PROLOGUE – The End Before the Beginning
Unknown Time
Unknown Location
Alex – P.O.V
---
The sky looked strange—red, warped, and bleeding light like the world itself was dying.
I lowered my gaze and found a blade buried deep in my chest.
A sword I recognized instantly. Too instantly.
It was the sword I had risked my life for.
The sword I fought a boss monster to obtain.
The sword I almost died retrieving…
for Amanda.
I turned my head, and there she stood—
Amanda, my girlfriend. Her expression twisted into a mocking smirk, contempt dripping from her eyes.
Beside her was Brandon, my best friend, smiling smugly as he wrapped an arm around her waist. He pulled her close, and they kissed right in front of me—
a kiss meant to break me.
That was when reality sank in.
My girlfriend and my best friend had betrayed me.
Brandon pulled back with a victorious grin. I wanted nothing more than to punch that smile off his face, but my strength was already fading.
"Why…?" I croaked, blood pooling in my throat. "Why did you betray me?"
Amanda scoffed.
"You should have listened when I told you to hand over the artifact. All of this could've been avoided."
"So that's it…?" I muttered to myself. "Just for the artifact…"
But they couldn't hear me anymore.
I didn't scream.
I didn't cry.
I simply stared upward as my blood soaked the corpse of the monster I'd slain only minutes earlier.
The world had ended—not through bombs or plagues, but through the cold precision of the System.
It began innocently:
A blinding light.
A message in every language.
> [ GLOBAL SYSTEM ACTIVATED ]
People thought it was a game.
A joke.
A miracle.
Until leveling began.
Until the weak were hunted.
Until the cities burned.
I survived fifteen brutal years.
I watched humanity crumble.
I fought monsters—some born from chaos, others wearing human faces.
And in the end, the people I trusted most delivered the final blow.
The irony?
I was killed by the same sword I had nearly died earning… for her.
I watched them walk away as my life slipped through my fingers.
No pain—just burning rage…
and regret.
Regret for the ones I failed:
My sister, Janet.
My stepmother, Diana.
My stepsister, Mia.
I had failed them all.
---
AUTHOR P.O.V
Silence prevailed.
Everything vanished.
Only darkness remained.
Then, in that endless void—
something flickered.
A light.
A presence.
A voice.
> [ SYSTEM ERROR: ANOMALY DETECTED ]
[ CORRECTION PROTOCOL INITIATED ]
[ REWRITING TIMELINE… ]
[ BINDING HOST: ALEX ]
[ SYSTEM INSTALLED ]