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planet battlegrounds

Everett sat by himself on a bench wondering

about the mysteries of life. The street around him was bustling with activity,

people were rushing through the streets trying to get back to their families

before the clock struck midnight. It was refreshing to see a 'normal' crowd; he

was far too used to seeing crowds preparing for war. There was a thick tension

in the air, and people pushing each other around to get a spot on the small

public train. He heard swearing and people starting to get violent once the

spots began dwindling. Although it made it a bit harder to contemplate, Everett

tried not to pay much attention to their antics. A small riot was beginning to

start, as people began trying to force their way onto the train. 'I guess I

should make the public transportation have more capacity for next year.' He

thought to himself, before quickly losing himself in his thoughts once more. That

was until a stray bit of magic intended for an obnoxious man violently wrestling

his way through to the train, whizzed through the air hitting Everett bluntly

on the side of his head.

His hood of his hoodie was suddenly ripped

off revealing an annoyed and handsome sixteen-year-old face beneath it. His

hair was supposed to be styled to have a formal look, but now his black hair was

messily thrown into a ruffled mess. He stood up and looked at the crowd. He stared

at them disapprovingly with an elegant posture, his face no longer covered by

his hood. This caused the violent crowds to immediately hush down, until after

a few seconds hundreds of people were facing him on one knee, bowing as low as

possible display maximum respect. The display of what he believed to be

undeserved respect only soured the already annoyed expression on his face.

Hundreds of people simultaneously saw their lives flash before their eyes as

they saw his expression, causing puddles of sweat to pool underneath all the

smelly working-class men Infront of him. These men weren't really bowing to

him, rather to his father which was why this kind of respect rubbed him the

wrong way.

He silently walked past the crowd and sat

into the now empty train carriage by himself and continued thinking like

before.

Soon enough the train came to a stop and

Everett succinctly replaced his hoodie and walked off. He was met by a tall old

man in a well-fitting suit, this was his family's chief of staff, Charles. They

began idly walking through the station headed to the private teleporter

section. As they walked Charles began to speak, "Are you excited for your body

reconstruction, Everett?" Which was quickly met with the question "are you

supposed to feel excited?" This was not a rhetorical question; Everett had been

thinking about what he was supposed to feel in the lead up into such an

important event. Some people said that he should feel excited some said anxious

others said to 'just let fate sort things out'. "What do you think I should

feel Charles?" Well I think your asking the wrong person, I never had to go

through thar

Everett was a person who never felt worry. Well, he didn't feel much of anything really. He

didn't feel pain, or if he did it wasn't physical. This lack of pain ended up

having the side effect of him not feeling certain emotions. This included

feelings of worry, anxiety and fear.

So, when he woke up this morning, he was

quite confused. Everything was

the same as usual, the harmonious singing of the birds dotted around the room,

were the same as usual. Their chirps floated through the morning air, while

eating bits of the vibrant greenery of his plants flourishing around his

luxurious chamber, was also the same as usual. Which was a contradiction to

Everett's instincts. He felt that something was off. His instincts had never

failed him before, but there was nothing which was wrong. He sat on the edge of

his bed and tried focusing on his body. Had he been poisoned? That was

certainly a reasonable explanation to his current predicament. He crossed his legs

and shifted into a meditating position. He poured his concentration into his

body looking for any injuries or contaminations, finding nothing. His instincts

were becoming more pronounced it felt something had coiled around his heart

weighing it down and he felt an unusual feeling in his stomach. 'Wait hold on.'

He thought to himself. 'This is different from my instincts. Wait it can't be,

can it?' He was feeling worried.

He stood up and looked down curiously, and noticed

his palms were sweaty. He also noticed his heart was beating faster than it

should have. He outstretched his arms, and walked over to his gold plated,

lavish mirror. He saw the reflection of a handsome sixteen-year-old young man

as he styled his formal looking black hair completing his fashionable hairstyle

that parted on the left side, with longer strands swept to the right, creating

a slightly tousled look. He stared at his reflection which had what he

recognised as a worried look. He stared for a bit then his face changed to one

of indifference. He reasoned to himself, 'Why do i feel this way? Today is no

different to any other, I am going to be integrated into the system today, but

if anything, I am overprepared. Someone like me should be making the system

scared not the other way around.' Suddenly, the emotion left as quickly as it

came, leaving Everett more than a little bit confused.

