Aria Chen POV
The truck horn screamed.
I jerked the wheel. Too late. Metal crunched. Glass exploded. Sarah's scream cut off as the world flipped sideways, then upside down, then sideways again.
Then nothing.
My eyes snapped open.
I was falling.
Branches whipped past my face, tearing my skin. Green everywhere—leaves, vines, things I couldn't name. I tried to scream but wind stole my breath. My arms flailed, grabbing at nothing. A thick branch slammed into my ribs. Pain exploded through my chest.
This isn't real. This can't be real.
I was just driving home from the hospital. Sarah was telling me about her new boyfriend. We were laughing. Then the truck, then the crash, then—
Another branch caught my shoulder, spinning me around. Below, something roared.
No. Not something.
Someone.
Through the gaps in the leaves, I saw them. Men. At least, they looked like men from this distance. Massive, muscular, fighting each other with claws and teeth like wild animals. Blood sprayed across stone. Bodies slammed together. The roaring grew louder, more violent.
My stomach lurched. The ground rushed up.
I crashed through the last layer of branches and hit dirt hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. White stars burst across my vision. Everything hurt. My leg, my ribs, my head. Blood ran down my face, hot and sticky.
Get up. Move. NOW.
I rolled onto my hands and knees, gasping. The fighting sounds had stopped. That's worse. Way worse. My medical training kicked in automatically—check for broken bones, assess injuries, prioritize treatment.
But then I heard it.
Breathing. Heavy, rumbling breathing. Right behind me.
I turned my head slowly.
A lion stared at me.
Not a regular lion. This thing was massive, the size of a car, with fangs as long as my forearm. Saber teeth. Like something from a museum, but alive, real, and staring at me with eyes that burned like melted gold.
Run.
I scrambled to my feet. My leg screamed in protest—maybe broken, definitely sprained—but adrenaline shoved the pain down. I ran toward the trees, limping, stumbling, branches clawing at my already torn clothes.
The beast roared behind me.
The sound rattled my bones. I didn't look back. Couldn't. If I looked back, I'd freeze. If I froze, I'd die.
My lungs burned. My vision blurred. The trees seemed to stretch on forever, and I could hear it behind me, gaining, its footsteps shaking the ground.
I'm going to die. I'm going to die here and no one will ever know what happened to me.
Sarah's face flashed through my mind. Was she dead? Was I dead? Was this some kind of dying hallucination?
A blue light exploded across my vision.
I screamed and stumbled, nearly falling. Words appeared in the air in front of me, glowing electric blue like a computer screen.
SYSTEM INITIALIZATION COMPLETE
GODDESS SYSTEM ACTIVATED
WELCOME, CHOSEN ONE
I'm definitely dying. Brain damage. Has to be.
The giant lion's roar split the air again, closer now. So close I could smell it—blood and musk and something wild that made my primitive brain scream in terror.
More words appeared:
EMERGENCY QUEST: SURVIVE FIRST CONTACT
REWARD: Basic Language Pack + Healing Touch (Level 1)
HINT: SPEAK THE COMMAND WORD "SUBMIT"
"What?" I gasped, still running, still dying. "What does that even—"
The lion's shadow fell over me.
I spun around. It was right there, close enough to touch, lips pulled back over those massive fangs. Saliva dripped from its mouth. Its eyes locked onto mine.
"SUBMIT!" I screamed.
Light erupted from my body.
I'd never felt anything like it. Power, raw and burning, exploding outward from my chest like lightning. The lion flew backward, slamming into a tree with a crack that echoed through the forest. The light kept pouring out of me, so bright I had to close my eyes.
When it finally stopped, I collapsed to my knees, gasping.
The forest had gone silent.
I opened my eyes slowly.
The lion was gone. In its place, a man knelt in the dirt.
A naked man. A very large, very muscular, very naked man with golden hair that fell past his shoulders and the same burning amber eyes as the lion. Blood ran down his chest from a wound across his ribs—a wound I'd somehow given him.
He stared at me with an expression I couldn't read. Shock, maybe. Or wonder.
Then he spoke, and impossibly, I understood him.
"Goddess," he breathed, his voice rough and deep. "You've finally come."
His eyes rolled back. He collapsed forward onto his face.
My medical training screamed at me to help him, but I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Couldn't process what I'd just seen.
The glowing words were still floating in front of my vision:
QUEST COMPLETE
REWARDS UNLOCKED
NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: ACCEPT YOUR DESTINY
Footsteps crunched through the underbrush behind me. Heavy footsteps. Multiple people.
I turned.
Three more men emerged from the trees. No, not men. Like the lion-man, they had something wild in their eyes, something dangerous. One had silver hair and moved like a wolf. Another had strange markings on his arms that seemed to shimmer. The third had eyes that reflected light like a cat's.
They all stared at me with the same expression.
Hunger.
The silver-haired one spoke first, his voice a low growl. "She bears the mark. The prophecy is true."
"The Goddess has returned," another whispered.
The glowing screen pulsed in my vision:
MAIN QUEST UNLOCKED: SURVIVE 72 HOURS
FAILURE PENALTY: PERMANENT DEATH
"Wait," I said, my voice cracking. "I'm not a goddess. I'm a doctor. I'm just—"
The golden-haired man groaned, stirring at my feet.
And behind the three newcomers, shadows moved through the trees.
Dozens of shadows.
All of them coming toward me.