The birth of evolved beings was anything but ordinary.
Such an event called for careful planning long beforehand.
For a whole year, as Nyx’s mother went through the process, time dragged on without the slightest hint of Nyx’s arrival.
Only after that long, patient wait did the first faint signs emerge—marking the moment when everything changed, not just for the Osmos Clan, but for the entire world of Raeth.
In the single year that had passed while the Matriarch carried her burden, the world outside had progressed into a far darker situation.
What had once been scattered, almost random clashes had swollen into many minor yet large-scale battles that had already begun to take a visible toll on the land itself.
Humans, Vampires, and Night Walkers tore at one another across the supercontinent with growing ferocity; the air constantly trembled with distant detonations, and the very ground seemed to weep beneath the weight of so much unleashed power.
Rivers that had once run clear now slowly turned the deep, opaque red of pure blood, their currents thick and sluggish as they carried the residue of countless fallen.
Mountains cracked and crumbled under impacts, while figures dropped from the skies like falling stars only to crash into the slopes and send entire ridges collapsing in avalanches of black ice and shattered stone.
Some combatants seized whole mountain peaks and hurled them across the horizon as though they were nothing more than discarded vehicles….
The massive projectiles moved with absurd speeds, smashing into distant battle lines or simply vanishing into the red-tinted clouds.
Amid the growing turmoil, a single status window suddenly appeared before the eyes of every living being on Raeth at the same moment.
In that moment, the rule became clear to all.
[The rule is now permanent.] [Only one clan can remain in the world of Raeth] [Kill the Game Controller or the rule remains permanent for eternity.] HUMMMMMM!!!
After a decade of living in a world shaped by the influence of a single person, the beings of Raeth finally had the answers to their long-unanswered mystery.
But what did it matter, when three years were all it took for each world’s rule to become permanent?
That was the nature of the Existential Game—one person would be randomly chosen as the Game Controller, and if three years passed, whatever rule they set for the world would solidify into unchangeable existential truth for everyone.
Even as the announcement sank in, the fighting carried on without pause; if anything, the fighters grew even more ruthless, as though the rule’s permanence had swept away the last traces of doubt or restraint.
RUMBLLLEEEE!!!!
At the same moment, dark clouds gathered above the battlefields in unnatural density, swirling and thickening as thousands upon thousands of catastrophic phenomena erupted at once.
CRRRACCKKKLEEEE!!!!!
BOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
Bolts of pitch-black extinction lightning lanced from the skies with unnerving precision, striking down those who had once dared to defy the rule.
Wormholes suddenly opened in the air, gulping entire clans into their depths before snapping shut as if they had never been.
From beneath the ground, shadowy creatures driven by nothing but hunger clawed their way to the surface, descending upon lone fighters without mercy.
Across the continent, sudden clan explosions burst forth, erasing vast swaths of land in blazing spheres of light, leaving only smoldering craters where bustling communities had stood moments before.
Anyone who dared to challenge the rule, and whose Authority still fell short of the Game Controller’s, suddenly found themselves facing near-death encounters carefully crafted to punish their defiance.
As mentioned before, the game didn’t control the inhabitants’ minds.
No, it only expressed itself through subtle influences; disagreements here were far more likely to escalate into battles or wars than settle into calm disputes.
Clashes between clans became more frequent overall, though not to the extent of completely warping anyone’s reasoning.
This, however, is why so many suffered.
After a year, the effects of a world’s rule would become fully apparent, and beings would start to notice themselves doing things they normally wouldn’t.
Resisting the rule then became a question of whether one was willing to endure the pain that came with it.
Those who refused to follow the rule could live as they always had, but they would be plagued by increasingly bad luck that worsened the longer they resisted and as the rule became more entrenched in the world.
—- And as the world of Raeth continued to spiral into chaos, one of the most powerful clans to ever exist stood their ground—the Osmos Clan.
From the very beginning of the game, they had defied the rule, united in their resistance.
Now, looming above it, a massive dark cloud overshadowed the land, heavier and more ominous than any before.
In that exact moment, inside the quiet stone pool of the Matriarch’s chamber, Nyx was finally born.
“You’re…
finally here,” Her mother said as she lifted the newborn with trembling yet careful hands, the long year of waiting etched into every line of her tired face, yet a genuine smile still curved her lips as she looked down at the child.
The water around them still rippled from her final efforts, while the air hung heavy with warmth, carrying the faint, lingering scent of herbs she had prepared long ago.
HUMMM!!!!
A projection of pure light formed in the center of the room, its letters clear and absolute.
—- [Nyx Osmos: The Eternal Daughter (Mythic)] “M… Mythic?!” The Matriarch’s voice cracked with a surge of excitement so powerful she could barely contain it, her daughter’s rank shining like a beacon of impossible hope.
After three years of living within the framework of the Existential Game, the World of Raeth had adapted far beyond what any newly transformed world could hope to achieve.
The Matriarch was fully aware that the Mythic rank stood as the pinnacle of all known Existential Paths at the world level, a status both rare and revered.
HUMMMMM!!!!!
CRRRACCKKLEE!!!!
Yet, before she could utter another word, a sudden uproar swept through the clan outside, the air vibrating with shouts and the sound of hurried movement.
Shouts of alarm and the frantic slap of running feet filled the corridors and courtyards as people fled in every direction, for above the settlement a massive bolt of extinction lightning had already formed and begun its descent.
Nyx’s mother could only mutter the two soft words that escaped her before instinct took over.
“Oh… no.” She waved one hand in a swift, practiced arc, and a radiant golden aura bloomed around both herself and the newborn, wrapping them in a protective cocoon of pure Authority just as the bolt struck.
BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
The impact was devastating.
Extinction lightning struck the heart of the OsmosClan with a roar like the sky ripping apart.
A blinding column of black-violet energy tore through the landscape, vaporizing buildings, scorching the earth to bedrock, and unleashing a shockwave that rippled outward for kilometers.
Stone walls that had stood for ages vanished in an instant.
Trees along the valley’s edge burst into flames and crumbled to ash just as quickly.
The ground heaved and split, swallowing entire sections of the settlement while the air filled with the screams of those who could not escape and the thunderous collapse of everything that had once defined the clan’s home.
In an instant, the vast valley that had once been home to the Osmos Clan was reduced to a scarred, crater-filled wasteland, with the gentle golden glow encircling mother and child standing as the sole beacon of life amidst the desolation.