The sun rose slowly over Ludum Mundi, climbing past the horizon and scattering the last traces of night. With its arrival, the first day of the wave began.
Once the sun stood clear in the sky and the moon had faded, a sudden message thundered into every mind:
■ DAY 1 OF THE WAVE HAS BEGUN ■
■ DO YOUR BEST TO SURVIVE ■
The words burned in their vision for a few seconds before vanishing into nothing.
You might wonder how such a message was understood across countless races, many of whom had no written language and little concept of speech. Just as it had done during awakening with the Jackrixis, the game imprinted information directly into their minds, ensuring all understood the same truth: the wave had begun.
And if they somehow doubted it, the distant rumbling and chorus of inhuman roars would have erased any confusion.
Tribes scrambled into position, eyes sweeping their homes, waiting for the prey that would soon try to destroy their way of life.
Crimson Guard Clan
At the forefront of the crimson guard, the leader and his mate stood tall, scanning the long grass of the plains. The wind shifted. Something was moving stalking in the brush.
Then, one by one, they emerged.
Four-legged beasts with black hides and long hooked claws. Bone spikes jutted down their spines, glowing red eyes cutting through the grass. Their tails swayed, splitting into three, each end bristling with jagged bone.
The pack grew until thirty-five of the monstrous felines crouched before the Jackrixis, snarling. The skin on their skull-like faces stretched tight, giving them a grotesque, deathly visage.
The crimson leader met their glare and did not flinch. He roared and charged.
Foolish? No this was their way. His clan thrived on melee, their ferocity unmatched in direct combat. More importantly, he would draw the danger away from the tribe's food stores and children.
His mate and warriors surged with him, crashing into the enemy like a red storm.
The black felines met them head-on. The clash shook the plains roars, snarls, and screams entwined. The Jackrixis slammed through their lines, their sheer strength breaking bones, crushing spines. But the devils were not helpless. They leapt, clawing at arms and legs, stabbing with serrated tails. A few even sank teeth deep enough to tear out throats.
Still, the crimson guard endured. Their bloodied arms rose and fell, pounding skulls, breaking backs. Their leader stomped a beast's head into the dirt, brains spilling as crimson stained the earth.
The felines fought on without fear, even as defeat became certain. That was the wave's true terror no retreat, no surrender. Each creature came to kill, and if it could not, it would die and be replaced.
At last, the crimson guard stood victorious. They burned the bodies rather than risk eating corrupted flesh. For now, their food stores were enough.
Bloodied Hydra Clan
Elsewhere, the Bloodied Hydra faced assaults from both sea and land. Yet their numbers and coordination turned the tide.
They struck as groups, overwhelming prey before battles could truly begin. When land beasts pressed too hard, they slipped into the sea. When aquatic foes surged, they retreated onto shore. Caught between two elements, they used both to survive.
Only when attacked from both sides at once did their strategy falter but even then, the Hydra endured.
Mountain Slammers Clan
The Mountain Slammers faced something far different.
From the horizon thundered a single colossus fifteen feet tall, eight wide, covered in orange fur. Four massive tusks jutted from its mouth, six legs armored with stone-like growths.
At first, fear gripped the Slammers. How could they withstand such a monster? But the mountain was their ally.
The beast charged straight into their defenses, mindless in its strength. Three layers of stone walls crumbled under its bulk until, at last, it wedged itself in the fourth. Its tusks scraped stone but could go no farther.
A few Jackrixis were crushed in the assault, their bodies broken against the rock. Yet once trapped, the monster could only thrash helplessly while the Slammers rained down blows. It fought until the end, killing two more in its death throes, but eventually collapsed.
A Desert Tribe's Fall
Not all fared so well.
In the desert, an unprepared tribe was annihilated. Children's heads were impaled on bone spears, their bodies strewn across the sand. Adults and elders were skinned, some alive, some already dead.
The perpetrators: hulking brutes, ten feet tall, with gray leather skin and three glowing purple eyes. Savage, mindless strength defined them like the crimson guard, but stripped of all honor.
Seven of the beasts fell to the tribe's desperate defense, but their corpses were torn apart and devoured by their own kin. No burial. No mourning.
The desert ran red.
The Candidates: We had seen how three of the Jackrixis clans fared, but what of the other races?
Candidate 1 – Hector Venules (33)
Main race: Demon Hounds
High above a blackened forest, the demon hounds clashed with a monstrous scorpion. Its dark-blue carapace deflected most blows, its three tails striking with deadly precision. Already three hounds hung lifeless from its stingers.
But seventeen still fought on, relentless. Their jaws tore into exposed joints, their claws raked gaps in its armor. The giant beast bled, staggered, and finally collapsed, its armored shell ripped apart as the hounds feasted on its innards.
Behind the battlefield, a frozen blizzard blocked greater horrors from breaking through. For the hounds, the wave meant endless prey and endless food.
Candidate 2 – Nancy Little (41)
Main race: Little Blues
The frozen lands remained unchanged. For the little blues, that was torture.
They had intellect, ideas, even inventions but no resources, no way to leave their cursed biome. The wave barely touched them. Creatures died outside the blizzard, far from their reach.
Safe, yes. But trapped. Their genius wasted, their hopes frozen in place.
Candidate 3 – Ida Kerry (29)
Main race: Venoids
The venoids had recently learned to fear the deep. The farther they swam, the larger and more terrifying the ocean grew. So they stayed in safer waters, studying their surroundings, wary of the abyss.
The wave brought chaos squids, hunting schools of fish, monstrous shapes from the depths. At first, the venoids struggled. By day's end, they had adapted, fighting together to hold their ground.
Candidate 4 – Gabriela Campos (22)
Main race: Light Sprites
The sprites had barely begun to recover after the termite swarm. They remained vigilant and it saved them.
But survival came at a cost. The wave forced them to slay creatures they once played alongside. Companions turned enemies. Loyal allies stayed at their side, yet grief weighed heavy on them.
They fought with flight and magic, surviving the day. But the wave had carved a cruel truth into them: each year, they would kill or be killed.
Candidate 5 – Chase Stone (21)
Main race: Giant Owls
The owls of the great trees fought for their lives. Already locked in battle with centipedes, the wave doubled their misery.
Their numbers fell, their evolutions the only reason they endured. Some froze the ground beneath them, others wielded fire. Chase, normally calm, trembled as he watched.
"Aw, man… come on, guys, just kill those stupid bugs and finish off the wave!"-Chase
Candidate 6 – Naya Kabir (34)
Main race: Weaver Queens
For the spiders, the wave was a feast.
Prey hurled itself into their webs, mothers binding and draining them dry while children swarmed the rest. Bones littered the forest, their bellies full.
The wave was not a trial it was a gift.
Candidate 7 – Wagner Hoffman (55)
Main race: Draconic Fledglings
The lizardmen fared steadily. Not triumphant, not desperate. Their creator's skill had prepared them well, and in the swamps they slew anything that approached.
Candidate 8 – Hyun Jee Park (27)
Main race: Ever-Swarm
The swarm reeled at first, but the queen adapted swiftly. With overwhelming numbers, they crushed all who entered their domain.
Every corpse became biomass, new strength. Each battle taught them how to fight better, how to grow stronger. For them, the wave was evolution in motion.
Candidate 9 – Evaline Sato (19)
Main race: Ocean Lords
The shark-men rejoiced.
Battle was their joy, and the wave was endless war. Enemies came without pause, and they tore through them, laughing. To them, it was no survival trial it was a three day festival of blood and glory.
So ended the first day of the wave some thrived, some faltered. But this was only the beginning. In the days to come, we would see which races rose… and which would fall into ruin.