n

n

n

"Holy sh*t! This tastes like heaven!!

" I was overwhelmed by the sandwich I was eating. It tasted like nothing I ever had in my entire life.

n

"Don't be silly,

" Isabella laughed at my reaction,

"don't tell me there is no burger from where you came from.

"

n

"There is… But it never tastes like this,

" I gave the first answer that popped up from my mind.

n

"Then where are you from? You didn't tell me anything about that yet!

" she returned again to ask about that.

n

"I came from far, far away,

" I said while eating my sandwich,

"shouldn't we get back and grab a few more?

"

nWe were already heading towards the great lawn.

n

"Don't be ridiculous, burgers are always there anytime,

" she seemed to find my words funny and didn't consider them. However she didn't know that this was the last burger she could have in her life.

n

"C'mon, just one more, please!

" I pleaded and was even ready to beg for her. However she seemed to enjoy my actions and laughed while saying:

n

"Stop it! I will buy you one more sandwich, so chill out,

" she paused before adding,

"don't forget I'm the one buying!

"

nWhen we bought these two sandwiches, I couldn't help but ask her to pay. I came here with nothing at all, and even if I brought with me my little coins from my time, it wouldn't work in this world.

nThis world was still using these useless papers as a currency. I still didn't get how the people of this time were convinced by such a trick! Papers were worthless, no matter how you looked at it. Gold and other precious metals were noteworthy. Even paintings and statues did have a value in the world after the apocalypse.

nBut money? They were turned to be mere papers used for burning fire on cold nights or even at the toilet!

nAs we walked, we met another cart that sold burgers. I really couldn't get filled with these amazing sandwiches! And now I had more reasons to hate the apocalypse, hate coming here in such tight time. Why didn't that old man send me a few days prior? Or even a year? Huh?

n

"What is the time now?

" I asked while seeing the big open space up ahead which was known as the great lawn.

nIt was looking so peaceful there with many families having their day and enjoying the bright sun. I watched many kids running and playing with their kites, a scene I never saw before in my life.

nKids in my time were burdened with surviving just like adults. Apocalypse never distinguished between big and small, young and old, boy or girl, weak or strong. It was such a brutal and merciless world, a world that stood totally to the opposite of the way of life the people here enjoyed.

n

"Why are you so interested in time?

" It wasn't the first time I asked her about that. I didn't want to lose myself, enjoying these godsent burger sandwiches, while the apocalypse would smash on our heads.

nBeing in the great lawn at the start of the apocalypse was the best place for me. I didn't want to miss it before reaching there.

n

"It's four P.M.,

" she said.

n

"Let's pick up the pace,

" I stuffed the rest of my precious burger in my mouth and started to walk faster. She seemed startled at first as she didn't move faster until after long moments of pause.

n

"What's the rush for?

" she asked and I couldn't give her the answer to that question yet.

n'It's happening at any moment now,' I finally entered the great lawn. I looked around, as if someone who was about to say his farewell to the world here.

n

"It looks so good to be true,

" I couldn't help but admit that.

n

"Why are you acting strange?

" she asked but before she could add anymore, the world all around started to change.

nThe clear and sunny sky started to dim while the ground started shaking. People all over the place stopped what they were doing and raised their heads to the sky.

n

"What's going on?

" Isabella looked frightened,

"is it an earthquake?

"

nEarthquakes didn't cause the sky to dim. I knew what was going on. At least this was one of the things the two different stories in my mind agreed upon.

nThe sun was going to be swollen by a bigger star that came out of nowhere. According to the old stories and records, the sun vanished in less than a week and things started to be chaotic from that moment on.

nGravity would grow thicker and denser while the day and night as people here knew about would change.

nThe length of a single day would be elongated by double. Many disasters would befall the planet as it would merge with other worlds in the process.

n

"Rumble!

"

nAs the sky started to grow darker, a strange and giant shadow loomed up there. 'It's here,' I sucked in a cold breath while watching this epic, hard to describe phenomena.

n

"Is that… a spaceship?

" Isabella tried to give a reason for that strange shadow up there. I didn't correct her. After all, many theories were commonly spread between humans at this point of history.

nAliens, doomsday, the god wrath, world war three, and even ragnarok. All these theories shared bits of the truth, but they never could imagine what was really happening.

n

"Flash!

"

n

"Flash!

"

n

"Flash!

"

n'It arrived already!' I looked at the golden screen that flashed in front of my eyes. I couldn't see others, but I was sure it happened to every single human on the planet.

nIt was the beginning of everything, the first appearance of our soul bound systems.

nCongratulations! As a human being you now have a chance to exceed the mortal boundaries and become a mighty figure of your own race. The time of your civilization is over, and now a new experience is waiting for you

nIt was the famous introduction message of the system. I already memorized it by heart from the many times I read it.

nHowever when I recalled the words of the old man, comparing what this message said and what happened afterwards made me frown.

nThis message seemed grand, but it lacked any necessary info. It didn't even state that we were going to merge with other races, or we were at a grand war to prove ourselves worthy. It didn't even mention the start of the apocalypse, leaving humans at such disarray at such critical moment.

nLacking such few and seemingly trivial info at this drastic moment wasn't a small thing. I never thought about it before, however watching the panicked and confused faces of many people around told me this wasn't an easy miss.

nAccording to the old man's side of the story, this was just the beginning of a long list of missing vital and crucial info that wasn't given to humans at the right time.

nKnowledge was power, and at this moment I realized how true this ancient saying was.

n

"Did you… see that?

" Isabella pointed at the air while her face looked pale.

n

"I believe something big is happening,

" I didn't want to look suspicious. So I acted as if I was one of this age and added,

"you have a phone, can you check the news?

"

n

"Yeah,

" she was jolted awake before she took her phone out. She first gazed up at the sky, then around, before she sucked in a deep breath and started to surf the net.

nI knew she would find nothing. The first thing that the apocalypse did was to make sure our entire technology would be useless. And that happened in the first seconds of it.

n

"What the hell… it isn't responding!!

" She was shocked and terrified when the phone looked dead.

n

"Let me see,

" I tried to act normal and checked the dead phone. I knew this would happen, as the weapon the apocalypse used was some sort of a worldwide scale electromagnetic pulse.

nThat meant simply one thing; any technology of this age would be rendered useless.

"Is the battery dead?

"

n

"No way, it was over half a minute ago,

" she was still in shock. So I decided to limit my words for now.

nShe looked frustrated, a normal reaction for anyone in her situation. I turned around and most of the people around looked the same.

nThe bright light of the sun was dimmed and now it was hard to see towards the far end of this part of park. However I knew soon everyone would gather around, and that was thanks to the next step of the apocalypse.

nQuest 1 had been issued to you

nPart 1 of quest 1: Survive for the next hour.

nReward: You'll get acknowledged and will have the system bound to you.

nPenalty: Death

n

"What the f*ck?!!

" I couldn't bring myself to curse out loud when I saw this message.

n