The first thought that came to him when he observed his new surroundings was that he died. Considering his last memory was of being roasted alive by a skyscraper-sized dragon of all things, he supposed that could be the truth. Now, he may not be a believer of the heaven and hell theory that most religions like to preach about, but he can honestly say this was neither of those places. Because if he was asked to describe the place in one word, it would be ‘White’.

Too much white in his opinion.

No matter where he looked, he could only see white. He could not move any of his limbs either, only his eyes seemed to be working. He could tell that all his body was there, he could feel every part of his body being there, but he couldn’t actually feel anything from them.

He couldn’t feel any ground under his back or feet so he couldn’t tell if he was standing or laying down either. For all he knew, he could have been floating in this endlessly spanning white void.

He was already getting sick of the colour. And the weird thing about the situation he was in was that while he should be screaming his head off in panic in lieu of recent events, he was absolutely calm. Hell, just a while ago he concluded that he was maybe, probably, definitely dead and then went on to think about other stuff, as if him being dead was just an afterthought.

‘I think I am dead, so let me look at my surroundings which has absolutely nothing except white, white and oh look, more white!’ he mockingly thought to himself. Something was definitely wrong with this place. Not even five minutes in, or were those hours, and he was already going crazy.

‘Next thing he knows, he will be describing his situation in the third person to himself...’

…

Fuck!

He couldn’t tell how long he stayed in that place. It could be days, weeks, years even. Or it could also be scant few moments as there were no signs of the passage of time in that space.

One moment he was looking at, you guessed it, more white and the next moment he was standing in a line behind a blonde-haired boy, a teenager, he guessed from his build.

His condition was still the same it seems because he was still unable to move his body. Only his eyes were working as he noticed that despite his inability to move, he was still somehow moving forward. It was a disconcerting feeling, knowing that you’re moving yet not being in control of anything except your sight.

It weirdly reminded him of the unskippable cutscenes in video games he used to play, where you could only pan your camera and all your other controls were blocked.

Looking around as far as he could, he saw other lines just like the one he found himself in, standing on platforms floating in the air without any supports whatsoever. It was like a giant spider-web of hundreds, maybe thousands of lines as far as he could see, all of them leading into the black void at the centre.

As he turned his attention back in front, he noticed he was at the very front of his line, which shouldn’t be possible as just a few seconds ago, the void was a little bigger than his pinkie. Now the void was all he could see.

The moment he stepped into the black void, he found himself in a small room, sitting in a very small and uncomfortable chair in front of an empty table which was, urgh, white coloured. On the other side of the table was a very lavish recliner on which sat a woman, probably.

The “woman” herself was a strange being. Neon green hair surrounding a pale green face which may have been beautiful even, but to him was straight-up weird and golden eyes with a slit as pupil like a reptile. She seemed to be sporting a smirk on her blue-painted lips that told him she was very amused at seeing his current predicament.

All in all, she did not look human at all.

Realizing that he could finally move his other body parts, and without feeling like a spectator in his own body, he opened his mouth to ask her something, anything so that things can start to make some sense around him, but before he could get a word out, she beat him to it and started talking.

“Welcome, Bharat Kumar. My name is Xenakieth and me and my group have been put in charge of overseeing and guiding your zone - 78A of World - 789587C through the changes that will be happening in your life from now on. I’m sure you must be very confused right now and I will be responsible for informing you about most of the changes, those I’m allowed to share anyways.” she muttered out the last part.

“First of all, every world out there in the vast multiverse has a predetermined threshold, at which point that world will have ‘The Blessings’ assimilated into it and the world itself will be integrated into the vast network spanning across universes. So, Congratulations! because your planet, called ‘Earth’, along with your world just passed that threshold and is going through the integration as we speak. So, that’s the short version of it. Any questions?” she asked.

“Wha-who-huh?” Bharat intelligently said to her in response as he fidgeted in his too-small chair nervously. Too much weird shit was happening around him that his brain couldn’t process it clearly.

Firstly, the city he woke up in the morning looking as if fucking Armageddon came early. Next, a goddamn dragon of all things shows up, which apparently didn’t like the condition of the city so decided to fix it. By roasting everything and everyone in there. Then, he died? He thinks he died, or he was in a coma right now and having a very lucid dream. Then again, this seemed too clear to be a dream.

