The scent of iron in the air was the first thing Lewis noticed as he regained consciousness, the cries and shouts from outside having dimmed to a low background noise as he slowly got up, his mind feeling weighted down as if the crazy events of the morning were exerting some physical pressure on him.
He tried not to look at the gory scene of the giant rat on his apartment floor as he stumbled his way over to the kitchen and poured himself a large glass of water, which he greedily gulped down, the cold liquid seeming to jumpstart his mind as it washed away much of the haze he was feeling.
Lewis had never been known as having a weak stomach, but after all he had seen this morning, he figured it would be weird if he didn't pass out from it all, not to mention he hadn't quite recovered from his exhausting work week.
Holding his head in his hands, he tried turning on the TV to figure out if this was happening elsewhere, but just like his phone, the TV was dead. Walking around the rat's body, he looked back out of the main window onto the street outside and grimaced as he saw the skeletal form of that woman who was swarmed by rats, most of her flesh having been stripped from her bones, leaving only a sinuous mess of blood and bones behind.
This whole thing is so fucked!
Doing his best to ignore the sight, he leaned as far as he could out of his window, trying to spot the scene down the street where he saw that portal appear, but there were buildings in the way. What he could see was that everyone had disappeared, along with the rats. He let out a small sigh of relief at that, but it was short-lived as he suddenly remembered the timer.
The system message had only given them an hour to reach a portal, and he had no idea how long he was out for. With a thought, the message manifested before his eyes once again, something that would have fascinated him on any other day, but right now, he skipped the entire message and looked straight at the timer.
Global quest gained: Survive integration
Your world, Terra, has begun integration into the wider multiverse. To survive this, an individual integration phase has been established to process you and grant you access to the system. Portals have appeared all around the world; find and enter one within the next hour if you wish to be part of the new world. Entering a portal grants you access to a starter class and transports you to a group tutorial based on your individual circumstances. If you do not enter a portal within the next 60 minutes, you will be left behind while your world undergoes its paring. WARNING: Remaining means certain death and is highly discouraged.
Time remaining: 07:12
His eyes bulged as he found he had been out for nearly the whole hour.
Adrenaline spiked through his mind as he realized he was 7 minutes away from dying unless he reached that portal.
With newfound determination to survive, he rushed back to the kitchen and grabbed a different knife; the largest he owned was stuck somewhere inside the large rat, and he preferred using a different one to rooting around in that mess. He then wrapped his arms in cloth to cover up the lightly bleeding scratches on his arms and moved over to his closet to find something that would provide a bit more protection than his store clerk uniform.
He donned his dusty leather jacket, as it was the thickest piece of clothing he owned. The jacket had been an impulse buy, one of the few he ever had, and yet he had only ever worn it a handful of times.
Clutching the knife in his hand, he glanced back at the dead rat he had slain by some miracle, his gaze hardening as he realized that this was what life would be like from now on. He had always had a tough life, his father having died when he was young, and his mother being an addict. He had been introduced to the dark side of the world at an early age, but despite having gotten into a fair amount of fights in his life, this was the first time he had killed anything.
Admittedly, he didn't feel any guilt about putting down a giant rat that was actively trying to gnaw his face off, but this wasn't an isolated incident, as rats had appeared all over the street and attacked people. It felt like the entire world had gone crazy, but Lewis didn't want to be dragged down with it.
With his nerves firmed, he descended the stairs and exited through the shattered glass door of the apartment building, not seeing anyone else around as he stepped into the street.
He hesitated only briefly at the doorway before letting out a long breath and running across the street, weaving around rear-ended cars that had been packed together all over the road. He kept a sharp eye out for threats, hearing the distant sounds of gunfire and explosions, but everything around him seemed to be eerily silent.
When he crossed the street and laid eyes on where he had noticed the portal before, he halted to an abrupt stop as dozens of giant black rats--some bigger than the one he had killed--surrounded the glowing portal. They were screeching and snarling as they rushed at the glowing portal on the road, only to have their bodies pass straight through and land on the other side, their anger growing each time they failed to enter the portal, causing them to attack each other.
The dread that had been slowly building inside of Lewis was magnified tenfold at the sight, the portal entirely surrounded by the bloodthirsty rats; getting close to them would be a death sentence.
Before any of them could see him, Lewis ducked behind the line of cars and snuck away, his heart hammering as he glanced at the timer, his thoughts running wild as to what he could do. But before he could think of his next step, a large shadow fell over him for a moment before disappearing. Lewis looked up to see what had caused it and almost gasped in shock, a large black bird swooping down towards the portal and snatching a giant rat in its large talons before flying off.
The scene was so surreal that he was left frozen in shock for a few seconds as he watched the giant crow fly away with the rat clutched in its talons. The thing had a wingspan the size of a car and barely made a sound as it flew. Lewis knew how tough those rats were, so he was utterly bewildered by the ease with which the bird dealt with those vicious rats. Hearing that awful screeching again, Lewis turned back to the portal and saw that the creatures were back at it again, running at the portal and screeching louder when they just passed straight through; they didn't even seem to react to one of their own being casually snatched up by that enormous crow.
I guess there's no way to distract them and rush into the portal then. He thought grimly, dismissing that idea out of hand.
