatever.
Suddenly, the power tool Saba was using stopped.
"Come on, not again," he complained.
"Power's out?"
"Yeah, probably. How many times today?" Saba asked, exasperated.
"Two or three. Can't even work in peace here," Sandro added.
All of a sudden, the ground began to shake violently, and the brothers ran, in a mild panic, away from the storage house to the open space in front of their home.
"What the hell is going on?" Saba spat.
"Earthquake… and a pretty strong one at that," Sandro replied, as if it weren't obvious.
"Hahh… let's just wait a bit. Should be over soon."
"I'd like to say I'm worried about our house, but it's half made of cliff. Should be fine," Sandro chuckled, sitting on the ground to avoid falling.
"Guess that's a plus point for Father," Saba joined in with a small laugh.
Almost an hour passed before the shaking finally calmed down.
"Well, that was long," said Sandro.
"At least we got some massage out of it?"
"True. Now let's inspect if everything's fine."
The brothers carefully checked both the storage house and the main house.
"It's better than I expected. Aside from a few small fractures, everything seems fine on a surface check," Sandro said.
"Seems like building it like a bunker paid off. Electricity's still out, so let's relax a bit," Saba added.
"Luckily, the water's still running. Hope the power comes back soon."
They headed inside to rest for a while.
***
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the brothers, the entire world was practically on fire. The earthquake hadn't been a local phenomenon—it had occurred across the globe, almost simultaneously. In some places, it was weak, but in others, it was catastrophic. The ground split, entire mountains collapsed, and ancient volcanoes awakened. That was only the beginning—many coastal cities were bracing for tsunamis. In short, the entire world ground to a halt. In some areas, communication was cut off; in the worst cases, entire settlements were destroyed.
Unfortunately for the creatures of Earth, what was coming was much worse.
***
A few hours after the earthquake, it became clear the power would be out for a while. Saba had fallen asleep, so Sandro decided to take a short walk outside. It was already getting dark when suddenly, a transparent blue window materialized in front of him, and a mechanical voice echoed:
[Initializing system]
[User can use system now]
"What in God's beard is this?" Sandro exclaimed in disbelief. He waved his hands to shoo the panel away, but it remained.
"Am I going mad?" he wondered aloud.
"Yo, Saba! Do you also see this shit?" he shouted, heading back into the house.
"Saba! Sabaa! Wake up!" Sandro shook his brother.
"Ughmm… give me a few minutes…" Saba groaned, rolling over.
"Bitch, wake up!"
"Okay, okay," Saba sat up, barely opening his eyes—then froze.
Sandro noticed his brother's reaction and asked, concerned, "Saba, do you see what I see?"
After a minute of silence, Saba spoke.
"I don't know what you see, but I see a system panel hovering in front of me." He moved his hand through the air as if trying to touch it.
"Well, I see that too. So I'm not crazy… not entirely," Sandro said with some relief.
"I mean, you are a bit crazy. Just not that crazy. Yet."
"What the hell, man?"
"Anyway, if this is some sort of system, then we should…" Saba trailed off. "System: status."
Instead of a simple RPG-style status screen, a wall of text appeared.
"Is this the terms and conditions?" he muttered. Soon after, a monotone voice responded:
[User is initiated. User can use system now]
[Status]
{Info}
Name: Saba
Age: 23
Race: Human (F)
{Titles}
...
{Stats}
Strength: 3 (10 = normal human max)
Agility: 2
Intelligence: 4
Endurance: 5
Vitality: 3
"Well, my stats suck," Saba grumbled.
"What's it showing?" Sandro asked, curious.
"Hmm, wait… System, share status screen with Sandro."
A second later, a screen shimmered in front of Sandro showing Saba's stats.
"What do you see?" Saba asked.
"Your name and stats. Oh, and your strength and agility suck," Sandro said with a grin.
"Hm, not everything's shown. Probably some kind of privacy protocol," Saba mumbled. "Brah, let's see what you have."
Sandro shrugged and mentally commanded to view his status screen:
[Status]
{Info}
Name: Sandro
Age: 27
Race: Human (F)
{Titles}
...
{Stats}
Strength: 4
Agility: 3
Intelligence: 4
Endurance: 3
Vitality: 4
"Do you see it?"
"Yeah, and you're no better."
"It's interesting how our race has a rank now—and 'F' is probably the lowest," Sandro noted.
"If clichés are true, that might indicate stat caps," Saba added.
A moment of silence passed.
"What the hell is going on, Sandro?" Saba asked.
"And how the fuck should I know?" Sandro sighed. "Guess that earthquake wasn't exactly what it seemed?"
"Maybe…"
Before they could continue, something caught Sandro's eye—a strange red glow coming from the storage house.
'That wasn't there before' he thought.
"Saba, look there."
"What? Oh… it's glowing red. Remind me—did we install any lights in the storage house?"
"Nah, we just finished construction," Sandro replied.
"Okay, let's check it out," said Saba, stepping outside with Sandro.
The storage house had two rooms, per their mother's request, each with a separate entrance. One was a workroom with running water and a tiny kitchen. The other—a larger space—was for storage, though still mostly empty as some work was pending.
They grabbed tools—a shovel and a thick iron bar—just in case, and crept toward the larger room. As they peeked through the wide metal door, they saw it: a red oval portal near the left wall. The moment they saw it, the portal pulsed… and something walked out.