When Olivier opened his eyes, the smell of burnt earth and metal hit him like a punch. He was lying on cracked, dry ground that looked like it had survived a million apocalypses. All around him stretched a wasteland: ruins of buildings, twisted car wreckage, and in the distance, black, churning clouds. The sky had a sickly orange hue, as if the sun had given up.
"What the…" he muttered, standing up. He felt different. Stronger. Lighter, despite his new body being noticeably bulkier. He glanced at his hands-large, veiny, with long fingers. He ran a hand through his hair. Black, with pink streaks. He grinned. "Well, that's something."
Then he remembered the "surprise." In manga, it always worked the same way. "System!" he shouted, a bit uncertainly.
A holographic panel flickered before his eyes, like something straight out of an RPG. Letters began forming information:
Name: Olivier Carter
Age: 21
Level: 1
World: Earth-2149
Skills: Enhanced Senses, Increased Durability, Adamantium Skeleton, Regeneration
Olivier blinked, reading the data. Enhanced senses? Adamantium skeleton? Regeneration? It sounded like someone had thrown him into a Wolverine-Deadpool crossover. But when his eyes landed on the world's name, the grin vanished from his face.
"Earth-2149?" he whispered, then, louder: "Fuck."
He knew that name. He'd read the comics. Earth-2149 wasn't just any world. It was a world where everything went wrong. A world where heroes turned into monsters. A world of zombies.