I was terrified. Nothing like this had ever happened to me before. For a while, I thought I was hallucinating. However, the longer I sat there, all but alone, in the captain's chair with this thing floating in front of my face, the more I realized that I was too lucid for this to be a hallucination or a dream. Somehow... The impossible had happened. And now I was flying through a black void, with no light outside of the windows, when just a moment before I was in broad daylight on a clear sunny day over the Pacific Ocean.

  Can I really even call this flying anymore? I mean I did just watch the sky shatter before my eyes. I don't feel like I'm dropping out of the sky or anything. So I suppose we must still be flying and probably aren't hurtling towards our deaths. Not that I could really tell by my instruments. These things are still going haywire, and I haven't even felt any turbulence.

  "Alright, think Dean," I told myself, "None of this is possible. But here we are. So... Going by the fancy blue window in front of me, I'm supposed to 'stand by'. That's about as helpful as it gets, huh? But what's this about 'System integration initiated...' I wonder what 'system' it's talking about?"

  Just then, Mike made some stirring noises so I glanced over and he looked like he might wake up from whatever was happening with him. But then he went limp again and there came a distinctly female robotic voice from inside my own head.

  "Woah, what the hell?" This thing talks now...and inside my head at that!? Molecular Expansion? Is this thing for real? Like its expanding molecules or some crap? It said it reached a maximum safe Expansion of non-sentient material. I suppose it's good, it's not expanding sentient material, or we would all be 10 times as big or something? And wouldn't the plane expand? I mean, I guess it's a good thing it's not. There's no way I could fly this thing if the controls were 10 times as big.

  Sitting there with hundreds of questions going through my head, I realized something. I was no longer in a void. Or rather I probably was never in one. I could see the Earth far below me. I was still high in the sky but now there was a soft glow coming from the heavens up above. It started as small dots of neon light scattered over the sky like stars at night. But then they started to grow and grow, getting closer until I realized that the tiny dots of light that I had been seeing were actually the bottom of undulating columns of neon... Something.

  There were thousands among thousands of them falling from the heavens above. Like a rainbow colored glow stick dropping in from space. Except there was no 'stick' and it was just glowing 'goo' for lack of a better word. Each one was about three or four hundred meters across basically rocketing towards the planet below. I watched as the nearest column dropped into the path I was flying. Having basically been dumb struck up until this point, I grabbed the controls and attempted to bank to the side slightly to turn out of the way. To my great relief, the plane responded to my commands and banked.

  Until now, I was starting to worry I really was in some kind of void, but it looks like there was still some kind of air outside, or I wouldn't have been able to control the plane.

  Maybe this 'system' thing just blotted out the sun somehow or something? I don't know. But I guess that's on the list of things I can worry about later. Right now I need to get this stupid window out of my face so that I can actually see what the hell I'm doing.

  Just as quickly as I had the thought, the window seemed to minimize in my field of vision. Turning into a small blue transparent dot just inside my peripheral vision. A bit surprised by my discovery, I tried bringing it back and found it was as simple as a thought.

  Is this thing reading my mind? How the hell does it know what I want it to do? Whatever, another thing to add to the list of things I have no damn clue about today I guess.

  As I watched the scene in front of me play out, the first columns of neon appeared to make contact with the ocean's surface below. Before long, the water was glowing from within and started moving drastically. Huge waves that were visible even to me at 35,000ft were rocking the ocean's surface. Then again, my instruments aren't working, so I can only guess at our altitude, but still. I don't think I was ever happier to not be in a boat in my entire life than in that moment watching the chaos unfold below.

  I continued watching for any more columns of light falling into my path, and navigated around the ones already in the sky. It felt like I was flying inside a never-ending forest of branchless neon trees. Turning left or right to avoid a collision. Soon there came severe turbulence. Before it was as if I was flying on smooth undisturbed air. But now the entire plane felt like it was about to be ripped to shreds at any moment. I wrestled with the controls to make sure I stayed clear of the columns while trying not to surrender the contents of my stomach to sudden nausea.

  I stayed in this never-ending battle for what felt like an eternity until I heard the same robotic female voice at the same time the little blue dot began flashing in my peripheral.

  Shortly after the voice rang out I could see that there was a top to the columns now. Starting far above I could see the ends of the neon lights making their way down, like thousands of nails being driven simultaneously into the earth. The light surrounding me started dimming as the columns sank below my elevation and then vanished completely as the last of them sank into the earth.

  Feeling as though I were thrust into a void again I was surrounded by utter darkness. Taking the time to check the instruments in the plane and check on Mike, I saw they were still in complete chaos and he was still unconscious.

