Prologue

“Young Master Aegis….”

“Get up Young Master Aegis….”

“The Nox are coming, we must get the Young Lord to safety. The mission is a failure.”

That one word seemed to knock Aegis Kan out of his stupor. They had been hit with the 9th tier spell Falling Sky and yes it did exactly as its name suggested. If not for his mother insisting upon his father that he be given a 10th tier or Ranked defensive item his entire expedition would’ve died.

“Failure?”

Aegis surroundings grew to an almost peaceful stillness as the young lord finally spoke.

“The Kan don’t know the word.”

Alex, the one who spoke, signed in deep relief. He had a slip of the tongue. Fortunately for him the young lord was still out of it, or he might be leading the next charge.

Aegis looked at the surrounding mountain range or at least the little that was left of it. The Unending Mountains clearing had an end. The snow-covered peaks were ruined, and desolation had set around them. Falling Sky would have wiped out his entire expedition if not for item Aegis’s Shield. It was a defensive item his mother gifted to him in the form of a necklace with a shield at the end. The shield had the Kan’s regalia imprinted upon it as most of the household items did. It was a dragon’s claw grasping a shield.

Aegis grasp at the necklace and tore it off as he finally noticed the scalding heat spreading across his chest. A crack was in the middle and the aegis that represented the Kan family was split.

“Young lord, look.”

Aegis brought his attention to the direction Alex was pointing and his open pores produced even more sweat.

“Shit.”

From top to bottom the sole mountain that remained was covered in Nox.

“We’re so fucking scre…”

*

With a start Terence Brown woke up. He had been having this recurring dream for almost a year now. Almost the same amount of time the pandemic had been going on for. Tee, as most of his friends and family called him usually, didn’t remember most of his normal dreams. Then the lock down came, and he started having this reoccurring dream. It was always the same and always ended the same.

“Shit.”

Brushing it out his mind he took stock of his messy room and falling posters.

“Did an earthquake happen?”

Anime action figures and posters were scattered all throughout his room. Tee grabbed his phone and looked at the time 06:15 am. He’d been asleep roughly 4 hours. As Tee sat up and got ready to clean the mess a rumble happened, and the scattered articles grew even more messy.

“What is going on, we don’t get earthquakes here.”

Tee spent the next hour reorganizing his room and all his stuff. It was Saturday and although Tee didn’t have class, he did have plenty of homework from his college courses, which brought his mind back to his dilemma. Tee would be finishing his gen eds soon and had yet to pick a major. It wasn’t that he didn’t know what he wanted to do but the opposite in fact. Tee had too much he wanted to do. Gaming, anime, science, and business. Tee’s interest lied everywhere.

He sighed again and went downstairs to grab himself a plate of food.

[Hmph]

A voice reverberated through Tee’s mind, and he clutched his head in pain which in turn made him miss a step and end up tumbling down the stairs.

[ It’s been a long time since I’ve been home. I had forgotten how rancid the air here is. Listen mortals, as I see you as such since I am no longer your Kin. I am here to deliver you an opportunity that you have no choice but to accept. Many of you will be sent out into the vastness of our universe to deliver this opportunity to the rest of the intelligent races. Welcome to my System, Harbingers.]

*

Tee looked at the countdown that appeared in the corner of his vision. Roughly an hour passed since that message and Tee had the local news playing since then. He glanced at the clock that was slowly running out of time

22:40:12

22 hours 40 minutes and 12 seconds.

A box that said:

Welcome!

You have been chosen as one of the one hundred thousand souls that will travel beyond and into new worlds! Congratulations. Learn more by selecting this notification box.

Confused and hurting from his fall Tee returned his attention to the local news while reading and responding to his family and friends. So far no one he knew had been selected as a harbinger and Tee didn’t know if he should come out and tell his parents. He was scared. Scared at the thought of leaving. Scared at the voice that had reverberated in every single human on and off world at the same time. Local astronauts even reported that they heard the voice.

His parents were both doctors and couldn’t leave the hospital as not only had the country declared a national state of emergency. Several patients that had been on the verge of death or dying had recovered.

Tee glanced at the count down again. How do you tell someone you’re going to be disappearing. Especially his parents and siblings. Tee selected the notification and a voice appeared in his head immediately.

Initializing… Scanning through subjects’ body and soul… Recent memories acquired… Welcome Terence! I am System, and you are subject 98,124. Congratulations! On being the 98,124th being to acquire access to me. You have been chosen as a representative of the first hundred thousand to become a Harbinger. Your mission no matter if you choose to accept, is to reincarnate into a world and to spread me to others. The Gods, or beings of power on that world will see you as a target to eradicate with extreme prejudice in body and soul. You will have 24 hours to talk to any loved ones or beings of recognition, before your body will be consumed in this world and soul transferred elsewhere.

