Prologue

Every 5,000 years, a group of five humans that are of Gröjek descent is chosen through a mysterious system to go into the Portal. The reason is unknown, but it is highly possible that the people are chosen as a sacrifice to the creatures on the other side. In the year 7023, Kralli Herkt, Meerna Brunsinge, Feili Dreomn, Lisfr Creahs, and Apurys Henoll didn't think they'll be the one, since there is quite literally a whole universe of Gröjek humans for the system to pick from.

And yet here they are, bonding in the last seconds of their life in the known world, trying not to panic at the thought of going into possible death.

Welp, there's no going back now.

-----------------------------------------------------------

A breeze blew through the temple, and even though it was the Harvest season, not that cold yet, Kralli still shivered. She was tired of standing for so long. Her legs ached and she wanted to have some hot, fresh gâteux. But her timer showed that there was still a little over two hours left of the ceremony.

Every 5 years, there's a ceremony to celebrate the day the universe became one. The day space travel became commonplace and creatures on different planets were able to easily communicate with each other.

Kralli has been to 3 such ceremonies, and each one was pure torture. It began at sunrise, and lasted until midday, where everyone took a snack break and strolled through the market, then continued on until sundown. The only time they were allowed to sit down was during the midday break and when there was only a few minutes left of the ceremony, which everyone spent sighing in relief instead of singing the anthem.

Only two more hours left. She can do this.

All of a sudden, gasps filled the temple, and Kralli quickly looked up into what seemed to be a floating hologram. The hologram depicted the words, "THE SYSTEM HAS CHOSEN".

The System? Now that's a familiar name... Kralli realized it was a name from her history classes. She, and everyone in the universe watching the same thing, paled as they were reminded of what the System meant...