1 Chapter 1

No.

No no no no no no no no.

How come this is happening!? There are monsters everywhere outside… Isn't the Association supposed to protect all of us civilians!? How come they're not doing anything!? I always knew they were corrupted still, and I get that there's a ton of monsters that came out of that Rip… But I don't see a single high-ranked Player here. Am I… going to die?

-

Before everything started becoming chaotic, the world was relatively normal. Thirty years ago, people got chosen to become Players, people who became powerful through the System that got implemented in the world. The reason why that happened was to fight against monsters that came through Rips, portals to other dimensions containing dangerous monsters.

Player ranks, from F to S (lowest to highest), fight against the monsters that come from Rips. They appear randomly, which is why there's always a B or A rank Player in each area, or there's a group of C or B Players. F and E players take on smaller monsters instead of guarding areas since they're inexperienced and weak. The truly advanced players that are A-rank and up can join the Association. They're called Associates. They're only called when something major happens, and they're very efficient but sometimes brutal.

I've only heard about them from the news and tweets about them, but I heard many stories of ex-Associates being treated badly by S-Class Players in the Association. They've also hoarded a lot of good-ranked equipment and items from everyone else, which they got sued for three years ago but they paid it back by giving half of their high-ranked equipment to others, not within the Association.

And now you're wondering about me, huh?

My name's Andromeda Lupus, 26 years old, and I'm just a normal civilian. Unlike the people I've described, I'm not as interesting… The only thing that I have going for me is to be an editor for a bunch of small webtoons, story-wise. I've attempted to become a scientist, but being a science major in college was tiring in my opinion. Too many labs, and too many times where I interact with strangers that probably hated me.

I was only reading over the new draft episode for a webtoon when a ginormous Rip appeared right above the entrance to the city. It wasn't like any other Rip. It was a deep red, unlike the usual cool blue, showcasing darkness within the portal rather than the dimension that it came from.

"What the hell…" I muttered to myself, hand over mouth while thinking intensely. "Shit, this is bad. Red always indicates bad, and this one's big and it's in the sky! I have to-"

ROAAAAARRRRRRR!

Before I knew it, wyverns, serpents, and dragons all came out of the Rip, destroyed buildings, and killed everyone. Fear washed over me, making me freeze in my spot.

"Now's the time to move, body!" I yell at myself in my head. My hand twitches. Roars and screeches ring my ears, they're coming closer. "I need to hide!"

With my body feeling free again, I book it inside of my closet, going to the deepest corner and further away from the window. I quickly think of what to do, many thoughts rushing through my head. Sweat beads down the side of my head as I think of way too many scenarios.

"Maybe this is like all of those manhwas where I get an incredibly overpowered ability," I thought. "Or maybe I'm really weak but become incredibly strong by meeting conditions and almost get killed! Or, how about-"

SCRREEEEEEEEEEE!

"... I forgot there were monsters out there."

I bring my legs closer to my chest as I wait for the noises to calm down. Which probably isn't going to happen after several hours… or days.

To occupy myself, I feel around the floor of my rather tight closet. Clothes, clothes, some candy wrappers, and a chest box. Wait, a chest box?

I grab the chest by the top, bringing it up to my face so I can have a closer look. I brought out my phone to use the flashlight, even though I knew of the dangers of shining a bright light when around the presence of dragons.

"This box…" It fits in my hands perfectly. It's decorated with gold and green, two colors that look quite ugly near each other but it was unique. A maze is carved into the top of the wooden chest, being extremely hard to read even under the bright light. With thin lines and large amounts of routes, I'd probably take at least a few months trying to figure out this maze. What's more important is the carved beasts and monsters that are unfamiliar to me. A lion with a scorpion's tail, a sharp-eared human with a bow and arrow, a large boar with three horns, etc.

"I should open this," is my immediate thought after I inspect the chest for a little bit. "It's got to be important…"

Slowly opening the chest, I expected myself to be enveloped with light. What happens is that it showcases a beautiful pendant colored black and green, the green having a smokey effect on top of the black. It's framed and attached by gold, the frame having elegant and complicated swirls that enhance the beauty of the jewel, the gold chain being small and simple.

"Gorgeous…" I stare at the pendant with a slight wonder. "I didn't know gems could be this color…"

Then, a sudden roar goes into my ears. It only means one thing… The dragons were coming closer! I close the box and hold onto it tightly, although I don't know why I'm protecting it. The entire apartment building shakes, and I do alongside it too.

"Shit!-" The chest falls out of my hands as the apartment continues to shake. I eventually fell completely onto the ground too. I don't know what's happening to be honest; my protectiveness over a pendant I just found is unnatural to me. The first thing I do when I lay on the ground is to grab onto the chest, open it and grab the pendant by its chain.

As I hear the screams from the people near the apartment building, I use this time to bolt out of my closet with the pendant in hand.

"I should just hold onto it by the gem," I think to myself as I quickly unlock and exit my apartment door. "I'll have a better grip and it won't fall out of my hands."

I touch the gem as I run alongside the many other tenants exiting the building. The gem glowed the moment my fingers touch it, stopping me in my tracks as the glow immediately goes away and a weird, glitchy, and circle-y effect overtakes my entire arm. Tenants look at me as they run away. It's understandable. I'm a stranger getting possibly killed by a gemstone, but the situation at hand is incredibly dangerous for too many people.

"What the-" Is all I let out before the fog takes over my arm. The sensation was strange; I felt nothing yet I felt something. It felt as if my arm was in another dimension, in a space where everything had cool air. It takes over my chest, then my stomach, then my legs- I scream and grunt as I try to take it off. "I need to live dammit!"

I truly believe I'm getting killed. No one helped me as I struggled to fight the gem. I end up kneeling on the red carpet floor, the apartment shaking intensely with no one in sight. I start crying, desperately trying to get it off of me.

"Please- Please I need to live!" I let go of the pendant long ago, but I'm incredibly upset that this hasn't stopped. It slowly creeps up to my face, my entire body already enveloped in the weird, corrupted mess. I stare up at the ceiling, tears flowing down my face as I breathe heavily. Cracks appear on the yellow ceiling, bits and pieces of the building falling to the floor. I claw at my skin, making me feel as if I was bleeding from all the scratching and clawing. A large piece from the ceiling falls near me, then more and more starts falling as I attempt to get it off of me.

"This is it- I'm going to die!" Was my last thought when the ceiling came crashing onto me, my entire body disappearing underneath the blob of the pendant. It wasn't there when I took a glance at where it was before I died.