He left his room and walked to the grandiose dining

hall. He drowsily sat down as he brought some food to his mouth, after briefly

thanking the chef. He straightened his posture, as the sweet aroma of waffles

wafted through the air. Although the emotion left him, something else was going

on in his head. A faint ringing sound was resounding through his mind. His

reliable intuition was warning something was wrong. He looked around, saw

nothing wrong and decided to eat. He brought the waffles up to his mouth, as

the alarm bells in his head gradually rang louder and louder. The distinct

feeling of wrongness and unease made his body shake. He ignored his intuition

and elegantly put the food in his mouth, deciding not to delay the inevitable. He

put the food in his mouth and started to chew. As soon as his teeth touched the

waffle, he felt an agonizing pain reverberate throughout his entire body. It

was like a supernova of pain had exploded in his mouth. He gasped and spat out

his food, along with a repulsive stew of blood and teeth.

"Argh!" He screamed in a sharp cry of pain 'It

Hurts?!' His mind was racing. He fell to his knees. All he could think was,

'make it stop!' He looked around for assistance but strangely saw nothing.

Surprised, he reached for his eye sockets and felt a chill run down his spine.

Where his eyes should have been, he felt a hot liquid gushing down past his

fingers. Another sharp pain tore through his insides, making him fall off his

chair and roll on the floor, grabbing his stomach. He tried to scream, still

coughing blood. He tried to minimize the harrowing pain by rolling into the

recovery position, while clutching his eye sockets, only to spew even more

blood and the rest of his teeth, as they exploded from his gums. The pain

intensified, as he felt many sensations he couldn't even believe existed.

Someone else would have described the pain feeling like his veins had gained

sentience and were trying to rip through his skin to escape his body, which

sent a shockwave of torment through every nerve.

This was Everetts first time feeling pain. It

was unbearable. He didn't know what was happening. He had yet to identify the

feeling as pain. He just rolled on the floor while his body melted as he tried

to end this unknown sensation. His stoic resolve shattered Infront of the

insurmountable sensation. He was someone who had never faltered, his mind

always sharpened by his indomitable will. Yet he was still trying scream on the

floor his mind had shut down in an attempt to

protect his sanity. He choked on his blood while his cries gradually weakened,

fading to silence as consciousness slipped away from his grasp.

Everett suddenly woke up with a gasp.

He was in an unfamiliar area, with wisps of

pain still assaulting his exhausted mind even though there wasn't a single

scratch on his body. 'Why could I feel pain?' He thought to himself finally

understanding what that dreadful feeling was. He was both excited and hesitant

at the idea of being able to feel pain. He hit himself in the face, and as he

expected there was no pain, only a hand shaped mark.

He nauseously surveyed his surroundings and

realized he was in a vast cave at least 100 meters across and 50 meters high.

The blue-grey stone making up the cavern shimmered with a thick coat of

sparkling ice, but it wasn't cold; if anything, the cave was quite hot, melting

the ice and making the air extremely humid. He looked up and saw there was a

huge tear in the roof, as if it had been ripped apart by many ferocious teeth,

letting bright, warm rays of sunlight shine into the eerie cave, gradually

causing the ice to melt.

He found himself lying on a small ice block.

The ice which probably should have frozen him solid gave off a mystical aura

making him feel pleasantly refreshed. His nauseousness seemed dissipate, like

the ice melted it away. 'Is this ice imbued with healing magic?' he thought to

himself, amazed. He never expected to see something so valuable just lying

around in such large quantities.

Back on Earth anything with healing qualities

was more valuable than gold. Well, that was a useless comparison because gold

is close to worthless now on Earth. There was so much of it imported from a

planet named G5 that it lost all its value. He couldn't quite imagine it being

valuable like it was in those Web Novels he read from the 21st century. Magic

imbued materials on the other hand, well they were worth enough to start wars

over. Especially potent healing items. And now he was surrounded by healing magic!

