Here starts the story of one man, some magic, and a bit of mayhem. My name is Benjamin Bateman you can call me Ben, never Benji or Benny and especially not Batman. I am in my early forties and I pride myself on always being prepared for whatever life throws at me, but a magic based gaming apocalypse is a bit much.
It all started 2 weeks ago when an Astronomical Influencer (I had no idea that was a thing) reported on his stream about an asteroid the size of the moon heading straight for planet earth. As his posts went viral and the story grew it was picked up by podcasters, online streamers as well as the large news agencies. As governments and astrologers confirmed the story, predictions of what will happen after impact began. Everywhere you looked were proclamations of doom, people selling survival packs, others celebrating the end of the world, some people brought up the Mayans and their predictions, the true scope of the disaster for me was when the online networks started playing the asteroid movies from the 90s. It didn't help that the world was conflicted, some people thought it was fake news while other people thought it was political propaganda and even more people thought it was just influencers trying to get likes and views. Around the world countries that controlled information did not even let their citizens know it was happening. Here in America there was a mad scramble for bunkers and safe rooms, like that would help If the Earth is impacted by an asteroid. The dinosaurs didn't make it past a the last impact and that one was much smaller.
In my humble opinion there is not a lot we can do as individuals as either the end is here or it is all a hoax and the world will continue on its merry way. In preparation I kept it simple by converting my money into gold and silver, buying a selection of survival gear, making a stash of supplies within reach of Reno at a 'Safe House', and then going to a party. My safe house is one of my clients vacation homes just outside of the city and my survival bunker would be his guest suite, but i can walk there in a day or two if needed. I spent the last week setting everything up then headed to the casino for the event.
The party is called 'The End of it all Ball' a 4 day event with gambling, drinking, and all you can eat buffets. I sprung for one of the nicer suites on the 21st floor with a view of the city and a pretty decent hot tub. The last 3 and a half days has been a whirlwind of crazy and I'm about partied out. I won a bit of money, my game being poker more than blackjack, roulette, craps, or slots. Don't get me wrong I love all games of chance but poker is where it's at. I prefer a nice high stakes game of 5 card draw in a backroom with a bit of risk but at a casino there is more action in a Texas Hold'em no limits table.
Back to now, It is 5:41 on Thursday, what people have been calling 'the day of impact', I just finished up a poker tournament and I'm now stumbling my way to the center bar to countdown the minutes left with the other drunks. Walking past the rows of slot machines I look over at the Grand Jackpot prize on display. It was a brand new smokey colored Ford Bronco Badlands Edition fully loaded with a rack and pop up tent on top, a rollout cooking kit in the back, utility, storage, and survival extras. As much as I don't like the new Ford Bronco (I'm a vintage early 70's Bronco fan) It is still a nice setup even though the poster that says 'ride off into the BADLANDS when everything goes up in flames' is a bit overdone.
You would think people would be spending this time with their families but the banks and rows of slot machines are packed with people and the table games are just as full. The chaos of the casino floor is a soothing chatter of people, the ding ding ding of slot machines, people calling out and cheering as they win, and the groups of drunk people throughout shouting incoherent ramblings. The cigar bar is standing room only and as I pass I catch a glimpse of the news playing on the big screen they are interviewing some guy with a space company trying to pull an Armageddon and save Earth by moving the asteroid out of its trajectory. I don't pay much attention to the news right now, I mean who can tell what's real and what's fake regardless I raise my glass and wish him the best, but life isn't the movies so good luck with that.
I grab a new drink at the bar and listen to some morons counting down by singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall. No need to be sober for what's about to happen, tossing back my drink I wave the bartender for another. With a few minutes to go I grab a seat at the counter with a video poker game in the bar top, no reason to let my free play go unused.
All the tv's in view add a digital timer onto their screens set at 30 seconds the singing fools have the whole crowd involved now counting down to the end, but before the numbers move below 12 everything pauses. Time stretches out and the world is caught mid-moment, it feels like right before lightning strikes or that moment before you jump out of a plane, frozen like a deer caught in headlights. Then a sound so loud you can feel it in your bones resonates through the air followed by a bright flash of color that makes me think of being struck in the face by a rainbow. With my senses overloaded and blinking furiously to clear my vision, I can't make sense of whats going on around me.
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As my eyes clear up, though I still can't hear, I see words in the middle of my vision scrolling up as if I was stuck in an 80's computer screen. I am distracted by the moving text and I'm sure I'm missing some of it around the spots in my eyes.
INTEGRATION BEGINNING
SCANNING FOR COMMON LANGUAGE.........6,918 LANGUAGES IDENTIFIED. IMPLEMENTING BASIC WORLD LANGUAGE (VERBAL AND WRITTEN)
IDENTIFYING ALL BASIC SKILLS AND CLASSES
IDENTIFYING ALL ADVANCED SKILLS AND CLASSES
ERROR: ADVANCED SKILLS UNAVAILABLE
CREATING SKILL AND CLASS DATABASE. INTEGRATING SKILLS AND CLASSES
ADDING BASIC SKILL AND CLASS STRUCTURE ADVANCEMENT
ERROR: TRANSLATIONS SKILL AND CLASS NAME OVERLAP. NAME CUSTOMIZATION OPTION ADDED
COMPILING HISTORICAL LANDMARKS AND LEGENDS
RUINS, DUNGEONS AND LAIRS ESTABLISHED
IMPORTING AND DISPERSING ADDITIONAL SITES AND CREATURES
ESTABLISHING RACE SPECIFIC TOWNS. REGISTERING SPAWN POINTS
COMPILING VILLAGE,TOWN, AND CITY DATA BASE. INSTIGATING CONTROL MODULES AND CONTROL SCREENS
ADVANCED CLASSES AND HIGHER ALLOWED ACCESS AND CLAIM TO VILLAGES AND TOWNS
MASTER CLASS AND HIGHER ALLOWED ACCESS AND CLAIM TO CITIES AND ZONES
INITIALIZING AUTO GENERATION AND SPAWNING SITES FOR REGIONAL SENTIENT AND NON-SENTIENT CREATURES
NON-SENTIENT CREATURES CATALOGUED, UPGRADED, INTEGRATED, AND DISPERSED. GLOBAL RANDOM SPAWNS IMPLEMENTED
FORTRESS, GARRISON, TOWERS, AND SAFE ZONES ENABLED AND SUPPORTED. ADVANCED CLASSES OR HIGHER REQUIRED FOR CONTROL AND OWNERSHIP
CREATING MERCANTILE INVENTORY. ACTIVATING BASIC SHOPS, CITY SHOPS, AND MERCHANT SYSTEMS COMPILING GLOBAL INVENTORY SCAN. 23,291,556,107,348 ITEMS AND COUNTING
ADJUSTING TECHNOLOGY FOR SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY. GENERATING SYSTEM INVENTORY
CREATING AND ACTIVATING QUESTS AND EVENTS. MASTER CLASS REQUIRED TO SET QUESTS. AUTOMATIC SYSTEM GENERATED BASIC QUESTS AND EVENTS ENABLED.
ERROR: CLASS QUESTS NOT ENABLED
ERROR: UNLINKABLE QUEST ADVANCEMENT, BASIC QUESTS ONLY WILL BE GENERATED.
ENABLING GLOBAL SYSTEM CURRENCY (COINS)
BEGINNING TRANSFER
LOADING
LOADING
LOADING
LOAD.............
Then I notice i'm not in the casino any longer.