Thirty nine hours ago on Earth.

Arthur crashed through the front door . The sound of the hinges screamed were drowned out by his pounding heart. He searched through his home quickly. The white walls and polished wooden floor.

The television was on in the living room. A newscaster reported what they all knew. Millions disappeared over night. Taken into the Origin Trial. The game system panel flashing in all their eyes before silence.

Arthur wasn’t chosen.

"Vicky! Vicky!" He shouted, running to the stairs. "Are you here?! Please! Are you here? The twins—"

His wife burst out of her room in towels, dripping wet. She had been taking a bath. Arthur let out a sigh of relief.

"The twin are sleeping," she hissed. "Why are you so—"

Her eyes met his. She let out a breath. "Faust? Where’s Faust?"

Arthur cradled his head, slumping against the stairwall. "I went to his school. He’s gone. My son... they took my son."

It was hours before anyone on earth got anything back from the system. Governments had called for shutdowns. The internet was ablaze with alien theories and talks of doomsday. But Arthur had memorised the system’s message. His mind replayed the words like a broken tape recorder. An endless torture.

Twenty four hours passed, then suddenly at eight am during breakfast with his family, the system spoke once more.

[The Stream feature will soon be available to this world!]

His spoon of cereal froze between his mouth and the bowl. He suddenly felt sick. But this wasn’t the system announcing his son’s death. No it was a gateway into another world where earthlings fought as entertainment.

[Do you wish to support your fellow human?]

Yes. Please.

[Then you can do so with Stream Points!]

[Completing certain actions will gift you Stream Points to buy things from the shop for your favourite players!]

[Objectives:

Fighting and defeating a Person, State, Country or Continent.

Completing a Mundane task with great Efficiency.

Watching the Universal Stream for an Hour.]

[Note: Top supporters will receive special Badges and aesthetic accessories.]

Of course that was it. Arthur felt like breaking something. Being used like toys....

But he was at the door thirty minutes later with his briefcase, dressed in his favourite suit. Why not look good while you dance?

As he pulled on his shoes, he remembered Faust’s mother. He remembered the lake and summer. The sunlight reflecting off the still waters like fire trapped beneath.

He closed his eyes and pulled himself back to the present. Earn stream points. Help Faust.

Vicky stared at him, disbelief and pride warring in her eyes. "The office won’t be open. As funny as it sounds, the government won’t bend to some intergalactic demands."

"Yeah," Arthur sighed. "But I can find some other mundane task to complete for Stream Points. If i can’t, i’l come back and finally weed the gardens like you always beg me to. With ’great efficiency’ of course."

Vicky smiled, then she leaned in and kissed his forehead. "Good luck. And stay safe out there. Remember the system’s first way for earning points."

Arthur pulled out a pair of knuckle dusters from his coat pocket. "I’ll welcome anybody that wants to help me complete that one."

◇◇◇

The Stream not only opened to Earth, but to the rest of the universe. Gods and devils from far flung worlds watched with faint interest. This was a low level world after all. The denizen were soft—squishy even.

They had not the steel to be Unalloyed Golds. Nor the strength to be Jade Warriors. Maybe Cultists of the Four Calamities.

But not much else.

The infusion of mana awakened the Animus of Earth. Its connection to the collective subconscious of its species groomed a set of gods that would accept it.

Much like deer calves, gods learn to walk shortly after they are born. Then they learn to speak. And they never stop.

They sought out Avatars among those not taken by the Origin Trials. The Governments of the world moved at once to return the world to a working state mysteriously.

Their justification was simple: earn stream points and make sure we survive.

New gods may learn to walk quickly after they’re born, but they never put anything above survival for the first hundred years of their existence.

Unfortunately, the earth’s survival did not look good in the second wave.

Many humans were still unwilling to fight. The gods pushed their avatars to create messaging among the people. Let the earthling cheer for the fools in the trials.

The human Players rallied and the second wave looked good. But the gods see far. They see the strength of the other species, how fast they grow, and how far behind earth is as the newest player in the Origin Trials.

Yet no matter how they tried, they could not bend the rules of the Origin Trials to give their representatives an upper hand.

Then the third wave came and swept away most of their Novice Villages.

A sense of defeat washed over the humans of earth that they could not understand. The gods felt a moment of defeat.

Then came Novice village #1’s third wave.

And...

Hope began to resurge. This could be done. Earth had valiant heroes. Heroes that did something that surprised even the other gods.

[Peerless Sword: It’s been a while since someone counter-invaded a gate. How interesting.]

[Foolish Turtle: I like they organisation. I will bestow a gift.]

[Zeus/Jupiter/Odin/SkyFater: Our humans are impressive.]

[Starbreaker: You might want to avoid the chat till you consolidate your identity, friend. Here lies corrupting forces that will try to take advantage of you.]

[Sage of the Burnt: I’m surprised it can form a coherent sentence.]

Things were looking up for Earth. Now the gods reached out to their avatars. The Stream Points gained by citizens must be consolidated and used on the right individuals.

These would be their champions.

***

A/N: I’m going to lock chs from next Monday so I hope everyone around early has read the other chs!

The ’gods’ will be an interesting group of enemies later. Like huge battle.