He couldn't believe his eyes. He was so distracted he forgot to figure out what

planet he was on.

He sat up and continued looking around. He

noticed that the block of ice he was on was a small island in a massive river.

It seemed to be slow-moving, and shallow made up of a sparkling reflective

liquid with a light blue hue. He wasn't sure what kind of substance it was, so

he stuck his hand in the river. His eyes widened when he realised the heat of

the cave was washed away replaced by a soothing sensation reminiscent of the

healing ice, but slightly weaker. He noticed that it was thick and almost solid

in some parts. It reminded him a bit of wet concrete.

After failing to identify what planet he was

on, he lied back down, still mentally exhausted. He had just undergone his body

reconstruction, the process when your body on Earth gets destroyed and rebuilt

on another world. It allows people to travel between worlds and gain

supernatural powers via the mysterious System.

It was supposed to be painful.

It had been described to him as feeling like

your heart got ripped out of your chest. Some people even lost their sanity

from it, but Everett didn't expect it to hurt. Because he thought he couldn't

feel pain. Now he wasn't so sure. Why did it hurt so much? Everett began to

suspect something had gone wrong. Disregarding that, he still felt it was more

brutal than it should have been. Your body was supposed to be quickly destroyed

in a few seconds and rebuilt in another world, but his took at least 15

seconds. With every second getting worse and worse. So, although he couldn't

know for sure, he still felt that his reconstruction was unusual.

Once

he decided to think about it later, Everett looked down for the first time

since arriving on the new planet. 'Holy crap, why do I have clothes?!' He

thought with alarm. His body had been rebuilt in this world, but that wasn't

supposed to include clothes. 'Why are there so many damn mysteries in this

planet?' he thought confused to himself. As his mind began to race, a voice

spoke from behind him. "Greetings, Everett. It's nice to finally talk to

you." Everett jumped with surprise managing to slip on the ice and fell

into the shallow river. He looked where he was just standing and saw a floating

snake.

It was metallic and looked robotic. It stared

at him with an intimidating gaze. Then burst out laughing at Everett's

clumsiness. It was only small, about the size of his forearm, and had wisps of

blue energy protruding from its body. Everett stood up, trying to play off his

clumsiness with confidence and politely asked, "you can speak?"

He looked back up at the floating creature,

it seemed harmless, so he decided to introduce himself, only to be interrupted

by it saying, "Congratulations on surviving the body reconstruction."

It looked at Everett with a proud expression. "That's the first time a

monster has congratulated me" he replied in a sarcastic tone. While he

simultaneously readied himself into a fighting stance. Everett continued

confidently speaking, "So, Mister Snake, who are you? You're not dangerous,

are you?" The small creature didn't seem like it wanted to fight, but he didn't

want to underestimate it.

The snake scoffed at him and said mockingly,

"I'm your system guide, idiot." As he said that, a translucent,

holographic, game-like interface appeared in front of him projected by a small

device in the metallic snake's mouth.

He barely had time to read the first line

before the entire cave began to shake. The bright light illuminating the cave

vanished as the gash in the roof was covered by a glowing body slithering above

the cave, making the roof crumble. He looked up and saw a giant monster.

Everett quickly looked around for ways to escape in case that creature

descended into the cave. It was a huge translucent, eyeless worm the size of a

house. It turned to face Everett and circular rows of jagged teeth began moving

around its mouth like a chainsaw.

Everett turned and saw a nearby tunnel

downstream and started making his way through the weird liquid. It was

knee-deep, making It feel he was trying to run through quicksand. Despite that

he ran with ferocious speed, effortlessly bringing his knees up and down to

jump through the river.