And then some alien chick started telling him stuff about the multiverse, different world, threshold. It was all stuff from science fiction and fantasy books he used to read as a teenager. It was too unbelievable, too mindboggling to believe. So, his first question to her came as no surprise.

“Am I dead? Is this a dream?” he asked, still sceptical of the whole thing.

Xenakieth, as hard as it may seem, appeared to be even more amused by his question.

“No Bharat, you are most definitely not dead, yet. But you soon will be if you somehow return to your world as you are now.” She spoke ominously.

“What do you mean?” he asked, wondering what to take of the warning he just received.

“Right at this moment, your world is going through some changes in its environment and wildlife so it can better connect with the ‘network’ and not just implode on the first contact due to influx of energy that it will receive. But your species, or ‘humans’, as you call it will not be able to survive in this new environment as you are now. Your species is physically very, how do I say it, weak? Pathetic, useless, squishy- “

“Alright alright! I get it!” Bharat bit out, annoyed by the way she was describing his species or maybe him in particular.

“Right! But you don’t have to worry over much because that’s where ‘The Blessing’ comes in. It’s a solution to all our problems, given to us by the gods themselves. To rise above your position predetermined by the nature of your birth and reach places that you didn’t even know existed! Grasp power that’ll shake you to your core! And live your life with no regrets.” She exclaimed while clenching her fists. A fire in her eyes that wasn’t there before. All traces of amusement gone from her face. All he could see now was hunger and passion for power.

Bharat just stared at her in befuddlement due to the sudden shift in her personality.

“You mentioned this ‘Blessing’ before too. What is this blessing exactly? And how exactly will it help me get out of the fucked-up situation you described?” he asked nervously, feeling a bit awkward at her passionate ‘speech’.

“Like I said, ‘The Blessing’ will be the answer to all your problems. It has been known by many names throughout history. ‘The Path’, ‘Guidance’, ‘Words of Gods’. ‘The Blessing is just one of many. But there is one that is common among many. Said to be told to our ancestors by the gods. All rumours I tell you. It can’t be anything but ‘The Blessing’.” She explained as if the thought of calling it something else was the highest blasphemy one could commit.

“What was it called?” He curiously asked, still in disbelief of the reverence in which she talked about this, whatever that was. But her next words brought him back to reality. A shock going through his mind as he thought of the ramifications.

“’The System’”

It had to a dream. There was no other explanation about it. All throughout her explanation, this was the only thought that was revolving in his head. Sure, before he could, probably, believe in all the things she was spouting, albeit with some scepticism, but he could believe them.

In his college years, he used to be an avid reader of the fantasy genre and was fond of collecting these books and reading them whenever he could. In simpler terms, he used to waste away his time in reading all the fictional works he could while his grades were dropping at a steady rate.

Good times.

So, in short, he was no stranger to the concept of ‘system’ shtick that used to be popular. All those lines describing endless grinding and increasing stats gave him immense satisfaction while he sat on his couch making a mess of his life.

But he stopped that annoying habit of his a long while ago and hasn’t touched all that in a while. So, if this was a dream, he was confused why he was having such dreams now of all times when that chapter of his life was long over.

He even wondered for a moment if he consumed something questionable last night.

Now that he mentioned it, he did notice the food he ordered at the hotel for dinner had an odd taste. He wrote that off due to bad spices at that time, but could it be-

No, he was going off track here. There was a simple solution to this dilemma, that will prove whether her words contained truth, or he was kidnapped by some weird cult.

“Status” he spoke with unfound confidence, cutting off whatever Xenakieth was speaking before, something about skills and titles, which he was listening with half an ear at best. His sudden interruption got him a questioning look from her, which he promptly ignored, still in denial, and waited.

…

Nothing.

Honestly, he didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. On one hand, all this could be a dream and he would wake up anytime and go back to his daily life. On other hand, something like the system in real life would probably be cool.

Alright, it will be fucking amazing. But that was all wishful thinking on his part. Real-life just wasn’t like that. It was boring, period. Nothing like slaying monsters for experience and levels.

