The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.

  - Chinese Proverb -

  April 3rd, 2037… the day the world changed forever. I was only a kid when the system came online, barely five years old, but I still remember the first time I saw the blue screen of death. At approximately 1407 Eastern Standard Time, every proverbial shit in the world hit the fan at the same exact time. Every man, woman and child got the same notification from a text box appearing in their vision, saying that the Earth had been selected to participate in the Sarlenac Quadrant Games. What we didn’t know at the time, was what that meant. Hell even fifteen years later, we still have barely scratched the surface.

  Moments after the first message, everyone got another notification. It varied person to person, some were designated as hunters, others as supporters or other specific roles. Each of us received the ability that allowed us to see the systems interface. Within 24 hours of the messages, new messages started appearing. Telling us the first gates had spawned.

  Massive rings of metal, that connected different worlds to our own. Teams of scientists tested the gates to no avail. The technology used was far beyond anything we had ever seen. Eventually people daringly entered the gateways. Most never returning.

  The system set a goal for Earth to complete a certain amount of Gates each year. Promising us rewards if we succeeded. It wasn’t long before the first gate was cleared. Then the next, but the pace slowed dramatically once the casualties began to rise as tougher gates appeared. World governments drew lines in the sand as they always had before. No country willing to give all their resources to close the gates by themselves. Claiming other countries were not giving enough.

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  In the end, we failed the objective that the system set for the first year. There was no reward for failure, only the horror of what came next. Approximately 10% of the current population fell into deep coma’s the day after the system notified us of the failure. Most died in the first week. The health infrastructure of the world could not bear the burden of so many ill.

  The next year, some countries gave it their all, but it wasn’t enough. Earth failed again, and again. Each time, 10% of the current population of the world falling into comas. The majority always ended up dead without enough staff to care for them, economies collapsed and countries capital buildings burned. Until the Earth united. For the good of mankind, on the fifth year all nations made a pact, and began sharing resources, conscripting large amounts of the population into the military service.

  On the sixth year the Earth succeeded for the first time in its mission. Only after losing nearly half of the nine billion lives we had in 2037. There is no one who has not felt the losses. No one without a sad story to tell. We are stronger for it now, more united because of it.

  Our reward for passing was unique gates that offered special resources, integral to improving, outfitting and leveling up highly elite warriors. We also gained access to a new function of the system interface. Sponsors, people from other worlds, now able to give their favorite hunters special bonuses, weapons, armor, things that we desperately need. Most never get sponsored though. Most of the sponsors watch our suffering and give little in return.

  Each year we passed, we also received off-worlders who had been through the trials on their own worlds. They came through special reward gates. With them they brought knowledge that Earth desperately needed. These people were of different races and some even of different species. All of them had one thing in common though… their home worlds burned.

  No one has woken from the system induced comas yet. Those who wish to see their loved ones cared for, must be of service to the new world government. The United World Order. Fifteen years after the first system message, we still fight on. We are not defeated even against the staggering losses, we are strong, we are relentless and we will survive. This is our story. Written for those who we have lost, in their memory we will carry the torch.

  [ System Initializing... Success ]

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