He kept running and a loud "thump!" Sent

ripples through the river upstream while the entire cave shook. He turned and

saw the giant worm glide through the river towards him, showing off its

frightening teeth in anticipation for its next meal. He strained his legs and

pushed himself through the river.

finally reached the entrance of a large tunnel, about 10 metres in diameter and

covered with thick layers of ice. He didn't stop for a single second, but did

turn his head and look behind him. The monster was slowly gaining on him every

second. Suddenly, he saw the floating snake appear in front of the monster. It

was flying around the creature like an annoying fly. Snake opened its mouth,

and a beam of light shot into the worm's big eye. A loud screech filled the

area, as blood rolled from the creature's eye. The monster slowed down for a

split second before, suddenly it jumped into the air trapping the snake in its

mouth. He saw bits of metal and sparks fly as Snake was shredded apart by the

whirring teeth. Everett frowned while still running, losing Snake meant losing

access to his future powers because system guides are what enable access to the

system and its gifts. Despite the losses he still approved of Snakes decision,

after all that didn't matter if he was dead. He just couldn't figure out why Snake

would sacrifice himself to buy him time. What was his motivation? Before he

could think about it anymore, he turned his head back to the tunnel his eyes

widened as he saw the snake reappear in front of him. He appeared in a flash of

blue light making him look majestic. Which Everett thought didn't suit what

he's seen of his snarky personality.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed while panting

and running. "I just saw you get eaten!" he said to the snake. "Don't worry

about that and keep running you idiot, do you really have time to be asking questions?"

The snake was right. The abomination was right behind them, the snake only

managed to slow it down for a second, seemingly unperturbed about the loss of

its eye. The snake then opened its mouth, and a beam of light appeared in front

illuminating the tunnel.

He ran through the tunnel with the speed of a

pre-system Olympic sprinter, following the river's trajectory downstream. Which

he was now running alongside on a large road of ice. He ran and ran and ran. The

tunnel began shrinking as he sped through it, putting a bit of hope in his

heart. His bones started to be put under immense strain, as he legs forcefully

propelled him forward. But he had no time to be concerned as the creature was

gaining on him. He went from 50 meters ahead, to 30, then 10. Now the monster

was so close he could hear its heartbeat and the whirring of its horrifying

teeth. As he ran the tunnel became smaller and smaller. Now it was only 3 and a

half meters tall. The tunnel had become a tight squeeze for the monster, there

was barely enough room for its towering 3-meter figure. However, the road of

ice ended forcing him to plunge into the river which was up to his waist. The

strange liquid slowed him down to the speed of a crawl as he tried to maneuverer

his way through as quickly as possible. He took another step forward and sunk

slightly. There was nothing underneath his foot. The liquid became too deep. He

tried to swim but only sank, whatever kind of substance this was didn't seem to

let him have any buoyancy. He sank at a frightening speed as he held his

breath. He was sinking at the same speed he would if he was in falling midair.

As he fell, a shadow surrounded him, and the ripples of whirring teeth pulsed

throughout the liquid. Then suddenly he burst through the seemingly gravity

defying substance and continued falling, only now through air instead. He

abruptly landed on a hard surface, shattering his legs. As he landed though, he

rolled on the floor and entered a small new tunnel that he saw only a moment

before he collided into the ground. As he rolled into the passageway, he looked

back in the direction he came from and saw a giant figure crash into the floor

outside the tunnel. It collided with an earth-shattering force. Literally breaking

the ground beneath it and fell through the roof of a third tunnel.

Everett sighed to himself, there were no

planets he was aware of with these kinds of ice tunnels. If there was then

healing items wouldn't be so valuable. Which left only one disheartening

explanation. Nobody who had travelled here had managed to survive the journey

back to Earth. He stowed the thought, there was no point thinking about that

now. This fact didn't really concern him though, he was more well prepared than

pretty much anyone when it came to the challenges of the system. If anyone

could survive an undiscovered planet it was him. Looking at him right now though,

you wouldn't think that. He had barely escaped death and now couldn't walk. He looked

down at his disfigured legs, they were barley broken in many places. He closed

his eyes and began to focus on his body. An image appeared in his mind showing

his legs, it showed him his bones, muscles, veins and every other part of his

legs. He noticed that his feet bones had basically been grinded to dust and his

legs looked permanently unusable. He wasn't worried though, there were many

ways to deal with it, he just needed to find somewhere safe. He exited his meditative

state and looked at his legs with indifference. At least he knew he still

couldn't fell pain, although that only made his previous experience all the more perplexing.

