“How much time is left?” Kevin said in the Shop.

“You have 10 minutes 46 seconds remaining” the voice responded.

“Can you take me to Layer 1 now or do I have to wait?” Kevin responded.

“Are you certain you wish to proceed to Layer 1 now? You have 10 minutes 38 seconds remaining.” the voice replied.

“Yes, take me to Layer 1.”

“Acknowledged. You will be sent through to the first layer. Upon arrival you will be informed upon the basics of the seven layers and then set free to do as you will.” The voice of the shop said.

In a flash of swirling lights that surrounded Kevin, he left The Shop. What felt like only a moment later, the light passed and darkness took his senses. He was alone in the darkness until he heard a voice.

“You are the First Wave of Humanity will be brought to the crucible. Humanity will grow and fight or you will die. Pass through the Seven Mystical Layers and achieve the prize. Heaven. You are the first wave. You are in the smallest wave. You are entering the First Layer. This layer is your staging area. Here you will fight the morankai to earn points. Use your points to grow strong enough to challenge the journey to the center of the layer. In the center, find the path to move on to the Second Layer.”

The voice was deep but scratchy, like a dry throat much in need of a drink. The voice was as masculine in explanation as the Shop voice had been feminine.

“You in the first Wave, remember, you will herald the rest of humanity.”

Kevin opened his eyes. He was alone on a rooftop, by the looks of it, it was a tall rooftop. He could see taller buildings, skyscrapers really, on one side of the roof he was on and other skyscrapers farther away. He was off center to the roof, huge air conditioning units around him. He climbed a catwalk to get a higher vantage before reaching the edge of the roof.

The stairs were a combination of easier and harder to climb. Kevin felt heavier on his feet, but his muscles were noticeably stronger. He got to the top of the unit and looked out at what he could see. Skyscrapers surrounded him on all sides. Some taller than his, some shorter. As far as he could see, there were thousands of them. Kevin couldn’t see the end of the skyscrapers and from his vantage he couldn’t see the roads either. It was eerie because there were no city sounds in this city-scape. No cars, or honking, the air conditioning units were whirring, but very quietly for big units like this, there were no birds, not even the sound of wind moving through the skyscrapers.

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“Creepy.” Kevin said aloud.

Shrugging, Kevin took a moment to assess himself. He looked down at his body. He had lost a bunch of weight. When Kevin looked in a mirror, he hadn’t liked what he saw in a long time.

He had some OK muscle definition from years of working out, but his suboptimal eating habits combined with his generally sedentary lifestyle had left him with a gut and about forty pounds of extra weight he wasn’t really pleased with. His larger than average legs and broad hips almost guaranteed that he was never going to get the aesthetic V taper from shoulder to hip even if he got his eating right.

Now though. Kevin was at least thirty pounds of fat less than literally only minutes ago. The dress shirt and slacks he put on this morning didn’t really fit him anymore. The belt needed tightening and the shirt sleeves stretched at his biceps. Kevin imaged he wouldn’t dislike his reflection quite so much anymore.

“That must be the Ki Cultivation. Nice.” Kevin said, continuing to talk to himself out of the Shop. “OK well that is a little affirming. Let’s see.”

Kevin analyzed himself deeper. He realized body aches and pains that had been so prevalent that they had fallen to the back of his mind were gone. His ankles didn’t hurt, his knee wasn’t aching and his back felt better than it had since he was in the Service. He cracked his knuckles and didn’t get any of the carpal tunnel pains that used to bother him. He took a deep breath. It was like he was in a body five or ten years younger. He felt Amazing.

He thought of his other abilities and focused on wanting to Find his Wife. Instinctually he could tell how to use his Soul Tracker ability. He needed to focus on whoever he wanted to find and if the connection between them was strong, he could find them anywhere in the layer. He Loved his wife. He knew they had the connection. He searched. She wasn’t there.

He looked for his eldest daughter, she would be turning thirteen soon. She wasn’t there.

Kevin became a little frantic. He looked for his nine year old. Nothing.

His mother. Nope.

His sister. His brothers? No. Nothing.

For a long while Kevin stood on that roof switching between the people he loved trying to find them. Nothing. They weren’t on the layer with him.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief. They would still be on Earth. Safe. They would miss him, probably really have no idea what happened to him, but they were safe. It was going to be OK. They were safe. He sat down as tears streamed down his face. They were safe.