Benji looked at the clock above the main entrance to the school as they passed through the gates. It had taken them nearly 15 minutes to walk a distance that normally took 5 minutes. Along the way they saw injured and confused people filling the streets but emergency personnel had started arriving to direct and assist them.

“Well, it’s been a hell of a morning but we should get to class. Take care, Zoe.”

“Thanks. You too, Benji.” She smiled and ran towards the main entrance. Benji didn’t see the point in running since he was already late. As he entered into the main building a buzzing sound was heard followed by an electronic voice.

“Benji Ferrell, you are in violation of the attendance code. One demerit will be noted on your permanent record."

It took a cold hearted bastard to worry about attendance on a day like today. He thought attendance tracking was pointless anyways. The government had long since stopped the practice of assigning homework. As long as the student passed the required tests it shouldn’t matter when they arrived. Besides, demerits didn’t actually do anything other than proving busy work for administration officials.

As he walked through the halls Benji glanced into open doorways to see how people were reacting to this mornings events. Raised voices and arguments could be heard from students and faculty alike. A few minutes later Benji arrived in his classroom. The instructor for his Modern History class stopped his lecture and watched as Benji entered the room.

“Sorry for being late, Mr. Kemper.” Benji bowed his head as he apologized.

“I’m just glad you’re unharmed Mr. Ferrell. We were just discussing what has happened today and potential reasons for it.”

Benji walked towards the back of the class and took his seat, noticing that nearly half of his classmates weren’t there. Mr. Kemper continued talking about what information was known so far about the World Spike. Initial estimates indicated that it came from deep space but scientists were baffled how something that large remained undetected during its travel to Earth.

“So the being known as Bob said that this is his way of making our lives more interesting. Anyone have an idea of why he would call us boring?” Mr. Kemper looked out over the class waiting for an answer.

Someone near the front of the class raised their hand and spoke. “Maybe he doesn’t understand us.”

He thought for a second and replied. “He said he’s watched thousands of years of human history. It’s possible he understands us better than we do. Anyone else?”

As the discussion carried on Benji thought about the question. When comparing ancient history to modern events a few things became clear. For the past two hundred years a single world government controlled all land and people across the world. This largely led to the end of warfare and conflict since countries no longer existed. For the land Benji lived in, which used to be called Japan, it was now considered a small part of the one world nation. This led to the end of war, famine, environmental destruction, and vast economic growth. But conflict still existed, as did crime and corruption. Technological advancement and birth rates were tightly controlled by the government which led to what is now called the second golden age of humanity where hunger, overpopulation, and human rights violations no longer existed on the scale that they previous did.

“You still with us, Benji?”

Benji looked up to see Mr. Kemper standing in front of him. “Sorry, sir, just thinking to myself about your question.”

“And what have you come up with?”

Benji compiled his thoughts into the only answer that made sense. “Our growth both as a species and as individuals has slowed to a crawl. I think we are being given a chance to change that.”

“Interesting. What makes you say that, Benji?”

“Every aspect of our lives is controlled. We have the same rights and opportunities as anyone else across the world. Technological growth is hindered. Birth rates are controlled to avoid overcrowding. We don’t have to worry about hunger, disease, homelessness, war, racism or oppression but when compared to the distant past we have less freedom than ever.”

Benji’s comments caused many students to turn and yell at him. This continued until the instructor raised his voice to call for silence.

“It seems like your peers disagree with you, Benji.”

"They can disagree all they want, it doesn't make my point any less valid."

The discussion moved forward as Mr. Kemper but simply Benji listened. No point if he was just going to get yelled at. Time passed until a bell rang signaling the first break of the day.

As everyone stood up, some of his classmates looked at him with angry expressions before leaving. Benji sighed and walked towards the front of the classroom. Mr. Kemper called him over with a wave of his hand.

“I need to know why you were late for class. You’re not in trouble but I need a reason to report.”

Benji took a deep breath and gave a brief summary of what he had experienced that morning. The instructor had a somber expression on his face once Benji finished.

“I’m sorry you were put through that but don’t get discouraged, Benji. You made the best of a shit situation and saved lives in the process.”

“Thank you, sir.”

As the instructor sat down at his desk, Benji left through the classroom door. Regular breaks throughout the school day served many purposes. For over a century it had become policy among schools to give a one hour break to students twice a day. Having set time put aside for socialization lead to overall improvement in focus and information retention during class hours. The majority of students spent this time talking to friends while others reviewed notes from the previous class. Some retreated to lounge areas to grab something to eat or a quick nap. For Benji it was a time to meet his friends and talk about video games. Today was different though. He just wanted to make sure they were okay.

