Eli kept up his steady pace as he jogged through Central Park. He loved to spend time like this, alone, with music playing in his earbuds. It was especially refreshing for him to run here on days like this when his family was fighting.
He admired families that could go through a single dinner without an argument and some shouting.
Eli was a handsome seventeen-year-old high school senior who would be going to college next fall. He had normal brown eyes, dark brown hair, and a chiseled jaw. With his looks, he should have had a girlfriend, but his busy and chaotic life had left no room for romance.
Eli sighed as he came to a stop. He wasn't tired from his run, but he took his time to look at the trees surrounding him and the skyscrapers in the distance. The world, even in the city, was beautiful, but why could he never feel this sense of beauty and wonder when around his family?
He decided to push the thoughts of his family out of his mind and started to relax, thinking about the paper that was due for his class tomorrow morning. He didn't think of himself as a procrastinator, but he had been pulling all-nighters just to write a single high school paper.
"Ha," he laughed at his pathetic self. Nothing that was a part of his life seemed to be going well. His boss at the restaurant was mad at him. His siblings kept demanding for his money, and his teachers no longer treated him as the future class valedictorian. The eyes that cast judgment seemed to follow him everywhere he went lately.
Except here. Here in the park was his little patch of heaven. No judging eyes. No loud family members, and no angry boss. Eli started back up his run as he kept pushing to finish his usual route before it was too dark. The sun was almost down and it shown its rays through the clouds, looking like a heavenly sign.
Eli's spirit was lifted, and he felt light as basked in the feeling of forgiving his family, his classmates, and his boss, for their mistreatment of him.
'It's not like they actually know what they are doing,' thought Eli. Eli's personality was a strange occurrence, as it clearly didn't come from his upbringing. While his parents and siblings were selfish, lived in poverty, and didn't treat other people well, he grew up taking verbal abuse and later letting go of his anger. He was confident that he could take whatever the world threw at him and still come out victorious.
Eli kept jogging through the park and smiled at the people he passed on his run. He was just getting back into his usual good mood when a mean-looking dog started barking in the most vicious and loud way that sounded like it wanted to tear people apart. Eli jumped at the sound, tripped, and face-planted into the concrete path. 'Why me?' Eli thought. Life had always seemed unfair to him. He was even a good person! At least by his own standards. But he tried to live well, and life just kept knocking him down. And just like that, with pain in his heart and on his face, he passed out.
The young lady who was walking her bulldog strained against the leash, trying to keep her dog under control. She had no idea what caused her precious angel to start barking that way. Immediately, she thought that maybe she could make it the man's fault. 'How could he be so mean as to scare her dog?' She went over to him to complain and force him to apologize to her, but when she shook him and started to turn him over, he saw his face, which was covered in blood. He looked like he had been hit in the face by a sanding machine. He basically had a line of bleeding flesh straight up the middle of his face. The woman gasped, and her previous deviousness left her.
If the man was injured like this, he could probably sue her for damages and emotional trauma. The woman walking the dog was quite well educated on the many ways to squeeze a lawsuit out of simply unfortunate situations, and she was used to taking advantage of such instances.
Looking around, the woman turned to leave, but her dog was still barking like crazy, only this time it wasn't directed at Eli. The young woman looked around and didn't see anything that should warrant her dog's behavior. There shouldn't have been any form of wildlife in the park either, because park rangers relocated every rodent and creature that was ever reported.
"Damn you!" the woman cursed. If Susie kept barking and woke up the man, she might find herself in a courtroom with a huge fine to pay. She kept pulling and tugging at her dog, and though she had some success, she was far from being able to flee from the scene.
Suddenly, the world seemed to vibrate, and a massive golden light appeared in the sky. The clouds had been congregating overhead during the last few seconds until light pierced through the clouds like the eye of a hurricane, and in the center of the space was a glowing golden tablet. Dumbfounded, the woman dropped the leash, and her dog ran away. The tablet flashed, and the world was covered by its light.
All around the world, people had seen the tablet in the sky, just like the woman had. And all around the world, people were bathed in the light before disappearing altogether. Children watched as their parents disappeared in front of them. Pregnant wives saw their husbands vanish.
For a second, the world was silent, and then the mass hysteria began. The panic among those left behind was incredible, and unanswered questions popped up everywhere. Was this an alien abduction? Were they all about to die? Was this the end of the world?
It seemed everyone had their own theories, but slowly, the people in power who had not disappeared made a public appearance. "We do not know what happened or where they went, but we can assure you that we are looking into the problem and will be investigating the source of that tablet," said a very old politician as put years of experience into trying to calm the masses.
