I awoke to muffled screaming and alarms ringing in my ears. I was still on the operating table, which was shaking with supernatural force. No, the whole room was shaking, causing a few people to fall as they attempted to secure the sharp tools nearby. What the fuck? What's happening? My eyes darted to my left side, seeing a person holding on to the anesthesia machine, trying to keep her balance.

  “Get him up now! We have to secure the operating room!”

  I heard the voice of Dr. Hekla as the room continued to shake. My vision was spotty at best and every time the operating table jostled from the shockwaves I felt a sharp stab of pain in my head. Something had gone drastically wrong. Was it an earthquake? A terrorist attack? Some sort of bomb? I had no idea, and the fogginess consuming my brain certainly didn’t help. I did, however, begin to pick out a different voice in my ears. This voice reached me, uninterrupted by the massive amounts of noise in the room as the operating room was turned into a surgical bouncy castle.

  “-est to survive, get stronger, and force the System and Graxis to acknowledge your ability. Prove you could help us destroy the Void once and for all. It will be hard to believe, but we take no joy in what is about to happen to your planet.

  What the fuck did that mean? Was this some sort of weird hallucination? I looked around and saw that most of the hospital staff in the room had fallen or stopped their duties, frozen in place or looking at the ceiling. Only Hekla and the anesthetist continued moving throughout the chaos.

  However, it is necessary for it to happen. For your own good, and the good of the universe. Do not let this opportunity, and the blood sacrificed to make it, go to waste.

  Prime Graxis Research Director, Adaptive Technologies Division.

  Tal’vac of The Graxis Institution

  Note: Due to interrupted delivery, this message will be available for review for 24 hours in the menu.

  I had no idea what any of that meant, but it appeared we were all hearing it at the same time. Finally, the tube was removed from my throat and I was able to speak. I could only gurgle as the stomach bile rose. I resisted the waves of nausea and tried to pay attention to the shaking.

  The anesthetist cried back to Hekla, “He’s up! Where can we secure him?”

  He looked around the room, frantic and wide-eyed. “Place anyone in active surgery in operating room 5, it's sterile and we can secure it quicker. We may have to che-”

  He was cut off by a deafening mechanical hum reverberating from somewhere outside, possibly above us. The walls barely lessened the noise as most of us grabbed our ears to provide some type of protection. Glass in the room shattered as if attacked by some invisible force, bursting in all directions. For a brief moment afterwards, there was silence.

  “What the hell?” Hekla’s steady voice was pitched in uncertainty, sweat dripping from his face.

  Then, the explosions began. First far away, then getting closer and closer, like there was some sort of plane dropping bombs down on the city. The shaking continued too, whatever was hitting the Earth was causing massive shockwaves that went through the whole building. Everyone ducked under tables, leaving me to fend for myself. I still couldn’t move very well, but I tried to stay upright as cracks grew along the floors and walls. I gasped as a brick-sized chunk of ceiling fell on my lower ribcage, causing me to cry out in pain.

  There was a massive explosion close by, causing the lights to flash and then plunging the room into momentary darkness. The shaking and the explosions stopped as the emergency generator kicked in, causing a red emergency light to flash every few seconds in the room. Hekla steadied himself and helped the other staff members up. One lady had glass cutting up her face, and was quickly helped out of the room by two nurses. Hekla turned to us, his chest heaving as his gravely voice broke through the chaos.

  “I’m going to tell the other operating room where to put their patient, and see what's happening outside. Move him and then help treat any injured.” Hekla raced out of the operating room, still holding his clipboard.

  Was the other patient Zahra? It had to have been. Was she okay? Part of the ceiling had cracked but it didn’t appear to be collapsing, so hopefully the same was true for her room. I tried not to think about the massive explosion I heard.

  “Hey, it's Levi right?” The anesthetist looked at me, and I finally paid attention to her. She was probably in her late 30s, around 5’10 with blonde hair in a pony tail. Her scrubs were covered in dust and dirt from the shaking, but she seemed otherwise unharmed. I nodded, only able to mutter a quiet “yes” in response. My throat was not functioning well, kinda like the rest of my body. The thought was amusing, but I was in no shape to laugh. At least I wasn't the only one in that condition.

  “Okay, we’re going to move you to a more secure area, okay? My name is Sayde and it's all going to be okay” Her voice waivered, and her eyes kept darting around above her, as if she was waiting for something to happen.

  What was in the rest of that weird message? Did everyone hear it? Is there another reason to panic I don't know about? My thoughts were interrupted as they moved me onto a gurney and began pushing me towards the door. I tried to prop myself up as best as I could to see into the hallway as we entered.

