Lev’s day began with shaking and screaming and an inordinate amount of sweat. Someone hand grabbed his shoulders and shook him over and over and over again. Lev tried to go to sleep but the person persisted and persisted.

Lev opened his eyes. “Why the hell are you shaking me, it’s like two in the morning.” In front of him sat his bear of a roommate, Jameson. His arms wrapped in a semi-sort of hug with Lev.

“What the heck, what’s going on. What are you doing? I’m not into you like that”

And Jameson laughed and laughed which if Lev remembered was rather unusual Jameson never laughed unless Lev or someone else told a really good joke. But now he cackling right in front of Lev, cackling like Lev had never seen him do before.

“Lev we are so fucked. This whole town is fucked, everywhere is fucked and we gotta go soon.” His eyes stared at Lev, Lev was almost scared if it was anyone else but Jameson wouldn’t hurt anyone. Would he?

“Everything is just going to shit Lev, the cops are on the streets but, well, I don’t know how long they’ll last” Jameson seemed almost scared but Lev couldn’t imagine Jameson being scared, he just wasn’t, he was Jameson and Jameson wasn’t scared.

“What’s going on just tell me,” Lev said his voice growing louder and tinged with just a drop of fear.

“Just wait, Lev, it should be coming up right about now.”

Welcome!

Version 2.045742 of ______(insert region name) has formed. Over 100 living creatures on the planet [Earth] have formed a Level 1 Skill ranking causing the system to deem this system [Worthy}

. Soon the world will reach new heights. New monsters, new religions, new power for those who crave it. Sense the energies beyond the energies! Feel creation within your palms. And most importantly, don’t die.

To access the system find your closest system representative, they should be arriving soon.

Lev was shocked, surprised, in awe. Something really had changed in the world and well he had no idea what it was.

“What does this mean.” The words fell out of Lev’s lips, he couldn’t even focus on them.

“If I knew Lev, I wouldn’t be waking you up, I’d be out of here. This whole scenario is just fucked. We are so screwed, and by we I mean humans.” Jameson said but Lev wasn’t completely sure if it was to him or to himself. Lev knew it was true, in the middle of the city was not the place for the apocalypse.

And he could hear it. The clash of metal and boots and feet against hard pavement. And the tiniest screams he could hear.

“I think we might need to get out of the school,” Lev said.

“The school said to stay inside while the government gets everything sorted out but I don’t think we should stay,” Jameson said. Lev could see the wads and wads of gum in his mouth like some sort of horrible monster. Jameson always chewed so much gum. Little gobs of split flew out from his mouth and onto Lev’s shoulder but he was used to it.

Lev jumped up, he had fallen asleep drooling on his paper and now the poor poor words were covered in saliva. Jameson started to search the house for anything they could use, while he carefully went through his gum stashes in the house, who knows when the gum manufacturers would stop working.

“What’s actually going on down there?” Lev asked from across the room, he was trying to fill his backpack with bags of walnuts leftover from his English project.

“You have to see for yourself, it’s kinda well magical.”

The world had changed and Lev didn’t know if it was for the better. As soon as he stepped out onto the streets of New York he noticed it, the sun shone a little brighter, the buildings were a little taller, and the crowds and crowds of people that usually inhabited this part of Columbia were gone. It was empty, practically a ghost town.

“Where is everyone? There’s nothing here.” Lev said.

“They are, there. You’ll have to see it. The whole town has gone to it, they say it’s one of the most beautiful things they’ve seen.” Jameson had worship in his eyes. Worship was dangerous. Very dangerous and especially to Lev.

“That sounds kinda dangerous especially if everyone's over there,” Lev said.

“Oh it’s dangerous, it’s very dangerous Lev,” Jameson said. They both decided not to go to the object. Anything that could attract that many people was bound to be dangerous. Neither of them had a car and for some reason disturbing the silence that had fallen upon the seemed, unwise. The walls seemed to have ears on them.

They decided to walk towards a grocery store near the campus. Lev had memories about him and his friends going there but he didn’t have that many friends anymore, except Jameson, Jameson seemed to stay. They made their way into the grocery store. It was empty, all the shelves were strewn about like something had come into here and decided to play an intense game of American football. Scraps of food lay torn apart. Something large had come to the grocery store and nothing remained there.

“What in the name of God and the twelve girls I slept with before college,” Jameson muttered under his breath.

“I thought you didn’t have sex before college.”

“I didn’t” As Jameson said that they turned the corner in the soap section, or what was left of it. Across the whole entire soap section, a singular ravine of rock had been carved out. Almost like the remnant of a magical earth-based skill in a video game. The earth had been torn apart by something, and that something had a strange love for soap. Whole entire cartons of soap had been stolen by whatever caused the ravine, mango soap, pumpkin soap, any kind of soap had been taken.

Maybe it was better off not to be in the store. However, as they were leaving Lev heard something. He turned to where it came from, the meat section, something was there in a white gown. A white cap and a white beard but as soon as Lev saw it, it was gone. He decided not to tell Jameson what he saw unless he thought Lev was crazy.

“Why’s everyone gone? That message didn’t seem to say anything that would suggest a mass exodus. I mean I didn’t get teleported to some different dimension while I was asleep, did I?”

“I don’t know. I woke up to the sounds of thousands of people leaving their dorm rooms, practically running down flights of stairs and when I went to ask them why they are leaving, all they said was that they were going to become powerful.” Lev focused on the word powerful. What did that mean? How could they? These humans become powerful?

All Lev felt was weak, except in his head. His head felt strange. It felt different, ever since this morning, no last night he felt something, something waiting to be let go in his head. Jameson looked at Lev strangely.

“I think we need to leave the city. Something about it here seems, deadly.” And so they did. They walked and walked along the empty streets looking at the empty cars and at the emptiness beside them. They did not see a single person, not a soul. Not a hotdog stand or a Jewish deli. Soon Lev grew tired so they rested. Lev drank some water and felt the cool liquid go to his stomach.

Finally, they got to George Washington bridge. Their feet hitting the pavement right above the water. It felt like walking on the edge of a tight rope even though Lev knew he couldn’t fall. But something about the bridge felt like pure liquid danger. Like somehow it would bite him in the back. About halfway through the bridge behind a large truck that had been left unceremoniously in the middle of the bridge, almost blocking any cars from moving. And something moved behind it.

“Do you see that?” Lev said.

“I think I do see that,” Jameson replied with a whisper. They couldn’t tell what it was so they kept on walking towards it. They started to go slower though, Jameson in front of Lev for obvious reasons, and Lev didn’t really wanna get hurt. And as they approached they both heard a sound, a sound like the rumbling of feet on hard pavement. And the sound of boots.

“Hands in the goddamn air!”