Chapter 1 It's The End of The World As We Know It...

  There are many hopeless things, which plague this reality, but surprisingly enough, the lies we tell ourselves is one of the worst.

  “They really love me”

  “I’m doing everything I can”

  “They're telling the truth”

  “I only do what's best for them”

  “Things will get better”

  “There’s a good reason why they're not here”

  It's tragic how beliefs, which could embrace the very best of us, how hope itself can turn into a darkness that seeps through our minds, and distorts reality itself, with the lies living within us. We become lost, our very purpose twisted, as we are turned into sickly shadows or into the very monsters we strive not to be… These lies, leading us to anything, everything, but who we want to be, while the truth, is hanging a single news cast, a single moment of reflection away, and yet, these things we believe in more than our very eyes, can become almost unbreakable. What, is truly more hopeless than our very minds turning against us, and blinding us with what we want to be true? Which of course, is something that would never happen to you, right? You really are one of those good souls floating about, a hero just waiting for their moment to shine, right? Okay, well let's see, let me remind you of just one of the many terrible truths you somehow manage to ignore every single day, and let's see if a hero manages to claw themselves out or if instead, your truth is revealed to be something darker.

  Today, countless children died from completely preventable causes, tomorrow, more of them are going to die, and this fact will have almost no impact on your life. A sad truth, one you may deny, or more likely try to rationalize away with questions like, how are they dying? Where are they? Or maybe, you will even have the nerve to think something along the lines of "Well, I donate, I volunteer, I'm doing my part" but, If a dozen children were freezing outside of your home, would bringing only one of them inside make you good, would you pat yourself on the back, and say saving one child is enough? No, only a monster would leave children outside to freeze, but what if you didn't have enough food to feed them all or if bringing them inside would cost you something, maybe even risk your own housing, after all there are countless laws regulating properties. Is this “hypothetical” suddenly harder? Hint, more than a dozen children are currently freezing outside of your home, and what are your donations, the noble causes you champion or really, your excuses worth to the freezing children staring at you through your window, as you blissfully slumber? Does this sound like a hero to you, is someone who is apathetic, who can ignore children dying, good? When the price of righteousness costs nothing more than spare change or a bit of hot air, what is it truly worth or more importantly, what does it make all of the “good” people, who only do what they can in the face of suffering?

  There is an uncomfortable truth, cruel cold reality shows us everyday, a creeping darkness, which drags the very best of us into hopelessness, while the rest of us do our very best to ignore the screams in the dark... A choice, that perhaps isn't inherently wrong, when every action carries risk, but brings us to a question. The golden question or at least the one we should all ask ourselves at some point. When every day, every hour, every second, worse than the most horrible things anyone can imagine, happen to some poor innocent soul, either in your society, or a hop skip away from your little utopia, is it wrong to know peace, happiness? Is it selfish to live for yourself, to enjoy your life, when just around the corner, innocents are constantly subject to things you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy, and… right now, are you really torn on this question? Is enjoying your life or stopping children from dying, and ending far worse terrors, a difficult question? Hmm, it's amazing how flexible one's morals become, when doing the right thing comes with a price tag that can end up costing one well, everything. A cost every hero bears, their life, everything they love on the line for the greater good, but hey, it's okay if that's not you, particularly when the vast majority beings in existence are incapable of paying such a price. Just, maybe now you won't keep pretending to be something you're not, or at the very least are a step closer to finding the real you. A person who can still hold value, who can matter, after all even predators serve a purpose, and can help prevent far greater horrors. The question is just, will you be lucky enough to face who you truly are, before you run into someone like me? Someone who loathes the self righteous, those who truly only care about themselves, but preach of the greater good they themselves are unwilling to fight for, and why should I or really anyone value the lives of those who do nothing, but stand on a pedestal?

  The random musings of the Destroyer of Worlds

  ____________________________________________

  Thunder rumbles as a flash of dark blue light washes over the world, from sunny deserts, to snowy mountain tops, every living thing, everywhere, is held under a dark blue glow. The insides of their bodies are illuminated as if they're held under a gigantic flashlight, at least until the light shudders, and shoots back into the heavens. The light gathers, and condenses into a dark blue spinning spiral that disappears into the clouds without leaving a single trace or at least one that anyone can see, but something changes. The air itself becomes heavier, as a tingle covers every living thing, a vibration sinks into their bodies, locking them in place, and engulfs their minds.

  "What the hell?"

  "Hello, is anyone there?"

  …

  "Be bold"

  …

  Loud typing fills the pitch black void, each keystroke making the void shudder, until suddenly there is a crack, and glowing white jagged tares burst into existence.

