The question of ‘what now’ was taken from Steven by hysterical laughter.

Turning to the source, he saw the girl the moose had shoulder-checked. Her head was thrown back so far that her black hair almost touched the snow as she howled with laughter.

Steven immediately felt guilty, as he had completely forgotten about her in the ensuing chaos.

While he had been thinking over what Skill to choose, she had been crumpled in the snow.

…Except she looked completely fine now.

He slowly made his way over to her. “Are you okay?”

She snapped her head down, and slightly crazed blue eyes bored into him as she grinned. “It’s going amazingly! I’m alive!”

She hopped out of the snowbank, her boots clacking against the ice.

Steven was impressed she didn’t fall.

She had soft features and a broad smile that gave her a somewhat innocent appearance. That image was marred somewhat by a long scar that stood out sharply on her cheek, plus her grey coat was stained with… was that blood?

“I was bleeding good. I think a rib punched through my chest. I thought I was dead for sure!” The slightly manic look hadn’t left her, and Steven was tempted to take a step back.

“But then the words started scrolling, and the voice started talking! Said, ‘Sorry doll, you really shouldn’t have gotten walloped by a Boss like that. I’ll give you a patch up since this is on my account but remember,” she thrust her hand into the air, pointer finger extended for emphasis. “You only get one!”

Steven blinked. So the System or whatever that voice was had saved her too. Though the voice hadn’t spoken to him like an old noir character.

“That’s good. Umm, did you also get a Class?”

She nodded furiously, her hair spraying about her face with the motion.

“Sure did! It's called Questionably Lucky? And that question mark is included in the Class name.”

Steven blinked. “Huh. Did you pick a starter Skill?”

She nodded. “Yep. It’s called Time To Go! But I can’t seem to get it to work.”

“You have to slot it. You have one Skill slot. Assuming I didn’t get unlucky with the number. You think about the Skill and you…will it into the slot. That’s what I did anyway.”

She closed her eyes for a few seconds, then jumped. “I got it!”

Steven smiled. She would have figured that out on her own, he was sure, but helping her with it assuaged a bit of his guilt.

“What does the Skill do?”

She stared at him. “No clue.”

“…you don’t know what your skill does?”

She shook her head. “Nope. I just picked the one with the best name.”

“I…see.”

“Let’s see what it does now! I’m guessing that I’m supposed to focus on this grey box?” She raised her hands up, squinted, then vanished with a burst of gold confetti.

Steven was silent for several long seconds as the glittering confetti fell around him.

“…Time To Go. Well, the Skill did as advertised, I guess.”

Steven looked around, but the woman was nowhere in sight. Her Skill wouldn’t hurt her, would it? All he could do was hope that it hadn’t, as he had no way of tracking her down to check.

Which led him back to “What now?”

The sky was still covered with green and purple light, which extended in every direction he looked.

A moose had breathed ice and mist, he could materialize glowing green shields, he’d just seen a woman vanish in a burst of confetti, and a voice had spoken in his mind. It was a lot to take in.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

…he supposed he should check the news, but before that, he wanted to get a feel for how the city was responding.

He started walking to where he’d parked his car. The campus was eerily empty, bringing his thoughts back to what had happened in the bookstore. Where had everyone gone? What had scattered them, and for that matter, what had knocked him out?

Teleportation maybe? That would have seemed like a ridiculous answer a minute ago, but now… well, it would certainly explain why he had been alone when he woke.

He hoped James was alright. He’d barely known the man for ten minutes, but he had shown his mettle quickly. He’d wanted to help while Steven was stuck struggling to care.

He reached his car, an old grey Suzuki, and started it up. Well, his car still worked. So this wasn’t one of those apocalypses that fried tech.

He started driving, carefully looking around for changes.

After a few minutes, he hadn’t noticed much. There was the odd abandoned car or wrecked storefront, but everything seemed relatively normal for the most part.

Had the weirdness been more localized around the campus? Or maybe things were just starting slow, and the real crazy shit hadn’t reached the fan.

Steven kept looking. For what, he wasn’t really sure. A monster nest? New alien architecture? A Taco King that was open? He did a double-take. Sure enough, the restaurant was still open. There were even a few cars in front.

Well, he was hungry, and a restaurant was as good a place as any to check the news. Besides, who knew how long restaurants were going to stay open. If the light covering the horizon served as a wall, then not long. Anchorage couldn’t provide enough food for itself without imports.

Steven quickly pulled into the parking lot and got out. The temperature had dropped a few degrees, and a brisk wind dropped it even lower. He shivered and rushed inside.

A few tables were occupied, but no one glanced at Steven as he entered. Their eyes were all glued to the TV.

A sharply dressed news anchor stood in front of a picture of… of the wall of light, only it was taken from the outside.

“The domes, while different in color and appearance, have all proved totally impenetrable.”

The man was doing a remarkable job at keeping his voice steady. If it weren’t for the slight trembling in his hands, Steven wouldn’t have been able to tell he was nervous at all.

The anchor continued. “The total number of domes is not yet known, but it’s estimated to be over 500 currently. While most countries have four domes, one for the most populated city of their northernmost, southernmost, easternmost, and westernmost state or territory, there are outliers.

Notably, the U.S only has three. One covering Anchorage, Alaska. Honolulu, Hawaii. And Lubec, Maine. Lubec is an outlier, as both Anchorage and Honolulu are the most populated cities in their states, while Lubec has a population of scarcely over a thousand.”

Steven stared at the screen as images of other domes popped up. One was pure black, while another was made out of solid rock. The screen flashed to what he assumed was Hawaii, showing a dome made of swirling water.

Before Steven could even think of the right questions to ask himself, the employee at the register spoke up. “What do you want, man?” Steven shook himself, then walked up to the counter. “Ah, King fries. …I’m a little surprised you guys are still open.”

The man shrugged. “Might be the end of the world, might not be. But if it is, making food seems like a nice way to go out.”

Steven found something comforting in the man's nonchalant attitude. He paid then grabbed a corner booth.

What was he supposed to do? What could he do? What was even the most pressing danger right now?

He hadn’t seen any more rampaging moose or strange monsters, but his gut told him that wouldn’t last. Whatever this was, they were in the very infancy of it.

But he still didn’t have a next step. He certainly wasn’t going back to college. Magical screens and the city being locked out from the rest of the world were good enough excuses to bail on his classes.

…But aside from that? He didn’t have any close friends left in the state, save for a few of his parents' old friends that still reached out to him from time to time.

Maybe he should make sure they were safe. He had ignored their attempts to reach him because…because it seemed like too much effort. Because doing anything had seemed so draining.

He should definitely make sure they were safe. He owed them that much.

The Mitchells would be fine. Hell, the poor fool who tried to start something with them would need help.

The Roberts had moved to Seward, so they were safe.

Margie… she could use some help or at least a check-in. The woman was tough as nails, but she was also pushing seventy and only had her dogs to keep her company.

And while those dogs were nothing to sneeze at, he wasn’t sure how much good they would do against superpowers.

“King fries, bro.” The server set down a plate of fries heaped with strips of beef and cheese and slathered with sauce.

Steven nodded to the man, then tucked into his food

So, that was his plan. He would check in on Margie. Perfect.

…But what about after that.

“Shut up, Brain. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

“OOOOOOKKKKAAAAAYYY, LET'S GET INTO THIS, SHALL WE.”

Steven, and everyone else in the restaurant, shouted as the words appeared.

“Imma use my inside voice now that I got your attention.”

Steven felt his eye twitch. This stupid voice.

“So, why don’t we go over just what is happening, what’s going to happen next, and what exactly it means to be a seed city.”