Carter Hudson was not in a good mood as he was climbing the stairs to the local colleges library. Taking a break as he arrived to the top floor to catch his breath, he looked out over campust through the window in the stairwell. He was finally settling into a routine at his new job as the night safety guard on campus when his partner called in "sick" to shift. Only Carter knew all to well that his buddy Jason was anything but home in bed. Carter had met Jason when he was a senior in this very college over a year ago, when he responded to a roomate ad that Carter had placed at the University Center(UC). With a little time to adapt to each others habits before the school year began, they had hit it off. He had even vouched for Jason to his supervisor, helping him land a position on campus to get him some pocket cash. "Stupid Jason... stupid college kids and their parties... stupid stairs..."

Carter landed this job with campus securty to allow him pay for his new house that he shared with his wife of a year and a half. Catherine and him had been together since his senior year of high school. They had been through their ups and downs, but after making it through college Carter had finally managed to scrounge up enough cash to propose. Her parents had gifted them the house as a wedding gift, covering the down payment only leaving them with the mortgage. Catherine had majored in anthropology and had the quirky personatlity to go with such a degree. Looks wise Catherine did not fall behind any of those college sorority girls you see in the movies. With blue eyes,blonde hair, and hips that could hypnotize a man. Carter did not hold any doubts about who was settling and who was reaching in their relationship. Carter always joked that he had intentionally got with her before they left for college because once she saw all the guys in college, Carter wouldn't stand a chance.

Slightly out of breath he checked his watch and couldn't help but whine 'Eleven forty-eight...eleven fucking forty-eight... I have only been at work for a little less than two hours. Man, I have GOT to start exploiting that free gym membersip that came with this job.' To say Carter was out of shape would not be entirely correct. However, Carter took pride in walking the fine line between "fit bod" and "dad bod". One of Carter's favorite song lyrics was by Toby Keith, it went along the lines of being good once as he ever was. Luckily the most physically demanding part of this job was the stairs, hardly ever did the students get into anything that required his attention. When they did all it took was for Carter to get their attention and they usually ran off, 'Like they are worth the extra paper work.... lel.' Carter chuckled at his own thoughts.

In reality Carter didn't mind helping out his friends at all, but that did not stop him from expressing his discomfort in the moment. Carter's job was about as simple as it got, he had to perform safety patrols through the library every hour to make sure that none of the students were getting into anything they shouldn't be overnight. Doing this without a partner just meant that he had to cover all the floors himself instead of splitting them. The thing being that it was still summer break, meaning very few students were on campus. Those that were on campus did not put a emphasis on studying at this time year. Hence, Carter working this shift alone while his coworker,who happened to be a "sick", was out partying with his friends.

Looking out the window of the stairwell Carter noted that the visibility was rather poor due to some low lying fog. 'Hmm fog doesn't usually roll in until the morning...' Carter thought while opening the door to the top floor not giving the weather no more than an iota of thought. Cringing at the amount of noise the door makes when the building is silent. 'Is it really louder or is it just because how quiet the building is now, which makes the door opening just seem louder...' Carter was pondering this question when he started to notice the building begin to shake. It wasn't anything major but definitely enough for him to take notice and respond. Being the consumate professional that he was instead of running to the nearest support pillar, doorway, or desk to get under cover; he made a beeline for the window to see if he could spot why the building was shaking. 'Well shit forgot about the fog.' By the time Carter made it to the window the majority of the shaking had peetered out and it was down to a low rumble. 'Huh... guess I can put experienced an earthquake on my resume now. I wonder how Jason is doing at his party and whether they felt it or not.' Carter was just turning around to restart his rounds when he noticed something off about the fog. 'Is the fog glowing...?' There was a massive flash that blinded Carter for what seemed like only a moment, when he opened his eyes the world had changed.

Welcome to the Conglomerate

Earth is currently being incorporated into the system known as The Conglomerate. Humans have been deemed unfit to continue sole ownership of the planet due to neglect of resources and their environment. The Conglomerate will implement protocols to influence planetary growth and species correction. Atmosphere on Earth has slowly been changed of the past year in order to help accomodate the changeover. Mana has been integrated into Earth's biome in order to faciliate natural population growth without negative effects on the planets resources. Good luck Humanity, we are all rooting for your continued existence.

Carter barely had time to register his surprise when another screen popped up before him...

Carter William Hudson Level 1 Next LVL 0/100 Strength 8 Affiliation N/A Agility 7 Endurance 5 Merit Balance 0 MB Intelligence 5 Wisdom 8 Influence -

Yet again Carter was in a daze but something about seeing his name on the floating screen snapped him out of it. The screen stayed significantly longer this time giving him ample time to process its contents. If Carter was being honest with himself he knew exactly what he was seeing, he was simply not prepared to be seing it in front of him right now while he was at work and not in front of his gaming console. Taking a second to close his eyes and get his thoughts together Carter registered a slight *bing*. Reopening his eyes he groaned internally '... oh christ not again...'

Tutorial

New citizens to The Conglomerate are encouraged to take part in our tutorial program free of charge to help ease the population of new planets into this new transition. Would you like to particapate?

Yes/No

0:54

'Tutroial?... wait there is a TIMER!?!?!?!...' Carter was frantically questioning his sanity at this point. Leaning on one of the tables in the room, Carter was able to feel the blood pumping in his body from anxiety and stress. Taking a deep breath attempting to calm himself and get his beating heart under control he considered his options. 'Option A, I have lost my mind and I am no longer sane. Option B, Catherine slipped some messed up shit into my dinner before I left for work which makes since if they were still freshman but they had both long since gotten out of their experimentation phase. Option C, this is really happening and the world is fuuuuuckkkkeDDDD...' No matter what option was available Carter did not see a downside of choosing to take the turtorial, more information was never a bad thing, right? Refocusing on the image in front of him Carter noticed that there was only a few seconds left to choose. He went to press the yes button only to have his hand slide right through the image. "What... huh... no... noo....noooo... I can't touch it?"

Are you sure you would like to decline the tutorial?

Yes/No

0:56

"NO, I don't want to decline, I want to accept dammit!" Carter almost screeched in a panicked voice. Apparently that is all The Conglomerate needed.

Tutorial accepted.

Initializing...

That was the last thing Carter saw before the world blacked out.