From Nothing

Rejoice Humanity! You have been invited to join the Galactic Hegemon.  It is time for our Centenary Caste Competition. The best 1% of humanity will be given a 1 cycle tutorial before the 5 cycle contest.  Be brave, be bold, but most of all, be strong and earn your place and privileges. Burning red letters hung large in the vision of everyone on earth that knew a written language. At the same moment that smartest, fastest, and strongest people on the planet disappeared with nothing to mark their passing. After a cycle of training and growth they would compete to earn their place in their suddenly expanded galaxy. This is not their story. Joe did his best to take care of his parents house and stay healthy. He was the only one of the four family members not chosen. The societal upheaval made by the announcement made the inflation and purges of the 20's seem pleasant by comparison but he keeps his head down and survives. Once the next message arrives 11 months later about the contest starting, even that society broke down into city states around large population centers. Joe tightened his belt and looked forward to the day that his family returned. Two years later burning red letters once again filled his vision.  Humanity, the last of your competitors have been eliminated.  Your determined caste level is 13 of 13. As such your planet has been claimed and will be repurposed for ideal resource production. Rifts will be seeded across the planet to increase resources and mana density. Your orbit will be corrected to ideal Hegemon standard. Do not interfere with any Hegemon activity, as the bottom caste you have no rights.  Rejoice that all castes receive at least the basic Hegemon Growth System. Better luck next century. Joe didn't comprehend any of it. His family was dead. Everything he cared about was gone.