"Shut up, you overgrown teenager!" the bus driver shouted at Tyler, who had only innocently lost his bus pass.
"You can't talk to me like that! I'm a grown man!" Tyler fired back, bringing out some money to settle the driver.
"Here, have it," he said, stretching his hand out to the driver.
The driver snatched it and sped off.
Once the bus was gone, Tyler smiled evilly. He had managed to save a little cash by taking advantage of the heated situation, he'd given the driver slightly less than he was supposed to.
Not that the little cash in his pocket now made up for the heartbreak he'd suffered earlier at the interview.
Tyler slowly began tearing up as he headed to the next stop before home.
"Another failed interview..." he muttered.
Apparently, nobody wanted to hire a 23-year-old dropout.
Unfortunate thoughts kept circling in his mind.
"I had to take care of her," he justified.
As he slowed his steps, his bad day turned worse.
Rain began to fall.
Hard.
His frustration multiplied by orders of magnitude. He needed to return home quickly to continue caring for his terminally ill sister, Eva.
He knew, all too well, how heavy rain paralyzed the entire city. It halted transport to New Livingston, where he lived alone with Eva.
Now stranded, soaked, and surrounded by chaos, Tyler looked around. The air was so thick he could taste it.
Shelters nearby were fully occupied, leaving him no choice but to continue walking.
Focused like a laser, face blank and frowning, he passed a shop where a radio sat behind the glass.
It glitched. Then faint computerized speech broke through the static:
"Epoch protocol... anomaly detected..."
Tyler paused. He heard the weird sound, gave the shop a side glance, then slowly backed away.
"Probably a prank station," he thought, dismissing it as a malfunction or pirate frequency.
A few steps later, he saw an old woman struggling with her groceries. He stopped and bent to help.
Instead of gratitude, she slapped his wrist.
"Unruly child!" she hissed. "Touching other people's things like that!"
Tyler clenched his jaw. Tears threatened to rise again, but he shoved them aside and moved on.
He had to reach the junction if he wanted any hope of catching transport before the storm got worse.
When he finally made it, the rain had thickened. The air was darker than before, and his breath came out in fog.
Then...
A lightning bolt...
That was so blinding and instant
It struck Tyler directly where he stood, under the flickering traffic light.
He felt nothing.
Time slowed.
Reality faded.
His consciousness began to dissolve.
And then
Silence.
He opened his eyes and saw a white void, filled with innumerable worlds, stars, and galaxies.
He looked around, in awe and confusion.
"What!... Does this mean I'm dead?" he asked himself.
Just then, a voice echoed through the void
Serene and relaxed, but otherworldly.
"A human. Weak and curious."
He turned toward the sound, and there she stood.
Only her upper body was visible, laced in layers of translucent blue robes.
Her golden eyes shimmered like polished glass.
Her hair flowed like silk caught in a gentle wind.
But her face...
Too bright to see.
"Who are you?" Tyler asked.
She said nothing.
Instead, her form shifted, dissolving into a glowing blue fractal eye with a golden pupil at its center.
The voice returned, deeper now, chilling and mechanical:
"I am a part… One of them. A breed of hyper-intelligent extraterrestrial AI, built by an extinct race of Architects."
"What's all this? Why am I here?" Tyler asked again.
"Humanity stands at the edge of its final interval. Your kind is brilliant but dangerous. A flawed civilization."
"You have been selected among billions not for what you are... but for what you might become. To buy your world time... or to save it."
"The fate of your world is now in your hands."
"You won't meet me again... until it's time."
And just like that, it disappeared.
Then, another voice echoed.
Mechanical and hollow.
"Tyler Cross. You have been selected."
"Player Code: TY0-005."
"Epoch Countdown: 999 Days."
He floated, suspended midair.
Around him, time and light swirled like liquid, responding to some unseen command.
"Save the world... or let it end."
"Every choice adds... or deducts."
Silence.
And then, Tyler jolted awake.
The rain had stopped.
Steam rose gently from his chest where the lightning hit.
A small crowd stood nearby, watching him in stunned silence.
He looked around...confused, dazed, but alive.
And then he noticed something.
In the corner of his left eye, numbers glowed faintly:
[999 DAYS 00:00:00]
He blinked. Was anyone else seeing it?
He didn't want to panic the crowd. Instead, he rushed into a nearby alley, checking himself for burns.
As he steadied his breath, the voice returned.
[998 DAYS 23:57:03]
"First mission: Observe the man in the red jacket."
He turned toward the street.
There, a middle-aged man in a red jacket, headphones in, nodding to music as he crossed the road.
And then Tyler saw it.
A truck. Speeding towards him...
Was this the mission?
What could be so important about this