Heroes

sunny coughed blood as the building collapsed around him. Chunks of concrete rained down, crushing anyone too slow to escape. He crawled forward, dragging his shattered leg behind him.

Twenty feet away, his mother's hand stuck out from beneath a fallen pillar, unmoving.

"Mom?" His voice cracked. "DAD!"

No response. Only the sound of distant screams and the hero's laughter echoing through the ruins.

The hero—Starfall, they called him—floated above the destruction, golden aura pulsing around his body. His opponent, some lizard-like monster, was already dead. The collateral damage didn't seem to bother him.

'This is what heroes are supposed to be?'

Sunny's vision blurred. A piece of rebar had pierced his abdomen, and blood soaked his shirt. He wasn't going to make it.

As darkness crept in from the edges of his vision, everything went silent.

The world froze.

A woman appeared before him, stepping through the air as if it were solid ground. Her features were constantly shifting—beautiful one moment, terrifying the next. Her eyes, though, remained constant: endless black pools with tiny stars swirling within them.

"You're dying," she said. Not a question. Just a fact.

"No shit," he coughed, tasting more blood.

The woman's lips curled into something between a smile and a snarl. "Funny. Most mortals grovel when they see a god."

"God?" He laughed, the motion sending spears of pain through his body. "If you're a god, then what good are you? You let this happen."

"I let nothing happen. I am... unrecognized. Forgotten. The other gods keep me locked away." She knelt beside him, her form flickering. "But I can still reach out. Sometimes. To the dying."

Sunny's vision darkened further. He could barely see her now.

"What do you truly want, Sunny? In these final moments—what does your soul cry out for?"

The answer came without hesitation.

"Power." He spat blood onto the rubble. "Power to rival those self-righteous heroes. Power to make them pay."

The god's smile widened, which strangely made her more beautiful.

"We have a deal."

Everything went black.

---

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Sunny opened his eyes to blinding white light and the rhythmic sound of heart monitors. The antiseptic smell of hospital rooms filled his nostrils.

'A dream?'

He tried to sit up, but pain shot through his body. Not a dream. The attack was real.

"You're awake!" A doctor rushed over, clipboard in hand. His expression wasn't relieved—it was concerned. Pitying.

'No. No, no, no.'

"Mr. Nimbril, I'm sorry to have to tell you this—"

"My parents?" He interrupted, his voice raspy from disuse.

The doctor's face said everything.

"Both of them?"

A slow nod.

Sunny's world collapsed for the second time. He sank back into the pillow, staring at the ceiling without seeing it. Memories flashed through his mind—his mother's smile as she made breakfast that morning, his father's laugh as they walked to the market.

All gone because some hero couldn't be bothered to move his fight away from civilian areas.

Starfall's face appeared in his mind. The casual indifference as he surveyed the destruction he caused. The way he flew off without helping a single victim.

"The hero..." He whispered.

"Ah, yes." The doctor brightened slightly. "Starfall defeated the Rank-3 monster that attacked downtown. Quite impressive. Though the casualties were... unfortunate. You're lucky to be alive—"

"Lucky?" His voice was ice.

The doctor stopped talking, seeming to realize his mistake.

"I'll... give you some time. The nurse will be in shortly with pain medication." He hurried from the room.

Sunny closed his eyes, tears burning behind his lids. The pain in his chest had nothing to do with his injuries.

'What am I supposed to do now?'

[SYSTEM INITIALIZING]

[HOST DETECTED]

[CALIBRATING...]

The glowing blue text appeared in the air directly in front of his face, causing Sunny to jerk backward and tumble off the bed. He landed with a painful thud, IV stand clattering down beside him.

"What the hell?!" He scrambled back, staring at the floating window that had appeared out of nowhere.

[CALIBRATION COMPLETE] 

[WELCOME, CHOSEN OF THE NAMELESS]

The memory of the shifting-faced woman rushed back. The god. The deal.

[MESSAGE FROM PATRON DEITY: "I help you, you help me. Simple, right? You'll be my first champion in three thousand years. Don't disappoint me. The heroes have forgotten what real power looks like. Show them."]

Sunny pulled himself back onto the bed, wincing at the pain. The message faded, replaced by new text:

[NAME: SUNNY NIMBRIL]

[CLASS: FALLEN]

[LEVEL: 1] 

[HP: 17/100] 

[MP: 300/300] 

[STRENGTH: 5] 

[AGILITY: 7] 

[INTELLIGENCE: 10]

[WISDOM: 8] 

[STAMINA: 6]

[UNIQUE SKILL: VOID ABSORPTION (LOCKED)] 

[ACTIVE SKILLS: NONE] 

[PASSIVE SKILLS: PAIN TOLERANCE LVL.1]

He stared at the screen, his grief momentarily overshadowed by shock. A system. He had a fucking system.

In the year 3100, having powers wasn't uncommon. The Tower's appearance fifty years ago had changed everything. Dungeons emerged, monsters attacked, and some people awakened abilities to fight them. The strongest became heroes, officially recognized by the government.

But a system? An actual game-like interface? That was unheard of.

"If this is real..." he whispered, reaching out to touch the floating screen. His fingers passed through it like it was made of light.

The system window disappeared, then reappeared when he focused on it.

[WOULD YOU LIKE A TUTORIAL?]

[YES] /[NO]

His hand trembled as he tapped YES.

[TUTORIAL UNAVAILABLE AT THIS TIME] 

[INSUFFICIENT PERMISSIONS]

[PATRON ACCESS RESTRICTED]

"Are you serious?" he muttered.

The door opened, and a nurse walked in. She gasped when she saw him out of bed.

"Mr. Nimbril! You shouldn't be up yet!" She rushed over to help him.

He barely noticed her. His mind was racing with possibilities. The system was real. The god was real. The power she promised—that was real too.

As the nurse helped him back into bed, checking his IV and bandages, Sunny's eyes hardened.

'Starfall. Remember that name. Remember that face.'

The system window pulsed once, as if in response to his thoughts.

[OBJECTIVE REGISTERED: DEFEAT STARFALL] 

[REWARD: UNKNOWN] 

[WARNING: TARGET CURRENTLY 118 LEVELS ABOVE HOST]

[CHANCE OF SUCCESS: 0.0001%]

He smiled for the first time since waking.

"I'm going to need those odds to change," he whispered to himself.

The game had begun.