Welcome to the Paradox Labyrinth! Your world has made intergalactic history in being the first to ever hack its way into the labyrinth of worlds, so congratulations are in order! In all honestly, we weren’t sure whether to punish you for hacking into our system or give you a gift for making history in doing something we thought impossible. So, we’ve decided to do both! Your planet: “Earth”. Has been accepted into the Labyrinth system as a Keypoint. Being a Keypoint marks your planet as an important factor to the Labyrinth. This will also grant all earthlings a considerable experience bonus. Please take caution, your planet will undergo an extensive amount of change and evolution in the next: 369 Days, 4 hours, 20 minutes, and 3 seconds.

Due note that new beast/lifeforms will be introduced to your world during the transformation, this process may be random and cause difficulties to mortal beings. Specified zones will be automatically designated with the required level to survive in that area, though some levels of the beast may vary due to the transition. As a new world in the labyrinth with no unified government, your world is set as free turf. This will encourage other worlds residing in the Labyrinth of worlds and realms to stake claims on different regions. Take caution, not all are hostile, though many very much will be. Life in the labyrinth is never easy, but the System keeps things fair.

Lastly, as a sentient being you are granted access to new classes, and skills, as well as being able to connect to your user interface. Simply say “Status” or think it hard enough and your interface prompt will appear, then say/think “dismiss” to get rid of it. The estimated survival rate for Humanity by the end of planet evolution is: 5.3%

Again, welcome to the Labyrinth and good luck!

Below that message was a counter which read 369 Days, 4 hours, 20 minutes, and 3 seconds until full immersion.

It took a moment for Tyrone’s eyes to focus on the monitor screen, and once they did, he read the message repeatedly. His mind was a jumble of waking up and falling back unconscious, that brick had really scrambled his noggin. A part of him wondered why no one had called the police or ambulance yet. He could faintly remember waking up a couple of times to call out for help, but there was so much screaming around him that his voice easily drowned out. Now it was quiet, too quiet.

His nose twitched, there was an acrid stench clinging to my nostrils. Blood. With a grunt of effort, he raised his hand to push the monitor away, in doing so a streak of pain lanced through him, it felt like he’d just spent time in a bounce castle made of cement. But the worst of the pain centered at the side of his head, directly where he’d been struck with falling debris. Cautiously, he placed a hand near the wound and winced in pain. Looking at his hand his eyes widened at how much blood covered it.

Before he could fully panic, Tyrone was thrown off that the monitor was still in front of him, so he tried to push at it again. Brows lifting in confusion as his hand passed through the monitor, it was then that he realized that it wasn’t a computer monitor but instead a floating prompt. It hung perfectly just in front of his face partly translucent, it was like a green tinted foggy window.

“What the fuck.” He muttered. His voice coming out hoarse and dry. Making him wonder just how long he had been sprawled out underneath the guard’s desk.

Glaring at the floating green prompt he thought the word ‘dismiss’ and was surprised when it popped out of existence.

With the prompt gone, he focuses on the large hole in the ceiling high above him. The sky was dark, the clouds outlined by a royal purple hue. It was still night. Taking solace in that, his inner panic subsided slightly, he estimated that he’d only been unconscious for a few hours even though his body ached like he’d been laid out for days.

He sat up, or at least he tried to. His head swam once he lifted it a few inches from the ground and the throbbing pain in his head kicked into overdrive. His vision blurred as he flopped back onto the ground, eye lids suddenly gaining weight as a blinking icon appeared in his vision. Staring at the icon must have triggered it somehow, because in a flash his view was full of text. It reminded him of a battle log from one of his games.

You have suffered critical head trauma!

Concussion debuffs added to status!

Cranial Swelling has triggered internal bleeding!

Bleeding debuff added to status!

Warning! You are bleeding! -2 HP per minute until the wound is treated.

Warning! Health is critically low!

The list went on and on. Describing everything that was happening to him, he tried to read more but it wasn’t long until he was reclaimed unconscious.

When Tyrone came again, he could see that it was still dark outside. Though now he was beginning to worry that he’d slept for an entire day instead of a few hours. The concept of time was completely lost to him, but his mind seemed far clearer than it had been before. Except for the constant throbbing ringing his skull making it hard to think straight, and then there was the annoying noises in the background.

It sounded like someone loudly chewing and snapping branches. It reminded him of his mom snacking down on her jumbo bag of sunflower seeds, she had a terrible habit of chewing with her mouth full as did his older brother.

Grunting softly as he did so, he turned his head to the side. Sleeping on the hard ground had completely wrecked his neck, so just turning around felt like a heroic effort. With his head turned, a scream rose in his throat as the scene before him.

