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The city was still covered in rubble and ripped to pieces from the attack. Calling it anything more than a crumbling wreckage would have been lying. The scents of battle had lifted from the city, and all the bodies that had been there earlier were gone. Not so much as a splotch of blood remained on the ground.

People huddled behind the destroyed walls of buildings and watched Alex and Claire warily as they walked through the streets toward their room.

The lobby of the apartment was emptier than Alex could ever recall it. Ben sat on the remains of a table, dark bags under his eyes and his head buried in his palm. Mary and several other survivors gathered around him, discussing something in hushed tones. Ben spotted Alex and Claire out of the corner of his eye. He glanced up at them.

"Run into any trouble?"

Somehow, I don\'t think he\'s asking about the Forsaken Revenant.

"No," Alex replied. "Nothing too crazy. Did we miss anything?"

"Isaiah and his group left. Weakened us by about half our strength, but I\'d rather have a smaller group of reliable warriors than a bunch of turncoats." The corner of Ben\'s lip tugged up into a bitter smile. "At least, I\'d say that, but I don\'t think Towntown is going to exist for much longer. Everyone worth anything wants to leave, and I\'m not so sure that\'s a bad idea."

"Finding a larger settlement is just the safest bet," Mary said with a helpless shrug. "Look at us, Ben. We barely survived the event. If Alex and Claire hadn\'t been here, we\'d all be fucking dead. And because they were, we barely got shit in the way of rewards. We need to get a new base. Somewhere to regroup and gather our strength."

"I\'m not arguing with that," Ben said. "But what about the people who can\'t make the trip? We don\'t even know where—"

"You\'re too nice, Ben," Mary said flatly. "You\'re so concerned with the people that won\'t pick up a weapon and try to defend themselves that you\'re going to get the rest of us killed because of it. What happens during the third Initialization Event? What if another horde shows up?"

"Then I\'d assume the System is painfully unimaginative," Ben said. "If we had some semblance of a plan as to where we could go, I\'d be more amiable to this. But as things are now… we\'d just be wandering off into the wilderness. Nobody knows where we are. Even if its still Earth, it might as well be an alien planet."

Alex and Claire exchanged a glance as the other survivors plunged back into an argument. This wasn\'t their fight. They quietly made their way over to the stairs and headed up to their room, not speaking a word until the door was shut behind them.

"I think I\'m with Mary," Claire said. "But we\'ve already covered that."

Alex nodded. "There\'s no reason to stay here, if only because the monsters in this area aren\'t particularly strong. I\'ve seen some of the people we\'re up against. We can\'t afford to fall behind. I just don\'t have the slightest idea of where to actually go. Even if Earth was exactly as it was, I have no clue where we are."

"Can probably set out and look for a river, then follow it," Claire suggested after a moment of thought. "Cities usually get built near large bodies of water, and a river should connect to that."

"Good idea. I\'m for that. Tomorrow, then? I\'ve still got some energy I want to try to put into my Mind Palace. Mind keeping watch?"

"Sure thing. Go for it." It had been a bit since he\'d gotten to practice with Funhouse, and the ability\'s full potential would only really be unlocked after a painful amount of testing. This was as good an opportunity to work on it as any.

Claire sat down on the bed and Alex drew on his magic. He went to cast Funhouse, then paused.

He\'d tested his Riftwarped Domain Qi on summoning Glint, but he hadn\'t seen what happened when he used it on a different ability.

Now seemed as good of a time to find out as any.

He shifted his attention to the core in the center of his chest. Warm energy rushed forth and flooded his body and filling it with a gentle prickling sensation. Alex pushed it out from his palms as he activated Funhouse.

The air before him shattered. Cracks ripped through reality and carved out in a growing storm before him. That normally would have been where the ability stopped, lying in wait for something to pass into its domain, but this time, it was different.

Deep purplish-red arcs of lightning leapt between the shards of space and reflected off the fragments of reality. A low whistle filled the air as wind was sucked into and spat out of Funhouse\'s domain from every direction.

Qi drained out of Alex at an alarming rate. Funhouse continued to expand. Cracks carved through the air and he felt himself pulled toward the center of the ability. The force of the suction wasn\'t quite enough to lift him off his feet, but it forced him to dig his heels into the wood and grab onto the bed.

Alex grabbed the crumpled up dollar he\'d been using to test the ability earlier and flicked it into the center of the crackling storm. It vanished within the fragments of reality, elongating like a noodle and stretching through space before getting shot out in the opposite direction in a blur.

The dollar smacked into the wall with enough force to completely flatten itself.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" Claire hissed.

Alex\'s Qi ran out before he could try to explain himself.

Funhouse crumpled. The cracks folded in on themselves and vanished with a pop as if they\'d never been there. Claire\'s hair fluttered down around her face, frazzled and tossed. Alex sent her a sheepish look.

"Sorry," Alex said. "I was testing something."

"Testing what? And since when did you have an ability like that? And are you going to do that again? Because, if you are, can you wait until I finish meditating?"

"Don\'t worry. I\'m out of Qi for now, but it was worth it. I figured out exactly what Qi does!"

Claire\'s annoyance evaporated. "You did? What does it do?"

