Montgomery Jones came into his apartment with a smile on his face. He may not be able to go as far or as fast as when he was in college, but he still enjoyed his runners high and the guys at Rocko’s enjoyed his runners' ass. Monty smiled. Well, looking at his ass.

Monty disagreed with his father about most things. Monogamy was one of the few they agreed on. Monty hadn’t found Mr. Right yet. There had been a couple of Mr. Right Nows. That had been fun. Despite being fun, it lacked the deep emotional attachment that Monty was looking for.

Friday was game night. Monty enjoyed hanging out with friends who had no expectations on who or what Monty should be. Saturday was Rocko’s. There were all sorts of expectations at Rocko’s. Expectations that Monty’s father would have conniptions about. Monty smiled.

Normally, Monty liked to get a shower before breakfast, but it sounded like his roommate, Don, was running late and was still in the bathroom. Monty and Don didn’t interact much. They each made an effort to not annoy the other as they pursued their own interests.

Since the bathroom was occupied, Monty set out making his breakfast. He diced some onions and added them to the hot pan. Diced bell pepper and mushroom was next. Monty cracked and whisked three eggs. He added the eggs to the pan and grabbed some pepper jack cheese from the fridge. He flipped his omelet and added the cheese. He poured himself a glass of orange juice, plated his omelet, and grabbed a fork, before sitting down to eat.

Monty was halfway through his omelet when Don entered the kitchen.

“Sorry about the bathroom, running late this morning.”

“No problem. It happens.”

Don grabbed a protein bar from the cupboard. Opening it as he headed out the door.

Monty finished his omelet and washed the dishes he had used. He was headed for his delayed shower when he was interrupted by a window popping up in front of him.

Warning!

Your world has been inundated with magic.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

To facilitate your survival, you have been gifted use of the Enhancement System and Essence Points according to the change in danger level of your area.

Monty Stopped. Were those magic mushrooms in his omelet? They looked and tasted like normal mushrooms. He changed direction to get his phone to call an ambulance.

Congratulations!

You now have access to the Enhancement System.

Speak or concentrate on the phrase ‘Enhancement System’ to open the Enhancement System.

Monty grabbed his phone.

10,517,132 EP have been transferred to your account.

He typed 9-1-1 and stopped with his thumb over the send button. He wasn’t a doctor and he didn’t have any experience with hallucinogens, but he didn’t think distinct windows and precise numbers were how magic mushrooms worked. His thoughts were clear. Everything else looked normal. He closed the phone app and opened the news app.

The headline at the top was ‘Mass hallucination around the world.’ Shit.

Monty called his mom, she normally wouldn’t be awake yet, but she would forgive him for waking her. It took several tries because the phone lines were busy. When she picked up she didn’t even say hello. She led with “are you seeing the floating boxes too?”

“Yeah, mom. I called to see if you guys were okay.”

“The floating boxes woke the entire house.” She ranted. “Your siblings are busy looking through this ‘Enhancement System’. I’ve forbidden Carletta from buying anything without my express permission.”

“What about Mike and Steph?”

“Apparently they are locked out of buying anything until they are fifteen. I don’t like this, Montgomery. We were each given nearly ten thousand EP because of the danger level. We are staying in the house until we know more. Are you safe?”

“I don’t know mom.”

“Come home if you can. Family should be together during a crisis.”

“Is dad okay with that?”

“He still loves you. He just has trouble showing it. And if says one nasty word I’ll rip out the stick he has up his butt and use it to beat some sense into him.”

“Thanks, mom. I love you.”

“Stay safe, Montgomery.”

“You too, mom.”

Monty shivered as he hung up his phone. They got ten thousand EP each. He got ten million. Did that mean he was in a thousand times as much danger? He hoped it meant that his family was in a minuscule amount of danger, but he couldn’t count on that. He needed to get out of here. He needed to get to his family. He didn’t know if he would survive to do so.