"Shaun to the cash register, please. Shaun to the cash register."
Shaun looked up from his phone's screen at the dimly lit speaker and frowned. He still had at least five minutes in his break. What was this about?
Oh well. One more week and I'm back to campus, he thought with a shrug. He glanced back down at his phone, and with a flick, he deleted the scholarship rejection letter and kept only those that were still pending. His finger was touching the lock-button when something else happened. Something he didn't need.
Oh, come on. Don't do this to me.
The phone screen started to flick and stutter. The image began showing weird colors, with the pixels turning off and on.
Being robbed out of a couple of break minutes he could live with. But he couldn't afford a new phone. Not if he wanted to be comfortable during the school year.
Shaun cursed under his breath as his name was called once more, and after a third attempt of tried to turn back on, he shoved it back in his gym bag and stepped out of the break room, running a frustrated hand through his dark brown hair as he made his way to the front of the store.
He'll deal with it later. Hopefully, a quick reset would fix it.
Shaun bit his lip as he rounded the corner. That sounded unlikely to him. But it was a problem for later, he thought as the sound of music grew louder in his ears. A handful of people were waiting, and one of whom had portable speakers blasting some annoyingly catchy music. Shaun made his way toward the second cash register, and as he was typing the register's password, the music-playing young man spoke.
"Hurry up, dude."
One of the girls with him tittered as Shaun looked over. The man–well, he looked barely twenty, actually–smiled, basking in the girl's laugh, then went on, complaining and making jokes about under-qualified workers and laziness and whatnot, making one of the girls laugh while the other—and a few more customers—shuffled uncomfortably.
Shaun refrained from snorting at the childishness of it all. Of course, he didn't particularly enjoy being laughed at but honestly, who gave a crap what this brat and his little friends thought? Shaun wasn't letting any of it get under his skin. This was just a temporary job to pad his savings and again, he was only a few shifts away from being done.
Shaun let the taunts roll past him as he scanned the items before bagging them, and while he did have the tiny temptation of chucking the bag at the boy's face, he didn't. The annoying prick kept smiling and jeering, blasting his shitty music, and then, thankfully enough, he took his little posse and left.
Glancing to the side, he found his manager smiling at yet another apathetic customer as if they were some lost sibling.
Shaun founded puzzling how much shit the store owner was willing to accept. Personally, he had no stake in this place so he could let all roll off his back, but he'd be damned if he allowed this sort of behavior if this had been his business.
Shaun began scanning the next items. Yeah, he didn't see himself doing well in customer-facing jobs. While he was pretty patient in general and didn't let much get to him thanks to a pretty rough childhood, he didn't see himself doing well dealing with rude customers in the long-run.
As he handed a blazer-wearing woman her bag and receipt, his thoughts wondered back to college. He'd been there for just a semester so far, and while a few acquaintances had been complaining about the workload, shaun had to admit he'd been enjoying it. Sure, the courses could be heavy at times. And yes, maybe some of his grades could use some work. But they had an MMA program. And while he didn't feel like making a career out of mixed martial arts, the hours he'd spend sparring and training were simply the highlight of the whole college experience, and he couldn't wait to get back out there on the mat.
He'd never felt more alive than those moments. Pitting his will and sweat against another. While his experience with fighting had started much earlier, he believed he had turned that aggression and competitiveness into something healthy. Compared to what it had been a long time ago.
Shaun's brows twitched as some old memories came to the forefront. A smug smiles. Strange doors and stranger people. Before they could infect his mood, he firmly shoved the memories away and instead, he pulled his thoughts in another direction with a practiced manner.
Speaking of… is the old man back?
As he handed another customer their things, Shaun wondered if Luther had managed to get on another flight. The old fossil had been complaining a couple of hours ago about how airlines overbooked their flights and how he ended up being stranded all the way up in New York, but while he'd said he'd give Shaun an update, there hadn't been any messages when he'd checked his phone.
ahh, Luther when you gonna message me. anyway
Shaun sighed. He turned his attention back to the box of cans, and as he was leaning over, the ground began to shake.
It started small, but the rumble quickly gained strength. Shaun stumbled as a sense of panic burst into his chest. The cacophony of metal on metal filled his ears as the displays shook, while rows of products dropped to the floor, some breaking while other rolled and within seconds, the lights flickered and turned off.
