10.00 AM

Poland - somewhere in the north

"What the hell is going on?!" I cried as sharp pain spread through my head.

"Eh? What is this blue screen?" I wondered as something appeared in front of my field of view as I opened my eyes in the bed.

"Humanity! My name is Asroth The Greatest God! You have been chosen to be one of the participants in God's Playground!

Also the current Playground world was chosen as yours, be glad.

In 2 hours of human time( time shall be used from MC perspective) the game will begin! The other participants races will be revealed by yourself upon contact.

The prize of this game is Godhood!

Strive for it!

As there will be only one. The rules of the game are as follows!

Monsters will appear after the following 2 hours,

Monster strength will be progressively mightier,

Monsters will inhibit area most suitable for them,

Ancient ruins of human history will change into Ruins of Opportunity,

Ruins of Opportunity will have created dungeon if aboveground ruin is not big enough.

Dungeons of the ruins or the aboveground ruins will posses powerful items,

Items there will vary depending to who will enter to claim them,

Ruins of Opportunity will Re-create those artifacts at random times .

Such ruins will be protected by far more powerful monsters and Boss of the Ruin of Opportunity,

To rise in power players( that's how we will call them/author note)must defeat these monsters to gain points and experience,

These points will be used in shop which will become available after 2 hours,

Shop contains, race changes, skills, items such as armor's, weapons, and other necessary items to survive,

To access the shop player need to think of it in safe place,

Upon gaining level from experience players can rise their status which will be displayed according to

one preferable thought,

Upon leveling up to levels 250, 500, 1000, there will be tests which you need to pass to evolve your body into divinity,

Tests will be revealed to individual upon reaching needed level,

After passing test and evolving the player will be unable to massacre lower beings without repercussions in points,

All advanced technology will cease to work under 2 hours

Other rules will be revealed by players themselves so as to enhance the gameplay, Good luck with entertaining us players!"

"!!! Whoa, am I still asleep or turning crazy?" I spoke out my thoughts aloud.

"Am I the only one seeing this?" I think as I pick my phone.

Dialing

Dialing

"Mom? Did you see anything strange just now?" Maybe I really am crazy, but the response brings me back to reality.

"Yeah I saw some screen saying something about god playground? Do you know what it is Thomas?"

"No Mom, I just saw it too."

"I am at work so I can't check, maybe on the TV they will say something, call me if it's something serious."

"Okay Mom."

I run into other room and turn on the TV

In that instant I see nervous anchorman who talks that everyone got same message containing words of "God", he talks now that several people are sowing seeds of panic talking that the world is ending, I see on screen that there comes in some government official that is telling the viewers to calm down and it should be just joke, but I think different.

"How can you say that when all people got this message? Aliens? I don't think so.

But if there really are gods above then this isn't good news."

"Just to be safe let's drive to nearest shop and buy some supplies, better safe than sorry."

As I drive trough the streets I see that some people went crazy and are stealing stuff from shops in broad daylight. Better hurry up. As I arrive at the market I see other people buying emergency supplies just like me. I walk into the market and it is already showing signs of emptying.

"Damn! It was just 30min and it already is like this?"

I quickly push the cart and navigate taking mineral water, chocolate, lighter and some other necessary stuff. Even at the weekend it's quite crowded I see, I suppose that happens when world ends huh?

By the end of the hall I see brand new pointy knives made of stainless steel, I guess if all comes to worse I could just make a hand made spear or something with it.

I speed past a table with spices and remember that in novels I read people often eat meat from monsters, thinking of that I take a bunch of many types like peppers or general chicken spice made of few mixed herbs.

"Looks like all I need is here, but let's look around just to be sure."

Looking everywhere I see quickly diminishing resources, just as I think about finishing shopping I spot flashlight, I rush to it and as I reach hand I hear a shout behind my ear.

"What the fuck are you doing to my flashlight?! I spotted it first, get lost and let me grab it!"

"Hehe, man you think like spouting shit like that will get you anywhere? I reached it first, it's mine now, go get a lighter or something."

As I try to take the flashlight the man steps forward and tries to punch me. Fuck?! I was never in a fight but don't think I will lose easily, I try to twist my head and side step a little like I saw Ippo fighting.

"He? You dodged? Take this!"

He looks angrier now, but I can't let him keep on trying to punch me, In the moment he retracts his hand I swiftly throw a jab at his neck, this should suffocate him a bit.

"What!? aaa*cough*what*cough*did*cough*you do*cough*to me?"

He coughs like mad and flees trying to catch his breath.

Strangely it didn't get attention of other buyers.

"People already becoming like this is bad sign, let's go to the cashier."

I take the flashlight with spare batteries and throw it into the cart and speed up trying to not cough attention.

"It's 126 złotych Sir. Do you need a bag?"