  'Ting’

  The darkness shatters into a blinding wave of white light, giving way to a pressure that wraps around my entire body, it feels like a giant has me in the palm of their hands, and is crushing me like an empty water bottle. I'm paralyzed, not able to utter a single word, even my eyes are locked in place, unable to even twitch. Panic starts to race through me, my blood pulses through my body, as my heart pounds so quickly that the beats are ringing in my ears, and my eyes hyper focus on everything in front of me.

  My limbs, my entire body is nothing more than a pitch black blob, and a rather sharp counter to the thick white mist shrouding everything past thirty feet in a puffy haze. While the only other notable things in the clearing, are the smooth white stone floor tiles, and a long rectangular table placed in front of five distinct thrones. The table is pitch black, and made of some reflective stone, covered in glowing white engravings. While the throne to the furthest left is massive, about the size of a double doorway, and made of a clear blue crystal that has a pulsing glowing white light drifting throughout it. The second, much like the rest of the thrones, is about half the size of the first, but is instead, made of rusty iron, and covered in glowing red tree root like channels which are bleeding. The blood is endlessly dripping into a shimmering crimson pool that perfectly encircles the throne, and yet doesn't appear to be spreading. Then there is the third throne, a smooth block of perfect brown leather, polished so brightly, the other thrones are perfectly reflected, but other than that, its appearance is rather mundane in nature, well as normal as a completely solid piece of leather in the shape of a chair can be. The fourth, is gothic in nature, and made of pearly white bone, which has streaming blue flames pouring out of the grains of the bone, yet for some odd reason, it's not being consumed or even tarnished by the flames. Lastly, but certainly not least, is the throne which probably has the most significant difference of all, it's occupied.

  A man? With a long staff made of blood floating in the air beside him, is lounging in what looks like a throne made of stone, his black leather boots are resting on the center table, while a cloak covers everything on his body except, a mask, and his hands. The cloak is a smooth pitch black void, which almost seems to push away light, making everything darker around him, while his hands are covered in gauntlets, made of a combination of black leather, and grainy shifting white bone plates allowing their fingers to grip a large leather book. Then there is his mask, its form fitting made of smooth white ivory, covering everything except his eyes, but the most significant detail is how the mask ripples, and shifts with their expressions.

  For a couple of seconds they keep reading slowly, turning a page in their book, but then they freeze, their body tensing for a moment as if they can feel that they're being watched, and their head tilts up. Two blue eyes that have dancing silver flames residing within them, lock onto me, while their mask shifts into a bored expression, and with a heavy sigh they thump one of their feet onto the table. The room starts to buzz, causing their staff to wobble in the air, before with a white flash, all of the thrones are filled. In the crystal throne resides a ten foot tall humanoid crystal being that would give a polar bear a run for its money in sheer size. While the throne of blood is filled with a being much smaller, they are five foot, covered from head to toe in a dark red full plate mail, and their glowing red eyes are shining through the only seams in their armor. Then there is the throne of leather, where something odd is happening, a small little doll is sitting in the middle of the throne, but for some odd reason the throne is straining, practically collapsing in on itself as if it's under some great weight, and behind the chair a massive misshapen shadow looms. Lastly in the bone throne sits a woman with porcelain skin, a flowing white dress made of thin ivory threads, long black straight hair, deep violet eyes, and gleaming white teeth. For a moment all of their eyes lock onto me, but the room quickly fills with the sound of a collective scoff, and they immediately disappear, causing the resident of the last throne to frown.

  The masked man bangs on the table a few more times, and when nothing happens he mutters in a light tone "Bloody lazy ingrates, forcing me to do all of the work" He then jumps to his feet, slams his book onto the table, and begins to walk towards me. His confident voice fills the clearing "Congratulations, and welcome fellow enemy of the light! You have chosen to embrace the outlawed class of Necromancer! At the" He looks above my head, and in sheer disbelief, misses a step, causing him to stumble, almost even falling to the ground, before his hand catches onto the table. "At the low level of one, that's umm, pretty bold of you, but hey, who am I to judge your path" (Nice, sticking me with the dead guy) He then thumps the table one last time, and his mask shifts from a frown into a clearly frustrated smile.

  "As a special welcome, given you're tier one, and likely have had no magical training... Can you even cast magic?" He squints at me or at least his mask does, the bone shrinking around one of the eye holes “Wait, don't answer that! I don't want to know” He shakes his head "Particularly given you haven't chosen to hide our calling like most of the cowards" (Or people who actually like living) "Who share our glorious class. We, the council" He kicks over the empty throne made of crystal, the throne landing with a thud that shakes the entire floor "Have decided to share with you a spell that some see as nothing more than a parlor trick, but I at least hope you will be able to find its true value, and use it to help pave your path!" (You know, before you're murdered by some fanatic) "Best of luck, and remember, our power is so much more than just the ability to manipulate the dead. Now, bugger off!"

