Herald of the Apocalypse

In front of the mirror and behind Tina, he saw his reflection. He was at least 1,85 meters tall and had a beautiful angular face with a pointed chin and a marked jawline. His eyes glimmered violet, and his skin was pale as milk, but it had a silvery glow. When he moved his hands over a lock of hair, he felt and saw his pointed ears.

'That's actually happening.' He thought while moving away from the mirror. Tina's eyes followed through the reflection, but she said nothing.

She grabbed gloves, a pickaxe, a bucket, and a shovel and stopped as if waiting for him to follow her. He grabbed the same items on the wall and noticed a map beside the mirror. The tunnels had three sections, and the one they were going to, Section 3, was the furthest. A straight line, and they would find their destination. At the end of each section of the dungeon on the map, he could see a door and the saying: "DO NOT OPEN!" in big letters.

Alex walked, following Tina to the end of the tunnel with slow steps. Thinking about his situation.

'Okay… I'm in a fantasy world where magic is real and magic races exist. I'm working for a dark elf. I'm a white elf, for all I can see, and this woman that I'm following is probably my sister or a good friend for all she has shown until now. I have a 'system' inside my head, and I'm, for all it seems, mining a dungeon for a living.'

If he spoke this conjunction of words in any other scenario, it would mean he was completely crazy. Still, at that moment, it expressed the situation just right.

When they reached the end of the tunnel, Tina walked towards one of the walls and started looking at it with care. Searching for the right spot to strike. Alex could not discern exactly what she saw, but she smashed the pickaxe against the wall.

"Can I take a moment?"

She stopped and looked at him, her expression becoming softer by the second. "Of course, I can't imagine what you're going through. Go ahead, I'll cover you if it's needed." And with no other words, she resumed her smashing on the walls.

Alex walked towards the big door, which also had the saying "DO NOT OPEN!". Somehow, Alex knew the words were not written in English, but he could read them in his native language. He then sat on the ground with his back to the wall.

'Status… Sheat…Information…' Alex thought, trying to see if the messages would appear in his mind again, but nothing happened. He then decided to mutter the words, but nothing again. Only when he said his name, "Alex Smith," did the words appear before him.

Hostname: Alex Smith

Divine Endowment: The Devil's Hand.

Class: Absorber, Melee.

Faction: Elazael's Army.

Rank: F3

…

Host attributes:

-Strength: F1

-Endurance: F2

-Speed: F3

-Intelligence: F3

…

Endowment Attributes:

-Physical Power: F1

-Magical Power: F0

-Faction Power: SSS

Following the list from top to bottom, he analyzed it. The 'Divine Endowment' meant he had received something from the Gods, something called "The Devil's Hand." Still, he searched his tattered clothes and saw nothing. Nothing strange had happened besides the healing mist during his fight with the orc.

He had a class. He could probably do something particular with it if it was like a video game. 'Absorber' could refer to how he had somehow consumed the mist that left his enemy's body minutes ago. Deciding he could not fathom what it meant, he looked at the other lines.

He was apparently a member of Alazael's army. The name rang no bells for Alex, but he deduced it was the name of the God who had bestowed upon him this strange and seemingly invisible gift.

Looking at the numbers of his attributes and considering his Faction Power was maximized, all the statuses could be upgraded from F to SSS. Or there was a G under the F, but Alex doubted it. Looking only at the numbers, he could assume he was weak, except for the last attribute.

Another thing jumped into his eyes. His power was divided between Host and Endowment. The first probably describes Alex's powers, while the second describes the Devil's Hand powers.

'Okay, now I need to find a way to use this thing… but doing it here would be dangerous. I have no idea what that can do, and a monster dungeon falling over my head would not be attractive.'

Alex sighed and looked at Tina. She kept swinging the blade on the rock formation until she stopped and analyzed the walls. She touched the rocks with one hand and, with force, removed one yellow ore from it.

"Nice!" She hissed and pointed it to Alex, showing it to him. "A Yellow ore! We are in luck today." She shrugged and downed her hand, "Considering what happened before, I would not say luck, but a yellow arcanite? That's good. We can get out of here with one more of it or four blue ones." She said, putting the ore in her pocket, grabbing the pickaxe again, and hitting another wall point.

If this 'arcanite' was some kind of currency in this place, the blue was the lowest and the yellow the second lowest. If she had found one so fast, helping and getting out would be the wisest choice.

Alex got up and looked for a wall close to the door for him to try to find ores. After a close inspection, he found a place he considered ideal. The spot he chose had a little crack, and upon close inspection, he could see a yellow light inside it.

'Jackpot!' He thought, smashing the pickaxe on the wall, his mind drifting on thoughts about this new, strange world. Alex had his mindset ready: He would make things different in this new life. Alex would aim for the top, like before, but the time for being the good guy was over. This new place had already shown to be as ruthless as Earth— or worse, so he would need to do the same.

Being a mine worker wasn't the easiest way to walk the steps towards success. Still, he would gladly do it if it were what he needed to do today to earn a belly full and some information. With these thoughts, he kept hammering the crack, seeing the yellow light closer and closer. 

"Missions, Skills, Map, Messages…" He muttered between each hammering of the wall, but nothing happened. "Quests." The blue screen appeared before his eyes with a glimmering light. Only one quest was shown to him, but it was enough to make Alex shiver.

Unique quest: Herald of the Apocalypse

Prevent or encourage the end of the world. Whatever you decide to do, you'll need power for it. The hordes will come, and they will seek the souls of Tevas. Be the Hero or be the Villain.

Countdown: 364 days, 22 hours and 50 minutes.

Alex halted and kept looking at the screen, not smashing the wall anymore. A building of terror increased in his heart. 'I just arrived here. What the hell…' He thought, realizing he had gripped the pickaxe with too much force. His fingers were already white and sore.

'How can I prevent or encourage the end of the world? I'm just a guy, a cop… a rookie, for all that matters.'

But the answer came quickly to mind. Alex wasn't a cop anymore; he was an elf with a divine endowment, whatever that meant, and if he wanted to keep his promise of not dying again, he would need to prevent this apocalypse from happening. But how? That was the real question. He didn't even know what the world was really like.

With this thought in mind, he returned to mining. He glanced over the crack and saw the orb light intensifying, so he kept smashing. Breaking the rocks around the ore with force, feeling good about thinking about nothing for once.

After what seemed like five minutes, he heard a crackling sound. He moved his hand toward the ore on the wall. It was loose and easy to grip. The young man shoved his hand into the hole and searched for the ore. Feeling the rock on his fist, Alex tried to get it out but couldn't.

It was one of these situations… The ones where you get your hand stuck into a hole inside a dungeon in a fantasy world.

He kept trying to remove his arm from the wall, twisting his fist from one side to the other, but he only managed to get a massive irritation. Tina looked at him and smiled, but in the blink of an eye, her expression changed as Alex's did, too.

Alex felt a hand holding his one and pushing it inside the hole.