--
The earth shook as a tremor unlike anything ever witnessed before rippled across the globe, spanning from the highest peaks down to the deepest of trenches.
At the place of impact, where the ocean had just begun reclaiming the scarred land, a massive hole opened into the abyss. Deep inside, a faint glow appeared, growing and intensifying.
Suddenly, a blinding pillar of violet light shot into the sky, piercing through the clouds.
The pillar intensified, dotting the clouds before it began to slowly spread.
Like ink dissolving in water, the violet radiance expanded outwards, stretching until the entire night sky above the region was painted in deep violet — and it was still spreading.
----
A modest suburban home glowed softly in the dim evening light. Inside, the living room buzzed with the low hum of a television. A father, mother, and their two children hurried about, trying to rearrange the mess left by the quake. Then, the father paused, frozen mid-bend as his eyes locked on the screen.
The news had been nothing but pure chaos for the past several minutes: reports of an unidentified object crashing into the Pacific, governments scrambling, and now a live broadcast from the harbor.
On screen, a drone feed displayed the heavily damaged harbor and the restless ocean stretching into the horizon, its surface still unsettled from the earlier impact.
A reporter's voice narrated shakily over the footage.
"We are currently viewing the harbor as experts are still trying to determine the full extent of what— Wait... what's that?"
The camera zoomed toward the horizon, where a violet glow streaked closer at impossible speed.
"Dear lord, it's—" The statement was cut short as the footage went dark.
----
I pushed myself off the floor as the tremors slowly died down. Coughing, I tried to wave away the thick dust swirling in the air, the grit already settling in my throat.
"Well, that's just peachy," I managed to mutter between coughs.
{'Impact!'}
I didn't even get the chance to process Nox's warning before a violet wave slammed into me, knocking the air from my lungs.
My body locked up as raw pain erupted from every nerve.
"Gahk—!"
The fox lady didn't fare any better—she let out a sharp choking sound before collapsing to the floor, coughing violently.
My vision doubled, colors bleeding together as a wave of agony tore through me. I sank my teeth into my tongue, flooding my mouth with copper, refusing to let out a sound.
'I can do this,' I thought through gritted teeth as my knees started to buckle.
'Don't you dare close!' I roared internally. Veins bulged across my neck, pressure building in my skull as my eyelids began to fail.
{'Four minutes, sir.'} Nox's voice rang out again.
But I wasn't listening.
Sweat poured down my skin as my veins began glowing violet—it felt like molten glass flowed through them, the pain spiking as I clenched my jaw harder.
My vision pulsed red, the edges blurring and twisting.
I didn't know how long it lasted before the pain finally began to fade—slowly, then completely. My body slumped to the floor, gasping for air.
I lay there motionless, gulping each breath like a dying fish. The room stayed silent, broken only by the sound of heaving breaths.
----
The earth went completely quiet as the last echoes of screams faded into the night.
Deep beneath the surface, in the scorching, unreachable molten abyss, a cold mechanical voice spoke once more:
[Initial evaluation complete.]
[Phase One Evolution Event — completed.]
A brief pause followed, then:
[The Nexus Gene has been implanted across nine billion species.]
[Five billion species successfully withstood gene implantation.]
[Humans, the dominant species of Planet 42B, have only two billion successful implantations.]
[Four billion species failed to properly adapt to the gene.]
[Compiling evaluation report…]
[Evaluation report compiled.]
[Now transmitting report to the Centurion Mothership.]
[Transmission sent.]
[Now awaiting command.]
Silence lingered for several minutes before the orb pulsed three times, slowly rotating to align itself with Earth's spin.
Then—
[Command received.]
…
[Initiating soul transfer sequence.]
----
The dark planet shook before brightening with countless spots as columns of pure white light ascended from the ground, enveloping every living organism that had survived the agonizing five minutes of gene activation.
The moment the beams vanished, the world fell into the deepest silence it had ever known since its creation.
…
Within a vast, white space whose distant walls shimmered with shifting violet glyphs, multiple beams of light descended. They flared briefly, flooding everything in blinding brilliance before slowly fading away.
One by one, people began to materialize.
Their bodies felt weightless at first, before gravity— or some sort of force pulled them back down.
Minds boggled, struggling to process what had just occurred.
Within mere moments, two billion stunned survivors stood together in this strange expanse.
The silence lasted only a breath before it shattered into deafening screams and collective panic.
"Where the hell are we?!" thousands shouted.
"What is this place?!" another man yelled.
A woman near me screamed without pause, her voice raw with sheer horror as she pointed a trembling finger at the shimmering violet glyphs on the walls.
People twisted around desperately, searching for familiar faces, but there were none. Parents called out names but received no answer. Some dropped to their knees, whispering silent prayers. Others simply broke down, sobbing—not just from fear, but from the crushing realization that they were utterly alone.
Fear crackled through the crowd like wildfire.
Yet, amidst the chaos, a few stood silent, their sharp eyes scanning the surroundings.
I looked around, hoping to spot anyone familiar—but it seemed that was futile.
"Not surprised," I muttered under my breath, ignoring the chaos.
'Before reaching this place, our memories were scanned to make sure we couldn't meet anyone we know.'
'But wait, doesn't that mean that my memories of Nox and my past life are also—'
{'No need to worry, sir. I have already masked all classified memories.'}
Nox's voice resonated in my mind, cutting off the grim thought.
'Thank goodness you're here,' I breathed silently, relief washing through me.
Things would've turned ugly fast if it wasn't.
Especially with what's about to happen.
As if on cue, the violet glyphs along the walls pulsed in perfect sync as the space darkened considerably.
Then a massive hologram of a pulsating violet orb flickered into existence at the center of the expanse.
The place fell deathly quiet as a cold, mechanical voice echoed from the orb:
[Greetings, human inhabitants of Planet 42B.][I am NEXUS, your world's new administrator.]