Shaun rushed toward the exit, stumbling on the way more than once. Screams filled his ears, coming from inside the store and outside of it while an odd sensation came over him. As if suddenly, the air had grown humid. Clammy. But… it didn't feel physical.
Get to safety.
Shaun pushed the door open and stepped into the cold evening, his blood hammering in his ears. Lamp lights were flickering, but that was the least interesting thing he saw.
Shaun's mouth hung opened as he stared up at the sky in disbelief.
The sky was alive with vibrant auroras of lights, and Shaun knew for a fact those weren't the northern lights. Usually, those were green and rippled in colors, while what Shaun was seeing was just… blue.
Slowly, the earthquake eased down. The night was filled with shouts, car alarms, and general building alarms. Something began to warm up in his chest. In his limbs. Like a shiver, but instead of feeling cold, it burned. Before he could make sense of anything, a bunch of glowing text popped in front of him, and Shaun's back hit the wall.
Integration of greater reality initiating…
Optimizing System to reality core…
Assessing rules….
Evaluating standard personal growth patterns…
Calculating number of inhabited realms…
Warning: Sub-par mana levels detected.
Warning: Tampering detected.
Identifying side effects of mana presence…
Corrective measures in progress…
Implementing standard load-out for inhabitants…
At the same time he read that last line, the heat in his stomach and limbs turned from embers to a roaring fire. Pained screams rose from all around him, which he could barely perceive above his own. The pain built up, burning, tearing into his flesh and bones and then–darkness took him.
Shaun's eyes fluttered open to a repetitive beep sounding in his head and to the pavement's rough surface painfully pressing on the back of his head. He pushed himself up, but his limbs were still feeling weak, though the lethargy was quickly fading away. Bleary-eyed, he tried to look around, but a flashing prompt wouldn't leave his sight, so he looked at it.
Select a Lesser Arcanum to finish the load-out process. All Lesser Arcanums are capable of casting spells, but to appeal to all cast styles, the enhancer variant and the armament variant have been unlocked on top of the default variant. Please choose accordingly.
Countdown until selection of the Spellcaster variant: 2 minutes, 42 seconds
Spellcaster: A classic and flexible Lesser Arcanum that comes with the wand spellform, which allows for rapid casting of all manner of spells. A popular choice with combatants and noncombatants. A free General-class spell will be provided.
Armament: A style that morphs the Arcanum into an offensive or defensive armament when an Armament-spellform is used. The Arcanum is capable of casting spells and will provide a flexible stat bonus depending on the Arcanum's tier and the spellform used. Often popular with warriors. A free Armament-class form-spell will be provided.
Enhancer: A style that morphs the Arcanum into a body alteration to allow for various magical effects when an Enhancement-spellform is used. The Arcanum is capable of casting spells and will provide a flexible stat bonus depending on the Arcanum's tier and the spellform used. A versatile choice popular with many, and the default choice of monsters. A free Enhancement-class form-spell will be provided.
Shaun's eyes widened, and a sense of alarm began to swell as the countdown ticked lower.
What is this? Wands? Load-out? Stats?
He had no clue what was happening, but clearly, he needed to make a choice, and he needed to make it fast. While the default option didn't seem that bad, he would rather be the one to decide what worked best for him. And what was that about monsters?
Shaun looked up at the dancing, tendrils of blue light that had overtaken the sky. "What is even happening?" he breathed out, then shook his head. "Focus, dammit."
Okay. Let's think this through. But quick. What are the options?
Spellcaster. It sounded flexible. Shaun assumed the spells to be classic fantasy stuff like fireballs and magic missiles and whatnot. It seemed to be the safe choice, and it came with a general-class spell. Whatever that meant.
Next was an Armament-class wand. What would that be like? Swords? Shields? Would guns be an option? He hoped not. Something like armor might be nice, though, and the stat bonus sounded nice. As for the third option, it seemed similar to the second, with the difference being the 'various magical effect parts'.
Augmenting his body appealed to him. Considering Shaun was a decent hand-to-hand fighter, maybe that'll give him an edge? It would also still be capable of casting spells, which was thankfully common across all Arcanums.
Just to be safe, he glanced at he other two options once more and quickly ruled them out. The Spellcaster variant might be faster for spells, and the armament one could have decent options, but the Enhancer option still appealed to him the most. If he got an offensive or defensive body alteration, that'd be his weapon.
