"Would you like to integrate the system?"
Staring at the words hovering in my vision, I still found myself at a loss. Kalos as the system called it, was not a world where such things existed. Or if they did, I had never seen it before. Whatever it was, now was not the time to be looking it over, let alone decide if I wanted to "Integrate." Surprisingly, as I came to this decision inwardly, the system seemed to be aware of my thoughts; another string of text appeared.
"Heistation detected."
"You will be given three days to make a decision."
Convenient. I thought.
Honestly, I was unsure of what to think of this "System," but regardless, like I said. Now was not the time, and as I wanted the text to move from my vision, I noticed my father and brother making their way back towards the house carrying various supplies when a deafening screech thundered from the woods behind the barn, and a wolf came into view. I say wolf lightly, though, as the beast was much, much bigger than any wolf had the right to be. Its jaws are big enough to eat an entire horse in a single gulp.
I felt my heart start to thunder as it charged towards my brother and father, who had turned towards the source of the noise. They were both clearly frozen in shock and horror. If I did not act now, the wolf would be on them in no time. Taking a deep breath, I took off in a sprint once again. Now that I knew what to expect from my speed, I did not immediately trip, and right as the wolf was reaching my family, so was I.
I hope my strength is as improved as my speed!
As the beast opened its massive jaws, I met it with a punch, my fist winding towards the underside of its jaws with blinding speed. The impact was a cannon hitting a fortress wall, my fist sending the massive wolf soaring ten or more feet in the air, a loud crunch sounding with it as the beast's jaw broke from the impact. As the beast hit the floor, rolling a few feet before lying still, I took heavy breaths, my heart beating even faster than before. Unfortunately, I would not have time to calm myself as even more roars sounded from the forest and three more wolves came into view, anger visible in their eyes as they locked onto me.
"Get inside now!" I yelled, snapping my father and brother out of their stupor as they quickly sprinted towards the house. Wasting no more time on them, I prepared myself for a fight. I was under no delusion that this would be easy; the beasts were stupid, yes. But they were also just as strong as me and definitely more deadly.
Breaking into action, I sprinted towards the biggest of the three wolves and felt myself sink into some sort of focused state. My thoughts flow with more precision and ease than ever before. Within moments, I was on the wolf, its massive paw swiping towards me with deadly claws threatening to rip me to shreds. Sidestepping the attack, I grabbed its other leg and twisted with all my strength, snapping the leg in half.
The wolf let out a cry of pain and anger as its jaws lunged towards me in retaliation. I tried to dodge, but one of its teeth nicked my shoulder, sending blinding pain through my body. Doing my best not to stumble or fall over, I gritted my teeth and backpeddled, giving myself space from the wolf right as the other two pounced where I previously stood. For a moment, we just stared at one another. After a short moment, the two smaller wolves looked back at what I assumed to be their leader, a small growl leaving one's jaws, and the leader looked up, returning a growl of its own before shooting me a glare.
Were they communicating? I thought in shock.
The two smaller wolves then did something I was not expecting. They used their jaws to gently pick up the leader and started carrying him off towards the forest where they came from. Watching this scene I could not help but feel completely stumped… I mean, they are animals. Creatures that are unable to really think about things like when to retreat and when to advance, let alone communicate in the way the wolves clearly had.
Scratching my head, I felt the adrenaline slowly leave my body, and pain surging through my shoulder, much worse than it had before, blood leaking from the wound. Once the wolves finally left my line of sight, I noticed my father standing on the porch looking at me with visible worry, and I made my way towards him.
"Are you alright?" He asked, his face holding a look of subtle shame. Before I could ask why, he glanced at my shoulder and added, "I'll get your mother to patch you up as best she can. I doubt going into town at the moment is smart if beasts like that are roaming the woods."
I waved off his concern and went inside, where my father explained what happened to my mother, and she quickly went to grab her medical kit. It was not much, but it should be enough to patch up the flesh wound. Honestly, I got quite lucky that the wolf only managed to nick me instead of grabbing hold of my shoulder; just the thought of what it could have done made me shudder.
