In a corner store tucked between a laundromat and a closed-down cinema, Jude Ashen moved on muscle memory as he went to aisle three, taking two packs of cigarettes from the top shelf.
He had been determined to quit smoking and hadn't taken a whiff for days, but the stress of his part-time work had forced him to regress.
He then grabbed instant noodles and aspirin to deal with the headaches that had been bothering him recently.
He usually had migraines, and what followed was always one of two things: an accident or someone dying around him.
But nothing had happened for almost a week which was odd.
The headaches usually never lasted more than a day, so for it to stretch this long meant the accident about to happen was massive.
He turned toward the fridges to get a can of soda, but as he opened one, the ground suddenly trembled. The bottles on the shelves quivered, and the light fixtures swung overhead. Then everything went dark.
Emergency lights blinked to life a second later, casting the store in harsh shadows, and someone asked.
"Was that an earthquake?"
"Maybe," another replied.
Jude stood frozen, the items he had bought clutched in his hand. His migraine was disappearing.
Something bad had just happened.
A customer walked to the door and tried to pry it open, but it didn't budge. He tried again, using more force this time, but still nothing.
"The doors! They're not opening!"
The man yelled, panic spreading through the store.
"Let me at it," one of the staff members said, moving to check it out, but it didn't work. They brought the keys and tried as well, yet the doors still wouldn't open.
Phones came out as people began calling for help. But there was no signal. Even the internet wasn't working.
A woman looking out the window asked, her voice shaking, "Why… why is it so dark outside?"
Jude looked outside as well and saw it too.
Although it was nighttime, outside was just too dark. No headlights, streetlights, or movement at all. Just black. Thick, absolute blackness, which left Jude and the others staring in confusion.
Then the sound of something landing echoed above them.
Jude turned, his eyes scanning upward, and then he saw it. What looked like a rabbit, about three feet tall, with white fur and a black cloak, perched on the middle shelf. It sat like a child, legs dangling, paws folded, eyes gleaming with intelligence and an eerie smile on its face.
Jude rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things. Then a woman gasped behind him, pointing at the rabbit, confirming he wasn't hallucinating.
"What the hell is that?!"
The creature tilted its head and raised a paw in a gesture of greeting.
"Hello there!" it chirped, its voice loud, bright, and musical. "I'm Gulgi, your conductor."
The creature's voice caught everyone's attention, and they stared at it in shock, confusion, and horror.
Gulgi then rose to his feet, his crimson eyes bulging, his teeth glinting like porcelain daggers. As he spoke again, his voice shifted from bright and chirpy to rough and monstrous.
"To cut a long story short, your world has ended. And now… you'll begin a simple trial where most, if not all, of you will die."
For a breathless heartbeat, no one said a word.
Then screams erupted.
The air inside the convenience store thickened with terror as people rushed toward the front doors, trying to force them open. Elbows flew, palms slammed against the glass, and shoulders collided with the metal frames. But the glass doors stood firm, like a tombstone forged from solid stone.
"Get it open!" someone shouted, pounding harder.
"I can't!" another voice shrieked.
Others turned to the windows, attempting to break them, but they were just as unyielding as the entrance doors.
Glass shouldn't be this tough.
Jude's brow furrowed in confusion as he watched people fail to even crack the windows.
Phones lit up, frantic fingers tapping at glowing screens, calls to 911, messages to spouses, parents, and lovers.
But none went through.
Then, without warning, every device died. Screens winked off simultaneously, like a graveyard of fireflies.
Several people began shouting for help, their voices aimed at no one in particular.
But amid the chaos, Gulgi the Conductor remained perfectly still. Then, with exaggerated boredom, he sighed and lazily raised a paw. His voice rose above the din with terrifying clarity.
"As I was saying…" Gulgi chirped in a honey-sweet tone, "I am Gulgi, Conductor of Trial Number 150…"
"Screw this!" a voice suddenly interrupted the talking rabbit. "I don't care what kind of trick this is. I'm done playing!"
The speaker was a teenage boy, maybe sixteen, clutching a metal baseball bat. His eyes were wild, fear teetering on the edge of rage. Sweat streaked down his temples.
"You think you can trap us in here? Scare us with your freak puppet show?" he shouted toward the ceiling. "Where's the real culprit, huh? Come out!"
He began swinging the bat wildly, knocking over snack stands and toppling a wire rack of bottled water. Then, snarling, he turned toward Gulgi.
"Fine! If you won't come out, I'll drag you out!"
He charged, closing the distance in reckless fury.
And that was when Gulgi's expression shifted. His grin vanished, replaced by cold contempt. With the casual grace of a man flicking lint from his coat, he raised one paw.
SPLAKKT!