  A wave of silver light blasts from the man, wrapping around me, before shooting me back into the pitch black void, where nothing, but a glowing screen awaits me.

  My eyes snap open, my body is melting, and being consumed by a muggy sweltering heat, which has me drenched in sweat "Ugh" With a sigh I start wiping it away, and wiggling out of my sweat covered clothes that are sticking to my body. Then it hits me, hunger, a ravenous wave encompasses my body, filling me with the need to consume. Instinctively my hands reach out into the dark, locking onto the first can of food I find, and pop the top off. It turns out to be a can of green beans, and it's emptied in a matter of seconds. The vegetables were practically poured down my throat, before my hands reached out for more. The haze lifts once I reach the bottom of my third can of chilli, and when my hands finally find the light. Five empty cans are sitting in front of me “Well, there goes most of my food for the week” But hey! At least I'm not hungry anymore… and of course, it was just a dream. A dream about stats, and magical powers, if that's not a sign my mind is slowly being consumed by LitRPG I don't know what is “ I mean, literally dreaming of status screens is ins-”

  My eyes for some reason lock onto the first box, shock perhaps freezing me in place or maybe locking onto the bit that makes least amount of sense “But my name isn't Morthes” A text box then pops in front of my status screen

  "But I a-"

  …

  …

  …

  Not a dream, just me apparently losing my mind or going through heat stroke? My hand runs through my dark curly mid length hair, as I continue to mutter to myself. "Great, as if I didn't already have enough going on" with a drained sigh, I then toss the empty cans into my cooler, flop on top of my sleeping bag, and turn my phone on. 10 pm, and a 105 degrees stares back at me, forcing my eyes to glaze over a bit in dread, before my hands reflexively find their way onto social media, where something odd is going on.

  Hmm, maybe I'm not going crazy or am so far gone that my delusions are feeding into each other completely replacing how I perceive reality… “Then again, how does someone really ever know if they're crazy?” When normal is really nothing more than what the majority determine to be true or in a world filled with those who talk to things that don't exist, those that didn't, would be the broken ones. With a shake of my head, I click on magic is real, which leads to a video that has a run of the mill teenager appearing on the screen. He's in his backyard, and looking directly into the camera "First of all, yes the mind screen things are real, second of all, the-classes-do-actually-mean something, and lastly, magic is real'' He points his camera at his hand "For all you skeptics out there, my class is mage, and you know what that means right?" A fire ball grows in the middle of his palm, before he tosses into his yard, and it explodes in golden flames. He then turns the camera back to his face, which is covered in a gigantic grin "Magic is real, and if you don't believe me? Just try out one of your class skills"

  My eyes grow wide, there's no way, there's no way that there's magic or mind screens, but then again, what is there to lose, well other than my sanity? “Death Search" It feels like my body releases a pulse, as all the blood in my body starts to rush, and my body is drawn towards something, similar to how one is just pulled towards someone that they're attracted to. Just a push, a pull, that's trying to drag me along for the ride, without a conscious thought driving it.

  …

  Well, that was anticlimactic, and totally could just be some weird feeling, which leaves raising the dead, blasting a hole into my tent or something a bit more vague “Mana Manipulation” A thick stream of glowing black light whirls out of my palms swirling around me in a warm buzzing wave that rushes through my entire body, and fills my tent with a dark mist. Then the black streams of mana condense, rapidly forming into pale arms that wrap around my chest, arms quickly followed by long silver curly hair, a firm, yet noticeably soft body, and a face that leaves me stunned. It's the kind of face that's difficult to even believe is real, it's just too perfect, oval in shape, with a sharp chin, luscious lips, and a nose that almost looks as if it was sculpted to fit her face. She is beyond anything my mind is even capable of imagining, a goddess taking on the form of a mortal, her eyes then start to flicker, and two piercing dark green orbs sleepily shift awake.

  For a moment, her eyes lock with mine, freezing me like a brick of ice, her eyes are cold, so very cold, and seem to see through me. Staring into my very soul, everything that makes me who I am is revealed under those emerald eyes, and then a cold dark pressure begins to wrap around me. Her head tilts up, glancing at something above me, before she mutters

  "Ugh" Then with a roll of her eyes, she bursts into a dark green mist "What the hell?" I manage to utter, before everything goes black.

