My name is John Rue. I’m either 45 or 49 years old—but I’m not sure with the time skips between worlds, and it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. Despite growing up in the foster care system in Birmingham, Alabama, I made my way into the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. Afterward, I spent nine years patching up bullet and knife wounds and stitching up broken lives in the ER at St. Bernard Hospital in Chicago. But don’t take my word for it; check the records if you think this is all a fairy tale. I included the details above specifically for this reason.
I’m writing this as a last-ditch effort to warn you about what’s coming. What you do with this information is up to you. You might think I’m a coward for leaving, and maybe you’re right. But the truth is, I’ve got nothing left here. My wife’s gone, my family disowned me before I was even born, and the only connections I ever made died with my mom and wife. So, I’m not sticking around to play hero.
My life has been a mess most of my childhood—foster care, bullying, and finally, a scholarship that got me out of that hellhole. I was always different, not just in the usual ways. Smaller, stronger, faster, eyes that seemed too big for my face with an unusual color—things that made people uneasy without them even knowing why. So, finally, they shipped me to a group home until I aged out of the system.
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In med school, I met a woman who made my life good for the first time—then lost her to cancer. And now? Now, I’ve got friends waiting for me to leave Earth for the second time around, and that’s precisely what I’m going to do.
You can read this as a fantasy about a guy traveling with his pet, or take it as a warning about what’s coming. Either way, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. This is the full story of my journey. How it started when I discovered the Gate, everything I learned that might help you adapt or even thrive, and the relevant Archive entries. Initially, I wrote a summary of what was about to happen, but when I read it, I realized no one would believe it. So, instead, I will tell you the entire story of what happened to me from day one, how I found out what’s going to happen, and let you decide for yourself.
This might sound like a cop-out, but I’m not sticking around. The only thing I’ve left on Earth are two graves, and graves don’t care. So get ready—stock up on supplies, learn first aid, meditate to sense mana, train with weapons, and maybe, just maybe, you’ll survive what’s coming.