I was mindlessly scrolling through my email when I observed that the Wi-Fi connection went down on my working laptop, I tried to turn up the lights but it seems that the electricity is down again, it’s the 3rd time this month, when I last called the electricity company, they told me that some poles fallen.
On my phone, there is no signal, strange, I live near an antenna of my SIM provider.
Something feels weird.
As I was walking outside to ask a neighbour if he had the same issue, when suddenly I felt an earthquake, the sky turned black and I couldn’t see and hear anything. I felt like I was in a pool with my eyes closed.
All of a sudden, I heard in my head the following words spoken by a robotic voice:
=========================================
Planet Earth is being connected to the greater cosmos.
Do you want to take part in the evolving tutorial?
[ YES ] [ NO ]
You have 23h 58m 16s to decide.
Beware of your choice.
=========================================
Then everything turned back, the earthquake was no more, the sky was blue and the lights inside my house were on, I checked my phone and there was no issue with the signal.
Did I have a hallucination? Had I spent too much time inside?
No, that’s not it, it felt ok, it must be real.
Wait, wait, wait! Is it real???
I felt a surge of emotions, my eyes were blurry, and I was shocked, I couldn’t move.
“ It must be real, what did the voice said? Greater cosmos? Evolving tutorial? What is happening?”
I ran to the TV and turned it on, on the local news channel, it read:
Breaking News: Sun Eclipse and Local Earthquake 3.7 on the Richter scale.
The presenter was saying that the moon eclipsed the sun for a few moments and that a small earthquake happened.
Nothing to worry about.
‘Hmm, the news did not mention the voice, was I the only one that heard it?’
The phone is vibrating. Who might it be? Pff, it’s Mario from work.
Lartaro: “Hi Mario, what’s up?”
Mario: “Hi Lartaro, please enter the Teams meeting, the client is waiting for your presentation?”
Lartaro: “ Sorry, I had some issues with the connection. Didn’t you notice anything weird regarding the Eclipse and the Earthquake?”
Mario: “What Eclipse and what Earthquake? I need you ASAP, the client is waiting!”
‘Pfft, I hate these corporate slaves, the only thing they care about is the KPI, nothing else matters for them’
Lartaro: “ Sorry, but I can’t enter. The issues with the internet persist, can you please reschedule the meeting for tomorrow at the same hour?”
Mario: “I will reschedule it, IF I GET A BAD FEEDBACK FROM THE CLIENT YOU WILL HEAR FROM ME!!!”
Lartaro: “Ok, relax man. I promise that tomorrow I will be available no matter what, bye!”.
I closed the phone call, better to end this conversation, nothing good can come out of this, also let’s silence Mario’s number.
Now now, let’s analyze our situation:
- There was an earthquake and an eclipse, it was on the news
- I heard a robotic voice in my head, until now, no one else has had this experience
- Mario is a dickhead
- I have to decide what to choose
- Also fuck Mario and this boring job
By turning on the phone, I noticed multiple messages from my brother Marian, he is coming to my house, good.
10 minutes later…
Bzzz Bzzz
I opened the door, and here he was, my older brother Marian, with a frightened face, he said:
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“Lart, tell me everything that happened during the last hour.”
I responded:
“Nothing much, just usual things for a Monday, what about you?”
With a smirk, he looked and me and said:
“Yeah, just the usual Lart. Earthquake, eclipse, and strange voice.”
I opened my eyes, surprise on my face:
“ You too? What did it say? Was it a robotic voice?”
He looked at me funnily and, with a smug look on his face, started laughing:
“Haha, did you think that you were special? That some random god chose only you to gain power? You are not that special, little brother. Actually after the incident I browsed the internet and a reddit forum was created, it appears that a bunch of people heard a message, something about cosmos integration or some bullshit. I heard the voice of a gentle woman, and I need to make a decision. Have you decided yet?”
A little angry and a little relieved, I thought about his question.
“Yeah, honestly, I don’t know, it feels strange. But I think that I will accept the invitation, you know, I don’t have much going on in my life. What about you? Also, the voice that I heard was robotic, it’s weird, man.”
He contemplated for a few seconds and responded:
“Of course I will accept, maybe we will gain super powers like Superman, and you will gain superpowers like Batman, you know Batman is just a normal dude dressed in a bat costume due to some trauma, but he is rich and you, meh, not so rich let’s say.
Seriously, this might be an opportunity the change something in our life.”