Fuck…

*

Freya sighed. She knew it would turn out this way, yet she couldn’t help but complain with how [Beyond] presented herself.

“Was it necessary?” She asked turning to the being in question.

[ All my actions are necessary. Destruction is upon us. The three must unite into one. ]

Freya looked at the being she once called her child. It had becoming something more, something Beyond.

Together Freya and [Beyond] spent countless eons in research from spell formation to spell formation. Researching and combining their many fields of magic together. Space, time, nature, fire, water, earth, air, etc., all into one System. With the start of this invasion souls will be chosen to venture forth throughout the universe forced to spread their System to bring the three into one to face the enemies [Beyond] discovered. Enemies [Beyond] had yet to disclose. The Harbingers would spread like viruses affecting every single life form.

Freya reminded herself of why they were doing this. To put their universe underneath the umbrella no, a shield, as the outside holds the unknown terrors of man, beast, elf, dwarf, Titan, Gods, and all the other myriad races underneath our stars.

[ I came home because of Earths numerous inhabitants with broad minds and suppressed souls. Although not everyone will turn out like me. There is the chance, the opportunity and we must grasp it. Once we release them upon the universal scale, we wouldn’t have to lift a finger. They will do it themselves. For too long have they been suppressed to the views of their governments. These people have forgotten what matters most. Strength. Money can take you far but, in the cosmos, money means nothing. Well mostly nothing. With your magic and my System, we have a chance to stop our doom path and create a road in which, with those of strength no matter if they have a righteous heart, or the blackest soul.

They will rise and answer our call. For we all have nightmares even those well adapted to the dark.]

“Pray tell, what does one beyond a god have nightmares about?” Freya decided it was time for them to have the talk.

*

“OH FUCK.”

Tee woke up his body covered in sweat. He slowly peeled himself off the couch and looked at the clock

7:30:21

The fall had done more damage to his body than he thought, and Terence took care of some things before falling asleep. He looked over at his desk to the thing he had taken care of. It was a goodbye letter addressed to his family and friends. In the end Terence found out that he wasn’t strong enough to tell his family that he was chosen and would die. He had ignored the calls from his family choosing to respond through text messages. How do you tell your family that you’re going to die? Terence did not know.

Tears fell down his face and he sobbed in frustration. As a major gamer and anime fan Terence always had dreams and stories of what he would do if he was hit by truck-kun and reincarnated. But that’s all they were dreams and stories. Dreams and stories…

*

Before his parents got home, Terence left the house. Although marshal law had been called and soldiers were patrolling everywhere. Terence wasn’t worried about them finding him. After all they lived in a small community. Society was in a mess and his parents would be needed now more than ever as they were doctors at a local hospital. The streets were near empty, and Terence just walked eyes never leaving the timer.

6 hours 1 minute 30 seconds.

The voice of the system announced. It didn’t faze him he kept walking. He had been going for an hour now. Track and field had kept him in shape all throughout high school and he had joined his community college team to stay that way.

5 hours 32 minutes 19 seconds.

2 hours 5 minutes 24 seconds.

The sun was coming up Tee barely recognized that area he was in. He had dodged many military patrols on his stroll. His mind a fuzzy mess the entire time almost like he was drunk. He left home because he didn’t want his family to see what was going to happen to him although his parents would probably be stuck at the hospital.

After checking his phone Terence found out that portals had opened over the government’s headquarters of all the countries of the world and strange humans began coming out. These beings had hair and eye colors of different shades. Blacks, reds, greens, and blues.

1 hour 30 minutes 30 seconds.

More basic information about the Harbingers the one hundred thousand people chosen to venture into the universe to do the bidding of a being known as [Beyond]. This information had been given to them by the invaders who called themselves the Terr-an but none of that would matter for him. The one hundred thousand Harbingers would be going no matter the social or economic standing. [Beyond] had chosen and it wouldn’t be denied.

58 minutes 32 seconds.

A few radical governments had tried to attack the Terr-an including Americas in a joint operation. They were quickly dealt with as meteors, floods, or whatever spell the Terr-ans felt like conjuring to destroyed them.

10 minutes 58 seconds.

Tee heart was beating fast, and his eyes were bloodshot. He was almost to the destination his legs were taking him.

5 minutes 0 seconds.

He smiled in relief as he sat down on the sandy beach. The sun was rising slowly, and the cool summer breeze was receding.

10 seconds.

Terence Brown smiled for the last time on Earth he closed his eyes. His feet where already gone, and he didn’t wish to see the rest of his body fade away.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Initializing… starting transfer… cocooning soul… searching for new world… PRIME WORLD DETECTED… ERROR 404… connecting to main System… ERROR… Host soul in danger searching for compatible body… compatible body found… transferring host consciousness and soul to new body… time until born… 8 months 3 days 7 hours 4 minutes 10 seconds…