Chapter 1

The wind was howling, it was a bitterly cold night but thankfully there was no snow on the ground. Thomas the healer who was leading this disaster was softly swearing as we stood behind the Regina Performing Arts center. The auto parts store was directly in front of us and looking to the left the strip mall and Timmys stood silent and dark on the corner of 4th and Albert. Looking across the intersection I could see the old Carling place strip mall and right on the corner of the mall was the old Triple 8 Pizza, with its glass was lit up by a cheery glow that announced something was inside keeping warm. That was a problem as Regina was a ghost city since the Change with only a small outpost maintained by the North West Mounted Patrol.

In the twenty years since the Change, the world had become very different, for most people not for the better. My parents had awoken as had everyone who was asleep to see a visual message that stated mankind was doomed but the Power had decided to give us a second chance. No one knew who this Power was but suddenly everyone was different. The funny thing was at first it seemed like a game. We all were level one characters that had the basic game stats.

Intelligence, which was straight up smarts. A rocket scientist was still a rocket scientist.

Wisdom, the ability to see into situations and people and act accordingly

Strength, exactly what it means. People were strong or could become strong.

Agility, again it was self-explanatory.

Stamina, once you are out of stamina you are screwed, all movement slows down by 60 percent.

Spirit, a stat that helps to regenerate both your hit points and your mana pool.

Mana, the invisible energy that powers the magic that is what society is now built on.

Health, the bar that showed how healthy you are, once empty you were dead.

Only you could see your stats and mana and health bars as well as your class.

By thinking a person could call up their stats and it would be displayed for them. The mana and health bars were always visible along with your level. The whole world had entered into an MMG, one that did not have clear-cut rules. Nothing electrical or more advanced than a simple blowback rifle would work anymore. Thank God for the plus 100 million Kalashnikov rifles out there. The truth was guns had saved mankind, the liberals at the time did not like that truth but they were the first to die off so their opinion did not count.

Apparently, the issue that most of the world was going to starve to death in the first few months of the change did not matter much to a lot of the liberals in North America, the fact that they could not take pictures of themselves was what really pissed them off. It was almost fitting that the zombies got them first.

The governments failed almost immediately, however, some agency’s managed to survive. In Canada, we had the North West Mounted Police. They soon were known as the North West Mounted Patrol as police forces no longer existed. They did manage to contain and mitigate some of the horrors but huge amounts of people died. Too bad, they would not stay dead.

The world was now made up of small communities, walled and gated. All the larger cities were ghost towns, abandoned and deadly. Wild things had taken up refuge in some areas, this included gangs of men and women who were not much better than animals. They would attempt to loot areas of a city but they never lasted long. Monsters had come back with the magic and most people were not prepared to deal with this new reality. It turned out that the preppers were actually ahead of the game, all those guns and ammo still worked along with the huge stockpiles of MREs and freeze-dried goods. They also adapted fast and were among the first to level up.

Go ahead twenty years and here I am, the son of a Prepper with my trusty SKS slung on my shoulder and 100 rounds on 10 stripper clips with 5 in the magazine. Damn Canadian gun laws. I was in a Party with 4 other men, sent out to investigate a strange occurrence. Hell, I was not even supposed to be here, I had stopped by the NWMP fort at the old F-depot to say hello and drop off some furs to the trader located there when I was asked to join this little disaster.

Reports had come in of something happening in the Hood, old homes set ablaze, weird noises in the night, that sort of thing. It was unofficial Elf territory but they had no permanent camps there. An interesting fact was that after the change all Aboriginals became Elves. Some force of their Elven heritage led them all to leave the cities and reserves of Saskatchewan and head down to Cypress Hills. There they had established their own kingdom and while Humans were not at war with them they were not in a peaceful relationship. It might have been the outright racism that flared up after the change. The fact of the matter was Elves and Humans did not get along.

Apparently off on the East coast, anyone with Irish or Scottish blood was transformed into Dwarves. They soon had mines going where there had been no minerals to be found. The very world had changed along with all the living things on it. As I thought about these things I let my eyes continuously move up and down the street, cities were dangerous, and just down 4th avenue was the old city graveyard. The old graveyards were the worst, the older the undead the stronger the undead. It made no sense but the magic never did.

