Day 0

The floor was strewn with pizza boxes and red solo cups. You could hardly take a step on the floor, and if you did...you wished you hadn’t. You see Ethan didn’t care about how clean he or his apartment was because he was hardly ever there. His job as a restaurant District Manager meant that he had to travel to stores daily. As one could tell by the boxes littering his apartment...he was a manager for Pizza Hut. Free food was free food, and he had college debt.

In a massive pile of blankets was the man himself, recently 22 years of age. Nobody had asked at work, and nobody really cared that he had worked round the clock for most of his life. With a groan and a shrug the blankets parted like the Red Sea. Blearily Ethan blinked a few times to clear his vision. Sitting directly in front of him were some words.

This is the Mega-Corp known as The Golems of Gordano speaking to the fleshbags of Earth 28571. You have been connected to the Universal Relay and will now take part in The World Ending Trials due to the Universe moving in another direction regarding your planets development. Prepare to be tested, but know you can win back everything...and more! Waves begin in 00:05 more information can be found in a Safe Zone. Good luck Earthlings!

A rattling of pizza boxes and loud curses echoed through the apartment quickly. “Aha!” Ethans shout echoed through the room. A semi sharp kitchen knife grasped in his trembling hands as he rushed towards the bathroom. Obviously the safest spot in terms of a locked door and one entrance in case anything crazy happened he could close the door and try to break the window...a two story drop was better than death.

The timer counted down quickly

00:02

Ethans palms grew slick as he tried to even out his breathing and relax. He was safe and sound in his bathroom after all. World Ending Trials did NOT sound good for his health.

00:01

What the hell was going to happen when it hit 0? Would the world stop spinning? Would the world just end?

When the timer hit zero, none of those things happened. What did happen was a loud ripping sound, as if a vacuum bag had been ripped open. A slight sound as if a watermelon had been dropped inside of his shower. Ethan jumped, the knife rattling around in his grip. “Is anybody there?” he asked while staying on the opposite side of the room. Uncontrollable shivers and shakes wracked his body.

Nothing prepared him for the slow and low growling that started coming from the shower. Suddenly what looked like a hand pressed against the shower curtain, as if testing its strength. The hand had five fingers like a human hand, but was far smaller and seemed to end in points. A low growl echoed in the room, reverberating through Ethans entire body. His knife held out he tried to fake confidence “Just...leave me alone!” he yelled, and just as it started, the growling stopped.

A white cannonball shot forward. The clatter of the shower rod hitting the ground long forgotten as a ball of small writing limbs shot towards him at breakneck speed. Ethans eyes widened, the whites of his eyes seemed to predict instant death by ball. On impact the knife clattered to the ground, his weak grip and slick hands leading to the clattering sound filling his head as the struggled to push off the ball of fury.

Snarls and shrieks escaped the writhing ball as two white covered hands stabbed and grabbed at his face and chest. With only his arms pushing back against it. A glance down at the ground revealed his hope, the knife was just within reach. The pressure on his body lessened and Ethan used this opportunity to grab for the knife, quickly spinning around only to see.

A small child, with a mouth full of shark teeth. His face grew pale as those razor sharp edges twisted their way up to form a grotesque smile. Open sores riddled its body, and leathery green skin draped from its bones, a creature of nightmare stepped forwards.

Knowing he had just a split second Ethan jabbed forwards with all his strength. His eyes closed as the nightmare barreled forwards and slammed his body into the wall. Pain erupted down his right arm and left side. The claws cutting but not too deeply as the knife pierced into its heart, placed on the opposite side as humans. A warm spray hit his legs and the claws stuck in his arm fell limp in moments.

Ethan cracked open one eye, looking down at the small creature oozing green blood onto his pants. No doubt staining them. With a sigh he opened both eyes. Right in front of his face those haunting words were still waiting.

Congratulations on being the first human from Earth 28571 to kill a (Goblin) Invader from the First Wave. You have been awarded with 1,000 Contribution Points for your efforts to save your planet!

It’s words meant nothing to him. These words mentioning the planet...what happened to everyone else? Why was this happening? How was he going to make it through the night?

These questions haunted him as he stared at the corpse of the dead Goblin at his feet, this was it. This was the end of the world.