A beep shook him off of his thinking.
Countdown until default selection: 57 seconds.
"Shit. Fuck."
Shaun reviewed everything one last time, ready to make his choice while alarms still rang, filled the night with chirps and wails. A few had already shut down, but somehow, that felt more alarming.
What was happening out there?
Shaun focused back on the task at hand and confirmed his choice.
Enhancer-variant selected.
His heart was hammering itself out of his chest, but before Shaun could recover from the choice he had to rush, another prompt popped in front of him.
Select a starting tier-0 spellform.
Countdown until random selection: 2 minutes.
Claws: Summon powerful claws to tear into your opponents. Form Bonus: Might
Tail: Summon a flexible and powerful tail to catch your opponents unaware. Form Bonus: Might
Scales: Summon protective scales to shield you. Form Bonus: Toughness
Horns: Summon horns to empower your magic. Form Bonus: Spirit
Eyes: Summon eyes to empower and improve your sight. Form Bonus: Mana
"Okay. Alright," Shaun mumbled to himself. Hearing his own voice helped keep him on task. He took a quick glance around to make sure nothing was sneaking up on him, then focused back on the prompt. "Let's see the options. One by one."
Claws looked interesting, but that was a significant change from what Shaun was used to. While he trained in a few bare-handed martial arts, he had never experienced something even resembling claws. He knew bagh-nakhs were a thing, but he didn't think these magical claws would come with the same disadvantages.
Decent option in general. Slicing, stabbing, and shouldn't get in the way too much. It seems like it would boost my 'might'? I'm guessing that's strength?
It seemed like a good option. He'd need some time to adapt, but that didn't scare him much. In fact, he was almost excited at the prospect but in any case, it was too soon to commit and so he began turning his attention to the others, when a thought came unbidden.
Why are we being armed?
Shaun shook his head and pushed that thought aside. At least until he finished selecting an option before… whatever was doing all of this made his choice for him.
Reading the second option, he quickly passed it. While a tail might have some interesting uses, it would be awkward for both offense and defense. Actually, now that he looked at the rest, most options were either awkward or too situational. The horns seemed interesting, and he knew a well-timed head-butt could finish fights quickly, but were they as good as Claws or Scales? He didn't think so. Same for the Tail. Taking the legs from under someone was a nice trick, but it might only work once, thanks to the surprise effect.
Shaun nodded to himself as he went through the list again. So far, only Claws and Scales were appealing to him for a first pick.
Scales look like the defensive option, which would be valuable if there were unknown dangers around. Assuming he wasn't the only one going through this selection process, there would be a lot of offensive spells in the hands of all sorts of folks. Would the scales work against that?
Defense would only work if I don't get bogged down, though, Shaun thought. When ganged up on, you can't just brace. You either run or drop as many enemies as you can. Unless he had so much of it that the number of enemies wouldn't matter, but he was just getting started, so that wasn't happening.
Shaun exhaled and nodded to himself. He picked the enhancement-variant for an edge. To empower his fighting style and so, he had to commit to that choice. With that in mind, something sharp could always be useful but next time, he'd keep an eye out for a defensive options.
If these spellforms were being given out for free, then there must be a way to earn them.
The Enhancement-class spellform [Claws] was selected.
Enhancement-class spellform [Claws] successfully set as spellform of your Lesser Arcanum.
A hot sensation sunk into Shaun and spread down to his arms. His fingers tingled for a few seconds, and then the sensation stopped. No new prompt appeared.
Shaun looked around. Here and there, some people were getting up from the ground. He hadn't been the only one who'd passed out. Carefully, he reached into his pocket for his phone, but he realized it was all the way back into the break room. Probably dead, as he hadn't been able to turn it back on earlier. In a pitch-black grocery store while seemingly, the end of the world was going on.
Shit… that might be why it was acting weird.
Some people began calling out for others. Some began to shout and scream and it sounded like some fighting was happening, so Shaun kept his distance. He couldn't see much aside from the sky lights and the stars beyond them. And a few car headlights flashing and flickering.
Before Shaun could decide whether to risk going in or not for his gym bag, a wall of text came down in front of him.
Mana-less protocol activating…
Integration tutorial will be made available shortly…
Participation is not optional. Please find and enter the closest portal to your location.
Early participants will be rewarded.
