Rajesh Kshetrapal stared at the tomb of his family, the structure that used to be his dormitory. Smoke billowed from the collapsed building, like a pyre for those lost within. The catastrophe that happened on Invasion Day, less than twenty-four hours ago, was so unlikely, he could still hardly believe it occurred.

  He closed his eyes and the bulk of the falling helicopter loomed in his memory. Felled by the loss of electricity, it obliterated his building. The crash itself was bad enough, but the explosion and subsequent fires led to the true destruction.

  Knocked unconscious by the blast, Rajesh had only survived the ordeal through the efforts of his loyal underling, Zahir. His fellow graduate student had been mostly protected from the crash by a pillar, and had been the first to recover. Zahir bravely pulled Rajesh from the rubble and received severe burns in the process. After Rajesh regained consciousness, only a few people were able to crawl or stumble out of the smoke and debris before the building collapsed.

  The back of his scalp was matted with blood from shrapnel, and his nose was broken from the fall. However, none of these injuries bothered him.

  Rajesh tightened his fist as he imagined how his family died, burned alive in the building before him, unable to escape.

  They were supposed to be safe here in America.

  “Boss,” Zahir interrupted his brooding. “We scavenged all the wood we could find from the first floor and stacked it in the dining hall like you asked.”

  Rajesh turned to address his chancellor. “How much did you find?”

  Zahir winced. “Not much. Everything seems to be made out of metal or plastic. Even the tops of the desks are some type of polymer. Most of what we found came from doors.”

  “Is it enough to build the wood workshop?” Rajesh asked.

  Zahir nodded.

  “Good. Have our new constructor start on that next. In the meantime, we will need to complete another scenario to replace the off-world supplies we lost.”

  “Got it, boss.” Zahir then hesitated. “Do you need me to go with you again?”

  Rajesh shook his head. “No, I need you here to keep everyone busy. Amir should be healed enough by now.”

  Zahir was visibly relieved. “Okay, boss, I’ll make sure everyone pulls their weight!” After that, his chancellor left him alone to his thoughts.

  I should have been level one by now.

  If his dorm had not been destroyed, and his faction buildings were not buried within the rubble, he would have finished the hall’s upgrade to level two. That would have enabled him to invite five hundred people to his faction, rather than the fifty he was limited to now.

  He turned his back to the smoldering rubble and considered his shattered plans.

  Once he taxed their directive rewards, he would have collected over a billion nano. It would have been more than enough for him to choose his tri-class and purchase another twelve attributes. The rest could have been used to grow his faction town.

  A forced restart, curse that helicopter. At least we have a better location now.

  Manzanita Hall was a superior location to his original dormitory. The first floor was large and open, perfect for the beginning of his town. It contained a kitchen and cafeteria with stores of food, while the building above was student housing. He would have preferred to build within the hall initially, but could not find a way to keep their operations hidden.

  Now, that did not matter.

  He strode from the fallen building, toward his new faction hall.

  The setback was only temporary. By the time monsters appeared within the world, his faction hall would be upgraded to level two, and he would have his combat class.

  Two days before the beasts appear.

  Already, he had replaced most of his fallen non-combat workers. It was unfortunate that the majority of his combat teams perished in the collapse, but four members survived. Three, if you excluded Zahir.

  I still have a substantial lead. Even with the guide that naive child released, it will take days or even weeks to collect the billion nano required to form a faction.

  For the last twenty-four hours, the majority of the populace remained barricaded within their homes. They were scared, and Blake’s speech and disappearance did nothing to alleviate their fears.

  That is good. They will be more likely to pay for my protection when I offer it.

  Rajesh messaged his combatants to meet him at the portal and headed to the building’s basement. Access to the network of underground tunnels was yet another reason the new building was superior to the old. It allowed them to barricade all other tunnel entrances and control access to the only nearby portal.

  Over time, this setup will prove superior. Maybe this was fate.

