The world kept turning, unperturbed. The streets echoed with furious honking, screens flickered with hollow ads, and the crowd moved forward, hypnotized by tiny screens. An ordinary day, drowned in indifference. Nothing hinted that the end was about to strike. Until that precise moment.

  Ding.

  A metallic, chilling sound vibrated deep within every human skull, crossing continents and oceans like a sinister whisper. Time seemed to freeze; chatter died away, engines cut out instantly, breaths were suspended.

  Then, before every pair of stunned eyes, a translucent screen appeared:

  — EVOLUTION SYSTEM INITIALIZED —

  Loading primordial energy: 1%...

  A cold shiver swept across the pnet. Eyes met, incredulous, mute questions hanging on lips. A joke? Mass hallucination? Fear was born, creeping and insidious.

  5%... 10%...

  News channels exploded live on air. Governments spoke of a global bug, a cyberattack… but no one truly believed it. The streets emptied. The air buzzed with a dull, almost electric tension.

  Then, horror arrived.

  In a filthy alley, a stray dog whimpered weakly before colpsing, seized by violent spasms. Its legs twisted at impossible angles, a crack rattled its ribs. Its skin swelled, split open, oozing dark streaks. Its howls changed… became guttural, monstrous. The animal’s eyes burst, repced by two glowing, gssy orbs, inhabited by an abyssal hunger. Bony spikes erupted along its spine, piercing the still-dripping flesh. It was no longer a dog. It was something else. A predator. A monster.

  And it was only the beginning.

  Elsewhere, amid growing chaos, a man ran, breath ragged, clutching a crying little girl to his chest. Sirens wailed, the city crumbled under a sky streaked with bck smoke. Distorted figures roamed the avenues, screams echoed everywhere.

  “Daddy, I’m scared…” sobbed the little girl.

  “Shh… Daddy’s here… it’s going to be okay…”

  But he was lying. He knew it. A sound echoed behind them: heavy steps, slow, steady… methodical. Then a growl, low and rumbling, made the air vibrate. The man turned around, heart pounding to the brink of explosion.

  There, just a few meters away, the thing advanced. Massive. Dripping with blood. An aberration born from a guard dog, now unrecognizable: fangs as long as knives, its jaws drooling a bckish liquid, hypertrophied muscles, strips of human flesh dangling from its teeth. Its glowing red eyes searched for its prey… and found it.

  Panicked, the man grabbed a rusty metal bar, brandishing it with trembling hands.

  “Come on… you bastard… come on!!”

  The monster lunged in a sharp motion. The impact was brutal: the bar struck its skull… and bounced off, useless. The beast let out an almost mocking growl before swinging its massive paw. The cws tore through flesh like butter. The man screamed, a heartbreaking cry that shredded the night. His blood spttered his daughter, the ground, the walls.

  He tried to strike again, but his strength was gone. Pain devoured him alive. The creature, relentless, opened its maw wide… and ripped half his torso off in a single snap. Steaming entrails spilled onto the ground, still pulsing for a few seconds.

  The little girl shrieked, curled up, covered in blood, staring at the absolute horror. The creature slowly turned its head toward her…

  20%... 35%...

  Further away, another nightmare took shape. A man fell to his knees, gasping. His veins, bckened, swelled beneath his translucent skin.

  “M…my body…!”

  He screamed, one st time, before his fingers twisted into bony cws, his teeth lengthened, splitting his cracked lips. His eyes turned white, his skin a cadaverous gray. His clothes hung from what was no longer human. He kept screaming… but his voice was no longer his own.

  Screams burst from every direction. Panic exploded. Bodies jostled, trampled each other, seeking an impossible escape… but escape from what? The entire world was tipping over.

  50%...

  Even nature got involved. Trees quivered, their branches swelling with bck sap, roots tore from the earth like snakes. Buds burst into carnivorous flowers, bristling with dripping fangs.

  In the forest, a majestic stag staggered. Its antlers cracked, split open, sprouting twisted horns like stakes. Its muzzle deformed, its eyes turned red, and in an inhuman scream, it disemboweled its fellow stag in one blow, spttering the clearing with a bloody geyser.

  60%... 80%...

  The sky tore apart with bluish lightning. The earth itself vibrated, shaken by a force from the ages. Buildings trembled, cracks snaked across roads. Lampposts fizzled before exploding, throwing sparks into the night.

  Then, suddenly…

  — Loading complete. The system is now active. Welcome to the New Cycle. —

  Silence. A heavy, absolute, terrifying silence. But it was only the calm before the true storm.

  In a remote corner of the globe, hidden from human eyes, something was watching. A cold, ancient, relentless consciousness. A much bigger game had just begun. And now, survival would have to be earned.