With every second that passed feeling like death's grip tightening around his neck, he quickly scanned his surroundings, hoping to find another portal nearby. But he also kept an eye on the sky in case another stupidly large bird flew overhead.
It was as he was glancing skyward that he noticed something odd. Large red pillars were shooting up into the sky. He had noticed them before, but hadn't paid close attention due to all the chaos unfolding; but now that he spotted them, he felt something click in his mind. Wanting to confirm his theory, he looked back at the rat-infested portal and looked up. Sure enough, a large red pillar of light formed ten meters above the portal, the light marking the portal's location.
With this new understanding, he located the closest red beam out of the several shooting off into the sky that he could see and started rushing down deserted streets to reach it.
His hands were sweating, and he kept having to wipe them and regrip his knife as he moved as quietly and stealthily as possible down the various streets, avoiding the larger roads and favoring back alleys as he came to the second portal after a couple minutes. The timer indicated that he only had a little under two minutes left, so he really hoped this portal wasn't occupied.
Glancing round the corner, he spotted the glowing entrance in the middle of a park square that used to be a popular hangout spot. To his relief, there were no rats in sight, but the place wasn't empty. He almost didn't notice it, but moving within the trees of the small park was what appeared to be a brown squirrel. However, just like all the other animals he had seen until now, it appeared far larger than it should be and looked utterly crazed, its large eyes having turned red and its teeth now sharp and deadly looking.
It was a small mercy that it was the only creature he could see, but its position on the tree near the portal meant he would have to walk under it to reach the portal, which wasn't something he wanted to do, but time was running out, and a single squirrel seemed like an easier fight than a pack of giant rabbid rats.
Cursing whatever god was in charge of this stupid system for butchering such a cute and harmless animal, Lewis held his knife in front of him and sprinted towards the portal.
The squirrel's red eyes snapped onto him instantly, and he saw its body tensing, ready to leap at him the moment he got within reach. But just as the microwave-sized mutated squirrel was preparing for him, so was Lewis ready for it.
The timer was down to less than a minute now, and this was do or die.
With his knife held purposefully forward at his chest, he ran as fast as he could while maintaining control over his body, which meant that as soon as he reached the tree housing the creature, he was perfectly able to spot the moment it leap at him and immediately leap back, swinging his knife at the airborne creature in a slashing motion, his cloth wrapped arms and leather jacket protecting him from the creatures claws as he slashed into its side and sent it hurtling away from him with a surprisingly shallow wound on its side. Kitchen knives really weren't designed to be used like swords.
As soon as he redirected the crazed squirrel, he picked up the pace and continued running towards the portal, reaching it in only a few seconds. As he did, he stopped right before it, hesitating for a brief moment as he realized he was about to step into some sort of magic doorway that would take him who knows where. That uncertainty only lasted a single heartbeat, however, as memories of being chased by that giant rat rang through his mind.
That was hardly the first time he had felt helpless, he had been feeling that way for a long time, but it was the moment he realized the world had changed and left him behind to be crushed under the weight of it all. The same way he had been forced to work multiple jobs as a child just to pay for his mother's addiction, running himself ragged only for her to take all his earnings and smoke them away. That feeling of stagnation was no matter what he didn't his life never changed was what he had been trying to fix now that he had become an adult, but the debts were endless, and he had found himself repeating the same cycle of work with no return as before.
But staring at the glowing portal that had appeared from nothing, he felt his mentality shift. He didn't really care that the world was ending. He didn't have any real friends or family he was worried about; instead, he felt like this might actually be an opportunity, a way to break out of his cycle of stagnation, to stop working himself to the bone for others and finally live life on his own terms.
With that, he took the final step towards the portal and entered it fully, feeling the world around him disappear as he appeared standing inside a seemingly endless white room, a smile twitching the sides of his lips as a message appeared in his vision.
Congratulation! You have entered an integration portal and will soon be granted a class choice and access to your assigned tutorial.
Analyzing host...
Body: Average
Mind: High
Spirit: Highly excellent
Please choose a class type:
Fighter, crafter, support
Lewis smiled as he read the message. He didn't know what it measured when analyzing him, but was fairly happy with the system thinking his mind was good, even if it only considered his body average despite all the work he does. Admittedly, his muscles aren't exactly visible; he never had a six-pack or that sort of thing, but a life of carrying heavy boxes had given him decent body strength. As for spirit, he had no idea what it might even be referring to, but if it was measuring his mindset and willpower, then it made sense that it was so high.
After all, Lewis was well aware that most people in his situation would have given up, the enormous amount of debt he had been saddled with meaning he wouldn't likely never be able to live a normal life, the people he owned money to also didn't exactly a bid by the law and wouldn't think twice about breaking his legs to send a message. All courtesy of his wonderful mother, who couldn't have overdosed sooner.
Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he refocused on the last message that appeared to be straight out of a character selection menu of a video game. But Lewis didn't take long to make his choice, immediately selecting the fighter by focusing on the option and thinking about it in his mind. Luckily, that seemed to work perfectly since the was no hovering holographic screen for him to press.
But as soon as he picked the option, a soundless explosion rocketed the white room, sending Lewis crashing to the ground, cracks beginning to form in space as if the entire world was a hallway of mirrors that were slowly breaking.
What the hell is it now?