Through using Analyze on his fellow students he learned a few important things. First, no two people appeared to the same class. This confirmed that each person's powers were tailored specifically to them. Second, powers were not limited to purely mental effects. One poor girl whose hair had been replaced by golden flames had been backed into a corner while people threw objects at her, laughing as her hair moved by itself, striking the objects causing them to burst into puffs of ash that rained down on her.

Benji soon reached an unused classroom he and his friends used during the first of their breaks. He heard two people talking as he opened the door. He walked in and closed the door which caused his two friends to turn to him.

Alex was tall, skinny and had dark skin. He loves fighting games and martial arts but his digital skills didn’t carry over to real life. Alex often got bullied but never backed down, which left him with cuts and bruises.

Duncan was only a bit shorter than Benji but was a bit pudgy. It was hard to tell what Duncan was thinking by looking at him. All you would see is short black hair, almond shaped eyes, and a neutral expression. But when you got to know him, he acted like any other teenager. When he wasn’t playing games online he was watching anime, drawing on his sketchpad or scouring the internet for unsolved mysteries.

Alex was the first to speak. “Bro! We were wondering what happened to you.”

“What up, Benji. We saved you a seat.” Duncan grinned while pointing to the desk next to them as Benji looked at the twenty other empty seats. He walked over and sat next to them, glad to see they were both safe and sound.

“Thanks, guys. Glad to see you’re both okay.”

“Bro, where were you this morning?” They usually got to school before classes started to talk about what games they had played the previous night.

“Well, that thing out there caused me a few issues.” Benji sighed, jerking his thumb back over his shoulder towards the direction of the World Spike. “I ran into Zoe Weaver before all this shit happened.”

“You picked a bad day for romance.” Duncan loved digging up old slang from the past.

“It wasn't like I planned it. We took the same train this morning and we just kinda stuck near each other. We were waiting to cross Giga Street when that damn spike hit.”

“It’s gotta be the hair, dude. I told you that was a great color.”

Duncan stared at Alex for a moment before turning back towards Benji.

“Anyways, continue your story. What happened at Giga Street?”

At Duncan’s urging Benji continued telling them about what happened only a few hours ago. About Zoe’s injury and Divine Magic. Alex wanted a demonstration of his healing spell but Duncan smacked him on the shoulder to keep him quiet. He explained the destruction that followed and the injured and dead people they found as they tried to make sense of what happened. They were particularly interested when he described what happened when he nearly used up all of his mana.

“It was a horrible feeling. Like you just ran twenty kilometers without taking a step.”

Neither Alex or Duncan spoke for a while. They sat trying to make sense of the story they just heard. After a few moments Alex broke the silence.

“Dude, so what’s the plan?”

Benji thought for a moment before replying. “I want to make sure my mom is okay but past that I don’t know.”

“Dude, it’s just like a game right? We all got these cool super powers. It’s awesome!”

Duncan turned to Alex and smacked his shoulder again. “This isn’t a game, Alex. You heard what he said about the people who died.”

“I know, dude, but you have to admit that it’s pretty exciting.”

He had been friends with the two of them for as long as he can remember. He trusted them but they needed to see that this wasn’t a joke. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small piece of twisted steel that he had kept as a souveneir. The same one he pulled from Zoe's leg. He turned it over in his hands making sure they both saw it before stabbing it into the palm of his right hand.

Benji clenched his jaw trying to endure the pain, ignoring the outburst from his friends. After taking a deep breath he pulled out the piece of steel, letting it drop on the desk. As blood flowed from the jagged wound he concentrated on his chest, willing the mass of mana through his left arm. His hand began to glow with the same golden light as he completed the spell.

“Heal.”

The golden light flowed into his injured hand causing the pooling blood to travel back into the jagged skin of his palm. In a matter of moments the skin knitted itself back together leaving no trace that the injury had even occurred.

“This isn’t a game or a joke. The pain and blood was real but so was the magic.”

“Bro, what was the point of that?”

“An injury like that would have taken weeks to heal. Because of my powers I was able to heal myself in moments.”

Duncan’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Benji. “You’re worried that others won’t take this seriously.”

“I am. You know what kind of people are in this school. It’s only a matter of time before people start using these powers to harm others.”

“So what’s the plan, bro?”

“We go back to my house and prepare for tomorrow.”

Duncan and Alex looked at each other before nodding to Benji. They left the classroom and made their way through the school, noticing that some had started using their powers. Although they noticed no bloodshed, tensions were rising between bullies and their prey, who now had the power to protect themselves.

As they neared the entrance of the school, the same electronic voice rang out notifying each of them that one demerit would be marked on their permanent record if they didn’t return to the building by the start of the next class. Benji chuckled as they passed through the doors.