One second, the teen was rushing forward. The next, his head was gone. A red haze hung where it had been, suspended in the air like a grotesque halo. Bone shards pattered across the floor like hailstones, and the young man's headless body hit the ground, twitching once before going still.
Time froze.
Then chaos erupted again.
Screams, high-pitched and guttural, rang out as people tripped over themselves, trying to escape something they couldn't comprehend. Thick trails of the teenager's blood painted the snack aisle in streaks of viscera, and some of it had landed on Jude's cheek.
But he didn't blink.
He didn't react.
He simply touched the splatter on his cheek, feeling the warmth on his fingers, and muttered:
"This is real."
He definitely wasn't dreaming.
Gulgi scratched the back of his head as if exhausted and said, "Be calm, humans. Do not make me angry."
But they weren't listening.
A man bolted toward the back door of the store, his panting wild with fear.
And that made him the next victim.
POP!
His head exploded just like the first.
Then, among those still banging at the door, two more were killed. Then another. And another. And another. Geysers of red shooting upward, followed by wet thuds.
Seven corpses now littered the floor, all of them belonging to the loudest voices from before.
That was what finally forced a terrible hush to descend.
No one dared to move. They understood now that if they made any sudden move or loud noise, they would die.
"Finally, peace," Gulgi exhaled, twirling his paw idly.
Jude watched in silence, his heart beating slowly. He hadn't moved an inch since the first man died.
Gulgi spread his arms like a magician about to unveil his next trick, then said brightly, "Now that I have your attention… let me explain what is happening."
"Your lives, as you knew them, are over. This world no longer belongs to you. The Demon Alliance has claimed your realm. Your rulers have fallen. Your cities have burned. Millions are already dead. But you…" He pointed around the room. "You're the lucky ones."
He let the words settle.
"You've been chosen. Not to die. But to be tested."
Jude's eyes darted between the corpses and the creature. The meaning wasn't lost on him.
"You'll be given the chance to enter Nirvana. A realm where power is limitless. Where reality obeys your will."
"But paradise must be earned," Gulgi went on, his eyes twinkling. "You'll face two simple trials to prove yourselves worthy. Pass them… and the Tower opens."
"To aid you," Gulgi said, holding up a paw, "you'll be granted access to a System. A universal interface tailored to your fragile little species."
Then he paused.
"Now," he said, "summon your status screen."
Nobody moved. How could they? The pressure radiating from the small creature made them sweat buckets.
"Summon your status?" No one knew how to do that, and they felt too pressured to even ask.
But surprisingly, a voice suddenly rang out, asking the question everyone wanted to ask.
"How do we do that?"
Heads turned toward the young man who spoke. He had a focused, almost fearless look about him. His voice sounded less afraid and more curious.
Gulgi's head tilted, clearly pleased by the display of bravery.
"Good question," he said. " The System is voice-activated. All you have to do is utter the word 'stats' "
Jude, upon hearing the answer to his question, exhaled and muttered, "Stats."
A soft chime echoed in his ears, like a tiny bell ringing. A translucent window shimmered into view before him, floating in the air.
[Character Information]
Name: Jude Ashen
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Class: None
Level: 1
EXP: (0/100)
Stats:
Strength: 6
Agility: 6
Intelligence: 6
Stamina: 4
Constitution: 8
HP: 100/100
MP: 0/0
Skills: None
Items: None
Allocatable Stat Points: 0
Shard Stones: 0
Jude stared at the floating screen.
It looked exactly like the HUDs from video games, only this wasn't a game. This was real
Around the room, others began whispering the word "Stats," and more screens lit up the store in flickering blue hues.
Gulgi, seeing this, began to pace along the counter like a teacher preparing a lecture.
"A ten in any stat means you've reached the human peak. Anything higher? That's when the fun begins."
"Strength governs your power. Agility is speed. Intelligence affects perception and skills. Constitution keeps you breathing. Got it?"
No one dared answer or voice their confusion, but everyone listened.
"You'll gain experience by killing monsters. Level up, and you'll unlock new skills and gain stat points. Oh, and Shard Stones, like this."
He raised a glowing crystal.
"Ten stones equals one stat point. Kill. Loot. Grow. Build yourselves into the monsters you need to be to survive."
The crystal vanished.
"Oh, and classes? Those come later. Survive long enough to reach the Tower."
Jude absorbed every word that came out of the rabbit's mouth.
In order to survive, he had to level up. But the only way to do that was to hunt down monsters.
But where were these monsters?
When were they going to arrive?
Right then, a bell tolled in his mind as he asked these questions, another screen appearing in front of him.
[First Trial: Prove Your Worth]
Quest: Survive the Goblin Horde
Time Limit: 15 Minutes
Reward: 50 Shard Stones