  The portal was located within an underground maintenance storage room only accessible by tunnel. It led to a world inhabited by Kobolds, a dim lizard-like race that barely qualified as sapient. They were three feet tall, bipedal, used simple weapons and armor, and formed small tribes.

  At least his simple guide did not contain portal locations. It will remain my secret.

  The sentimental teenage fool feared innocent, unprepared idiots would stumble within them and perish. Now, of course, it did not matter. The portals were finally visible, and by now, thousands had been discovered by those brave enough to leave their homes. Of course, some locations were harder to locate than others, such as the portal Rajesh headed to now.

  He reached the bottom of the stairs and ran his hand along the tunnel wall to help him navigate. Without electricity, the corridors were dark, and he was forced to rely on the dim luminescence of glow sticks.

  Rajesh had collected oil lamps along with ample fuel, but they were buried in the collapse along with his family. However, even if they had survived, they would have been far less useful than he first imagined. Fire starters no longer functioned. They required a spark to ignite the butane fuel they contained, and that was no longer possible.

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Rajesh turned the corner and was relieved when the darkness finally receded. The red, swirling portal lit the tunnel with a far greater effect than his simple glow sticks. While it did not produce enough light to read by, it allowed him and his incoming subordinates to easily navigate.

  When he was only a few feet away from the swirling light source, he stared into its depths.

  This will be the source of my greatness. My faction will thrive, and I will lead millions.

  ***

  “Mister President, Scott Peters is here, as you requested,” Jeffrey announced.

  Finally! What took them so long? I wanted him here yesterday!

  President Warner gestured toward the opposite side of the table as he frowned openly at his aide. In his folksy, southern accent, he addressed the man from the CIA, “Have a seat. Are you hungry? I can have the chef bring up more salmon if you like.”

  Scott stared longingly at the succulent food on the President’s plate. He cleared his throat. “I would appreciate that, sir.”

  Warner glanced at Jeffrey, who nodded and scurried out the guarded door.

  After Scott sat at the table, Warner grinned and initiated a new conversation. “You know, the chef had a devil of a time getting the stove lit. It had plenty of fuel, but the damn lighter no longer works.”

  Scott raised his brows. “I never considered that. How did he end up lighting it, if I may ask?”

  “Turns out, the boiler stayed lit.” Warner leaned back in his chair. “Actually, the damn thing won’t turn off now, but that’s beside the point. They lit candles from the flames and now use that to start fires. Can you believe it? Candles!” The President shook his head.

  “That seems… a clever solution, sir,” Scott stated carefully.

  Warner snorted. “It’s barbaric, is what it is,” he disagreed. “And, that’s the least of my problems. I can’t call my staff, the Joint Chiefs, Governors to implement martial law. Hell, I can’t even call my kids.” He then muttered, “Not that they’ll talk to me.”

  Scott frowned. “Sir, have you not used the interface’s communication features yet?”

  Warner grunted.

  “It seems Mister Summer’s guide was incorrect.”

  “Oh really?” Warner leaned forward. “How so?”

  “His guide stated that you could only communicate with people you had direct contact with. You would need to physically touch the other person in order to add them to your list of contacts. However, that is not true. It seems there are a vast number of communication options available with no such limitations.”

  Yes! THIS is why I needed him here. Finally, someone competent.

  “Can I use it to talk to the American people? How about the Governors?”

  “Yes, Mister President,” Scott confirmed. “You can record a video of yourself and publish it for all to see. Once you set up your own profile, you can also search for others who have done so.”

  Warner grinned. “Scott, I think you and I are going to be great friends.”

  ***

  “I don’t think Blake’s coming for us,” Jennifer Taylor complained as she leaned against the jail cell door.

  “Give it more time, Jennifer,” Bobby insisted. “It’s only been a day. I’m sure he’s looking for us as we speak. Like you said, he doesn’t know where we are, so he has to ask around.”

  Jennifer sighed. “Assuming he’s even alive. You saw that red swirling thing gobble him up. What if it killed him for telling us too much?”