Countdown until forceful integration in the tutorial: 5 minutes.
First portal instance in 3…2…1
The prompt reduced itself, and a moment later, pillars of green light fell down from the sky. They didn't impact or anything. They were just lights. But as he gazed at the horizon and at the countless vertical lines, he couldn't help but think he was in some sort of computer program. Turning his attention closer, he realized that one of the green pillar was only like… a ten-second jog for him and from this close, he could see that it didn't touch the ground. It was just highlighting something else.
A circular, panel of swirling purple-blue light. Like a gateway, right in the middle of the street. And it didn't take him long to realize what that was. After all, the prompt had just told him to look for the closest one.
A portal.
To where? What does this all mean?
Shaun swallowed and when he saw the first person sprint toward the portal, his foot moved before he could order it. He paused, took a look back, and thought of Luther.
In five minutes, everyone is being enrolled in whatever's happening. Whether they like it or not. And my phone's dead. Clearly, whatever's happening is messing with electronics, so wasting time to get back in there might cost me the early participation reward…
Shaun wasn't sure if he was finding excuses or if he believed what he was thinking. But he had to make a choice, and if this was an opportunities, he was doing what Luther had instilled in him.
"You can't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket," Luther would say. Only a day before the said lottery ticket ended up in the trash. But the point still stood.
Shaun couldn't help his nervous grin. He had no idea what was happening. He didn't know if this was some sort of apocalypse, if these were aliens, or if this was all a dream, but it certainly was more exciting than heading out to college in a couple of weeks. And he definitely wanted that early-bird reward. So he started discreetly making his way toward the portal.
People kept shouting, some began to group up, and to Shaun's alarm he began seeing flashes of light into the night, which he had no intent of approaching.
Chaos, magic, and no electricity? Dead phones?
Shaun grimly shook his head. Being in the tutorial might be safer than staying out here. Thankfully, everyone was going to be enrolled in 5 minutes. Plus, well, it was a tutorial. What better place was there to make sense of all of this?
A couple of people were already walking into the portal. They stepped into the circular portal and disappeared.
That's a portal right? Not some sort of vaporizing light?
Shaun considered it for a moment, then shook his head.
Nah. If anything could do all of this, why would it—or they—need to trick people to vaporize them? That'd make no sense. Still, I gotta hurry up or I'll miss out on the bonus.
As he continued making his way toward it, he hoped Luther was doing the same. What if he was in the plane already?
The thought was like a bucket of cold water, and he looked up. How were planes doing with all of this?
No no. He's probably fine. Nothing I can do out here anyway. If anything, that relic's probably already inside.
Luther would never miss an early-bird bonus.
The blue-purple doorway was only ten feet away when someone called out to him.
"Help!"
Shaun looked to his right, and in the half-darkness, he saw an upside-down black sports car with blinking lights. Approaching it, he recognized the young man who'd been taunting him only a short while ago. Beyond the man, the doors were open, and the car was empty.
It seemed like his company had abandoned him when he got into this accident. Though, thankfully for the man, he didn't seem injured at all. Only a little stuck. Just needed a couple more minutes, and he'd be out.
"Help me, please. I'm stuck. Please!"
Shaun looked up at the doorway. More people were approaching it. He gazed back down at the young man who'd spent a good while mocking him barely minutes ago and for the first time in a while, he felt some genuine anger slip through.
He ought to let this little shit figure it out for himself, especially considering everyone was going to be enrolled in the tutorial anyway. But what if some sort of danger showed up? A couple of insults were not enough to let someone die.
Shaun reached into his pocket and quickly pulled his box-cutter. He was supposed to have magical claws, anyway, so he wouldn't need this. He slipped the sharp tool through the half-open window and pressed it against the man's outstretched hand.
"Thank you!" the stuck man said as he immediately began sawing at the stuck seat-belt.
With that, Shaun jogged toward the rift. He wasn't going to let that little bastard die, but he wasn't waiting around and missing out on his bonus either.
Soon enough, he found himself standing in front of the portal. Shaun removed his red uniform vest, leaving him in a simple white t-shirt that matched his khaki pants. He shared a look with a young woman wearing a gray pants-suit, holding a familiar bag in her hand.
She was just at the store.
Shaun recognized the gleam of excitement in her eyes and he was sure he had the same look in his own. Then both of them looked ahead and stepped into the light.