Humanity knew they wouldn't last much longer. The Demon race, the Angel race, and the Dragon race had allied, and their first attack, while brief, had already forced what remained of humanity to the Great World, humanity's last bastion.
Once the champion of the Heavens, humanity still had an immense amount of powerful beings to defend against the upcoming invasions, but they would not last long. Not without a champion. Thus, they began a last ditch effort.
Using the power that the Great World had stored up for countless generations, seeing the rise and current fall of humanity, they activated a summoning ritual. Perhaps from alternate Universes, or in the great unknown, this formation would summon talented humans to aid them.
But the formation malfunctioned. It had only been intended for half of the Great World's energy to be used up, which would leave enough behind to keep it functioning as a planet, large as it was. But the entire energy reserve was used up in the blink of an eye.
And the formation did not stop there. It reached beyond the bounds of the planet, greedy. It connected to the force in the center of the Universe, taking more energy than any being ever born could have harbored for a moment.
All the Kings and Emperors of the Universe, as well as their Gods and Immortals, surrounded the Great World of the Human race, fearful of what would happen next.
After taking an unimaginable amount of energy from the Universe itself, the formation in the center of the Great World paused for a brief second, let out a pulse no different from a heartbeat, heard throughout the Universe… and exploded.
Kings, Emperors, Gods, and Immortals, no matter how powerful, were nothing in front of the explosion that took place. Around the Universe, countless explosions occurred. Many thought this the end of it all. Countless beings died. Even Immortals faced death, many barely escaping with their lives.
When everything settled down, the Human race was gone. The Great World was reduced to pulsing fragments floating through space.
All across the Universe, Qi diminished. This was the effect of so much of the Universe's power being used up. Holy lands became no better than ordinary planets, and what were once ordinary places became barren, barely an ounce of Qi remaining.
The Universe may have survived, but it had now entered a desolate era.
Although not noticed by any being, out of each explosion that had occurred, an egg had flown out. The eggs were slightly bigger than the body of a human.
Perhaps there were hundreds of thousands of explosions that had occurred, which meant that there were just as many eggs. One egg went on floating in space for a while. It went many times faster than light initially, before being slowed down after going through a few debris fields. After a long journey of many years, the egg reached a planet, slow enough to enter its atmosphere and land. Landing at night, it didn't draw much attention. In fact, the only being that it drew any attention to was a dragon. The dragon first tried to pierce the egg, breaking its claws instantly. Then, it brought the egg to its cave. The dragon lived on for a hundred years before dying, and the egg remained unhatched.
The cave's next occupant was a bear. It had its own experience of trying to pierce the egg, breaking its claws as well.
The bear died, and eventually its descendants died or left. The next cave occupant was a wolf mother.
She didn't try to break the egg, but used its warmth to raise her pups. It was during this occupant's lifetime that the egg cracked.
The slimy substance within the egg forced Mark out. He landed on his knees, coughing.
Only after gaining his bearings did he notice the angry wolf mother staring at him.
He tried to speak, but couldn't. He held his hand up towards the wolf, signaling he was peaceful.
The wolf remained angry momentarily, before calming after seeing Mark not move. The slimy substance within the egg triggered her motherly instincts, and she saw Mark as no different from a lost pup.
She moved towards him. Mark tried to back up, but fell on the floor. This was no normal wolf. Mark was used to wolves being a bit bigger than dogs, but this one was taller than him when he stood up.
The mother wolf bit Mark's back, eliciting a muffled scream, and brought him over with the pups. He was dropped on the pile of them. Seeing blood pouring out of Mark's back, the Mother wolf licked his wounds and took note of his weakness.
He was far easier to hurt than her pups. Weirdly enough, he even came out of an egg.
Ignoring the weird pup she had adopted, the mother wolf went out, presumably to hunt.
Mark would've left, but he was both unable to move and unsure what was going on.
He had been in that egg for nearly 200 years, even if he was unaware of that fact. Yet to him, just a few moments ago he was on an aircraft carrier in the middle of the ocean, part of the Navy.
And somehow, he had ended up here. Just a few weeks after officially making it past boot camp. Not that any of that mattered anymore.
He laid there until the mother wolf came back. She brought some large deer, and her children feasted.
Mark hesitated to take a bite, but after he did, he couldn't stop eating. Despite being raw meat, it felt so delicious. There was almost something magical about it. Which wouldn't be too far from his guess that something magical must've happened to bring him here.
The deer quickly disappeared, and most of the pups fell asleep. Mark felt some energy returning to his body and he could faintly move.
But tonight, he just slept among the furry, warm pups.
In the morning, Mark attempted to sneak off. Just as he reached the exit, he saw a shadow overtake him.
He looked back and saw the mother wolf. She didn't seem mad, but in her mind, he must've just wandered off.
Mark held up his hands and walked back over to the pups. If wolves as big as the mother wolf existed in this world, perhaps it was better to be under their protection, even if he was getting uncomfortable with being naked.