“Ending Tutorial in 5, 4, 3…” The great voice seemed to rattle the ground, and Grey looked up at the sky above. Dark armor that seemed to be made of chitinous plates similar to that of the scorpions below adorned his body. An array of blades hung from his belt and a makeshift strap across his chest. In his left hand, he carried a spear of bone that looked tipped by a scorpion’s stinger.

When the count reached one, the world around him blinked out of existence. What replaced it was a familiar scene, one that seemed as though it came from another person’s life. He stood in his driveway, looking at a decrepit house. His house. Weeds grew up to almost knee height in his yard, and his front door sat open, a few of his sun-bleached belongings scattered on the front porch. Written red in spray paint across the front of his home was the word “Taken.”

Grey had returned to Earth.

---

Waylen looked at the others. Some had eyes filled with tears. Others hugged, cheered, and danced merrily. Others still looked uneasy, as though the thought of returning to Earth disturbed them. He hardly blamed the last. It felt as though they were leaving a bad situation for a worse one.

He looked around. They stood in the middle of a walled city. Past the walls, he could make out tall trees and distant mountains behind them. They had built this city and named it Sanctuary, for it was their bastion against the monsters that lurked outside of it.

It had become a home, but he would not miss it. Instead, he longed to see his wife. His daughter. His parents. What had they gone through without him? He looked down at his hands and clenched them. Whatever happened, he had the power now to protect them. That he knew.

“Waylen, you partying up with anyone?” Lillian was a young woman with blonde hair and soft features. She walked up to him, her arms linked with the bear of a man beside her. They were one of the few positive stories to come from this place.

Waylen shook his head. “I’m afraid not. I’d like to return to my home.” Partying up referred to the Archon’s ability to send members of the Tutorial back in groups rather than as individuals. Many had opted to take up the offer, including the two in front of him. Safety in numbers, he imagined.

“Got a family?” That was Ray, the man who stood at Lillian’s side.

“Yes. A wife and a daughter.”

The man patted his shoulder. “Well, I wish you the best. You were a good mayor and one of the best men I’ve had the privilege of serving under,” he said.

Waylen smiled. “You don’t have to suck up to me anymore, man. It’s over, remember?”

“I’m afraid it’s just started.” Ray looked up at the sky above.

Waylen’s smile fell. “True enough,” he said. “I wish you both luck in what’s to come. Come find me when you can, eh?”

“Do you still plan on starting that mercenary company you talked about?”

“I do.”

“Then we’ll see you then.”

Then he was alone. Just starting. If this was only the Tutorial, what was to come after? Would they be strong enough? It seemed like a nightmare he would never wake up from.

Are you just going to give up? You’ve got a mission, soldier. The voice of his commanding officer rang through his head, and Waylen closed his eyes. He did have a mission: save the world.

“Roger that,” he said.

---

“Today, we bring you a breaking report from across the world. The people who disappeared a year ago in what many have called the Rapture have returned. Many are being detained and brought in for questioning as we speak, while others have declined to speak to the police or press at all. Laurie, can I get your thoughts on this?” The talk show host turned to his cohost and smiled, his black hair slicked back.

The blonde woman nodded. “It’s certainly surprising, Jonathan,” she said. “I… I think it shows that The Voice was more than an act of terrorism or some worldwide cyber crime. No, what we’re talking about is legitimate alien interaction. Which begs the question: are those who have returned truly human?”

“Are you suggesting they’re aliens?”

“Not quite.” She spread her arms out. “I’m merely saying there is a reason to believe they may not be the same as they were before. Whether that is a positive or negative remains to be seen.”

Jonathan nodded his head. “So you’re referring to The Voice’s warning, then? For those of you at home, The Voice proclaimed that a mysterious form of matter called ‘Chi’ would soon arrive and change the Earth. Could the end of days be upon us? Find out after the break.”

----

Zion screamed, tears running freely from his eyes. He summoned Hell’s Beast, and his rage blossomed, spreading over his being in the form of overlapping scales of black armor. His blade, a plain katana, became shifting shadow and grew larger and wider than any man should be able to wield. Above him, the sky bled a pure crimson. His darkness released, he howled to the sky and leapt into the horde of demons, bat-like creatures that stood on two legs.

Lauren. His sword severed the head of a red-skinned, malnourished monstrosity. Seth. He cut down another, slammed a gauntleted fist into a third, and then brought his hand down again, blood spattering up his arm. Amari. They were all around him, biting and clawing and screaming. His tears blurred his vision, and he stumbled. A blow cracked the plate on his shoulder.

His voice, hoarse now from his cries, snarled something, something that wasn’t even words. Wasn’t anything. He chopped an arm free. Sliced through the midsection of another. Dropped his blade, plunged his thumbs into the eye sockets of a demon, and ripped its skull apart. The Beast, that evil thing he kept in his soul, took over.

Then the demons disappeared. The sky above was a foreign blue, no longer bloodstained. Something about that tugged at him. His armored hands trailed through green grass, not pitted black rock.

Earth. He sunk to the ground, letting himself fall flat into the dirt. His armor collapsed, disappearing in a puff of darkness. Zion wept then, the dirt mixing with his tears. They had been so close. Just a few minutes, and they would’ve lived. A few more minutes.

The city. His family. They could still be saved. He wouldn’t fail again. He couldn’t. Zion stood, sheathing his sword at his hip.