  The hospital was in complete disarray, broken equipment littered the ground and there was a scent of smoke in the air complimented by the sound of someone using a fire extinguisher. The emergency power still flashed red light throughout the building, which provided the only light in the area. The windows I could see in the waiting room were completely dark, as if it was night outside. The moans from injured patients began to fill the air, along with the occasional call for help and coughing.

  I quickly glanced at the wall-mounted clock. It was only 9:33. It had barely been over half an hour since my surgery, but something else entirely consumed my attention. I looked towards the operating room I had seen Zahra go through, but all I could make out was a plume of smoke and the whirl of fire sprinklers on the ceiling. The hallway on that side was covered in debris, like the structural damage was worse than the operation room they were currently wheeling me towards.

  I felt my heart sink as they continued to wheel me away from the damaged ceiling, and away from where Zahra had been.

  I don’t know what’s going on, but please let her be okay.

  Then, a message appeared in front of me in a light blue text box. One appeared in front of everyone I could see, man, woman, child, even a baby had one floating beside their head. I stared at it, as if looking would make its sudden appearance more understandable. Looking with my bad eye did nothing, as the text appeared through the dark spots. It was unnatural and took up my full attention.

  System Integration Successful.

  Terraforming Scans Complete.

  System Generation Complete

  Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

  Difficulty Setting: Extreme.

  We burst into operating room 5, the gurney rattling as it hit the door, which felt like someone had lit my bones on fire. I suppressed a groan and saw I wasn't the only one grappling with the blue text box. One aide turned to Sayde, “You see this too right? I’m not just hallucinating?”

  “No, it isn't a hallucination. At least, not if everyone is getting it at the same time.” She didn’t sound that sure. “It could be a gas leak or something of that nature, that would explain the explosions… right?” her voice trailed off as her eyes crossed the blue text box in front of her.

  The aide turned to me. His badge caught the red flashing light, labeling him as an RN named Christian Poole. He was a taller man, with a bushy black beard and a balding hairstyle. He wasn’t quite tall enough to make it a part of his personality, but enough to claim he was 6’ in his tinder bio. I only knew that last part because the nurses gossiped a lot about Christian, especially his preference for roleplaying as Dr. and patient with his hookups. Which role he took on I could only guess.

  “Are you able to walk at all?” I shook my head no, a new wave of nausea making it impossible not to dry heave on my side.

  He looked back to Sayde. “I have a feeling that the shaking wasn't a simple earthquake. Something is happening or coming. I just checked but we have no service. We need to be ready to move people if we have to. Maybe the national guard is already on its way.” He spoke with confidence, even though he waved a hand through the textbox in front of him for emphasis, pausing slightly as his hand went right through it. We didn’t have much time to ponder those words before the next message appeared in front of us.

  Warning. The assigned System difficulty for this planet will likely result in 99.99% population extinction. Further Authorization Required.

  “Does anyone have an idea what any of this means?” He paused. “I know it's probably not good from the sound of it”.

  Sayde turned to both of us after watching a new crack appear on the ceiling. “From what I remember, the first message was from something or someone called Graxis, and that our planet would undergo something called a system integration? I can’t quite remember, we were in the middle of surgery.”

  Before either of us could respond, the doors to the operating room busted open with another gurney, as a patient I recognized immediately was brought in. She was still stirring from the anesthetic, but it was Zahra! Before I had a chance to say anything, her gurney was pushed beside mine, and a final message appeared in everyone’s text box, longer than the previous ones.

  Senior Researcher Authorization Accepted. Rewards have been boosted significantly to compensate. Note: System anticipates a rate of 99.56% population extinction under current settings. Due to the high possibility of species extinction, planet integration and population level progression will be recorded and sent to the Inner Council for review.

  System: Start

  As the message finished, the hospital workers began to disperse. Christian and Sayde turned to me, explaining they would go to the children’s unit to see if they could be of assistance there. Like me, I knew they must have been anxious to figure out what was going on, and I wasn't exactly the most mobile.

  Zahra was still fighting sleep, her eyes staying open for a few seconds before fluttering closed. I had no idea if she was okay or not, and it didn’t look like anyone was gonna stick around long enough to help me find out. As I contemplated trying to find a wheelchair in the room, the building shook once again, as if a new explosion had gone off.

  I also started to hear screaming from below me. Human and something more… primal. It was deep and seemed to vibrate throughout my entire body, freezing me in place. Whatever it was, I should stay as far away from it as possible. I said that like I could move at all, but the trip on the gurney had done damage. The shaking and rumbling had caused some pain in my chest and it was likely I had bruised or cracked a rib. I took a slow, shallow breath in and turned to the chat box.

  Was there a way to use it? When I woke up it had mentioned the message I missed could be viewed in the menu. Where was that?

