The screen shimmered, and the last trace of starlight faded into darkness. For a second, I thought the app had crashed—again, classic mobile game drama. But before I could even sigh, a soft golden glow lit up the screen.
A book.
It hovered in the center like it was being held up by invisible hands. Ornate, leather-bound, and thick as a history textbook, it slowly opened with a rustle of ancient pages. The kind of sound that felt expensive—like someone paid a composer just to make the flipping noise. Each page unfurled itself slowly, illustrations blooming across the paper like moving ink.
Then a voice began to speak. Not robotic. Not overly dramatic. Just… calm. Commanding. Like a narrator who had seen galaxies burn and still made it to his 9 a.m. meditation.
[When the stars were young and the realms still pure, balance governed all. Gods ruled from their thrones of faith, watching over worlds they shaped with their will. But beyond the veil of light… the Others stirred.]
The image on the book's page shifted—soft sketches of divine beings standing above galaxies, their presence casting long shadows. Then those shadows twisted into dark shapes, monstrous and formless, like every horror game monster patchworked together and dipped in tar.
[The Otherworlders—gods from broken dimensions—descended upon the mortal planes. They devoured belief, corrupted the lands, and turned creation against its makers. The war that followed scorched the cosmos, and only fragments of what once was remain.]
The next page turned on its own, and I caught a glimpse of something that looked eerily like Earth being swallowed by black fog. I leaned forward.
"…Okay, that's creepy. Ten bucks says they trademarked that 'otherworld gods' design and slapped it on premium packs," I muttered, almost impressed.
More pages turned.
[To resist extinction, the surviving gods forged a divine pact. One that would bind them to the mortal realms—not directly, but through chosen champions. Heroes. Vessels of divine will.]
The image shifted again—this time showing young warriors, each flanked by shimmering silhouettes of their patron gods. One held a flaming sword. Another floated mid-air, arrows made of light nocked and ready. A girl with glowing tattoos stood with her palms raised as vines erupted around her feet.
They were all so… young.
Teenagers? Early twenties, max.
[Each Divine must choose a hero. Guide them. Strengthen them. Through your bond, their strength will grow. Through their faith, your will may be known.]
Worldbuilding? Check.
Customizable champions? Probably.
A fight against existential horror wrapped in mythological flavor?
Sign. Me. Up.
The pages in the book kept flipping. Now it showed charts—actual skill trees, I think—and silhouettes of heroes to be unlocked from various worlds. One looked vaguely sci-fi, another medieval, and there was even a page with desert ruins and floating relics.
[As you progress] the narrator continued, [new realms shall be unlocked. Each with its own heroes, its own trials… and its own dangers.]
Yep. That was the hook. I felt it dig into my brain like every good RPG intro ever made. The kind that tickled the part of me that stayed up writing fake game mechanics and mapping out fake kingdoms during high school math class.
Then the music swelled—just enough to make my chest flutter a little—and the screen darkened again. One word hovered in glowing silver font:
CHOOSE.
Underneath it, a single circular icon pulsed faintly.
A world selection menu. Just one world available.
I tapped it.
Nothing happened at first.
Then the system popped up again.
[Connection to Realm 01: Active. Preparing Hero Selection Protocol…]
Below that, fine print scrolled past:
[Note: Heroes are bound to their Divine. Bonds cannot be undone. Choose wisely.]
I exhaled slowly and leaned back into the couch.
"So… just like Pokémon starters," I murmured. "Except if Pikachu was a teenage gladiator and I'm supposed to be, what? His divine sugar daddy?"
I grinned a little despite myself. This was way too elaborate to be a prank. No way someone hacked my phone just to hit me with a AAA opening cutscene and then deliver on a personalized god-game tutorial. If they did?
I'd honestly be impressed.
But that lore—"Devourers from the Void," gods fighting through proxies, multiverse hero drafting? That was exactly my jam.
I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling that same tingle I got whenever a really good game hooked me from the get-go.
And if this was just the tutorial… what the hell was next?