The sky did not fall all at once.
It cracked.
A thin, jagged line split the heavens like broken glass, glowing red, then white, then something that hurt to look at. The air trembled. Buildings groaned. People froze, heads tilted upward, minds refusing to accept what their eyes were reporting.
Then the sound came.
Not thunder. Not an explosion.
A deep, grinding roar, as if the world itself was tearing open.
I was in the middle of the market when it happened—crowded streets, shouting vendors, the smell of metal and cooked grain. One moment life was ordinary. The next, screams drowned everything.
Fire poured from the裂 in the sky.
It fell like rain.
Stone shattered. Wood ignited. The street buckled beneath my feet, throwing me to the ground as something massive struck nearby. Heat washed over my back. My ears rang. I tasted blood.
I pushed myself up, coughing, eyes burning. The market was gone. Where stalls once stood, there were only flames and broken bodies. People ran in every direction, some on fire, some already still.
My thoughts scattered. Run. Hide. Pray.
Then the second roar came—closer this time.
From the裂 in the sky, shadows poured out. Shapes without clear edges, moving like smoke but hitting the ground with weight. When they touched people, those people simply… stopped. Not screamed. Not bled.
They just collapsed, hollow.
I stumbled backward, heart hammering, every instinct screaming that I was prey.
And then—
A sharp, mechanical chime cut through the chaos.
DING
The sound was wrong. Too clean. Too calm.
A translucent blue screen snapped into existence in front of my eyes.
I froze.
The world burned around me, but the screen hovered, perfectly steady.
SYSTEM INITIALIZING…
WORLD STATE: FALLEN EMPIRE
COMPATIBLE HOST FOUND
My breath caught.
"What…?" My voice came out hoarse, barely louder than a whisper.
The screen pulsed once.
WELCOME, SURVIVOR
SURVIVAL MODE: ACTIVE
I swiped at it out of pure panic.
My hand passed straight through.
This wasn't a reflection. It wasn't smoke. It was there and not there at the same time, like the idea of a thing made solid.
Another scream ripped through the street.
A shadow-creature lunged from the rubble, its form rippling as it moved. It landed ten steps away from me, featureless except for a faint, pulsing core of red light where a chest should be.
My legs locked.
The system chimed again.
THREAT DETECTED
HOST LEVEL: 1
HOST STATUS: INJURED
SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 12%
Twelve percent.
I didn't need a system to tell me those odds were terrible.
The creature tilted its head, as if sensing me. The red core brightened.
I turned and ran.
Pain flared through my side—something sharp lodged beneath my ribs—but fear drowned it out. I vaulted over fallen stone, nearly tripped over a body, slid through ash and debris.
Behind me, the ground hit with heavy impacts.
It was following.
The screen flickered at the edge of my vision, keeping pace with me no matter where I looked.
NEW OBJECTIVE AVAILABLE
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE
"No kidding," I muttered, lungs burning.
The street ended in a collapsed archway. Beyond it, darkness—an old underground passage, half-buried but open enough to squeeze through.
I didn't think. I dove.
Stone scraped my arms as I rolled into the tunnel, the smell of damp earth replacing smoke. I scrambled deeper just as the creature slammed into the entrance. The impact sent dust raining down.
It shrieked—an awful, distorted sound—and clawed at the opening, but the stones held.
For now.
I pressed my back against the tunnel wall, chest heaving, vision swimming.
The system chimed again, softer this time.
SAFE ZONE: TEMPORARY
INJURY ASSESSMENT IN PROGRESS…
My side throbbed. I looked down and finally saw it: a shard of blackened stone embedded just below my ribs. Blood soaked my shirt, dark and sticky.
The screen updated.
INJURY: MODERATE BLEEDING
RECOMMENDED ACTION: TREAT OR REST
WARNING: HOST DEATH IN 18 MINUTES IF UNTREATED
Eighteen minutes.
Panic surged, hot and sharp.
"I don't have supplies," I whispered. "I don't have anything."
The tunnel was empty—no bandages, no tools, nothing but stone and darkness.
The system paused.
Then new text appeared.
BEGINNER ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE
UNLOCK BASIC SURVIVAL PACKAGE?
COST: NONE (ONE-TIME USE)
I didn't hesitate.
"Yes. Unlock it."
The screen flared brighter, lines of code scrolling faster than I could read.
BASIC SURVIVAL PACKAGE UNLOCKED
ITEM RECEIVED: CRUDE HEALING WRAP
ITEM RECEIVED: SYSTEM MAP (LOCAL)
ITEM RECEIVED: TRAINING DAGGER
Three objects shimmered into existence on the ground in front of me.
I stared.
Then I grabbed the wrap, hands shaking, and pressed it against my wound. The fabric tightened on its own, warmth spreading through my side. The bleeding slowed, then stopped.
I exhaled a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.
The dagger was simple—short blade, balanced grip—but holding it made something shift in my chest. It wasn't courage.
It was readiness.
The system map hovered next, projecting a faint outline of tunnels and ruined streets above.
Red markers pulsed on the surface.
Threats.
Lots of them.
HOST CONDITION: STABLE
SURVIVAL PROBABILITY: 34%
Still bad. But better than twelve.
The creature outside slammed the entrance again. Stone cracked.
I tightened my grip on the dagger.
"Okay," I said quietly, to myself and to the system and to whatever broken world I was still alive in. "I get it."
The screen pulsed, as if listening.
WELCOME TO THE FORSAKEN REALMS
YOUR PROGRESSION HAS BEGUN
Above me, the empire burned.
Below, in the dark, I took my first step toward surviving it.