Morning on the planet Nova Eternis always began the same way — with a sunrise that painted the towering skyscrapers of Auricas in neon hues. A city built on the ruins of the old world, it thrived in an endless race of technology and innovation. But for seventeen-year-old Endel Astralius, morning was far less heroic.
"Endel, if you don't get up right now, I'll personally send you to school on a cargo drone!"
His mother Lyra's voice echoed down the hallway, making the bedroom door vibrate.
Wrapped tightly in a blanket, Endel cracked one eye open and lazily glanced at the holographic projection of the clock.
"I'm getting up, Mom…" he muttered, though when he heard her footsteps, he flung off the blanket and jumped out of bed.
A few minutes later.
Breakfast was waiting for him in the kitchen — a bowl of omnicket. To the eye, it looked like nothing more than a simple mix of porridge and vegetables, but its flavor adapted to the eater's mood. Today it tasted of caramel pie, with a faint spicy edge.
"You forgot to activate your alarm again," his mother noted, pouring herself coffee. Her tone was soft but carried that familiar strictness.
"Sorry," Endel replied briefly, chewing the omnicket and glancing at the screen above the table. As always, the news droned on about humanity's achievements — another planet colonized, breakthroughs in technology, wrist-interface studies of fauna, and more.
Across from him, his father lowered the holographic book he had been reading.
"You've got to keep up, son. Otherwise, you'll end up like me at your age — buried in warnings on your record."
Endel smirked crookedly, grabbed his backpack, and nodded goodbye.
"I'm off."
"Good luck, son," his mother called after him.
The door closed behind him, leaving the warmth of family comfort in the past.
Auricas greeted him with the familiar chaos of morning life. Narrow sidewalks, sealed by transparent energy walls, swarmed with pedestrians. Above, silent antigravity platforms glided by, while cars moved along the streets, leaving only faint trails in the air.
With his audio interface playing rhythmic synth beats in his ears, even the simple walk to school seemed a little more cinematic.
Twenty minutes later, he reached the gates.
Waiting there were his best friends, Leina and Carlos.
"You're true to form, as always," said Leina, folding her arms. Her long blonde hair caught the morning light, and her cold gaze pierced him just as it had countless times before. Leina was the most popular girl in school — beautiful, intelligent, confident. But with her friends, she was always direct, even bluntly honest.
"I'm surprised he even made it," Carlos chuckled, patting Endel on the shoulder. Broad-shouldered with a warm smile, Carlos looked like a living fortress — someone everyone could rely on. The son of a wealthy magnate, he never let riches change him; he stayed simple and kind.
"Good morning to you too," Endel muttered with a grin. "Ready for another glorious day of knowledge under Teacher Elways?"
"As if we had a choice," Leina snorted.
"Hey, did you hear the news?" Carlos asked as they walked toward their classroom. "Black Friday and the government just finished colonizing another planet."
"Yeah, and as always, they give their pompous speeches about 'a new life for humanity,'" Endel replied. "But we all know it's just another way to strip-mine a world for themselves."
"Obviously," Leina confirmed. "They don't care. It's all about profit."
"Well, someone's gotta fund all this," Carlos said with a shrug. "Still, I'd rather they invest in this planet, not the colonies. I mean, there are already more than a hundred of them. Why so many, when they barely develop the ones they have?"
Endel only huffed, falling silent as the massive silhouette of the school came into view.
At School
The academy was a marvel of design — its glasslike walls shimmered like a giant diamond. Inside, everything breathed ultramodernism: floating platforms, holograms, autonomous security drones, and robotic cleaners.
Endel, Leina, and Carlos hurried to the back of the class and sat down. Teacher Elways was already there. As the lesson began, he activated a holographic display that projected the planet Nova Eternis above the room.
"Now then," he began casually, "the history of our world. Nova Eternis was colonized three hundred years ago, when humanity abandoned Earth in search of a new home, after our mother world was destroyed."
The hologram shifted, showing colossal ships departing a burning Earth and landing on an unknown planet — lush green, alive with strange wildlife, and vast oceans.
"But the colonization of this world was anything but simple," Elways continued. "The first settlers faced countless trials: parasites that devoured our technology, dangerous flora and fauna, and even mysterious ruins of ancient civilizations."
Few students paid attention, though. The holograms displayed scenes of the first colonies — massive domes teeming with life, surrounded by untamed wilderness.
