Abel's chat with tk_BOOMerang had deepened over the past hour. What started as casual banter had shifted into something more genuine, an interesting conversation. She told him about her gaming setup, her favorite builds in obscure RPGs, and even asked for his help in some games as she wasn't near his level in the world of gaming.
He gave her gaming advices from his vast knowledge , and told her about the early days of his channel, back when streaming felt less like a job and more like hanging out with friends.
For the first time in years, Abel was social, with how fast his interest grew, it was clear, this was a part of his life he'd neglected over the years.
70%—82%
90%
The download count continued ticking upward in the corner of his monitor, but Abel wasn't paying attention. He was too engrossed in the conversation, fingers flying across his keyboard as he typed another message.
BOoOOoOMMMM!
The explosion hit like a shockwave and shook the entire mansion.
Abel's chair rattled, hiis desk trembled. The gaming monitors glitched violently, their screens distorting into static frenzies before stabilizing again. The sound was distant but loud, the echo reached the mansion even before the tre.
Abel froze, his hands still hovering over the keyboard.
"What the—"
GLITCHHHHH
[CONNECTION LOST]
His game had disconnected. The private chat with tk_BOOMerang quickly went dark.
Abel stared at the screen, his confusion deepening. He clicked frantically, trying to reconnect, but nothing responded. The interface was dead frozen.
He grabbed his phone, unlocked it, and immediately switched the Wi-Fi off and back on.
Still nothing.
The signal was, the connection lost, even his mobile data wasn't working.
"What the hell…?"
He was still staring at his phone when the door to his game room opened.
"Master Abel?"
Abel looked up.
Eli stood in the doorway. He was a tall, dignified and gray-haired, dressed in his usual cooperate attire despite the late hour. His expression was still calm, but his eyes showed the urgency and concern of the hour.
"What's up?" Abel asked, setting his phone down.
"The news, sir."
Abel frowned, then reached for the remote. He aimed it at the wall-mounted TV and switched it on.
The screen came up without a hitch.
And there, standing behind a podium bearing the seal of the Ministry of Defense, was a woman in uniform. Her face had gone pale, still she tried to steady her voice, but there was an edge to it that showed urgency and fright.
"we are currently designating this as a national emergency. Strange towering structures of identical design have entered the earths atmosphere without warning and are now descending on various locations across the globe."
The camera cut to the footage.
Massive cuboidal structures, each one perfectly geometric, smooth, black and featureless hung in the sky like gods' gravestones. They were enormous, easily the size of skyscrapers, hovering motionless above cities, forests and even water bodies.
"We have no information on their origin or intent. All citizens are advised to remain indoors and await further instruction. Military forces are being deployed to engage these structures. Residents within a ten-mile radius of confirmed landing sites are ordered to evacuate immediately."
Abel grew tensed.
He flipped through the channels.
Every single one was broadcasting the same thing.
BBT, CIN, Al Jaddr. NKP. There were in diverse languages, with different anchors, but they all showed the same footage. Civilians in proximity were already in panic mode. As the same structures descending like the last judgement.
["reports coming in from Tokyo"]
"military scrambled in Berlin"
"no response from the structures"
Abel kept flipping.
The footage varied slightly depending on the location, but the structures were identical hovering above the world, waiting to be planted.
And then Abel saw one up close, reporting from CIN.
It was a shaky phone video, uploaded seconds before the internet died. Someone filming from a rooftop as one of the structures descended directly above their city. The camera zoomed in, and for just a moment, Abel caught a glimpse of something etched into the surface...
Symbols, and carved scripts.
Something about it all felt eerily familiar.
He felt a chill run down his spine.
"No way…"
He'd seen those symbols before.
In...
ALLGoDS...
ALLGoDS: Ragnarok!
In specific celestial sites, unique locations he'd had to cross to get to the end game.
"Master Abel?"
Abel didn't answe, his eyes were locked on the screen, his mind raced, trying to piece together what he was seeing.
The TV glitched shortly. Stuttering images followed before it flickered, then it froze entirely. The audio cut out too, and then a screen blackout.
Abel hit the remote against his palm, jamming buttons at random.
"Come on..."
And then the screen lit up again.
But it wasn't the news anchor.
It was a figure we'll sitted on a throne.
The throne itself looked like something ripped straight out of a high-fantasy MMORPG. Carved from Blackstone and lined with an energy filled circuit that carried a certain glow. The figure wore a complete black tuxedo, tailored to perfection, and his face was obscured by an iron mask. The mask was smooth, having a unique pattern made from the merging of a square, a circle, and a triangle.
At the eye spot, two slits glowed with intensity.
He sat with one leg crossed over the other, hands folded neatly and placed on his lap.
And then he spoke.
"GREETINGS, EARTHLINGS."
The voice was calm and friendly, and there was a cheerful tone to it.
It came from the TV and from Abel's pocket.
Abel flinched suddenly, pulling out his phone. The same figure was on the screen, he had a he same identical angle and posture.