Thomas beckoned my forward and whispered to me, “Omachiw, I need you to get closer and see what the hell is happening in there. Tom here is a level 14 Tank and Dave and Jeff are DPS but they are at level 10. I can’t risk sending in the men when I don’t know what the hell I am facing. It might be an Ice Troll of a Winter Lich. I have heard that you are a Scout, so you are the best chance to get in close and observe the situation and report back to me.”

I nodded and said, “Alright I can go have a look, but those two DPS dudes, I have overheard them talking about taking me out and taking my SKS. If I see them trying to shadow me they won’t be coming home. Remember I am a Freeholder and not part of your community and not subject to your laws out here in the wild.”

I stared at Thomas until he nodded and said, “I will take care of those two clowns, this is more important than them being greedy bastards.” I nodded and went past Thomas then slipping down the alley I crossed to the other side. I would go to 5th ave and cross Albert street then make my way north till I hit the old Hotel. I planned on going behind the Hotel and then crossing 4th avenue then walking between the old city graveyard and the strip mall till I could get close enough to look inside and see who the hell was in there. Hopefully, I would not see any Zombies or Ghouls. I hate Ghouls, they think they are the evolved form of Humankind and they are fricken Necromancers.

Soon I was out of sight and then I paused in the shadows to observe the rest of the party. As soon as I had faded Dave and Jeff tried to follow me only to be stopped by Thomas. I could hear their voice becoming louder as they cursed me and called me a lying half breed. They would be dead soon, the kind of lack of control I witnessed meant they would not survive. As I turned to leave a sudden howl split the air, the cities Dire Wolves were out hunting and they sounded close. I walked silently going from shadow to shadow crossing Albert street then cutting behind the Hotel, I slipped across 4th and made my way through the thick underbrush that covered the train tracks as the went behind the strip mall. The graveyard was empty and silent not even a Zombie shuffling over the frozen grass disturbed the stillness.

I sat huddled against one of the buildings and tried to see into the windows of the Pizza joint but it was no use. I could see the flicker of the flames but nothing was visible from my angle. The only way to look into the windows from ground level was going to expose me to whoever was in there. I slipped into the back and walked a little further down the tracks when I was sure that I could not be seen by my party members I jumped up to the roof, and with my hands grasping the edge I pulled myself up.

It was something that was not supposed to be physically possible, sure people could increase their strength to have the power to do it but then the agility stat would be to low and negate their ability.

In this world, your class dictated your primary stat and your secondary’s. Once people hit level 5 a message appeared telling them to select a class. If you did not choose a class, your XP slowed to a crawl and leveling became very difficult. Most communities now had a holiday in the spring called Class day and people were celebrated when they would choose their class. Once they selected their class they were sent off, basically apprenticed to a higher-level player of the same class. After a year working with someone you were on your own, you had to produce to maintain your status in the community there was no more welfare system for freeloaders.

Still, communities took care of their own, widows and orphans. The world was now a harsh place and people had to put effort into survival. Most people had managed to make it to level 10 to 15 with a few hard workers leveling up to level 20. I had not selected a class the day I was going to sit with Dad and figure out what I should do we had been attacked. Elves, they were free ranging on the wide prairies chasing the herds of Wild bison. A party of 30 warriors had caught up to Dad and Mom and engaged in a wicked firefight. In the end, 7 warriors and my family all came to the end of their days. The elves honored my folks, for putting up a great fight.

I ended following them for weeks slowly picking them off one by one. It was here I learned that PVP XP did not slow down. I leveled with every 5 warriors I killed and by the time I was caught I had reached level 9. The three Elves had laid a cunning trap and I fell for it. When they brought me up from the pit I had fallen in they were surprised to see that a mere boy had destroyed their group. It was here that I was given my Elf name Omachiw. I was with them for 5 years, first as a prisoner than as a guest then finally as a friend.