  Marcus giggled.

  Jennifer and Bobby both gave the pilot a concerned look. For the last two hours, their crazy cell mate had giggled and muttered to himself repeatedly.

  If I’d known he was ACTUALLY crazy, I wouldn’t have stepped foot in the helicopter.

  Suddenly, the pilot guffawed and slapped his pants leg.

  What the hell is wrong with him?

  Finally, unable to tamp down her curiosity, she asked, “What’s so funny, Marcus?”

  “Oh, just some memes,” he explained offhandedly. “Some of them are hilarious.”

  Memes?

  “Like what?” Bobby asked.

  Don’t encourage him.

  “Oh, you haven’t been looking?” Marcus seemed surprised. “I found this forum that has tons of them. Here, I'll share it with you.”

  Suddenly, a message appeared before her. It asked if she wished to receive a message from Marcus Freeman. She cautiously accepted, and to her surprise, she was presented with a hand drawn comic.

  It had four panes, and utilized labeled stick figures. The first frame showed Blake as he flicked off the President and fell from the helicopter. Next, was a drawing of President Warner in the Oval Office. He had his fist raised as he promised Blake would regret his actions. The third showed Blake destroying the UFO with a spear. He looked like a ‘chad’ as he boasted, ‘Too easy!’. Finally, the last pane showed President Warner. The man’s face was so red with anger, his head had exploded.

  Jennifer smiled.

  I do miss these.

  “How did you make that, Marcus,” Bobby asked, confused.

  Actually, yeah. I don’t see any paper or crayons.

  “Oh, I didn’t make it, I stole it,” he explained. “There’s a whole forum full of them.”

  “What do you mean?” Jennifer asked. “What forums?”

  Marcus gave them a look of disbelief. “How do you guys not know about the forums? Everybody’s on them, even the Sheriff. I saw him post some warning about staying inside and not leaving your house.”

  Jennifer opened her interface and searched for anything that even remotely resembled what Marcus described. Finally, after a few more mental clicks, she found the link. It asked her to set up her profile, which mostly consisted of defining her privacy settings.

  No, I don’t want people to be able to message me if they aren’t on my friends list. Seriously? Why would I want my location shared? Wait! Maybe he can find me that way! What the hell?! Why can’t I change my name?

  While the option to use a nickname did not exist, it did at least allow her to choose a profile image. She chose to use a picture of herself, and an image of her present self appeared before her. Jennifer stood and shuffled over to the white painted concrete wall to use it as a backdrop.

  Hopefully I can change this later. I need to retouch my makeup.

  She ran her fingers through her hair and attempted to tidy up. Finally satisfied, she accepted the picture and made it her own. Once she accepted all changes, she was finally allowed access to the ‘forums’ Marcus mentioned.

  This almost looks like Ribbit. Why didn’t Blake tell us about this?

  She checked to ensure her location was publically visible and then began to explore the interface. She opened subribbit after subribbit as she explored all there was to offer. Jennifer even found a location-based section, which was only accessible to Americans, another nested underneath it for Arizona, and finally, one for the town of Show Low.

  This is amazing!

  Once Jennifer learned how it was oriented, she searched feverishly for any mention of Blake. It took her fifteen minutes, but she finally found what she was looking for. Oliver Summers, who was evidently Blake’s brother, had started his own ‘blog’. It had started just a few hours before and so far seemed incredibly boring.

  Who cares what you ate for breakfast?

  However, his latest post captivated her attention.

  ‘Hey guys, guess what? My little bro’s back! Evidently, Blake had a chat with the Architect and got us this cool social media to play around with. Isn’t it awesome?!

  Chat with the Architect? Does he mean that literally?

  Jennifer smiled to herself. She suddenly had so many questions which desperately needed to be answered, and she recalled that Blake’s brother had a crush on her. She searched for a way to contact him, and once she found it, sent a message. A few moments later, she received a response.

  Thank God! Time to finally get some answers!