Death World Menagerie Nightmare

We used to think the big cover-up was that the moon landing was fake, aliens were in Area 51, and the government was hiding who shot Kennedy. That was a pleasant time; when I think back, ignorance was bliss. As chunks of the moon heat up as they fly across the sky, I wanted to break and go back the under that comfortable blanket of ignorance when we didn't know.

"My fellow Americans," Grandpa left the news loud enough inside to hear it at the door. I was supposed to come with my girlfriend, but her college training exempted her from my boat. So, she stayed with her family since none of them were selected. She said it would be better for both of them to break it off; the ring in his pocket felt heavy. I couldn't wait for my brother and uncle to say they told me so. "We live in unprecedented times, so we have made unprecedented decisions."

"Abe Lincoln is probably spinning in his grave fast enough in his grave to power the country," Ben said.

I rolled my eyes at my little brother's words. That old tyrant would have sold us out without batting an eye.

The door was unlocked, so I let myself in. My brother's voice was louder than the TV. I tried to drown him in my truck with the radio, but it didn't work. A smile spread across my face as Ben hugged me. I patted his back. It had been a few months since we saw each other, and Ben had put on some muscle.

"Vin, I'm glad you made it; where's Cheryl?" Ben asked.

I held up my lock screen, absent the picture of my girlfriend and me. "Is that Vincent? Tell him to get his ass outside and tell me how he wants his steak," Grandpa said.

Some things never changed. "Come on, Uncle Regi flew from Maryland, and Emma should be here soon with her husband," Ben said.

That statement would have been so interesting before the moon exploded. I remembered dating a black girl in jr high and how my mother freaked out.

"Does mom know?" Ben smiled and shook his head in the negative.

"Hey boy," My mother hugged me, and for a second, it was like any other family gathering.

Then a bright light filled the sky as another hunk of moon blasted off the shield the aliens installed over our planet. It was good their world was getting something from our lives.

I hugged my mother back and took out my phone. Six hours from midnight and counting down. It wasn't fair, but the governments of the world seemed to be getting away with it.

"Did you take one of the pills?" Ben asked.

"I took the gold one; what about you. Was it blue that's your favorite color?"

"I don't think it matters much. I had the green one because I like green." His mother looked 10 years younger and returned to her youth at an appreciable rate. Ben walked a little straighter and moved with a flowing gate like he barely needed to touch the ground. His once curly red beard had straightened. "You don't seem changed at all. Did you really take it, or is this like when I tried to put you on Adderall?"

"I'm not twelve anymore. I can take pills without plucking my eyelashes out." I said.

The conversation ended there, so I ducked under the doorframe and tossed my keys on the standing bar. I was confident they would be there when I returned. My truck was a piece of junk; no one would bother stealing it.

"My skill tree needs mana to function. That's something we don't have on Earth." I said.

Skill trees affect the body. Getting a skill tree that needed mana to function might mean he couldn't return to Earth. He glanced at the little diamond in the corner of his eye, filled in red for his health.

"Status open skill tree menu. Make the screen visible to other users until closed." I said.

Vincent Hawk

Skill Tree

Gold Fiber

Integration T1 0/5:

All stats +0.1 to modifier per Integration lvl.

Spells cooldown time +5% more and have +5% more spell effect with each integration level.

At Integration 1/5 +2 Spell Slots

At Integration 2/5 +2 Ability Slots

At Integration 3/5 +3 Spell Slots

At Integration 4/5 +3 Ability Slots

At Integration 5/5 +5 Spell Slots

Cost:

1. Defeat 1 mana-rich enemy.

2. Defeat 10 mana-rich enemies.

3. Defeat 100 mana-rich enemies.

4. Defeat 1000 mana-rich enemies

5. Defeat 10,000 mana-rich enemies.

I showed them the first skill in my tree.

"You have modifiers instead of percentages. That's different." Ben said.

"Don't be jealous; no two trees are alike. Be lucky you're a gamer. I had to learn all of this from Viewtube videos." Mom said.

To gain power, I needed to kill and get good at it. While the rewards looked great, my growth depended on the next world. Some people already had a spell and could use it on Earth. In the week since this started, a few people in the same situation as us attempted to overthrow the US government if they weren't secretly feds. No one really knew if anyone was successful. If someone took over, could they force someone to take their place?