Attention: Another sapient species in your reality has reached the minimum requirements to assimilate into The Collective. Since the humans of Earth have not yet met this threshold, your planet will be under quarantine for a period of one Collective year. A timer for this period has been added to the Collective Entity Management System that is now unlocked for your species. At the end of this quarantine period, planet Earth will be available for ingress and egress by other members of the Collective.

Go forward and grow in strength!

Oliver heard his wife Jamie gasp then murmur, “What in the world?” which told him that she was seeing the same message he was, floating front and center in his field of view. He read it, then read it again. Reading while driving was generally discouraged, but Oliver couldn’t figure out how to dismiss the message. He looked out his window, down to the floorboard, and up at the visor, but the message stubbornly followed everywhere he looked.

The message still floated in the center of his vision when Oliver looked over to his wife just in time to see the delivery truck, its driver staring off into space, run a red light and slam into his passenger door at full speed.

“Hey, babe? You see my sunglasses anywhere?”

“They aren’t in your holder-thingy in the truck?”

“Holder-thingy?”

Oliver artfully dodged a sandal thrown by his wife who immediately pouted. “You’re not supposed to dodge!”

“Well,” he chuckled, “I was attacked by a crazy woman throwing a shoe!”

The silence that followed unnerved Oliver until he looked over his shoulder to see his wife squinting at him with a look that promised retribution. A tackle from the tiny woman and a fierce tickle fight later, Oliver sighed from where he found himself sprawled in the middle of what used to be an organized pile of camping gear. He gave his wife a squeeze and wracked his brain for what had started the impromptu tickle fight.

“Why did we just wrestle across the living room?” he asked.

She tilted her head up to rest her chin on his chest. “You called me a crazy woman.”

Oliver snapped his fingers. “That’s right!”

His wife gave him another squinty glare before nestling back into his chest.

He smiled and whispered into her hair, “Hey, babe? You see my sunglasses anywhere?”

The crash was an instant of world-ending sound. Then, silence. Crushing silence. Oliver shook his head and turned to check on Jamie. His heart wrenched and he fought to escape his truck. Everything was an obstacle to him getting out. The seatbelt was pinched, he couldn’t get to or release the buckle. He pushed, pulled, and screamed. Enough of Oliver’s reasoning made enough of an appearance to remind him that his multi-tool with a knife blade was clipped into his pocket.

Cut free from the seatbelt, the next fight was the door. The delivery truck had pushed his truck against a pole which was stopping his door from opening further than about a handbreadth. Oliver raged on the door, slamming it against the pole, again and again, gaining a finger’s width each time.

With a final screech, the door wrenched free of the pole, and Oliver fell out of the truck as much as anything else. He scrambled a short distance away and sat, pulling his knees to his chest. The intersection wasn’t a terribly busy one, but there were other drivers around. Some drivers managed to pull safely to the side of the road, while others joined in a sequence of rear-end collisions that pounded out a destructive drumbeat.

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Oliver’s voice started with a sob and grew to a mournful cry. “Jamie... No, Jaime... Ja-mie!”

“Jaime, here’s your tea.” Oliver handed his wife her stainless steel bottle filled with iced tea.

“Thanks.” Jamie pecked him on the cheek. “We didn’t forget anything, did we?”

Oliver pursed his lips for a few seconds before shaking his head. They’d planned this camping trip for weeks and were thoroughly prepared, but his wife was the type of person that always felt like something was missing. “Don’t think so. Tent, sleeping bags, camp axe, groceries-” A sharp bark from the back seat interrupted his list. “And a puppers. You ready to go camping, Barton?” Two quick barks answered him.

Jaime chuckled. “Sounds like we’ve got the important things covered then.” She gave her husband’s hand a squeeze and looked him in the eyes. “Love you, babe,” she told him.

He smiled back at her. “Love you, too.”

A bark interrupted Oliver’s cries. “Barton! Barton, buddy! Are you okay? Be okay...” The door to the back seat of his truck opened with minimal extra effort and the black and white setter hopped out. As soon as he was free of the truck, Barton began circling the wreck; barking and crying.

Oliver knelt down and talked to the dog as it frantically circled the wreck. “Barton... Barton, buddy. Momma’s gone. She’s gone bud. It’s just- just us. Barton, come here.” Barton came to him but kept his eyes on the wreck of the truck. Soft whining replaced his barks and cries as Oliver hugged the dog close.

Man and dog sat there on the curb, overwhelmed and shocked. Around them, the world fell to pieces as chaos inserted itself, but Oliver held on to his dog like a drowning man thrown an inflatable raft.

Oliver’s tears soaked into Barton’s fur as he mumbled nonsense to himself, the dog, and the universe. He was overcome by the need to keep Barton by his side until the end of his days, and mumbled, “Stay with me, Barton. Stay with me...”

As if responding to his heart, another box appeared in his vision. This time it asked a single question.

Bind Dog [Barton]? Y/N

In panic, Oliver shouted, “Yes! Don’t take him, too!”

Entity [Barton] agrees. [Barton] Bound.

“What did I just do?” Oliver checked Barton over to see if there was any visual difference, but couldn’t find any changes in his dog. The interruption brought Oliver back to his senses enough to notice other things going on around him. Sirens had begun to blare, the telltale wail of fire, police, and ambulance sirens, as well as the droning scream of the tornado siren over it all. There were dozens of other wrecks all along the busy road, and strangers were out of their cars, trying to offer what assistance they could.

Another window with a message popped up, and the voices of those around him either went silent or changed to alarmed screams.

Tutorial instance initiated.

The tutorial will not only assist you in learning how to manage the CEMS, or System, it will also assess you for an appropriate starting class and perks.

Death within the tutorial is not permanent and will end the tutorial.

Go forward and grow in strength!

The world around Oliver began to dissolve away. Everything fell to the mist, including his clothes, except for Barton.

Why? The Bind thing? Oliver wondered, then shouted, “No!” in horror as he realized that his wedding ring was being lost to the mist as well.

“Not you! You stay with me! Bind!”

Bind [Wedding Ring]? Y/N

“Yes!” he screamed.

As the mist overtook him, Oliver saw one more box.

[Wedding Ring] Bound, becomes [Ring of Second Chances](Cursed)

The last sound he heard before the world was lost to the grey was a voice grumbling, “Here we go again...”