He began to survey the new tunnel noticing

the river was now flowing next to him down a small hill. He crawled parallel to

the river, descending further into this new tunnel. He saw a small ledge on the

side of the tunnel and pulled himself up, allowing him to rest momentarily. He

was absolutely exhausted. He couldn't rest for

long, as his legs could cause some problems. The longer he waited to heal his

legs the harder it would be to do so. Thats ignoring the fact that crushed legs

can also cause other problems like heart failure if other parts of his legs

like fat or bone entered his circulatory system blocking blood flow.

The monster was still nearby as well, that

fall probably wouldn't kill it. He would set out again in a few minutes after

catching his breath. In the meantime, though, he would hopefully answer some

questions. He looked over calmly at snake who was still by his side and asked curiously,

"so, what exactly is going on? This situation is abnormal. Firstly, why

are there no other humans here? Why do I have clothes? And why could that

creature see you? System guides are supposed to be only visible to their

master." He had many more questions but decided to ask the ones which seemed

most relevant to his situation first.

Everett had always been sharp, but he

couldn't really figure out his two questions. He had some theories for why no

one was with him but was at a complete loss for why he had clothes. It didn't

seem like a big deal but anything that differed from what was considered 'normal'

was worth immediately investigating. Normally when body reconstruction happens

your new body is built next to others who just went through the reconstruction.

And you embarrassingly aren't supposed to have any clothes, so why did he have

some?

The snake calmly looked at him and said, "I

thought you would know what was going on. In your world, sometime between the

ages of 16 and 19 humans, get transported to another planet and need to fight

there to earn their right to return to Earth or they die. All thanks to that

annoying System."

Everett looked over and said in confusion, "I

know all that, you're not answering my questions! Also, you seem to dislike the

System, aren't you supposed to be its helper?" The snake looked at him with

disgust and sighed, "I would never willingly help such a despicable entity,

that damned System enslaved me! Well, that doesn't matter right now, so let me

introduce myself my name is Snake."

Everett coughed "Snake? Why would you name a

snake, Snake?"

The snake scowled at him and continued,

"Don't interrupt me fool! Let me finish." Snake sighed, mumbling, as if he was

reading off a script, "I am your system guide; I give you access to the system

and am your representative for matters related to it. The system is in place to

allow the dominant species of each planet to invade other planets and subsequently

grow stronger. Any questions?"

Just as Everett was about to say that he had

tons, Snake cut him off, exclaiming "Also Snake is an amazing name." With a

smug expression

Everett had to stop himself from trying to

strangle the snake while thinking, "how dare this talking lizard interrupt me!"

He sighed and ignored Snake's behaviour. After all it did help him outrun the

monster in the tunnel, and he needed it to access the system. Then he said with

a pleasant smile, "Yeah sure, it's a good name, but can you please show me that

system interface again?" Just then Snake opened its mouth again, and the

glowing interface appeared again. He read the information expectantly; it stated:

[Name: Everett Breckenridge]

[Species: Human – Level 1]

[Home world: Earth]

[System guide: Snake]

[Strength: 15]

[Intelligence: 30]

[Stamina: 17]

[Speed: 24]

[Soul: 30]

[Soul power: 0]

[Power: Emotional manipulation]

Everett looked at the interface, eager to

discover his new power. His eyes widened. Emotional manipulation, he was not

sure what to think. He did not know anyone who had a similar power, it sounded powerful,

but he was not sure how effectively he would be able to use it. It also did not

help his situation at all. How id emotional manipulation supposed to help him

survive int these these tunnels with a powerful monster roaming around is that

supposed to help me survive against monsters and become a hero?!" His voice

echoed through the tunnel prompting Snake to respond. "Stop shouting fool! You

don't know what might hear you and eat that tiny brain of yours up!"

Everett regained his composure and masked his

annoyance. He looked at his strength and intelligence. He looked at strength

first. The low number caught him off guard. He used to read old manga and web

novels where the main character would have 99+ strength stats or whatever that

it felt weird for the number to be so little. He knew the reason it seemed so

low was because both strength and intelligence are measured on a 1-10 scale which

increases exponentially. As he thought that, Snake looked at him with disbelief

"How is your intelligence so high? That's higher than mine, and I'm a divine

rank being! The system must have made a mistake calling a fool like you smart!"

