The stars have always piqued human curiosity.
The endless void—though terrifying—has charmed humanity so deeply that generations have spent their lives wondering about its depths and what secrets it holds.
"Life."
This is what humans search for. These same humans, who have yet to fully comprehend life on their own planet, gaze up at the heavens in hopes of finding someone—or something—that breathes as they do, that lives and sees the universe as they do.
Many have lived and died in pursuit of answers, studying the void, asking questions that remained unanswered. But the void stayed silent.
Until that precarious day—May 5, 2036.
The clouds parted. The skies began to sing.
The sea rose into towering, treacherous mountains.
A massive vessel emerged, floating beyond the clouds, gliding through the sky for all to see.
It remained motionless.
No activity could be observed aboard the vessel—what people had already begun calling an "alien spaceship"
Governments and militaries scrambled to calm the panicking masses.
Riots erupted. People flooded the streets—some screaming that it was the end of the world, others declaring it the Day of Judgment.
No one knew if these beings were friend or foe.
And no one dared strike first, for it was clear—painfully clear—that humanity stood no chance in the face of such technological might
On Day 15, the vessel began to glow—radiant yellow.
World leaders, unable to establish contact, held their breath, bracing for what many believed would be humanity's final war.
Citizens did the same, consumed by dread as they awaited the unknown.
Then, after a full day of agonizing silence, a voice echoed from the vessel—heard across every corner of the globe.
"Be not afraid."
People fell to their knees in prayer, believing the end had come.
But these beings were not divine.
They were what humanity had sought for centuries—
Creatures from the void: aliens.
The voice from the ship echoed once more:
"We are the Khronce, from the star system you humans call Kepler-413."
"Be grateful. Rejoice. Your species has been identified as the prime of this blue planet—Earth—and has been chosen as the next candidate for the Holy Imanura."
Stunned, the world listened in disbelief as their words rippled through the atmosphere—sending chills through both air and bone.
"A random human will be chosen as the warrior representing your world. He will be assigned a role and sent to the battlefield, where he will face a counterpart—another chosen being from a distant planet."
"The one who wins receives everything: knowledge, resources, technology, and ideas."
"The one who loses… loses it all: life, existence, planet."
"So let the game begin."
And as those final words reverberated across the globe, somewhere in the world, a man eating what he believed would be his last meal… vanished.