"However, thanks to the rise of synthetic intelligence, our ancestors adapted. They developed the technology to eradicate the most dangerous threat — the so-called Techno-Eaters — and won the war for dominance over the planet. With that victory, they laid the foundation of our Golden Age."
But when Elways looked over his class, he was met with yawns and bored faces. Sighing with disappointment—
The lights flickered.
The Blue Screen
Endel, entranced by the story, was the first to notice. A blue holographic screen appeared before him.
[Server 204728 ready to launch!]
[First Scenario: Survive 30 days.
Countdown: 30 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes.]
"What the…?" Leina whispered, startled.
Endel turned and saw that every student had the same screen hovering before them. The classroom filled with confused murmurs.
"Is this a system glitch?" Carlos asked, frowning. But what unnerved him was that the projection appeared without any visible device.
Teacher Elways, equally bewildered, raised his hand for calm.
"Everyone settle down! This is probably just a school-wide systems error. I'll contact administration—"
He never finished.
Screams erupted in the hallway. A deafening crash followed, and the sliding metal door exploded inward.
A head rolled across the floor and stopped with a sickening thud. It was a student's head from the neighboring class — eyes frozen wide, mouth locked in a silent scream.
Terror filled the room.
"This… this is a prank, right?!" Leina cried.
But her words were drowned by the roar as two creatures stepped calmly through the shattered doorway.
The Monsters
The first stood three meters tall. A horned beast covered in midnight-black scales, its glowing red eyes pierced the darkness like spotlights. Its silhouette resembled a monstrous bull reared up on two thick legs. In its colossal hands, it carried a bone-forged hammer, edged with claw-like spikes. Every step it took shook the ground, leaving deep, ominous footprints.
The second was smaller but no less horrifying. It looked like a spider the size of a large dog. Where its head should have been yawned only a void — a faceless emptiness. Its thin, sharp legs scraped across the floor with a chilling rhythm, like a predator savoring the hunt.
The bull-like monster swung its hammer once. Teacher Elways was crushed instantly — his body flattened into gore, blood spraying across desks and students alike.
Chaos erupted.
"Stand up!" the class president shouted, grabbing a chair with trembling hands. "Grab anything you can, or we're all dead!"
A few older students seized whatever they could — chairs, table legs. Carlos hefted a metal stand, and Leina armed herself with a jagged shard from the door.
"We just need to hold until the police or the National Guard arrive!" Leina yelled, her voice trembling but still commanding. Her words gave the others a moment of resolve.
Some panicked, glancing at the windows. But they were on the seventh floor — jumping meant certain death. The only exit was through the door. The one guarded by monsters.
"Circle up! Protect each other!" the president barked. His sharp voice cut through the chaos, forcing trembling students to cluster together, using desks and chairs as makeshift barricades.
The monsters paused, studying their prey. The bull snorted, eyes glowing brighter. The spider hissed, scratching the floor in a sinister rhythm. From its faceless void flashed a faint blue glow — gone in an instant, leaving only dread.
And then came silence.
Carlos couldn't take it. He lunged forward, gripping the metal stand like a spear. For a fleeting second, he almost looked brave.
The horned beast smirked — and tore him apart in one brutal grab. His body was shredded like meat.
Blood sprayed across the barricade.
Leina and a few classmates charged next, desperation in their eyes. But the spider moved with impossible speed, its blade-like legs slicing through them like paper. Blood and limbs scattered across the floor.
Leina survived the first strike — barely. Her legs were severed, leaving her screaming in a pool of blood. But before she could crawl away, the bull's hammer came crashing down, smashing her upper body into pulp.
Endel froze.
Carlos — his loyal, smiling friend — ripped in half.
Leina — confident, fearless Leina — reduced to a mangled corpse.
It was slaughter.
The rest of the class, driven mad by terror, attacked one by one. Each was crushed, impaled, devoured. The classroom turned into an arena of carnage.
Endel could only watch, numb and trembling, as his classmates were massacred.
The monsters turned toward him at last.
The bull chewed on bloody scraps, while the faceless spider emitted a warped, grating laugh. They advanced slowly, savoring his fear.
Endel's legs gave way. His body refused to move. He couldn't scream anymore — all he could do was cower, clutching a jagged piece of metal with shaking hands.
The barricade was smashed aside. The beasts loomed over him.
Then came the pain — indescribable pain as teeth and claws tore into his flesh. The sound of bones snapping, the bitter taste of blood flooding his mouth, the cold devouring
him from within.
As the darkness closed in, one final thought flickered through his mind:
"Is this the end?"
And then there was nothing.
He was dead.