The oddness prompted Abel to turn to Eli, who already held up his own phone with an expression that said, 'yeah, same here', the same figure was on his stream.
"I AM ZORUS, EMISSARY OF THE GOD OF GAMES."
Abel's focus intensified.
The God of Games was the same name in the credits of ALLGoDS: Ragnarok.
"I COME BEARING GOOD NEWS. THE GOD OF GAMES, AFTER CAREFUL TESTING AND APPROVAL, HAS SELECTED YOUR PLANET 'EARTH-96' TO BE THE FIRST SUBJECT FOR HIS ULTIMATE FANTASY GAME STREAM. CONGRATS, YOU'RE OFFICIALLY LEAD CHARACTETS."
The figure leaned forward slightly, as if sharing a kid's secret.
"FROM THIS MOMENT FORWARD, YOUR EXISTENCE WILL CEASE TO BE NATURAL. IT WILL BE GAMIFIED."
Abel's face shifted into a confused frown.
"I KNOW THAT WORD ISN'T A PART OF YOUR VOCABULARY YET, BUT YOU'LL LEARN. YOU'LL ALL EXIST WITHIN A GAME NOW. BOUND BY ITS RULES. GOVERNED BY ITS SYSTEMS."
The figure gestured casually, as if discussing something trivial.
" FROM THE MOMENT THIS BROADCAST ENDS, YOUR TECH IS BASICALLY EXPENSIVE PAPERWEIGHTS. NO PHONES, NO SATELLITES, YOU'LL ALL HAVE JUST A 'WORLD CHAT' BOX FOR COMMUNICATION AND YOUR OWN WITS."
Abel's mouth went dry.
"AND NO, IT'S NOT A SIMULATION, AND IT'S DEFINITELY NOT A PRANK. WELCOME TO YOUR NEW REALITY.."
The masked man tilted his head.
"A COUNTDOWN TIMER WILL BE DISPLAYED TO YOU ALL. TWENTY DAYS. YOU HAVE TWENTY DAYS TO INTERACT WITH THE GAME SYSTEM AND PREPARE FOR YOUR FIRST TASK."
He paused.
"OH, AND ONE MORE THING."
The voice dropped, losing its cheerfulness.
"EVERY FIVE DAYS, THE FIVE MILLION LEAST ACTIVE PLAYERS WILL BE REMOVED. THE HOST WOULDN'T WANT TO BORE YOUR VIEWERS, AFTER ALL. ONLY THE MOST ACTIVE WILL REMAIN AFTER TWENTY DAYS ARE COMPLETE."
Removed?
Abel pondered on what he meant.
"TAKE A MOMENT TO LET IT SINK IN."
The figure leaned back, folding his hands again.
"I'LL BE BACK WITH MORE UPDATES SOON. ENJOY THE GAME, EARTHLINGS."
The screen glitched once more, and finally went dark.
Abel's phone died in his hand.
The monitor was dead too.
Every light in the room flickered, then shut off completely.
The hum of electronics, the ever-present background noise of modern life, vanished.
All that was left was silence.
Abel sat in total shock, staring at the dead screen without moving an inch.
Then he turned slowly toward Eli.
The older man's composed expression cracked with disbelief.
"Master Abel…"
And in that moment, something appeared in front of Abel's face.
A translucent interface, floating in midair, glowing faintly blue. It wasn't on a screen. It wasn't a projection. It was just hovering in his vision like augmented reality without the headset.
Abel jerked back.
"What the hell?"
He looked at Eli.
The older man was staring straight ahead with his eyes wide open, as if seeing the same thing.
"Do you see it too?" Abel asked, his voice tight.
Eli gave a single slow nod.
The interface pulsed faintly, text materializing across its surface in clean, glowing letters.
[WORLD CHAT]
Abel hesitated, then reached out.
His hand passed through the interface.
But when he focused to interact with it, the interface responded, and expanded.
The text vanished, replaced by a blank screen with a virtual keyboard floating at the bottom.
PING
PING
PING
PING
Millions of messages began cascading down the screen.
Flooding in faster than Abel could read.
[User_8473621: HELP!!!]
[User_37364: What is this??? Government scheme???]
[User_1092847: WAIL BRETHREN, IT IS THE END OF THE WORLD]
[User_94: My TV just died what the hell]
[User_5739201: Is this real???]
[User_394837: someone please tell me this is fake]
[User_2847193: I CAN'T REACH MY FAMILY]
The messages scrolled faster. Faster. Panic reeking through every text.
Abel stared at the chaos unfolding in front of him, his mind struggling to process what he was seeing.
This wasn't possible.
This couldn't be real.
But the interface was there.
And his phone, his computer, his entire world, was dead.
He looked at Eli again, the older man's face was grim.
"Master Abel," Eli said quietly. "What do we do?"
Abel opened his mouth to answer, but he was lost for words.
Because for the first time in his life
He had no idea.