  'Chirp'

  'Chirp'

  "My head"

  'Chirp'

  'Chirp'

  "Ughhh!"

  'Chirp'

  One of my eyes slowly peeks open, and is welcomed with blinding pain, before snapping back shut "Ughh” I hold onto my head, the palms of my hands covering my eyes, when I'm drawn to a golden little tab hovering on the edge of my right eye, and when I focus on it, a screen pops up

  “Soulmate, what does that even mean? Hey, answer me!" I focus on the notification, but the only thing that manages to accomplish is scrolling the notification up, and down. When my eyes are drawn to something else “Plus one wisdom?” My brain may feel like mush, but I have stats! My growth is no longer just some vague feeling of progress, but actual tangible results, that's amazing!

  'chirp'

  I wince, before slowly removing my hands from my head “And of course there's a bounty on my head, and I somehow managed to piss off some group of people” My head tilts “Then again, that's not really anything new, is it?” People are always so close to being angry at those they see as different, or maybe it's more directed at those they see as failures. Reminders of how easily their own lives could fall apart or who they can blame for the issues going on in their own lives… and what's one more angry group added to the list?

  I sit up, searching around for my phone “Assuming, and it's kind of a big assumption that I haven't lost my mind, then something has changed, magic!” For a moment It's like a weight has been lifted from my mind, and freedom, possibility are all that stand in front of me, but a thought quickly joins that feeling of lightness turning everything a bit darker. Oh, and a bit more importantly, the world as we know it, has come to an end. The inevitable end of days has arrived, and the only question which remains to be seen is if we are going to end up with something better or worse, than the destruction we were already headed towards. “But either way, that's not really my problem, is it?”

  My phone is located! Somehow ending up in my sleeping bag, and I'm bombarded by notifications when I tap the screen. One of the first, is an emergency broadcast that links to a video, and my finger hesitates over it, before clicking on it.

  A news anchor is sitting at their desk, their clothes are in perfect order, without a single crease to be seen under the glowing studio lights. They're the picture perfect image of professionalism, their gleaming white teeth allowing their confidence to radiate from the screen, and their cool calm voice makes it seem like it's just another day. The words coming out of their mouth though, make it perfectly clear that things are far from normal "A state of emergency has been announced, with lockdowns being instituted across the country, due to the unusual development of status screens, and yet to be confirmed instances of what some are calling magic. The federal government, along with most states, have called for everyone to stay home, unless it's absolutely necessary. The states with the strictest restrictions even going as far to say, only those with medical emergencies have a justified reason to be outside, but overall every state now has restrictions in place, and are working with the national guard, along with local agencies to set up systems to provide other essentials. For those not at home, like myself, and my lucky crew” The anchor smiles into the camera “We all are encouraged to stay in place, until everything settles down, and once again local authorities would like us to stress, that nothing will be open, and that military personal or police officials will be confronting anyone found to be wandering about"

  They take a deep breath, and shuffle the papers on their desk "The state department, along with the governor's office, also want to reassure everyone, that these are just temporary measures taken in abundance of caution, and will be lifted once the situation is better understood. Meanwhile, white House sources didn't want to speculate, but they also didn't rule out that Russia, Iran, or China could be behind this, although according to the status screens themselves, more information will potentially be delivered at some point today. Regardless, while experts are still determining the exact cause of these changes, the state department recommends not engaging with the screens, and for the public to stay home, unless it's absolutely necessary. The world is currently hanging by a thread, and we will have more news for you as this story develops"

  Underneath the video, naturally there is a comment section, and it's exactly what one can expect during a crisis, madness.

  My eyes instinctively roll as I scroll through it all "Looks like people are losing their shit, and things will probably only get weirder from here, after all, if I can raise the dead?" What exactly is everyone else capable of, or really, is anything truly impossible anymore, with people literally leveling up? I freeze for a second, my eyes growing wide "And I passed out.... shit!!! I'm falling behind” I quickly try to throw on a pair of pants, before being hit by a sharp stabbing pain, that slows me down a lot, but still manage to shimmy into a pair of pants, a black shirt, socks, and throw on my shoes, before stumbling outside of my tent. Where the sun is shining, birds are chirping, and the cloudless blue sky can just barely be seen from underneath the gigantic green trees that my tent resides. I take a deep breath, just taking it all in for a moment, before grabbing my day bag, and lock my tent by putting a key lock through the zipper rings. Which sure isn't something that will stop a determined thief, but hey neither will a car lock, and off I go, shambling off to adventure, to glory, to well dead things "Death Search"