"Huh. I know I was doing something important, but I can't seem to remember what..."
—Unknown Soldier's Last Words
(3rd POV)
"There's something wrong. I can feel it."
Jaime glanced around, unable to shake the sense of unease that had been creeping over everyone for the last week.
Something was wrong with the world.
The problem was, nobody could figure out what.
For the past six days, the weather across the planet had been eerily pleasant. Temperatures remained comfortable, gentle breezes blew at just the right times, and not a single major natural disaster had been reported anywhere.
Even the meteorologists had somehow managed to become terrifyingly accurate.
Every forecast.
Every temperature.
Every prediction.
One hundred percent accurate.
That alone was enough to make Jaime suspicious.
Then there was the crime—or, more accurately, the complete lack of it.
Around the same time the weather changed, violent crime seemed to grind to a halt. People who should have been robbing stores, shooting each other, or doing any of the other stupid shit people had been doing since the beginning of civilization simply... stopped.
It was as if someone had flipped a switch and made the entire human race docile overnight.
Scientists around the world had been beating their heads against the wall trying to explain it.
They weren't having much luck.
Reports described what almost sounded like a species-wide case of stage fright. No matter someone's age, sex, nationality, or background, nearly everyone felt it: an irrational nervousness hanging over them, making people second-guess themselves and hesitate over things they normally wouldn't have thought twice about.
Trying to find answers in the weather had proven equally useless.
Clouds drifted normally across the sky, yet almost no rain fell from them. Trees and other vegetation appeared perfectly healthy, yet pollen counts had dropped to almost nothing. Grass grew to a certain height and then seemed to simply... stop.
Animals were worse.
Wild creatures disappeared whenever humans approached, while household pets increasingly refused to leave their homes.
Everywhere people looked, another small piece of the world seemed wrong.
Not obviously wrong.
Not dramatically wrong.
Just wrong enough to notice.
And with the same strange events repeating across the planet, the last six days had passed beneath a blanket of paranoid calm.
Everyone knew something was coming.
Nobody knew what.
Naturally, the internet had lost its collective mind.
Apocalypse theories competed with alien invasions, biblical prophecies, secret government experiments, simulation glitches, mass hallucinations, and about a thousand other explanations that became more ridiculous by the hour.
What nobody understood yet was that humanity wasn't alone in feeling uneasy.
The planet itself was afraid.
Jaime certainly didn't know that.
What he did know was danger.
Growing up in Houston meant sudden changes in the weather were nothing new. He had spent enough time on the wrong side of hurricanes, floods, and storms to know the feeling that came right before nature decided to remind everybody who was really in charge.
And nature wasn't the only thing that had taught him.
Jaime had experienced his fair share of gains and losses selling weed and other shit to roided-up bastards who were just as likely to crack somebody over the head and take what they wanted as they were to actually pay for it.
Of course, having a father who practically owned half the local politicians made certain problems easier to bury.
Minor altercations had a habit of disappearing beneath one very large, very bloody rug.
Who cared if regular people slipped on the edges and suffered, right?
All of that was to say Jaime knew what real danger felt like.
There was a particular pressure that came with it—a certainty buried somewhere below conscious thought.
A realization that, if you made the wrong decision in the next few seconds, you might not live long enough to regret it.
And right now, standing behind his school in the middle of the weirdest week of his life while facing five obviously coked-up lacrosse players who looked ready to murder him, Jaime felt it.
The strange part was that he wasn't afraid of them.
He had fought, embarrassed, and bitched these clowns out enough times that he was fairly certain at least two of them had recurring nightmares about him.
Yet the hairs along the back of his neck slowly rose.
His stomach tightened.
Every instinct he possessed started screaming.
Jaime's eyes narrowed.
Fuck it.
He shifted his weight, preparing to handle business.
Reality chose that exact moment to officially go to shit.
[ DING. DING. DING. ]
The sound exploded inside his head.
Jaime froze.
So did everyone else.
Then a voice spoke.
[ It is this Unit's great pleasure to welcome all you wonderful creatures to the Great Well of Eternity! ]
Jaime stared at the guys in front of him.
None of them moved.
[ Your planet's consciousness has reached the limit of her current rank. Normally, this would mark the end of her path, and all of you would remain ordinary, boring mortals until the end of your natural lives. ]
What the fuck?
[ However, rather than accept this outcome, she has chosen to cast her Origin, her Soul, and all of yours into the Well in the hope that you will rise to the occasion and forge a new path forward. ]
Nobody screamed.
