Chapter 1 — Money, Money, and Money!

Beep. Beep. Beep. Bee— click.

"Uuugh," the man groans, double tapping on his screen to check the time. Sure enough, it was 7:00 a.m. on the dot. He had gone through this process twice already, one for an alarm at 6:30, then one at 6:45. He couldn't stay in bed any longer, unless he wanted to be late.

Still grumbling, the man rolls out of bed groggily, scratching the side of his thigh as he trudges towards the small kitchen of his apartment. He's wearing a gray tank top that looks to be a size too small, and baggy blue boxers. Once he's finished scratching, he runs his hand through his short, light brown hair as he begins brewing a cup of coffee on a cheap coffee maker. He turns on his heel, returning to his room, grabbing a black pair of slacks draped haphazardly over a plain chair, and slipping into them slowly. He peels the shirt off, slipping a white tee on instead before grabbing a dull off-white button up and pulling that on as well.

A chime from the kitchen alerts him to his prepared coffee, and he strolls out slinging a pair of long socks over his shoulder. A hiss quickly bursts from his teeth as the black coffee proves to be fresh and hot, burning his tongue. "Ack!"

After nearly dropping the small white cup, he manages to recover, setting it down on his dining table and taking a seat to pull his socks on. Once this is done, he then grabs a thermos, pouring the contents of the cup into it, and the cup itself is rinsed out and placed back under the coffee maker, forever ready to make its next cup.

Then it's off to the door, finishing the daily morning routine that the man has down so completely that the hardwood floor has a shuffled path back and forth along it leading all the way to the front, where he plops down, tying on simple black dress shoes, the leather upon them faded even though his corporate job only required sitting at a desk all day.

Now, he was ready for the day, slipping his belongings into his pockets and grabbing a small folder to tuck under his arm, filled with his documents for the day. From there, all he had left was to exit his apartment, lock his door, and walk two blocks to his work.

The white-collar checks the time on his silver watch when he makes it to the ground floor and exits the complex, a sense of pride filling his chest as he sees he is ahead of schedule. "I'll actually have time to stop for breakfast," he wonders to himself, walking briskly down the street towards the nearby gas station store shoved between large buildings. Though he wasn't paying any attention to it, the weather was fairly nice, at least by Los Angeles standards in late August.

No, instead, the man is a mixture of hopeful and also irritated, his mind already wandering to his job as the gas station crawls closer. Yet, this is delayed, having to wait for the hectic traffic to have enough of a gap that he can dart across, even so early in the morning.

The creaks in his neck, the sore lower back, his rigid fingers. He blames it all upon the dead end, forgotten existence that is his job, decent-paying, but only enough so that he wouldn't be able to retire until he was in his late 70s. "Especially if prices keep spiking," he grumbles quietly, scooting across the street with another man, and walking into the store. The same man holds the door for him, and he gives a simple nod as he slips inside, immediately forgetting about someone so irrelevant.

Other than the two of them, the only person inside the store is the worker behind the counter, obvious bags under his eyes. The kid clearly seems done with his job, his visor flipped upside down on the cigarette shelf behind him, and his hair pulled up loosely in a small bun behind his head, displaying the blond streaks of highlights running through his hair.

"Fuckin' kids these days," he mutters in disdain, walking up to the kid and knocking impatiently on the counter right in front of him. He gives a loud whistle to get his attention, raising an eyebrow as the dude finally looks up lazily from his phone screen. "Y-o. Morning, Sleeping Beauty. Can I get one of those breakfast burritos heated up?"

The cashier just stares at him in slight disgust for a moment, before sidestepping twice to the foodwarmer. He nonchalantly picks one of the slim burritos off the roller with a pair of tongs, setting it into a paper food bowl.

"You want it heated up?" he asks with a disinterested yawn, setting the tongs down. The businessman checks his watch, sighing as he looks at his choice with a hint of regret. "… Yeah. Just make it quick."

'How do you make microwaving quick?' The cashier wonders as he puts the burrito into one of the three industrial microwaves, setting it for 15 seconds.

The whole time, the man in front of the counter checks his watch every three to four seconds. The minute even switches from 7:21 to 7:22, earning the worker a large sigh, who ignores it as he pulls the hot rectangle bowl out, slipping a napkin under it smoothly. Slightly relieved that he would still be on time (five minutes early is perfectly on time!), the man pulls out his wallet. "How much?"

"$3.47."

"Seriously? Dammit, whatever. Keep the change, lazy ass," he says in irritation, tossing four one dollar bills on the counter before grabbing the food and storming it off.

Immediately, he wraps the napkin around the burrito, dropping the paper boat in the trash. "Damn nobodies in this city," he mutters once more to himself, briskly walking towards the corner and taking a bite. He has to stop, once again, for the flow of cars, this time along with a woman from his work, who he exchanges a polite hello with before pulling out his phone to avoid having to speak with her. He was just here to get paid, not to make friends, after all.

He is so absorbed in his phone, mindlessly scrolling through social media, that he almost misses the shaky cry of the woman. "W-what the hell is that?!"

He looks up with a huge sigh to the woman, whose eyes are locked fearfully by something above them. He follows where she's looking, and his jaw drops, unable to keep his obviously-distinguished composure together.

High up in the sky, nearly hidden by clouds, vibrant, thin, glowing blue cracks in the sky stand in contrast to the orange and purple of the sunrise spreading from the horizon. They pulse a few times, growing thicker in size, until a ripple originating from them suddenly spreads through the air, followed by the very earth underneath them trembling violently for a few seconds. When they regain their footing, everyone looks in fearful expectation up to the heavens above them once more.

The cracks had split completely open, and a giant blue hole sat shattered through the atmosphere, still pulsing with light. Trails of what seemed to be thick mist seep through the jagged hole, as well as sprinkles of black dots.

"I don't know what the fuck is going on, but I'm going ho—" the man starts, but he's only halfway turned around when a large black figure tackles him to the ground, ripping half of his neck out with sharp teeth as equally sharp claws dig into his body, holding him down. The man can already feel the numbness spread through his body as the cold feeling of death races over him, and his eyes become empty.

"I was… supposed to… be top of the corporate world…" he gurgles weakly, before the last of his life is finally gone. As if that was what broke her out of her paralyzed shock, the woman shrieks, immediately flipping around and dashing into the street, only to find the bumper of a car slamming into her and sending her flying into a pole. The resounding CRACK! signifies the snap of her spine, and she falls limply to the ground, tears still dolling from her eyes. The car itself careens into a few others, and soon a pile up skids dangerously close to the gas station. It was painfully clear what was happening.

The world was ending.

— — — — —

In the spaces between the split universe…

Anomaly. Danger to "Space" modifier.

Finding solution.

Adapting to mortal life on affected planets.

Adopting form "System" from planet 3,141,592 in novels, games, and other well-known subjects.

[ Complete. ]

[ Downloading Mana… ]

[ Downloading Aura… ]

[ Adapting to mortal minds… ]

[ Complete. ]

[ Missing necessary data. Adjusting to allow learning capability. System renamed to "Evolving System." ]

[ Adding free manipulation of "Time" modifier as System sees fit. ]

[ Total Completion. Multiplying. Activating. ]

[ Awakening Failure. Subject died. Testing next subject. ]

[ Awakening Failure. Subject died…

[ Awakening Failure…

[ Awakening Failure…

[ Success! System bonding to host. Evolving System now in full effect. ]

[ Repeating… ]