The scent of damp earth and pine drifted through the cold morning air as Kael stepped onto his porch, a steaming mug of coffee in hand. The world around him was quiet, untouched by the noise of cities, far from the rush of crowds. It was just him, the trees, and the sky.

  Thirty-one today.

  Not that it mattered. No party. No calls. No one to care. Just another morning like any other.

  He exhaled, watching his breath mist in the air, then took a slow sip of his coffee. Bitter. Strong. Exactly how he liked it.

  As he leaned against the wooden railing, his fingers brushed over his jaw absently, feeling the rough scratch of his beard. It was getting too thick again. He should trim it, but that would mean exposing the scar, the ugly thing running from his left jawline, cutting upward in a jagged slash. A reminder of another life. A wound that never quite faded, even after all these years.

  His mid-length black hair was just as unruly. He’d let it grow longer than usual, something about the isolation made self-maintenance seem less of a priority. Well, it was not like there was someone to see and judge him for it.

  The wooden planks of the porch creaked beneath his weight as he shifted. The air was still, cold, the kind of chill that settled deep in the bones. The same kind that woke you up better than any caffeine ever could.

  The cabin was small, made up of a single room, enough space to live, to be left alone. Kael had built it all himself, it was his home, it was silent and most of all it was peaceful. The closest sign of civilization was the town an hour away by foot and twenty minutes by truck, but he only ever went there when he needed supplies. He preferred it this way.

  Kael stepped off the porch, his boots crunching against the frost-laced ground. The sky was still tinged with the soft grays of dawn, but the forest was already awake.

  Birds chattered in the distance. A faint breeze rustled the trees. Somewhere nearby, water flowed down through the valley stream. Then, his eyes caught something, looking closer Kael noticed fresh tracks leading away from the tree line.

  From what Kael could tell, a buck had passed through just before sunrise, its hoofprints pressed deep into the damp earth. A good-sized one. Enough meat to last him for weeks. He took another sip of coffee, then set the mug down on the porch railing. The hunt came first.

  Stepping inside, he grabbed his bow from where it rested against the wall. The rifle leaned in the corner, untouched for weeks. Too loud. Too easy. Taking a life should not be made as easy as pulling a trigger. The bow was better, needing you to hone your skills to earn your food. And it was more personal.

  He slung his quiver over his shoulder and adjusted the worn leather straps. A hunt before heading into town. There he would get supplies, and then head back before the sunset. It was a simple routine. That was all Kael now wanted this life to be.

  Kael moved through the trees with careful, practiced steps, his breath controlled, his body instinctively shifting with the terrain. Even now, years after leaving the military, some things remain with him. Like the way to move and control your body. To be patient. The need to stay just at the edge of awareness, ready for anything.

  His fingers brushed against the fletching of an arrow as he knelt by the next set of tracks. Fresh. The buck was close.

  He adjusted his stance and followed the trail, weaving through the underbrush. Every movement was deliberate. He had learned early on that the forest had its own rules, its own kind of battlefield. One mistake, and you went hungry.

  He spotted the deer just beyond a clearing, grazing near the base of an old oak. A clean shot.

  Kael put down his things on the ground and pulled back the bowstring, exhaling softly as he steadied his aim. Then, the world shifted.

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  A low vibration hummed through the air. Kael felt it before he noticed a deep, unnatural stillness.

  The wind died. The birds went silent. The usual hum of the forest was one second here then the next simply gone. The deer froze. Its ears flicked back, eyes wide with something primal. Fear.

  Kael lowered his bow in case he needed to let go of it, his instincts kicking in. His muscles primed and ready to run if need be. He knew this feeling. The calm before an ambush. His breath slowed. Muscles tensed. His heartbeat was steady, but everything in him screamed that something was wrong.

  Then, the sky split apart. One moment, he was standing on solid ground.

  The next, he was floating.

  The trees, the earth, the cold morning air, all gone. Everything around him was dark. Not black, not night, just nothing. A hollow absence that stretched in every direction.

  And he wasn’t alone.

  Shapes drifted around him millions, perhaps billions. People. And Creatures he didn’t recognize. All of them suspended in the void, their eyes wide with shock, some screaming without a sound being heard.

  Kael clenched his jaw, forcing himself to stay calm. Panic wouldn’t help. This couldn't be death, and if it was there was nothing he could do either. He just had to hope this was something else.

  Then, the world below, or what he thought was below, began to change.

  Kael’s breath caught in his throat. He could see it. Earth, or what had been Earth, was changing.

  Landmasses shifted, expanded, and fused. Enormous continents stretched and reshaped themselves, folding into one another as if they were molten metal being poured into a mold.

  Oceans swelled, swallowing entire coastlines before reforming elsewhere, creating new islands, rivers, and new landscapes that had never existed before.

  Then, from the abyss, other things or what looked like different worlds appeared.

  Massive fragments of land, entire biomes that he had never seen before, descended from the void, merging with the expanding Earth.

  A jagged, mountainous region close to the color of molten silver fused into the northern hemisphere. To the east, a continent covered in endless, ancient forests as far as the eye could see seamlessly blended into the growing world. Enormous underground caverns stretched open as Earth itself was swallowing new realms whole, becoming something new.

  Kael could see everything. And he wasn’t the only one.

  Among the billions of floating souls, new faces appeared. Elves. Dwarves. Individuals, unlike anything he had ever seen, their expressions just as confused, and just as terrified.

  The merging continued, stretching time into what felt like an eternity yet only it couldn't have been more than ten minutes. And when the time passed, to Kael it looked like what used to be Earth had grown ten times the size it had been before.

  Then, the voice came.

  It wasn’t loud. It didn't even seem to be sound. It simply was.

  "Inhabitants of this new world. You, along with your old worlds, have been integrated into the greater whole of the multiverse."

  Kael’s breath slowed. What?

  "You have all been chosen. As such, you will be granted access to the System and all it offers."

  Kael felt something tighten in his chest. Chosen? For what? Then a pulse of energy ripped through him, interrupting his thought. Followed by pain as the sensation tore through his body searing, burning, relentless.

  Kael gritted his teeth as something rewrote him from the inside out. He could feel his bones shifting, his muscles tightening, his mind flooding with something unnatural. Numbers. Symbols. Unreadable text flashed across his vision, carving themselves into his thoughts.

  "Struggle. Survive. And strive for something greater than you could ever dream of."

  Around him, individuals started disappearing, and soon so did he, the void collapsing around him.

  Kael hit the ground hard. The scent of damp earth filled his nose, mud pressing against his skin. His body ached, his lungs burned, but he pushed himself onto his hands and knees. The forest around him was diffrent, no longer familier. The trees were much taller, some of them had faintly pulsing veins with an eerie blue glow. The air was warmer and heavier, feeling charged with something unfamiliar. And the silence... it wasn’t natural.

  His bow was gone. His quiver was gone, along with the rest of his gear. Only the knife strapped to his belt remained. Then, a soft chime echoed in his head, followed by a floating blue screen appearing before his eyes.

  [Welcome to your New World.]

  [Survive.]

  Kael exhaled slowly. Trying to rest control of his beating heart, everything had changed. And he knew it was real. This was too much; he felt too much not to believe it was real.

  He didn’t know where he was. Didn’t know what had happened. But survival? That, he had always understood.

  A low, guttural growl rumbled from the darkness of the trees. Kael’s muscles tensed. Something was watching him.