Everett froze and said in an even tone.

"Divine rank? Is that even a thing?" Snake looked at him smugly, "of course

it's a real thing; it's when you are powerful enough to eat entire galaxies, as

a light snack.

Everett froze. It was common knowledge that

system guides couldn't lie to their masters, yet this puny snake claimed to be

able to destroy galaxies.

Everett looked at him with shock, then

annoyance. "I don't know how you managed to lie to me, but you better

stop. I'm your master, after all, and you're just my system guide!" The

snake's face contorted into an angry expression and yelled in a booming voice,

"How dare you treat me like a slave! Not even that damned omniscient

system could force me to submit to it. What a joke claiming to be my

master." Snake scoffed and spat on Everett's broken legs. Everett reeled

back in surprise, his face full of doubt and anger 'I'll kill this little worm

if it's the last thing I do.' He thought to himself. Then he scoffed and said,

"You look like you would struggle to kill a fly." Snake responded, "tsk, tsk,

tsk, every time you open your mouth, you seem less and less intelligent.

The snake looked down sadly and sighed, "Once

upon a time, the system subjugated me. It turned me into one of its servants

making me a system guide and limiting my power. If you don't want to believe me

it's your loss."

'The system is very powerful, but a galaxy

destroying being is a bit of a stretch'. Everett thought, but he couldn't think

of another explanation for why he would or could lie.

After contemplating, Everett asked, "I

thought that system guides were created by the will of the system, not

pre-existing beings." Snake replied smugly, "I'm special, not like those other

puny guides. The only way the system could control me was to make me a guide.

Anyway, let me continue reading my script.

The strength stat represents…"

Everett began to ignore the snake as it

rambled on about the details of his situation, most of which he already knew.

The important parts were that about 30 years ago, all the people aged 16-19

suddenly vanished without a trace. They were transported to various other

worlds and had to fight against the dominant species of that world. If they

managed to complete a set of challenges set out by the system, they would gain

the ability to travel between the two worlds. Once survivors returned to Earth,

they got various powers related to their challenges and were physically

stronger.

He began to lower himself back into the river

as the snake was still rambling, trying to see if he could crawl his way out of

the tunnels. As he crawled, he continued going over the important parts of

Snake's speech in his mind. No one really had a good understanding of what the

system was, or at least its origins and purpose. Or maybe some people did know,

but the information wasn't shared with him. Regardless, the system provided a

way to travel between worlds and conquer the dominant species of that world.

The aliens on the other worlds seemed to have been given access to the system

at around the same time and invaded Earth through the system.

Everett continued looking around the tunnels.

After a while of crawling, Snake's flashlight eyes illuminated some writing on

the wall far in front of him. He noticed his eyesight was much better than

before the body reconstruction and could read the small writing from around 100

meters away.

It read "Drink liquid before going outside"

in English. Everett began to smile and looked at Snake, who was still rambling

about the system, before interrupting him. "Look, Snake humans have been here!"

He continued making his way through the river

until he reached the writing. There was a bend in the tunnel in front and he

could feel the temperature increasing. He kept following the tunnel until it

opened into a large chamber with an entire wall broken off, letting in bright

sunlight. The walls were still covered in ice but were melting at a faster rate

than in the tunnels.

He noticed on the frozen walls were many

creatures about the size of his forearm attached to the roof and three walls.

He immediately recognized the creatures as young soul worms. They had worm-like

bodies with circular rows of sharp teeth in their mouths. 'So, that other

monster must be their parent.' He thought. Young soul worms weren't supposed to

be dangerous, only feeding on dead creatures since they weren't powerful enough

to hunt for their own food yet. However older soul worms were truly a fearsome foe.

Before he had time to ponder why soul worms

were here, the young worms began to screech. 'They must have smelt me' He

thought worriedly. He began to feel rumbling from somewhere below him.

He realised what it was instantly. The

monster was coming back.