"Where is everyone?"
Chris couldn't believe his eyes, it seems as if everybody has disappeared from his town but him.
"Okay, okay think" he muttered, "Power's still on, water was running in th--"
"Come to us."
A sudden whisper was heard in his ear.
Chris felt his knees go weak, "Who's this??"
No answer was provided.
Suddenly, a low sound cut through the silence.
It was distant. Chris slowly stepped outside to be met with a beautiful blue comet shooting towards the centre of the City.
"What the hell is that..?"
"I need to go check this out".
Chris picked up the keys to his mother's car, and sped off towards the garage, 'That blue light seems to be connected, I need to be careful'
Vroom, vroom, the car shut up towards the city centre.
Driving through the once very busy neighbourhood; no cars, no people, no sign of life could be seen. Every attempt to look for people, was shutdown by the harsh reality.
Chris gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white. He drove past the local high school. Empty.
As he crossed the bridge into the downtown district, the atmosphere began to shift.
The sky above the city center wasn't normal anymore; the clouds were swirling in unnatural patterns, bathed in a bright, pulsating sapphire glow from the streets below.
Suddenly, the car's radio snapped on.
Krrrshhhhh.
A voice came through the speakers. It sounded like thousands of overlapping voices, speaking in flat emotionless unison.
"We are waiting, Chris."
Chris slammed his hand against the power button. The radio went dead, but the chill in his blood remained.
How did it know his name?
Up ahead, he saw a huge black tower spanning kilometres hovering over the city Plaza,
A notification sound rang In his ear
'You are allowed to enter the God Tower.
You must pick a weapon before you proceed.
Feel free to choose any of the following starter weapons.
Your choice is permanent.'
Three translucent, glowing blue screens suddenly materialised in the air directly in front of the steering wheel, casting a harsh sapphire light over Chris's panicked face.
He scrambled backward, slamming into the driver's seat, his breath coming in short, shallow gasps.
He blinked hard, rubbing his eyes, but the floating text didn't disappear. It was projected right into his retinas, crisp and undeniably real.
Below the main text, three distinct icons slowly rotated in the air:
[Option 1: Aetherblade]
A single-edged longsword forged from starlight. Lightweight. Grants a minor boost to Agility and Courage. Ideal for close-quarters combat.
[Option 2: Kinetic Recurve Bow]
A ranged weapon that draws upon the user's stamina to generate hard-light arrows. Grants a minor boost to Perception. Ideal for keeping a distance.
[Option 3: Novice Spell-Gauntlet]
A heavy metallic glove laced with runic circuits. Allows the user to manipulate ambient energy for raw concussive blasts. Grants a minor boost to Intelligence. High stamina drain.
"Am I going crazy…?" Chris whispered, his hands trembling as he stared at the holographic screens. "Is this a joke? Am I in a coma?"
"We are waiting, Chris."
The voice echoed in his memory.
His mother was missing. His entire town was missing. And that massive, impossible black monolith hovering over the plaza the "God Tower" was the only clue he had. If everyone had vanished, if that comet had brought this... thing here, then his mom had to be inside.
Chris swallowed the lump of pure terror in his throat. He was just a normal guy who played video games on the weekends and struggled through college classes.
He looked at the options. The gauntlet sounded powerful, but 'high stamina drain' sounded like a good way to get himself killed. The bow was safe, but he didn't know the first thing about archery, even if it shot magic arrows.
That left the sword. Just swing and survive.
Slowly, Chris raised a shaking hand toward the first screen. The moment his index finger brushed the floating hologram, the screen shattered into a million glittering blue pixels.
Ding!
[Aetherblade selected. Integrating with Challenger...]
A sudden, intense heat flared in the palm of his right hand. Chris cried out, squeezing his eyes shut as a flash of blinding light filled the car. When he opened his eyes a second later, the weight in his hand anchored him to reality.
He was holding a sword.
It was beautiful and terrifying, about three feet long, with a hilt wrapped in dark, textured leather. The blade itself wasn't steel; it was a dark, matte grey metal that hummed with the exact same low frequency as the comet, an electric-blue edge glowing faintly along the sharp side.
As soon as his fingers wrapped securely around the grip, a strange surge of energy washed over him. His heartbeat steadied. His vision sharpened. The crippling panic receding just enough to leave behind a cold, hard focus. Agility and Confidence boosted, he realised.
Ding!
Another screen popped up in his peripheral vision.
[Tutorial Phase Initiated.]
[Objective: Enter the God Tower. Find the Gatekeeper.]
[Warning: The surrounding area is no longer a Safe Zone.]
Chris looked up through the windshield.
The hovering black tower, which had been perfectly still a moment ago, began to shift. At its base, a massive, geometric archway began to grind open, revealing a swirling, vortex-like portal inside.
But that wasn't why the warning had appeared.
From the shadowy alleyways bordering the plaza, movement caught his eye. They didn't look like humans. They were hunched over, moving with unnerving, twitchy speed, their eyes glowing with the exact same blue light as his blade.
Chris pushed the car door open and stepped out onto the asphalt, gripping the Aetherblade with both hands.
There was no going back now.