Nobody ran.
Nobody seemed capable of doing anything at all.
[ As this is your first entry into the Outer Verse, all qualifying inhabitants will be granted access to the Eternal System once this message concludes. ]
Outer Verse? Eternal System?
The words meant nothing to Jaime.
Yet.
[ Due to Gaia entrusting a fragment of her Origin to all of you, your inherent talents have been enhanced and awakened, alongside several additional benefits that this Unit is certain you will find useful... assuming you survive. ]
There was something almost cheerful about the way the voice said it.
That somehow made the threat worse.
[ Your world will now be adjusted to exist along the periphery of the Well. Please exercise caution. Conditions will only become more dangerous from this point forward, so this Unit recommends taking every precaution available to you. ]
A brief silence followed.
Then—
[ Oh! This Unit almost forgot. Talents and abilities are influenced by the cultures, beliefs, and concepts of their originating worlds. As such, things previously considered fictional may—and most certainly will—become real. ]
Jaime's eyes widened.
Hold the fuck up.
[ With that being said, this Unit wishes all of you good luck! Bye for now! ]
[ DING. DING. DING. ]
The final chimes sounded suspiciously like school bells.
Then the world shattered.
There was no explosion.
No earthquake.
No screaming.
One moment, Earth existed.
The next, it broke apart.
If anyone had remained conscious—and somehow possessed the ability to observe the planet from outside—their final sight would have been impossible to understand.
A phantom Well appeared around the fractured Earth.
The broken pieces of the planet vanished into its depths.
Then the Well disappeared.
When Jaime regained consciousness, the first thing he noticed was that he was no longer behind his school.
The second was that the goon squad was nowhere to be seen.
The third was considerably more concerning.
He wasn't entirely certain he was on Earth anymore.
Jaime slowly climbed to his feet.
Trees surrounded him in every direction, but something about them felt unfamiliar. Maybe it was their size. Maybe their shapes. Maybe it was simply the fact that he had watched reality break into pieces approximately five minutes ago and his brain was desperately looking for something normal to latch onto.
He took a slow breath.
"Well... shit."
After hearing that machine—or person, or whatever the hell it had been—the situation probably should have surprised him more.
It didn't.
Growing up as a Black kid in twenty-first-century America, Jaime had consumed more than enough movies, anime, games, books, fanfiction, and assorted internet bullshit to recognize one universal rule:
When the entire world started acting strange for no identifiable reason, something was about to happen.
Jaime had spent the last week waiting for the other shoe to drop.
And damn, had that motherfucker dropped.
He studied the forest around him.
The voice had specifically warned everybody that things were about to get more dangerous. Ignoring that warning seemed like an excellent way to end up as somebody's tutorial monster.
"Now that I think about it..." Jaime muttered, "didn't that robot thing say something about this being the Well of Eternity or some shit?"
Ping.
Jaime blinked.
His vision shifted.
The forest vanished.
An endless black space swallowed him whole.
"What the—"
[ Welcome, User Jaime. ]
Jaime stopped.
[ As this is your first interaction with the Eternal System, and given the danger level of your current location, the System has deemed it appropriate to bring you into your Personal Subspace for your initial orientation. ]
He slowly turned in a circle.
There was nothing.
No walls.
No ceiling.
No floor that he could actually see, despite the fact that he was clearly standing on something.
Just darkness.
**[ Warning: Until reaching Rank ***, you will not be able to access this space again after your initial session concludes. All currently available functions are being uploaded directly into your consciousness for ease of use. ]
Information suddenly pressed against Jaime's mind.
His temples throbbed.
"Goddamn."
[ This space can produce anything the user can clearly conceptualize. However, objects created within the Personal Subspace cannot be removed from it under any circumstances. ]
[ If the user is injured or killed by one of their own creations, **** may be expended to restore the user. ]
Jaime paused.
"Killed?"
No answer.
"Y'all just slid that shit in there real casual."
[ The Personal Subspace cannot accurately create anything for which the user lacks either a concrete understanding or sufficient personal experience. ]
That was probably for the best.
Otherwise Jaime was already thinking of several things that would make this place absurdly useful.
[ Additional Notice: Due to interference from 'Mother Earth,' time within the Personal Subspace will currently pass at a rate ten times faster than in material space. ]
Jaime's eyebrows rose.
Now that was useful.