Just to the side of him was a wolf, or at least a massive dog and it was chomping into a considerable sized hunk of meat. Shutting his eyes tight, he tried to will the scene out of his mind. But he had already seen what the dog was so greedily eating, his friend and coworker Chip. His top half was crushed under the slab of concrete causing an artwork of blood splatter to coat the nearby wall and his side of the desk. Then there was the large pool of blood, it stretched from his side of the desk to Tyrone’s. Bile rose in his throat as he realized that this whole time he’d been sleeping in his friends’ pool of blood.

The scream that Tyrone had smothered before was now trying to make a comeback, he managed to hold it down but some of it slipped and a strangled gasp left his lips. He froze then, like an idiot. Going completely still, holding his breath, hoping that the dog would think he was dead.

The dog lifted its head from its meal, then turned to face him. He could hear as it stalked closer, feel its hot breath as if sniffed him, then he heard it snarl. His eyes popped open wide just in time to see the dog rearing to chomp down on his face. Pushing past his body’s stiffness, he punched the dog and deflected its bite.

The scream was set free then as Tyrone’s eyes bulged from their sockets as he took in the creature that stood before me wasn’t a dog. It was shaped like a dog, a Doberman to be exact, but that’s where the similarities ended. The dog thing in front of me had one singular eye with a flat pupil like a goat’s and its mouth was not only full of sharp teeth but also extended from where its jaw should have ended down to its chest.

It barred its teeth at him and at that exact moment Tyrone felt the true power of flight vs fight mode, because even though his head was caked in his own dried blood and his body ached all over, he still sprung to his feet to defend himself from the demonic looking dog. Keeping it in his line of sight as he looked for something to defend myself with.

There was nothing. The security contractor he worked for was armless, meaning they didn’t have any weapons on them at all. The only thing close to a weapon they could carry during patrols was a baton flashlight, though that was kept in the SOC office. In a panic he threw the closest thing to him, which turned out to be a computer mouse. To the surprise of no one the mouse did nothing besides anger the creature even further. The hound made a few harsh yipping sounds and the growls intensified as two other cyclops hounds padded over, each of their massive mouths covered in bloody drool as they leered at him.

“Uh, down boys?”

They lunged, their eyes blazing with hunger. In a flash of panic, Tyrone snatched the keyboard off the desk and smashed it against the lead hound. Keyboard bits flew as he pressed himself against the wall to dodge the second demon dog. Though the last one nearly snagged his leg, but his foot crashed into the side of its head throwing its jagged teeth off course.

The feeling of victory didn’t last long as the creatures quickly reinserted themselves, each with wide mouths open and razor-sharp fangs eager to tear into him. He knew what was going to happen, it was inevitable. It was only a matter of time before they managed to corner him and then his name would be changed to Kibble. Mind reeling as he tried to think of anything, but he was starting to think the entire situation was completely hopeless.

“Fuck this!” He growled through my teeth. “Tactical retreat!”

Then he leapt over the guards’ desk, the motion causing his head to implode. Or at least that’s how it felt like as the headache ramped up its levels of pain. The hounds were right on his heels. In his rush he tripped over a body that laid strung apart in the middle of the lobby, the poor woman looked like she’d tried to fight back as she was ripped apart.

“Holy shit!”

He rolled to the side as a hound tried to land on top of him, going to the instant kill, its gaping mouth overflowing with drool. The other two were right beside it, yipping excitedly with the chance of feasting on fresh meat. At that point all Tyrone could hear was his labored breathing and his heart beating like a bongo drum. Rushing to his feet, knowing that if he fell again that’d spell the end of him. Tyrone ran harder than he’d ever ran in his whole life, shouting an unintelligible string of curses as he went.

He basically threw himself into a small bathroom and slammed the door hard on the head of one of the demon dogs, it yelped in pain as it pulled its head free, and he was able to close the door. With shaking hands, Tyrone flipped the lock in place, but jumped back as the dogs continued to fling themselves at the flimsy metal door. It wouldn’t hold for long. A pit in his stomach began to take form as helplessness crashed down onto him.

Tyrone stood there for a long moment, trying to map out in his head whether if he’d be able to make a run for it towards the exit. The bathroom door made a worrying creaking noise as the hounds slammed into it once more, a reminder that he was on a timer. His eyes caught on his reflection in the mirror, he looked a complete mess. His uniform was covered in blood, most of it was not his own, and he tried desperately to push back that some of it belonged to his coworker as well.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as exhaustion settled in, all that exertion after losing so much blood wasn’t as easy as they made it out to be in the movies. Tightening his jaw, he rested his hands on the sink and locked his eyes on his reflection.

“Come on Ty, get a hold of yourself.” His reflection said back to him. “We can get out of this. We just need to think of something… Aw, shit”

A trinkle of blood trailed down his forehead from the brick that knocked him unconscious, it was way more than a trinkle, the wound was gushing. He snagged a bundle of toilet tissue and pressed it against the gash, trying his best to fold the flesh back into place. On the other side of his head was a smaller cut from when he banged his head against the desk. Again, he was beginning to wonder how he even survived, then he wondered about the strange floating screen that showed his health condition.