  As I focused on the menu, a small dropdown button seemed to appear right below where the messages were sent. It hadn’t been visible when I was just paying attention to just the messages, and they seemed to disappear if my focus drifted. Below were 4 different icons: a backpack, a human outline, a leatherbound book, and a compass.

  I had no idea how to work this weird interface, but I tried to focus on the human outline. I was surprised when the text box slowly shifted into a stat sheet, with a tiny 3D model of me slowly floating and spinning in space. For some reason, I was wearing a pair of jean shorts and nothing else, showing the tattoos I had randomly covering my legs. It would have been a funny image, if another explosion nearby hadn’t immediately sobered me up.

  Six different stats were laid out in front of me:

  Strength: 4

  Dexterity: 7

  Intelligence: 3

  Spirit: 8

  Health:1

  Luck:1

  I was pretty sure a higher score meant a higher ability, but I wasn't entirely sure. When I was healthy, I played soccer and other sports my dad was into, like boxing and UFC. My Strength and Health made sense, especially with how little I was able to exercise while in the hospital. Of course, my luck being low was also expected. I had cancer as a kid, beat it, and then got it again as an adult so aggressive I had to surgically amputate to give myself a chance. I guess the system considered that ‘unlucky’, but I wasn't sure I agreed. If I got better without it coming back, I would probably still be under my parents thumb, and I never would have met Zahra.

  Intelligence being 3 made sense, although I hated to admit it. Over the last year my memory and thinking had slowed down a lot, it was sometimes difficult to grasp simple concepts like how to peel a banana. I’d still grab a knife and figure it out, but there would be a nagging sensation that I was doing it wrong. The Dr. said it was normal to experience cognitive problems, especially with where the tumor was growing in my frontal lobe. I tried not to let it bother me much, which meant not thinking about it. That part was easy.

  I didn’t know what Spirit meant, did that mean how much people liked you? Or how much joy you spread? I kept thinking back to the phrase “the true spirit of Christmas”, something that never failed to come up when I was forced to a Christmas church service. It didn’t help much, and the reminder of my family somewhere out there heightened my anxiety. Were they okay? Were they coming to me?

  What I really need is someone to explain what's going on. Are we in immediate danger? Is it like an Independence Day scenario, or worse? I’d only seen that movie once, someone had snuck it in at a Die Hard Christmas marathon house party I went to in Freshman year. I remember that night, drinking and having a good time, winning a beer pong tournament. When I passed out on the couch in the basement, the movie was playing in the background. For some reason I loved watching the massive explosions, and the scene where the White House was decimated by a massive laser stuck in my mind.

  Was this happening in other cities? Other continents? How many people have already died?

  Below, a separate bar labeled Status Conditions glowed. I clicked it. It was a simple dropdown which listed a single condition. I almost laughed when I read the condition’s name:

  Terminal illness. Stat debuff by 80%. Expectancy: 173 days.

  I guess it made sense that my cancer would translate into something through this ‘System’ but it was still amusing to read it so plainly. There was another section besides the stats column, but it was locked and I couldn't read it. A heading running across the top of the screen read, Time until Class Assessment: 23 hours, 26 minutes. I didn’t know what that meant, and I still needed to figure out a way to view the message from earlier. I focused on the small ‘X’ in the top right of the screen, the stats closed, leaving a minimized version of the textbox in its place.

  As I began to focus my vision on the icon of a backpack, the ground began to shake, just like before. The chaotic sound of metal scraping and screaming against flesh echoed dully through the cement floor. I could hear glass shattering, people screaming… and laughing? Fucking laughing?

  I tried to distract myself from the hyena-like sounds coming from further away, but it was nearly impossible. They kept getting louder, until I heard a shriek of fear coming from the general waiting room. We were on the second floor, and the waiting room happened to be near the stairs. It was hard to make out, but I could have sworn the scream was from the older receptionist that sometimes manned the front. She was semi-retired from what I remembered, but she had a high-voice which suffered from overuse of vibrato.

  Her scream was cut short, leading to more yelling, cursing and movement. I looked out the window of the door from my spot on the gurney, watching as a stampede of people ran past, screaming, jumping, and throwing things at whatever was chasing them. I froze as I saw the familiar shape of Mr. Henderson pressed up against the door. He tried to open it, but it didn’t budge. It had a key-care lock on the front, and I assumed most of the people were running away faster than the patients were. I could barely hear him through the door, but I made out his final words.

  “Whats going on? Why are you doing this? Dear God, Sto-” he turned to face whatever was on the other side of the door, only to gasp and shake as something attacked him, spraying red blood across the window to the door. He slumped, his head thumping dully against the wall as whatever had killed him celebrated. I heard growling and hooping come from the other side, from multiple animalistic voices.

  I really hoped they didn’t know how to open doors.