"Well, I already suspected this, but this confirmed it. It modifies any ability you use it in conjunction with," Alex said with an excited grin.

"Like a power boost?"

Alex waggled a hand from side to side in the air. "I think it\'s more than just that. It\'s more like a twist. A power boost would have just made Funhouse bigger or stronger. It did that, but it also started pulling things in. That\'s completely new. I did notice that the energy that permeates the Mirrorlands was showing up, both in Glint when I used Qi on him and Funhouse just now."

"You think it\'s giving your abilities traits from the Mirrorlands?" Claire asked. "Like it\'s changing them to be Riftwarped, or something?"

Alex gave her an empathetic nod. "Exactly. I don\'t have any way to prove that yet. We need you to get Qi of your own to confirm my theory, but that seems accurate so far. I need to test out a Qi-empowered Rift Warp as well."

Claire blew a strand of hair that had fallen over her face out of the way. "Now you\'re making me impatient. I\'m killing the next few monsters we run into on my own."

"All yours," Alex said. "Sorry for the distraction."

Claire scrunched her nose, then closed her eyes once more.

Alex waited for a few minutes to make sure she actually got a chance to start meditating before he called on his powers again. Even though he was out of Qi, his normal magic was still waiting to be called on.

Right. Back to the original plan. It\'s practicing time.

***

Hours ticked by. Claire was taking her sweet time with her meditation, but Alex wasn\'t particularly pressed for time. The down time was a perfect opportunity to push himself farther, and it was surprisingly fun trying to map out exactly how Funhouse worked.

The ability was not making things easy for him. Everything that passed through its domain ended up getting redirected so many times that it was agony to keep track of, but he was making headway.

He\'d never focused quite like he was now. His entire being was completely locked in on the cracks in reality, only pausing when he took brief breaks to let his magic recover in between tests.

Night marched on. Huge stars twinkled overhead, showering Towntown with far more light than they had any right to. The moon shimmered far above, a silver eye watching over their every move.

Alex was still practicing when a massive crash split the air.

The world lurched beneath him and bucked like a violent horse. The ground vanished, leaving him suspended in the air for a brief moment before flying back up and slamming into his feet.

He stumbled, pain shooting up his legs, and a thud marked Claire landing face-first on the ground beside him.

Powerful tremors ripped through the entire apartment and rattled it violently, forcing Alex to fight to keep his balance. He clutched onto a wall, not even able to move, and desperately weathered the abrupt attack.

Stars flashed outside as brilliant forks of blue lightning screamed and thundered far overhead.

Claire let out a slew of nasally curses as she bounced and rolled across the ground, her nose broken from the fall. She managed to get her feet out from under her and dragged herself upright.

She grabbed her nose and snapped it back into place, then wiped the blood from her lips before yelling to Alex. "What\'s going on?"

Golden light flashed in the air before Alex\' face before he could respond.

Local Announcement for Subsector 735

Part [3/3] of the System\'s initialization has begun. Links between select Hub Cities are in the process of being established and System Approved Merchants will now be allowed to take up residence in Hub Cities.

Outworlder Envoys have been approved for arrival in certain Subsectors.

The adjustment period has concluded.

Dungeon formation is no longer restricted. Dungeons will form at areas with high concentrations of magical energy.

Global Leaderboards have been initiated.

The merger of Planet 274-50 will complete at the conclusion of this event.

WARNING: Region Bosses have been released. They will awaken over the course of the 3rd Initialization Event.

[Trial Assigned: Cataclysmic Arrival]

Objective: Defeat the Region Bosses before they can consume your Subsector.

Sentence after sentence slammed into existence before Alex, nearly blinding him with their intensity. His eyes went wide and his heart thudded in his chest. Adrenaline still coursed through his veins from the earthquake that had just rocked the world.

Links to other cities? Like portals? And what\'s this about Region Bosses?

Alex\'s thoughts were interrupted by a burning orange glow from outside. A rumbling roar like that of a furious dragon echoed out, only growing louder and louder.

Alex\'s gaze was pulled through the window and into the sky beyond.

His lips parted in disbelief.

A gargantuan, perfectly spherical meteor carved through the night above Towntown. It was easily the size of a city block and unnaturally smooth. Molten flame wreathed the meteor\'s surface as it hurtled down, passing directly overhead and heading for the hills behind the town.

"Get down!" Alex yelled, flinging himself beneath the bed and throwing his hands over his head.

Claire dove down beside him and threw her hands over her head.

The meteor screamed over the town and out of view. Its massive roar continued on for another second before an enormous, earthshaking crash went off in the distance like a detonating atomic bomb. Every piece of glass in Towntown that hadn\'t already been broken shattered and disintegrated into dust.

Alex and Claire were both thrown up into the bed as the ground bucked once more. A brilliant flash lit the night and barged into their room.

It was followed just instants later by an immense wall of pressure. Alex\'s ears popped. His hearing didn\'t even get a chance to start ringing.

The walls of the apartment ripped apart. He and Claire were lifted from their shelter and flung through the air like ragdolls as Towntown was enveloped in an enormous explosion, and then the world became a sea of debris and flame.