Just as the thought of the float green screen popped into his mind, a translucent green prompt snapped into view right before his eyes. Cutting him out of the amazement of the prompt, the bathroom door warped drastically as the demon dogs began to tag team bashing against it. Reigning on his nerves, he frantically scanned the status screen. He could finally do something that he’d always dreamed of, find out exactly what the hell was wrong with him.

The status screen filled his sight as he could see every single skill he’d picked up in life. Eyes widening as he noticed he level ten skill in shoe tying which was apparently the level cap.

“What the hell...”

With some mental flexing he pictured the screen displaying his basic stats and useful skills. The air in his sails deflated as I rechecked the screen.

There was nothing that would be of help in the least, besides that he had a few levels in boxing thanks to his gym membership. The thought came and went as he contemplated going out and boxing the demonic hounds, that’d be a quick way to die for sure.

Catching himself before he fell into a complete nervous breakdown, a flickering on the side of his status screen grabbed his attention. It looked like a notification symbol; the same kind that’d appear on a cellphone.

With nothing else to do, he mentally clicked onto the flashing notification symbol.

Congratulations! You’ve been spawned in the: Sergeant Mills Headquarter Campus. This area has been claimed by: Xue-Xin, Frost Dragon of Highest Grace. This is a highly volatile area, its designated level has yet to be stabilized). Due to spawning in a high-level area, you have been granted 1 boon for spawning in an area 20 levels above your own! You have received 1 boon for spawning in an area 50 levels above your own! You have received 1 boon for spawning in an area 100 levels above your own! You have: 10 hours 24 minutes to evacuate the area before Xue-Xin, Frost Dragon of Highest Grace arrives and claims her land. After that you’ll be marked as a trespasser and she can do to you what she wants, including killing you. Good luck!

New quest received! Quest: Escape Sergeant Mills! Info: You have 10 hours to escape the property line of Sergeant Mills HQ. Better get running! Rewards: XP, 1000 credits

“Oh, a quest. Wait, a fucking dragon! So, my only choices are: run or die?!” He shouted so loud even the cyclops hounds stalled in their constant ramming of the door.

Flipping over to the boon tab, his jaw dropped as the list of options expanded and then expanded even more, the scroll bar on the side of the window shrunk to barely the width of a fingernail.

“Okay, this isn’t too bad.” Tyrone said as he began to scroll down the list. “There has to be something in here that can help me, right? Some fucking assistance maybe?!”

As if understanding him, the boon tab reshuffled itself. It kept shuffling until there were only three lists floating before him. One said spirit companion, the other said fairy companion, and the last read out tech companion.

“A companion? Hmm, let’s check’em out.”

You have selected: Spirit Companion.

Info: A spirit companion can be a very versatile being who can both help you identify creatures and items without the use of the Analyze or Scan skill. These beings are indentured servants to the labyrinth and are compelled to follow your every whim. At higher levels they can also be used in combat depending on their elemental affinity. They are pulled at random and come in all different shapes and sizes!

Do you wish to use your boon for this Companion? Yes-No.

Mentally he tapped the no option. The idea of having a person indentured under his service against their will sounded a little too close to slavery for Tyrone’s taste. But as he thought about it, he wavered. Having a sentient companion that could talk him through tough situations could be a serious help, especially now.

“Pulled at random though? Maybe if I could interview them first… Nah, next!”

You have selected Fairy Companion.

Info: A fairy companion is a unique being, they come in all shapes in sizes. They can use their delicate senses to identify foes or magical items. These beings are indentured servants to the Labyrinth and are compelled to follow your every whim, though some fairies are instance born which leads them to be very child-like and will depend on you to teach them certain subjects. At higher levels they can be used in combat.

Do you wish to use your boon for this Companion? Yes-No.

Tyrone didn’t like the sound of this description either. Not only was it a complete toss up whether he’d get a knowledgeable fairy or a baby fairy, there was also that legal slave jargon that totally rubbed him the wrong way for obvious reasons.

You have selected Tech Companion.

Info: This companion type is the only one that isn’t unique due to its being supplied by thousands of artisans, golem makers, and AI constructers that all sell their model of choice to the Labyrinth system. Though it may be entirely possible to get the same model of another, it is also easy to personalize your tech companion to best fit your needs with over millions of different upgrades. All tech companions are enchanted, glypheid, or installed with the ability to identify foes and identify weaponry. Depending on the upgrade installed, they can be highly destructive in combat.

Do you wish to use your boon for this Companion? Yes-No.

This was the one he had always fantasized about having a robot friend when he was kid. Especially growing up watching Futurama, Star Wars, and reading books like Hitchhikers Guide. Having a super helpful robot companion like J-5 from Blank man or R2-D2 would be awesome, hopefully it could communicate through words rather than beeps and boops.

“Oh wait, what if I end up with a HAL 9000?”