Aiden slept soundly on the lap of the beautiful witch, as he calls her, while the monster brought in a bowl of water she used to calm his temperature.
After a while, Aiden began groaning, trying to regain full consciousness. His unconscious mind was able to form a few gibberish words.
Slowly, as he opened his eyes, the blurry view became clear, and Aiden saw the witch looking down at him. "Shit," he yelled and jumped off the couch.
"Oh shit, what are you and... and that thing doing inside my house?" said Aiden, barely able to make the transition of his words smooth.
He looked at the monster ant holding a bowl and the towel in the witch's hand. It wouldn't take more than that to realize they were helping him.
"What's going on?" Aiden asked, lowering his fists and guard. He just stood, hoping for a very good explanation.
"I'm sorry if I scared you, my lord."
"Your lord? You mean me?" asked Aiden, pointing at himself with a perplexed look.
"Yes, Doomsday Lord. I'm glad I made it to the right time you sent me. I must warn you about the coming Ragnarok," said the witch.
The moment she stood up, Aiden involuntarily stepped back. It seemed his body wasn't fully relaxed.
"Wait, hold on. What time? You mean you're from the future?"
"Yes."
"Wait, what? Like the fu... the future?"
"Yes, Lord. And I have come to warn you about the coming Ragnarok that would end the world."
Accompanying her words, a series of holographic blue screens surrounded the living room. The screens displayed Earth for sure, undergoing destruction by monsters like the one in his house.
Dragons roamed the sky and set everything on fire. Although Aiden saw a few humans capable of breathing out flames, none stood a single chance against the likes of these monsters.
The destruction was beyond peak. "This? This is Ragnarok?" asked Aiden as he turned around, watching every screen like an anime episode.
"Yes. Earth did not have a compatible tutorial apocalypse game developer like you."
"Okay, okay. Where was I in all this shit?"
Having heard what Aiden asked, she suddenly felt sad—so sad that Aiden already knew the answer from the look on her face alone.
"You said you've come to warn me? Which means you have a solution to prevent this?"
"Yes, Lord, but Ragnarok cannot be prevented. The solution I have is to prepare for Ragnarok."
"Okay, call me Aiden from now on... What's the solution?" asked Aiden. His eyes were still glued to the holographic screens.
The moment he heard what she said, he turned around with a weird look on his face. "You'll create an apocalypse."
"What? Me? I think I should be doing the saving, not starting a damn warzone."
"The apocalypse is just a beta, a tutorial to prepare the humans for the upcoming Ragnarok. If humans already know how to battle monsters in your apocalypse, then surviving Ragnarok wouldn't be like this," said the witch, referring to the blue screen.
Aiden sighed, rubbing his forehead as he sat on the couch. This whole thing was fantasy to him, but he couldn't deny the monster behind him, the girl, and what he had been shown.
That was definitely his city—New York. And if this was a trick, whoever was behind it... No, it couldn't be.
What was the harm in trying? He complained about society anyway, so being the one to end it might feel natural to him.
"And what about those who die in this beta apocalypse of mine?"
"Only your rules matter," said the witch, squatting in front of Aiden.
"Hey, what's your name anyway?"
"Um... Belle, Belle Queens."
"So not only do you look like the girl from my class, you have the same names," Aiden sighed. He already knew this was his Belle from the future—no wonder she was here.
Explains why she'd do anything for the future him.
"Well... I'm gonna take this shit to the government so the adults can handle it. I really don't want—"
Before Aiden could complete the statement, Belle kissed his lips, and he didn't pull away. He also leaned forward to enjoy the kiss.
However, it wasn't an ordinary kiss. Aiden was shown several possibilities of how it would end if he met the government or abandoned everything.
One thousand futures—and only one was successful: doing it himself.
"I'm sorry," said Belle, hiding her blushing face while Aiden smiled at the type of powers she displayed.
"Okay, I need a live broadcast connecting to the city, so we'll just—"
"No need. You have the most powerful weapon in the universe: the Apocalypse Game Developer System. It can do anything."
"Really? Tell me more," Aiden grinned.
---
The streets were busy at night. With numerous pedestrians and noisy vehicles passing by, there were workers from businesses, children from school, and many passersby with different objectives.
However, soon some parts of the clouds became very red—more like blood-red clouds circling a particular spot.
Then the billboard with the news lady began glitching. A surge of wind passed through, and every electronic device shut down—complete blackout.
Then, only the billboard automatically activated itself, revealing a slender, enigmatic male sitting on a red throne with a humanoid steel-type ant with falling wings and glowing red eyes.
"Humans," the enigmatic masked male spoke. The wooden mask had one eye glowing a purple hue. It was very hard to identify this person.
From the voice alone, kids began clutching their mommies' clothes, already feeling scared.
"I am Doomsday Lord, and I have come to prepare you for Ragnarok. Now listen. Your world is about to be destroyed—by ME."
Accompanying his words, towers shot out from the ground, destroying roads and buildings. Everyone began running and screaming as multiple towers kept shooting from the ground, some even losing their legs or stepping on others.
Then, big trees towering higher than most buildings also shot out from the ground. The red leaves on them touched a man and burned him down to ashes. The trees also had several purple apples.
"Welcome to my 365-day apocalyptic game tutorial," said Aiden, grinning behind the mask. Forget everything—he was enjoying this.
"If you want to survive, play by the rules I'll be creating. Your planet is merely a challenge, as I have destroyed so many."
The police department was in chaos. Nothing was working, except for billboards, TVs, and smartphones displaying Doomsday Lord.
"Level one quest is quite simple. Once you receive a blue screen notification, know you've been chosen to participate in my apocalypse and given a chance to save your planet. I have spared you, and those within the range of 15–45 are my players—these are fit enough."
Just as Aiden said, some humans could see blue screens in front of them. Others were murmuring if it was true.
"This guy's not joking," muttered a man.
[Name: Evans Kings]
[Level: 0]
[Class: Mage]
[Starter Skill: Fireball Lv. 01]
[You have been chosen to participate in the Apocalypse Game Tutorial]
[Quest: Eat an evolved tree apple fruit to level up EXP and assess efficient use of the system]
Everyone kept glancing at one another, now realizing everyone could only see their personal status.
"If you want to end this quicker, I'll be waiting for you in my red dungeon," said Aiden, grinning deviously behind the mask.
"The more you complete my quests, the closer you are to leveling up and getting rewarded, which includes me sparing Earth. Let the apocalypse begin."
After he said that, the clouds rumbled very loudly and the rain began to pour. Aiden was nowhere to be seen or heard.
"If that Doomsday guy is right, the apples in the trees are barely twenty," a random player said. Everyone looked at each other and—boom.
They began running toward it. The apocalypse had begun.