Eventually, my mother started patching me up, her voice slightly lecturing me about how reckless my actions were. I knew she was just saying those things due to worry, but I would have acted the same given a similar choice. It was either that or let my father and brother die, and that was not an option I was willing to take. The fight had been dangerous, yes, but in the end, I managed to defend my father and brother, scaring the other wolves into retreat.
If only I understood more about this newfound strength, about what was truly happening to our world. The thought made my eyes snap towards a floating blue panel that was always just outside my vision. My focus is making it come into view.
"Would you like to integrate the system?"
***
The emperor walked out of the throne room and towards a window that showed the entirety of his capital. His face was wrought with regret as he remembered the words of his late diviner… If only he had listened he could have taken the necessary steps to prepare for this disaster. When the sky had cracked like fractured glass, he had been inside his throne room, unaware. But the loud booming sound and winds that followed made him jump from his throne. Quickly, guards flooded into the throne room, giving him a report of what was going on outside. It was chaos.
Even worse was what came after the wind settled down… People were changing. Evolving. Even he himself was subject to this change as his body started to change, his senses like hearing and sight leaving him before coming back stronger than ever. With that change, he quickly got his guards to gather their senses and ordered them to ensure his citizens did not start acting out. He was under no delusion that some crazy fellow with his new abilities would not try something stupid.
His guards hesitated at first, some having thoughts the emperor knew would come with the change, but something much worse than his citizens acting unruly woke both himself and his guards.
The sound of hundreds of roars.
That was when the emperor truly realized what his diviner meant by the fall; not only had humans changed, but so had every being on the planet. Animals included.
"Just… Great."
***
As I sat down on the couch, thoughts about everything that had happened during the day went through my head. My father came over and sat next to me, his eyes looking at my two youngest siblings who were speaking with visible excitement to Adam. Out of the family, only I, my father, Adam, and my mother had experienced the increase in abilities. I assumed that it was something to do with age, but honestly, it was only that. An assumption.
"Sylas." My father said after a long moment of just watching them, ask Adam to show them something cool, Adam trying to shoo them away.
"Yea dad?" I responded without turning my head, missing the expression on his face.
"I'm sorry about earlier. Instead of acting like the father I should be and protecting my kids, I…" His words trailed off, and I turned my head to see him with clenched fists, shame covering his face.
"It's alright." I said softly, rubbing his shoulder while showing a soft smile, "This is not the type of thing anyone is ready for. I'd expect anyone to freeze in the face of such a massive wolf, let alone a simple farmer."
"But you didn't eat your farmer's son." He retorted.
My smile grew as I responded, "Well, some of us aren't old men!" He deadpanned at my words, and I chuckled, "But honestly dad I am unsure why I did not act the same… Maybe it was that I was further away, maybe it was just how I am. Regardless, just take this as a lesson: the world is changing, and with these changes will come danger, just like what you experienced. Next time something like that happens. Act."
For a moment, my father just stared at me, his eyes showing deepening resolve before a gentle smile only a parent could wear donned on his face. "I always knew sending you to school was the right choice. It's a shame you decided to stay as a farmer. The world is missing out."
I cringed at his words, my displeasure showing on my face as he laughed before walking over to my mother and wrapping an arm around her shoulder while watching my siblings. As for what he said, well, I was not so sure about the world missing out. Did I believe myself to be smart? Yeah. Did I think people would like what I had to say about some things? Absolutely not.
If anything, it was a good thing I stayed as a simple farmer, as it allowed me to save my family and escape the chaos of what was happening in places like villages and the capital. Those places were definitely being overrun by not only things like livestock, animals from the surrounding woods, but also the people themselves, which, in his opinion. Were worse than the beasts, as with humans. Things were never so simple.
Eventually, the day wound down, the sun set, and the moon took its place. My father and I decided to take turns watching throughout the night. He would get the first shift before waking me up around 6 am. Going to my room and shutting the door, I let my exhausted body fall onto the bed, shooting one last glance at the floating panel of text.
"Would you like to integrate the system?"
(Days left: 3)
[Additional information unlocked due to continued hesitation.]
"Galaxy Designation: K-47."
"Eligible Candidates: 1."
"Current Selection: Sylas."
I stared at the final line long after my eyes began to blur.
One.
As sleep finally dragged me under, one question echoed in my mind.
What is a galaxy?