I thought about his answer, and I thought about our adolescent years when we played together. I miss those days. If only we could go back in time or better, make this normal life a little bit more intersting, I would give the world for that to happen.
And maybe, but just maybe, this could happen with only a thought.
“Yes big bro, let’s first see some comments on the Reddit post and then we can make a decision, also, have you heard something from our parents?”
Marian turned to me and said:
“ You are right, let me call them real quick and see what they experienced.”
I then opened the Reddit post that my brother suggested, one particular user with nickname “FOMO23” said that he accepted the request by simply saying the world “I accept the invitation to the evolving tutorial.” and a strange symbol appeared on his left arm with a countdown, it started at approximately 23h and 30m.
‘Mmm, it appears that the countdown is the same for everyone who heard the message, but why only a few received this invitation? Strange’.
Marian returned from the balcony and said:
“Dad and Mom were taking a nap, but it seems that they woke up during the earthquake, they did not hear any strange voice. Just the 2 of us then.”
I exhaled, and then I responded:
“It’s for the best. Hey, I saw that a guy accepted the invitation, and it seems that a countdown will appear on your arm after he said the magic phrase in his mind. Should we accept right now?”
Marian perplexed, responded:
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
So we’ve spoken the magic words:
‘I accept the invitation to the evolving tutorial.’
Suddenly, the same robotic voice strung in my head:
‘Congratulations, contestant number 97, in 23h 12 m 23s you will be summoned to the tutorial.’
My brother and I looked into each other's eyes and on each other's arms, it seemed that I could see his countdown, then he spoke:
“What number did you get, rookie?”
I looked at him funnily and responded:
“Me, rookie? 97, what about you, oh ancient one?”
Marian looked at me and said:
“Pfft, only 97, you inferior contestant, why shall I bless you with my presence? I am far superior… I got 96 by the way.”
We started laughing, and I said:
“It seems we both got the number that equals the year of our birth.”
He chuckled and said:
“Yeah, we foul creatures have been blessed. Have you eaten? I’m quite hungry.”
And thus we spend the next 23 hours together, waiting for start of the tutorial, waiting to see if it is real and not a joke of some disturbed astral entity.
We played games, we drank beers, we laughed, and we watched the news.
NEWS:
20 Hours until start
BREAKING NEWS: Full planet eclipse, no scientist can explain the phenomenon that happened 4 hours ago
15 Hours until start
BREAKING NEWS: Full planet Heartquake
It seems that the 3.7 Earthquake had its center in the core of the Earth.
10 Hours until start
BREAKING NEWS: Reddit viral post
Multiple people reported that during the eclipse, they heard a strange voice with an offer, the authorities suggest to stay calm.
I woke up, and my head hurts. Who could have thought that drinking beer, wine, and vodka would bring me to this situation, but it’s not my fault, I should not have eaten the apple, from now on, no more apples. They make me feel bad.
I woke up my brother and we started playing video games like the old times, maybe this will be the last time that we have the chance.
5 Hours until start
BREAKING NEWS: Multiple people are rioting due to the eclipse + Earthquake combination of yesterday.
2.5 Hours until start
BREAKING NEWS: Live transmission from the head of the Rioting group, nickname ‘FOMO23’. “BIG THINGS ARE HAPPENING, FOMO OUT”.
10 Minutes until start
My phone is buzzing, it seems that Mario is calling, fuck him. I did not open the laptop this morning, meh, that is not important right now, what is important is getting ready for this new adventure.
Let’s see if I have everything:
- Backpack with all the essentials → Check
- First Aid Kit → Check
- Food for 3 or 4 days → Check
- Bottle of water → Check
- Knive → Check
- Baseball bat → Check
- Vodka for pain → Check
‘Mmm, I think I have everything, I hope that something happens, I would hate to have prepared for nothing, just think positive’
Then I hard a knock, my brother arrived at my place after he went to his house to get everything that he needs.
“Hey, everything ok? Are you nervous, big bro?”
Marian looked at me and said:
“Just a little bit, I hope that we will see each other, Lart.”
I nodded, and we did not speak any more words.
We waited patiently.
The countdown was going down.
7 minutes
3 minutes
1 minutes
30 seconds
10 seconds
5 seconds
4 seconds
3 seconds
2 seconds
1 seconds
Then I heard the same metallic voice:
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You have been claimed by the tutorial contestant number [97].
=========================================
And everything went black.