Forward was the only direction for the living. Always forward.

---

The living room of Grey’s house was a mess. Looters had ransacked it, throwing his couch over and taking anything of value. His T.V. was gone. His watches were gone. They had even taken the few pairs of shoes he owned.

He picked up a cracked picture frame from the carpet in front of the mantle, looking at it with an impassive expression. It showed him, his sisters, his brother, and their parents standing together at some holiday get together a few years back. They lived a few hours away, and for a moment, he considered going to them.

Then it occurred to him. He had no money, no I.D., nothing. His wallet and cards had disappeared in the mouth of a worm months ago, and he had no way of recovering them. Even his car was missing.

When the Genesis arrived, none of those things would matter. Until then, however, he had no options. He stood in his home for some time longer, simply enjoying the quiet of the moment. When was the last time he had relaxed?

He heard the sound of tires on gravel and turned, looking out the open door to see the familiar black and white of a police car pulling up his driveway. Grey lived in a mid-sized town that was home to fifty thousand people at most. For the police to arrive so soon… One of the neighbors must have seen him arrive.

He looked down at himself. Aside from the armor, he knew his sandy hair was long and unkept, and blood of differing shades coated him. Simply put, he looked like a man who indulged in unsavory activities, but then, they were only cops. He placed the picture into his inventory.

He stepped outside of the house and blinked up at the sun above. He sucked in a breath, releasing it with a long exhale. Chi Breathing. A feeling like a light shock crept down his limbs until he was numb in the face.

The police car parked, and a man and a woman exited in black uniforms. Grey looked at the guns on their hips and watched their postures for any hint of training or hostility. They approached him with friendly smiles.

“Hello, sir. My name is Officer Jennings, and this is my partner, Officer James. Is this your house?” the man asked. He looked strong enough, but his feet were too close together to indicate a martial stance. His hand also never drifted close to his gun.

Grey looked up, meeting his eyes. “It was.”

The woman frowned. “It seems as though it’s been some time since you’ve been here,” she said. “Do you mind if I ask if you were one of the ones who disappeared after The Voice?”

“I don’t mind.” He kept his hands free of his weapons to show he meant no threat.

The police officers exchanged glances, and the woman tilted her head at Grey. No one spoke for a moment. “So are you one of the ones who disappeared?”

“Yes,” Grey said with a nod. Talking felt… foreign after so long. His voice sounded raw, as though being used at all strained it.

The man nodded. “Well, sir, if you don’t mind, we’d like to report your return to the station and maybe ask you a few questions. Would you be willing to come with us? There’d be no cuffing or anything like that, and it’d take an hour at most.”

Grey looked at the sky. They had perhaps four hours of daylight left, maybe five. He needed to prepare. The real Game would start soon. He could feel it through the Chi in the air.

“No. Ask your questions here. Quickly.” He released his Chi Breathing. Only attacks supported by an Evolution could pierce the Chi his body had begun to emit during the Tutorial, and these police officers were not Returnees.

The cops looked at him with open mouths, but the woman recovered quickly. “Jennings, I’ll hop on the radio and see what they have to say.”

Jennings nodded. “Go ahead.” He looked at Grey once more. “That’s a lot of knives you’ve got there. Expecting trouble?”

Grey tilted his head. “Yes? The Chi will soon arrive.”

“That.” He pointed, still smiling. “Can you explain that? Chi?”

A moment passed in silence. “Chi is power,” Grey said. “It will change this world.”

“How so?”

“Monsters. Evolutions. Fighting. You will see.” How to explain something he barely understood himself. These people were unprepared. They would die or learn quickly. As he had.

They stood in awkward silence for a time before the female cop returned. “Are you sure you won’t come with us to the station, sir?”

“I am.”

She nodded. “Well,” she said, “That’s all we have for you, then. Come on Jennings, others are returning now too, and the chief wants us patrolling to keep the peace. Some have caused… issues. Questions can be asked after.”

“See you then, sir, and don’t use those weapons, you hear?” He laughed at his own joke, and then they were leaving, backing out of his driveway with a wave.

Grey stood there for a moment and then walked back to his house. The Genesis was coming, and he had to prepare. This world was complacent, unaware. He could not be so. Becoming the Ultimate Player would not be an easy goal to accomplish.

Grey pulled a long fang from his storage and wrapped leather cord around its bottom, making a decent knife. The Tutorial had taught him to over prepare, and he had learned there was no such thing as too many knives. Prepared. Always prepared.

It was now the night of his first day on Earth, and he knew what the morning would bring. Chaos, blood, death. Towering monsters would sprout across the land, changing the landscape beneath them as they went. In short, the Game would begin. And who better to win the Game than the Ultimate Player?

A man and a woman in nondescript clothing sat in a car parked down the road, watching him. They thought themselves hidden, and perhaps by old world standards they were. Grey had learned to spot worms before they sprouted from the sand, however. He wouldn’t miss two government agents watching him through a pair of binoculars.

He sat on the roof of his old home, the full moon hanging above him like a white teardrop. His home… It reminded him of that other person. The person who had worn his skin, held his name. The man who had never learned to be happy.

He knew now what happiness was. The Game had shown him. It was becoming the Ultimate Player. It was only a shame that the old him had never known. Could never have known.

Hours passed, and when the sun dawned, it began. Grey stood. The apocalypse, the end times, the Genesis… It was upon them.