“It won’t appear right now” Xenakieth suddenly said, breaking him out of his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“I said, the thing you are looking for won’t appear now. It will take a few more minutes. Your body and soul are still getting used to the integration of ‘The Blessing’ so give it some time. After that-”

“Alright, that’s enough now.” He stood up from his chair, cutting her off, now getting annoyed by all this, whatever the hell was happening. He already concluded that this was not a dream. He had lucid dreams before but nothing with this level of clarity. So, this was probably all a big elaborate joke, a joke which wasn’t funny anymore.

“Is this a kidnapping? Am I being held hostage by some cult or something? Or is this one of those stupid pranks on YouTube where you guys do some shit and then point at the cameras huh? Where are the cameras at huh?!” Edward looked around the room searching for those very hidden cameras, even looking at the table closely.

“You know I got to commend you guys for your creativity and dedication because I haven’t seen anything this elaborate before for a silly prank video. And I still have no idea how you pulled all those things off. The disappearing act of the buildings, that dragon itself would have cost a fortune to design, or was that graphics and v-”

“Wait, what dragon? And the disappearance of buildings?” And for the first time since he had met her, he saw something else on her face other than amusement or that brief bout of excitement.

Confusion.

“Look, I’m thoroughly annoyed by this act of your now and want ans-”

“No! what did you say about those occurrences that you mentioned”.

“Do I look stupid to you? Why would I explain all that crazy stuff which you had a hand in creating?!” he asked, now getting very angry at this point.

“Humour me.”

So, he did. He told her everything that went wrong since morning. The vanishing of buildings. That counter in the sky, the appearance of the dragon and him roasting everyone there alive. That white room of silence and then now.

When he finished, he noticed that Xenakieth seemed to space out for a second. But he didn’t expect what she'd do when she finally opened her mouth. She laughed.

Hard.

For a moment he just there, looking at her laughing. As if he was the one that told her some big-ass joke.

“I’m sorry but this is just hilarious!” she got out amidst her laughter. After calming down somewhat she asked, “You have no idea what you went through, don’t you?”

At seeing his clueless face, she promptly broke down again in laughter. It wasn’t a simple laugh either. It was full-blown belly clutching laughter. She had to support herself on the table to stop herself from falling.

Just as he was at the end of his patience and about to give her a piece of his mind, she finally decided to calm down.

“Alright alright, I’m good now. Phew! I can’t believe this actually happened” Xenakieth said, wiping a tear off the corner of her eye.

“Alright, first of all, this is not a prank or joke. It’s not a dream either. What seems to have happened, as hard it is to believe, is that ‘The Blessing” made a minor mistake. A small error, which seems to have a disastrous outcome in your case. Now listen carefully, I’m not usually allowed to inform you about this right now due to regulations, but your situation seems to be special.”

So, he listened, half in disbelief half in exasperation as she described the process involved when a world undergoes its changes.

Firstly, All the inhabitants of the world are given some time to prepare themselves for assimilation beforehand. Typically, a few minutes to an hour max.

When the countdown reaches its end, all the inhabitants are transferred to the gateway realm, which was right here. Here they are informed in detail about their upcoming situation which She was doing right now.

And lastly, the world goes through changes in its environment. The whole world landmasses and oceans are shifted and expanded to accommodate the changes. Afterwards, certain monsters from other realms enter through portholes to occupy some zones which create naturally occurring ‘Dungeons’

What seems to be the ‘minor’ mistake she mentioned was that somehow, the order in which things should have happened was mixed up. And in some weird fucked up way, it made sense.

For a moment he just stood there, annoyance dripping off his very being. After some time of just staring at her, he sighed.

“Alright, I’m done,” he said rubbing his temples, getting fed up with all this bullshit now.

“What you mean is, all that I went through till now, was all due to a mistake? Because someone apparently made an error in setting up the order of things in which they were supposed to happen. Can’t you see how stupid that sounds! And for the last time stop this joke! All this crap about systems, or stats, or titles or whatever bullshit is not fucking real! Real-life is not li-!”

<< Assimilation Procedure successful… >>

<< Establishing connection to the Server in… >>

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“Huh?”