[ This effect will remain active only for the duration of the current session. Upon future entry, temporal flow will return to a 1:1 ratio unless ********* is achieved, at which point the ratio may be freely adjusted. ]
Of course there was a catch.
There was always a catch.
[ The First Wave will arrive in one day of material-space time. To ease your integration into this new reality, all new users have been granted one Skill Orb and one Mystery Orb. ]
[ These contain one skill and one mystery respectively, generated based upon the user's experiences. It is strongly recommended that all new users use this opportunity to familiarize themselves with their new abilities. ]
Then the voice disappeared.
Just like that.
Jaime stood silently in the darkness as the information package finished settling into his mind.
His headache slowly faded.
In its place came understanding.
Not complete understanding—the System had made damn sure of that—but enough for him to navigate its basic functions.
One particular function immediately caught his attention.
He could change this place.
Jaime grinned.
He closed his eyes and pictured one of his favorite community centers.
The darkness rippled.
A massive building materialized around him.
Lights flickered on overhead. A swimming pool appeared through a wall of windows. Multiple concession stands popped into existence, fully stocked with food, while farther down the hall sat a gaming theater that would have made half the places he had visited look cheap.
Jaime nodded appreciatively.
"Okay. This shit is kinda fire."
He could experiment with the rest later.
Now that he was somewhere relatively safe, the adrenaline began fading, allowing the reality of his situation to finally settle over him.
Earth was gone.
Or changed.
Or inside some cosmic Well.
He didn't know where his family was.
He didn't know what had happened to the people from school.
He didn't know what the First Wave was.
And somehow, despite all of that uncertainty, nervous excitement buzzed through him.
"Status."
A translucent blue screen appeared.
Location: Layer 1 — Personal Subspace
Name: Jaime Fareway
Health: 100/100
Strength: 10 — Average Human: 10
Durability: 10 — Average Human: 10
Dexterity: 12 — Average Human: 10
Intelligence: 15 — Average Human: 10
Spirit: 20 — Average Human: 10
Rank: None
Talents: Instinct for Survival (S+)
Skills: None
Inventory: 1 Skill Orb (Unranked), 1 Mystery Orb (Unranked)
Jaime stared.
Then a slow, almost manic grin spread across his face.
"Now we're talking."
He didn't waste another second.
With a mental command, he summoned both orbs.
One moment, his hands were empty.
The next, two egg-sized masses of multicolored light hovered above his palms, each radiating a faint warmth.
"Damn."
Before he could inspect them further, both spheres collapsed into streams of light and sank into his hands.
Jaime jerked.
Warm energy rushed through his arms, moving toward his chest and stomach.
At first, it felt pleasant.
Then pressure began building throughout his body.
Not pain.
Pressure.
Like an invisible hand was squeezing every cell at once.
The current grew stronger.
So did the pressure.
Jaime clenched his jaw.
"Okay..."
His muscles tightened.
His heartbeat thundered.
"Okay, this might be a fucking problem."
The pressure continued rising until Jaime genuinely wondered whether his body was about to explode.
Then—
POP!
Everything released at once.
Jaime staggered forward.
His entire body seemed to swell for half a second before settling.
Notifications flooded his vision.
[ Ding! Congratulations. User Jaime has acquired the skill: Aero Kinesis (Upgradeable). ]
Another appeared immediately afterward.
[ Ding! Congratulations. User Jaime has acquired the racial talent: Ghoul Lord (Unique). ]
Before he could process either one, a third notification appeared.
[ Ding! Racial evolution requirements have been satisfied. ]
Jaime's smile vanished.
"What?"
[ Congratulations! User Jaime has successfully evolved into a Superior Ghoul Lord. ]
Energy exploded through him.
[ As a result of this evolution, User Jaime has ascended to Peak G-Rank. All changes to stats and abilities have been verified. ]
Another chime.
[ Congratulations! User Jaime is the third being from Planet Earth to ascend to G-Rank. A Mystery Chest has been awarded and placed within your inventory. ]
Silence returned.
Jaime stared at the notifications.
Once.
Twice.
Then his shoulders began to shake.
"Heh."
His grin returned.
"Hehehe..."
A laugh tore itself out of him.
"Hahahahahahahahahaha!"
For the first time since the world had shattered, Jaime felt like he had something solid beneath his feet.
Something he understood.
Power.
Whatever the hell this new reality was, whatever monsters were coming, and whatever the Well expected from humanity...
Jaime had just taken his first step.
And he fucking loved it.