It was an event that affected the whole of humanity as a whole.

Humans across the world stared in awe and horror.

The earth rumbled, mountains quaked, valleys rattled, and cities shuddered.

Before this grand phenomenon, an earthquake was nothing in comparison. Even the strongest couldn’t remain on their feet as the world flipped.

The vast oceans that rifted the continents were gone.

There were no more continents. Names didn’t matter. Looking at the singular whole supercontinent that was left as a combination of all seven, one could proudly call it...

[Congratulations... residents of Earth, Pangaea is Back!]

The entirety of humanity remained bamboozled by this event.

Everything they ever thought they knew, the secrets of the world they once thought they had deciphered — just like that, it all went to shit!

Scientists couldn’t even begin to explain what had just happened. Leaders of various regions shook in horror at the realization of what this implied.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Origin just had to give them another shock of their lives.

[The Planet Earth is 70% Water, 21% Land. Earth was never meant to be ruled by land-dwelling creatures...]

[But Humanity beat the odds...]

[Countless native races stir in discontent. Fellow land dwellers, unknown sea dwellers, and sacred airborne races have all set their sights on humanity, indignant, discontent...]

People blinked at the series of words that never seemed to stop rolling.

Hearts palpitated, guts sank, humanity as a whole felt visceral horror.

How many years had they gone on believing they were the only intelligent life on Earth?

The special ones? The enlightened ones?

Everyone gawked in horror. Some stared, eyes brimming with curiosity, because the system wasn’t done.

[How could apes who once served them become the masters of Earth?]

The words stung harshly, like the Origin had a tongue filled with barbs. But the Origin wasn’t done — it left its words unfiltered, it left the truth raw.

[How could the unenlightened barbarians who once served them as gods rule?]

[Thus the Battle for Hegemony begins!]

Pulses quickened. Everyone felt the pressure raw, the visceral reality as shocking as it was terrifying.

It hurt. After thousands of years moving ahead believing they were special, only to finally have the wool pulled from their eyes and realize... humanity really seemed to be at the bottom of the food chain.

[Will Humanity be able to keep the throne as hegemons, before races bred to be faster, better, stronger, and more efficient!]

[The human race was once at the bottom of the food chain. They clawed their way up, but can they do the same now that the standard has changed?]

[Can they keep their throne, earning it with hands drenched in blood and sweat? Or will they crumble, settling back to the bottom everyone thinks they deserve?]

[The conclusion is unknown, but the war begins...]

And at the same time, across countless regions — the sea, beyond the clouds, and on the earth — all races eligible got the same prompt.

[Worldwide Quest Issued! The War For Hegemony!]

[Details: Earth is undergoing tumultuous upgrades. It has vast potential, but the amount of resources is still finite. Only Hegemons can fully benefit from the coming upgrades.]

[Completion Requirement: Direct subjugation or eradication of all myriad competing races. The one who is left standing WINS!!]

[Rewards: The racial throne of Hegemony and a lot more!]

With that, the Origin finally went silent. But in its wake, humans slowly awakened from stupor.

Their minds, anything but calm, their beliefs had undergone more than just a shake — they had been surgically dismembered, their pride as a sovereign race reduced to nothing.

They weren’t special. They weren’t the only overlords as they once thought. They were the bottom of the food chain.

And if there was one thing nature continuously proved, it was that the hierarchy of nature was set from the beginning of time.

And changing it was akin to making the sun rise from the north.

Nature decided the apex from birth, and the prey could only remain that — just mere prey!

Everyone stared at the quest in horror. The pessimism was contagious. Everyone could practically smell extinction burning rife in the air.

It was over! Was this a war they could win?

The mere fact that these unknown races had existed on Earth, and had continuously avoided humanity’s detection despite their technology and advancement, spoke volumes about their foes’ capabilities.

Deep in the abyssal depths of the ocean, regions scientists had always deemed uninhabitable due to the ridiculous pressure...

If one could dive deep enough, push through the bone-crushing weight, one would see massive domes of light!

Each dome representing the resident nation of an unknown race.

Though humans had made close calls and speculations about intelligent life that might exist underwater...

They always made one grave error. If the land was such a small percentage of Earth, but could still birth millions of species, each unique, some related but distinct from each other...

Then what about the sea, which was even vaster?

What mermen? Mermaids? Sirens? These were just a small fraction of the numbers that existed below.

There was a total of at least 16 intelligent lifeforms dwelling in the ocean, cast away to never see the light of day.

But today that ended!

Now brewing from the depths were rows and rows of armies, filed in ordered manners, each beast radiating discipline and a bloodthirsty feral ruthlessness.

The chance they had been waiting for, for countless generations, had come.

...

In a small country, Eritrea of Africa, bodies lay strewn across the land. The earth soaked in blood, the rivers ran crimson from the sheer amount of massacre that had just been unleashed.

A figure radiating a cadence of blue plowed its claw through the last human left alive in this whole country.

"Mmmmmn, now that felt satisfying." The bird-headed figure closed its eyes, basking in the silence that remained after the devastation.

Suddenly a figure wreathed in brilliant gold streaked down from the skies — the Avian race patriarch was back.

Osiris stared at his father Ra. The remaining Avians began to gather round.

An ancient tongue rolled, peeling through the skies like thunder.

"Folks! We have been given a chance! A chance to take back what is ours, a chance to rid the world of these pests that are humans!"

Ra’s beady eyes burned with fervent obsessive intensity. "Today the war to reclaim our throne as gods officially begins!"

His words echoed through the skies. Dark clouds churned and lightning flashed, followed by resounding booms that echoed through the heavens, accompanied by fervent cheers.

It had finally begun. Their conquest could finally begin!

...

Around the world, in the smoldering depths, orange-hued volcanoes bubbled.

Massive dormant volcanoes became active. Lava spilled from their depths, raining ash across the terrain around them.

Vaporizing any creature in sight, human or beast alike.

The depths stirred simultaneously around the world. As the lava peaked and streamed, a ruby-red scaly claw reached out, digging into the rims of the volcanoes. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

The earth shook. A race of creatures that carried the lethality of beasts but retained the sinister intelligence of humanoid races — a rare type of lifeform even across the cosmos — had stirred.

Beings that once commanded the seas, the earth, and the skies. They ruled supreme on Earth.

And now they were back, and it was time to dominate again.

All around the world, earth-shuddering roars tore through the skies.

This wasn’t just any mindless roar. Listening to their bone-rattling pitch, it would be obvious — they were communicating!

...

Across the world, the phenomena were endless. In the light of day, and in the shadows of the dark, hidden races stirred, ready to take a piece of the pie.

And looking at the odds truly made one wonder... did humans truly have a chance?