"We promise that everyone will be alright. We, your country, will never fail you, so please, be patient and look out for your fellow countrymen." That was how most of the immediate broadcasts ended, and though most people didn't trust their government, they were still happy that it existed because without it, they wouldn't know how to function.
Little did they know that the government was right. The people were fine, and they would return. But for now, the world needed to start moving on to the next chapter in human history. The governments around the world all called for their militaries to bring order and peace to the heavily populated cities, but that was when another surprise came to the nation. Every member of every branch in the military was gone.
Finally, some people began to speculate and form ideas that were closer to the truth, but even then, no one could imagine what was about to happen.
Eli slowly opened his eyes, taking in the white room he found himself in. His mind and body were slow and groggy. He slowly reached for his face, which felt tight like it was being squeezed together. In real time, his face was healing at an impossible speed.
'Is this? It's like magic,' thought Eli. From being yelled at by his boss, to being in the middle of a family shouting match, to busting his face on the concrete thanks to a dog, and now ending up in a seemingly endless white room, Eli thought that he must be the most unlucky person in the world. He went through so much already today. He almost cried, just wanting the day to be done. Too much. Too much had happened today.
He closed his eyes again and just laid down on the floor of the empty white space. In the darkness of his mind, he began to calm down. He began to drift once again to sleep, and he was almost there when...
"Ding!" A screen appeared in the void of his closed eyes. [Congratulations, you have met the requirements of the Tutorial!] The words on the screen were met with Eli's blank gaze. He should have been freaked out, but he was too tired and thought that he might even be dreaming.
He continued to read as the screen shifted and showed a new set of information. [The Tutorial is a place for the sentient beings of newly awakened planets to adapt quickly to the changes of the System.] Eli thought about that for a moment before shrugging it off. 'Whatever, not like I can do anything else if this isn't a dream.' He continued reading.
[The first stage of the Tutorial will start in 8 minutes. Please get adjusted and read your Status for more information. To view your Status, please say or think the word with the intention to view it.]
Eli blinked and said, "Status". Suddenly, a new, taller screen appeared in front of him. He looked at it with dull interest. He had a vague idea that this reminded him of video games, but seeing that he had only personally played them a few times before in his life made him unsure what to make of what he was seeing.
Status:
Name: -
Level: 0 | 0/5 exp
Titles: -
Race: Human (0 Ascensions)
Physique: Unknown (Select for more information)
Bloodline: Black - Stage 9
Vitality: 7 - 140/140
Mana: 0
Strength: 5
Agility: 7
Stamina: 7
Willpower: 9
Perception: 6
Free stats: 0
*Please select the name feature and choose a name before the tutorial starts; otherwise, your name will be chosen according to your story.
Looking at his status screen, Eli didn't know if what he had was good or bad. His eyes hovered over will power, and he was pleased that at least the system thought his mind was strong. 'I have not suffered in vain,' he thought. Eli then looked at his mana stat, which was 0. If mana existed, did that mean that he could use magic? Eli began to sorely hope that this wasn't a dream. A change like this was just what he needed to throw his life off course and onto the track to success.
Every time in Eli's life that he faced a setback, he would tell himself, "Just do the next right thing." In this case, Eli decided that the next course of action would be to follow the system's instructions and get ready for the tutorial. He focused on the Name section of his status screen, and an illusory blank bar along with a keyboard showed up. He instinctively moved to type his name, but before he could even get his hands into position, his name had already been filled out.
'I guess everything is in my head,' concluded Eli. He also almost laughed at him self for trying to touch something that was only in his vision because of his mind and not because he was actually looking at a physical screen. "Should I submit my last name?" Eli wondered aloud.
-_- ... The system gave no response.
Eli began to think hard. 'Did he want to be known by his last name in this new world?' It's not like his parents and siblings would know if he changed it. Such a thing didn't mean much to most people, but Eli didn't want to be reminded every day in the future that he was a member of the Cayson family. So Eli Cayson decided to do something fun. He gave his mind a few seconds to think and then chose a new last name for his status screen.
Status:
Name: Eli Merlin
Level: 0 | 0/5 exp
Titles: -
Race: Human (0 Ascensions)
Physique: Unknown (Select for more information)
Bloodline: (Merlin) Black - Stage 9
Eli named himself after the great sage of European legends. Merlin was known to be one of the greatest wizards of all time, and seeing as how magic may just be a thing in his future, Eli decided to fill the shoes of the mythical mage.