Chapter 1

If you asked Lauren if she enjoyed being a mother, she would, without too much delay, give you an exuberant “yes”. The same exuberant “yes” she would give you if you asked her if she loved her husband.

And if the feeling behind the exuberant “yes” wasn’t fully there, it wasn’t as deliberate as she needed her smile to be when she had taught aerobics during high school. The overweight privileged housewives and the leering guy in the back of the class. Everyone could tell he felt awkward being there, why keep coming? Regarding her husband and daughter she still felt the yes, but…

Staring out the window at the snow-capped mountains she took a drink from her lunch-time wine. Her daughter Violet was curled up on the couch with the extra iPad and her own air pods. For being seven, she was careful with her air pods—always, always, puting them back into their charging case after using them. The last time she had lost one Lauren and her husband Max had left her with just one of them for half a year, before giving into her begging and replacing them.

Lauren felt her phone vibrating. It was probably Max, she thought.

Max didn’t like her day drinking, even on weekends. But it wasn’t a normal weekend: she was at the cabin. She wasn’t skiing. She didn’t have anywhere she needed to drive. And finally, Max wasn’t there. He’d gone back to Vancouver that morning in the truck. This left the two of them with the Mini to head back at their leisure.

Max still drove the van with his brother Paul and still helped do the lifting for their company -- Anderson Bros Moving Company. So, his line was, he needed to be there. Lauren’s three gyms ran themselves. She needed to do payroll, and watch for complications, but at this point things ran themselves.

She finished off her glass of wine and grabbed her phone from the other end of the counter. It was Max calling. She would be honest with him if he asked about her drinking. After all she had only had one glass. It was a big glass, almost half the bottle, but only one glass. So far.

She picked up her phone.

“Did you see the news?” Max asked. No “Hi”. No “How’s Violet” or “How’s your day”. That wasn’t usual for him.

“Nope. Give me a second I will check,” she said. Lauren opened her laptop and clicked over to CBC for the news.

“You see it?” asked Max. “It’s crazy. I can’t believe it, but it looks like it is true.”

Lauren clicked through the headlines. As always, the US headlines were above the Canadian ones.

President Trump has declared a state of emergency for the United States. Throughout the United States of America strange things have been happening.

Martial law has been declared, and the military has been deployed all across the United States of America to help shore up state and city police departments.

According to reports, people all over the world have begun to experience something that they call ‘the First Wave.’ Apparently, they go through some type of transformation, turning them into things out of fantasy books.

There were pictures of images that looked like there were from fantasy books. Images of some type of human-demon hybrid, holding a beer

Lauren clicked back to the main page. Below the US headline was a Canadian one.

Trudeau’s wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau hit by first wave, gets angel wings and can fly.

Trudeau says at briefing that that “unlike our neighbor to the south, we will not be declaring martial law. However, we will be monitoring the situation and providing updates as the situation evolves. Right now the people that are impacted are advised to reach out to their friends and neighbors to see if they can offer assistance. From what my wife tells me, and my other advisors tell me, there will be three more waves over the next week.” In response to a question from a reporter Trudeau indicated that “[the Government of Canada]” is not invoking the Emergencies Act at this time.”

“This real?” Lauren asks.

“Sure looks like it,” says Max.

“Crap.”

“You think you and Vi might want to come home a little early and help prepare?” asked Max.

“No. What makes you think that Vancouver is any better than up here. You should be packing up all of the things we need in the truck and turning around to come back up here."

“Isn’t it a bit small there to hold up? Plus by the time I get everything that we would need for an extended stay, plus maybe the rifle, packed up it would be night time. And it isn’t safe driving that highway at night time.”

“Fuck it Max. Fine. I’ve had a glass of wine.”

Violet hearing her parents fight yet again, tapped the option to have her air pods cancel out the background noise and tried to focus on her show.

“Well, that’s not too bad, you should be good in an hour or so, right?”

“It was a big glass of wine,” said Lauren.

“Well that’s inconvenient. Isn’t it?”

“Don’t be like that Max. We could have all left here together”

There's a pause. “Paul is using the truck.”

"Right."

“He’s loading up on supplies, okay?”

“If you didn’t play at your moving company…” she said quietly.

"Chrissake Lauren."

Then at full volume she said, “If you didn’t play at your moving company Max, we could have all left here together.”

“That’s a low blow Lauren.”

“I’ll come back tomorrow morning” she said. A hint of apology in her voice.

“Fine. I’ll go help Paul and Mandy get set up and get ready for you two coming back tomorrow.” They both paused for a second.

Lauren clicks off of CBC.ca and clicks over to people.com absentmindedly.

“I love you,” says Max.

There’s a pause, it’s long enough to say something deliberate.

Then having said her piece with the silence Lauren tells Max that she loves him too, exchanges those pleasantries that people do when ending a phone call and finally pressed the screen to sever the call. She then poured the rest of the bottle into her over-size glass and clicked through the people.com links.

Claire Danes gains the power to heal any disease.

Haven’t thought about her for a long time.

Christina Ricci gains ‘Spawn-like' living chains.

Lauren kept clicking through the links stopping briefly on a transcribed copy of the notification that all of the first waver’s apparently got.

Due to a wish made to the powerful and benevolent Luna, the Human race is now going to receive an upgrade. You are a member of the first wave, a beta test if you will. Over the next week, many humans will notice changes to their bodies. These changes will also be reflected in the wildlife around you, as well as the world itself.

Due to the influence of video games over the past 20 years, in particular, I have determined that the most efficient way to prepare the humans is to expand the world with a system to allow humans to comprehend their changes, easily understand upgrades to themselves, and prepare for the inevitable and dangerous additions to the world.

Be warned:

The first wave gives select individuals’ new races and powers combined. It also introduces powers and magic to the world at large and establishes character archetypes.

The second wave will change the races of many humans not selected for the beta test, giving them different growth parameters. It will also grant powers but no race change, creating superhumans. These are selected either at random or based on personality archetypes.

The third wave will introduce changes to the environment and will see the addition of monsters. Until then the only way to increase level is through PVP combat.

The fourth wave will add the dungeon system, as well as the class system to the world.

Further waves will be sent as needed.

Sincerely Yours,

Luna

Crazy.

Lauren opened another bottle of Burrowing Owl. It was the end of the world anyway.

*******

When Violet saw that her Mom had opened the second bottle of wine. She grabbed the iPad. Kissed her mom goodnight and headed down the hallway to bed.

This didn’t happen that often. To Violet it meant she could stay up as late as she wanted watching shows and other than a quick check she should be fine. She had snuck some coffee that morning after dad left and to her that meant that she would be able to stay up all night like an adult.

She watched a couple of shows then heard her mom come down the hallway. She took out her air pods, closed the iPad and pretended to sleep. When she heard her mom go into her and her dad's room without checking in on her she turned the iPad back on and started watching another part of a show.

She only made it through the beginning of the show before impatience got the better of her. Quietly she put her airpods away in there case and snuck out of her room.

Her mom was snoring loudly in the next room as she walked by on her way to the kitchen. There were pro-fitta-rolls in the freezer.

Straining she picked up a chair from the table and carred it over to the fridge being careful to make sure that it did not scrape the ground. That might wake her mom. Her mom had left some wine out, but she wasn’t interested in it. She had tried it before and didn’t like it. Instead Violet ate the remaining 20 or so cream filled pastry puffs from Costco.

She left two in the container. Mom hated it when you just left one. She didn’t want Dad to get in trouble.

Having finished, Violet put the chair back and rode the sugar high through many more shows before she finally put her air pods away in the early hours of the morning.