"Here, take this 130 no need to give me rest."

I throw the money and go to my car to pack my stuff into it.

"Hm, better leave cart and just speed to my home quickly."

I drive out of parking lot and when turning toward road to my home I spot a fire in reverse direction

"It goes worse by the second" - I say while speeding up.

I managed to get home safely.

I check my clock on the phone,

It's 11.00 AM

"Got 1 hour left of in pending doom, My Mom can probably make it in 1 hour to here, and better talk with Dad"

I dial my Mom number

"Mom are you still at work? You better drive home now, it looks bad on the outside."

"Yes I saw trough the window some fire and people running crazy, I'm going to my car now, You better call Dad."

"Yes"

I dial my Dad

And dial

And dial

"Did something happen at his work?"

"Fuck I can't drive there now as it's too long a way, he should've sew what is going on, let's trust him to come back safely"

I allocate my food in the kitchen and survey the outside by the window,

looks like it's safe for now.

"If there really will be monsters then I must fight them somehow, what to do, what to do."

I sit on my bed and try to calm myself and make up a simple plan.

"First, food - checked, water - checked, it should last week or something, if I will fight then I need weapon and armor."

I unpack this brand new knife and use tape to bind it to my souvenir wooden spear for kids, good for me that the wooden stick appears quite hard.

"With this I can keep some range from my opponent, be it monster or human,

...right, The message said something about other world beings who will play this game with us."

"I need some sort protection now, good my dad got some military clothes in the closet, they are though for clothes so I better wear them, I think there were some protective boots as well."

I rummage trough old stuff and finally find them.

"Thick leather boots with metal protection for fingers, best thing I can find for foot protection, Now, humans have weak point of head so I need a helmet of sort."

I sit thoughtfully as I recall some old days when Dad brought metal helmet from military, I wore it and tested it protection with some kids my age, I think I was 7-8 then, ahh, I was stupid, but I only got to know that helmet can't absorb shockwave fully when one kid hit it with a stick, My view was spinning then, heh what a times.

I stand up and go to garage cautiously as I rummage trough it and finally see it,

Trying to fit it now.

"It sure fits me now that I'm older"

Checking slightly if it doesn't have now any problems, but it's good as new.

"It's 11.30 by now, time sure flies when you focus. Now that I have supplies and equipment to fight if necessary, I should look into internet while it's still online."

~~~~

Public chat room created for this apocalypse.

'It's hell outside guys.'

'What? Have monsters appeared already?'

'No, it's just people robbing and stealing from each other, I guess humans are monsters sometimes too.'

'Well, it's like that over here too in Germany.'

'Can't the government do something?'

'I think they only think about themselves'

'Don't expect them to come, it's always same in novels, I guess reality isn't much different.'

'It's good I live in countryside guys, at least there isn't much threat from people.'

'Lucky one, outside the window I just saw guy shattering the glass of shop door and barging in stealing everything valuable.'

'Didn't he saw that technology will cease working? Stupid punks.'

'Well gentlemen, we are not like those idiots outside, since we have about 15min of internet then I suggest we talk if there is something which can help us.'

'That's right! We don't have much time. Did you guys pick up something from that message from "God"?'

'I think at the start the best bet will be familiarizing ourselves with fear of fighting monsters, that's most problematic, since fear is our mechanism of defense.'

'No, it should come naturally in life-death situation, we should focus on the Ruin of Opportunity, I say if I become at least somewhat stronger, my best bet in surviving will be attaining this artifact or something.'

'That person above is right, we should focus on getting equipment, what about this shop?"

"Message said something about buying race changer and skills? I think if I buy some magic skill then it will be easy for the first hours to come.'

'But we don't know how much of these points we need'

'That's very good question, but I think there should be something like first buy discount, don't you think?'

'So we should buy most expensive thing we can afford?'

'Yes, it should give us direct advantage, something like magical fireball, or changing race to something stronger than human if you don't fear losing humanity.'

'Losing humanity sounds pretty awful, do you think there will be anyone willing to do it?'

'I think people not feeling good being human will do it' - I wrote it, just thinking that I could change my race makes me excited.

'We shouldn't fear change as the world itself is changing' - I followed

~~~~

'So I guess that's it guys, we got minute left, I want to say good luck out there!'

'Good luck to you too! Thanks to you all I can somehow think of surviving now.'

'Goodbye!'

'Farewell!'

...

...

'Bye!'

And we have 30 seconds left, I better dial Mom while I can.

Dialing

Dialing

...

Dialing

Shiver ran trough my back as I imagine limitless things could've happened.

"Was Mom in an accident? Or was she robbed? Fuck, no good."

...

"This is Voicemail, leave message aft...er..bee...

It happened.

Technology is dead now.

I must survive! I must find my parents!