They taught me much of their ways when they discovered my little pointy ears. The fact that my family had aboriginal blood from a few generations back was enough to make me a little more and a little less than Human or Elf. My Human racial was survival, it meant that humans can take and adapted to pretty extreme conditions. Out of 10, it was 7, my Elf racial was night vision, and again out of 10, it was 7. Since most humans have about a 3 in night vision I was way ahead of the game. For some reason when the change occurred most people became full Elves, Dwarves or Humans. A very small percentage became half-bloods as we were soon called.

So here I am now at level 14 without a class, a half-blood trained by the (unfriendly) Elves in survival craft. I had learned as much as I could about as many things as I could, I can hunt, skin cook and clean. Operate a forge and smelt weapons. Read and write both Human and Elvish. Most people assumed I was a scout or a hunter but the truth was I had found that even without the class perks I could compete.

Once a class is selected the person receives a spell. Every 5th level the individual receives a new spell. The spells make leveling a lot easier but I had never tried to have an easy life. This was apparent as I crept towards the front of the building on my stomach. Tying a rope to one of the iron pipes that stuck out from the roof I slowly lowered myself down. I was at the far corner where the shadows were the heaviest and I had the best chance to not be seen. It was a dark night without a moon and only my night vision allowed me to see. Hanging upside down with my ankle twisted around the rope and my hands holding tight I peered into the dirty window which was lit from within by a large fire burning on the floor.

Focusing, I could make out the silvery sheen that Winter Lichs have on their bones, looking past the Lich I soon saw what looked like a man, but as the fire danced higher I realized he was a Beast man. He looked like he belonged to the Rat Clan. The third member of the group also looked human, with red hair and pale white skin. She was speaking and as she turned I could see her eyes glowing red in the dim light. Damn me she may have been a Demon. I slowly pulled my way up and then silently made my way back off the roof and back to the Party of men waiting for me.

I arrived and softly slipped behind Dave and Jeff and listened as they complained about the night, the cold, the weather and me. After a couple of minutes, I softly called out, “Thomas.” The two men in front of me jumped a foot and cursed me as Thomas walked over. “Well what did you find, or in the words of those two how f-upped are we?”

I smiled as I replied, “Pretty F-upped to tell you the truth, there is a Winter Lich, a Rat Beast man and what looked like a Succubus in there. I could not hear what they were saying but the fact they are in there together says volumes. I thought that the Demons would only show up outside your settlements during the week of a full moon. Or is that just more BS?”

Thomas looked grim as he listened. “Who the hell knows when they show up, ya it has been during the full moon week but no one knows anything about them. The succubus shows up and somehow targets men who leave the settlement, nothing is ever found. The fact that these monsters are all together is news that needs to get back to headquarters. Let's head back and let the higher pay grades figure this one out.”

Turning he quickly relayed that we were returning back to F-depot fort. The quickest way would be straight down 4th ave but traveling that long in a straight line would be a mistake. After discussing it we decided to head south to 5th ave and then go west three blocks the head down to 6th ave and go west again. We continued this till we hit Dewdney and then went North back up to 4th ave. We finally entered Rosemont as the predawn light was beginning. “Thomas,” I whispered, “I am bailing here, I have some things to do, but I will see you back at F-depot before I leave Regina.”

I watched the others leave listening to Dave and Jeff mutter about lying half breeds. Losers, that would not be around much longer especially if the war for Regina was approaching. I slowly slipped down Forget street to the old house, my parent's old house. I entered the yard through the secret gate I had made and then crawled through the tunnel to the basement window, opening it I slid down to my old room.

Closing the window, I lit a small fire in the camp stove and allowed myself to warm up. Grabbing my old crank radio, I spun the crank for 5 minutes and then slid in the SanDisk card selecting the mp3 player I put on the old apple earbuds and laid down. I had no idea why a wind-up radio/mp3 player would still work when nothing else did. Maybe because it had been in the basement packed with some stuff. I just did not know nor did I care, I was just glad that it did. As the room warmed up the sound of 3 Doors Down singing Here Without You rocked me to sleep.