Ray heard the roar before he managed to open his eyes.
Just a second ago he had been sitting in his chair at the security post, waiting for his night shift to end while watching a bug spray commercial on the old TV that had kept him company for three years. Just a second ago he had only wanted to stretch his body, accidentally knock the remote off the desk, and bend down to pick it up from underneath.
Now he was lying in the snow with his face stinging from the cold and his ears catching the echo of a terrifying roar from somewhere in the distance.
Ray opened his eyes slowly, hoping he would see nothing more than the ceiling of the security post with that brown stain in the corner from a leak that never got fixed. His hope died instantly. Above him stretched a deep purple sky with two moons hanging low and green and pink auroras dancing like giant curtains. Snow fell in soft flakes that clung to his eyelashes.
He pushed himself up. His arms were shaking. His thin security guard uniform was never designed for temperatures like this. His fingers had already gone numb and his breath escaped in white puffs that vanished the moment they hit the wind.
Where was he?
The remote in his hand vibrated softly. Ray looked down and saw the small screen on the strange device flickering to life, displaying pale blue text that appeared one letter at a time.
[WELCOME, GALACTIC JANITOR LEVEL 1.]
Ray blinked. He read the sentence again, hoping the letters would rearrange themselves into something that made more sense. They didn't.
"Janitor," he muttered. "I'm a security guard, not a cleaner."
The sound of heavy footsteps came from behind a snowdrift in front of him. Ray looked up and immediately forgot how to breathe for a reason that had nothing to do with the cold.
The creature stood nearly ten feet tall. Its entire body was covered in thick white fur that seemed to glow under the aurora light. It stood on two legs with arms that hung past its knees, and its face was somewhere between a polar bear and a wolf that Ray had only ever seen in nature documentaries. Its eyes were pale blue and ancient, like ice that had not melted in a thousand years.
Ray wanted to run. His knees wanted to move. But his feet felt rooted to the snow, whether from the cold or from fear or perhaps both.
The creature knelt. One massive fist pressed into the snow, its head bowed, and its voice rumbled like thunder rolling down from the farthest mountain.
"The Prophesied One. You have come at last."
Ray opened his mouth. No sound came out. He tried again.
"I think you've got the wrong guy."
The creature didn't move. Its ancient blue eyes studied Ray with an expression that was hard to read. "The ancient texts are never wrong. You are the small warm being who would arrive when the cold became eternal."
Ray looked down at his soaking wet uniform, the name tag reading RAY pinned crookedly to his chest, and his trembling hand gripping the strange remote.
"I don't know what ancient texts you've been reading," he said, trying to stop his teeth from chattering, "but I think they need an edit."
The remote's screen flashed again and more text appeared.
[CURRENT MISSION: SAVE PLANET THUNDRA.]
[DETAIL: PLANET CORE HAS BEEN STOLEN. WITHOUT IT, THE PLANET WILL FREEZE COMPLETELY IN 72 HOURS. RETRIEVE THE CORE AND RESTORE IT.]
[REWARD: LEVEL UP + UNIQUE ITEM.]
Ray read the text twice. Then he looked at the giant furry creature still kneeling before him. Then he looked at the purple sky with its two moons and dancing auroras. Then he looked at the endless snow stretching in every direction.
Somewhere in the distance, the roar came again. Closer this time.
Ray closed his eyes and thought about the things that had been his biggest problems just ten minutes ago. The rent that was overdue. His landlady who had started giving him stern looks whenever they crossed paths. The orange cat that walked by every night without ever glancing his way. The boring night shift that was going nowhere.
All of it suddenly felt very small and very far away.
He opened his eyes and looked at the creature before him.
"Alright," he said, slipping the remote into his pocket. His voice was shaking but there was something else there too, something even he didn't recognize. "Tell me what I need to do."
The creature rose to its full height. It towered over Ray like a furry mountain, but there was a strange warmth in those ancient blue eyes.
"My name is Koro," it said. "And you, small one, may be the only hope my world has left."
Ray let out a soft snort. "Then your world is in serious trouble."
The wind howled and snow swirled around them. In the distance, a third roar sounded, longer and more menacing than before.
Ray didn't know what awaited him ahead. He didn't know if he would survive until tomorrow. But one thing he knew for sure: tonight was definitely not going to be boring.