  "Well, no change there," I mused. "I wonder what's gonna..."

  I was cut off by the sound of the voice.

  Oh great. Hopefully whatever this process is, it isn't going to try and kill us like the last one did.

  After a couple of moments, there came a deep hum that resonated through the air. Not just in the air but deep in my bones. As though my whole body was being energized. Then, as it became louder and more intense, building to a crescendo, the entire sky ignited in a massive wave of translucent color. Like the Aurora Borealis from the poles but in unnatural hues. Neon violet, blood red, electric cyan, Carmel brown, and stark white. Inside, though, I felt energized as though I could run a marathon, or climb a mountain.

  Below I could see cracks of light beginning to spiderweb across the surface. Like glowing seams of energy being powered from within the earth itself. I watched as massive landmasses were pulled up out of the waters below. Somehow looking green and lively as though they had trees and other vegetation growing on them, even though they just sprouted out of the ocean from nowhere. Then I heard the voice again.

  "Well, I don't know what the hell this world mana injection thing is," I said. "but I feel amazing right now."

  I could feel power pulsing through my body causing an almost erotic sensation. It was pure ecstasy, and then as quickly as it came, it faded into nothing. Until I felt basically normal again. I still felt like a million bucks but I didn't feel a wild sense of pleasure anymore.

  Too bad, that was pretty sweet. I don't think I've ever experienced anything like that before.

  Then out of nowhere, there was a dim golden light. Starting off close to nothing and then building over 30 seconds or so into broad daylight. I looked out the windows and saw that the sun was back in its usual place in the sky. Well, there's a good sign, maybe this thing is almost over.

  I started scanning the area below. There was now a giant land mass below with tons of greenery. On it was a good-sized lake and some rivers snaking across the land. Then, off to one side, I noticed an enormous mountain reaching into the sky. A mountain larger than any that had called Earth home before today. I scanned my eyes up and up craning my neck to try and see the top of it. That's when I realized the sky, that I was used to seeing thin out above us when at altitude stretched impossibly high. Some clouds were another 100,000 or so feet above my plane.

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  Then I heard Mike starting to make some stirring noises and saw him batting his eyes groggily.

  "Hey there sleeping beauty. How ya feelin? I thought I lost you there. I've been trying to get some help up here but no ones responding."

  He batted his eyes groggily. "What? What are you talking about? What happened?"

  "You, and I'm assuming everyone else, blacked out or something. There's been so much crazy shit going on dude! There for a while I thought I was on some crazy LSD trip or some shit. But as far as I can tell everything that's happened has been real. Most of it terrifying."

  "Again, I ask, what the hell are you talking about dude? Last thing I remember we were approaching Japan and then I started getting dizzy."

  "Yea you passed out dude, and ever since some crazy shit has been happen..."

  I was interrupted mid sentence by the female robotic voice. First there was a system message like all the others and then another one labeled 'Global system message:' this one was different from the others I had seen up until this point being white with gold boarders.

  "Are you seeing this shit," Mike asked. "Or am I going crazy."

  "Your not going crazy. I've been seeing these messages ever since you passed out. Thats the first one I've seen that was a different color though. I'm assuming maybe its because its a global system message. But what's more troubling to me is the fact that it said gravity is about to be 28 times stronger. That's strong enough to turn everyone on earth into pancakes."

  "Dude you can't just magically turn the gravity up to 28 times the normal. There is no such thing as magic Cap'n Dean"

  "Listen, In the last hour I've seen some things that would change your mind. Either way we need to start thinking about landing this thing. Our instruments are still all crazy but I know we didn't have much fuel left when all of this happened. I've been flying for a while so we are probably running on fumes at this point. Lets start looking for viable places to set this bird down."

  He reached for the radio. "Ill get on the emergency channel 121.5 and try to get ATC on the coms"

  "Your welcome to try. But chances are they have their own problems. For now we're in this alone."

  Then the system spoke again.

  "Did you just get a class selection window mike?"

  "Sure did" he replied.

  I looked at Mike and then back to the message. "I wonder what 'delved deep into you past' is supposed to mean. Did this thing just read not only our minds but look at all of our memories and stuff too? That's ridiculous."

  "No I'll tell you what's ridiculous," he said flipently "I know I've been single for a while but offering me a class named 'Arcane mastrubater' is just messed up."

  I started laughing hysterically.

  "There's no way that your being serious right now!" I said through tears of laughter.

  "Yes, this is some bullshit. The world finally has some kind of magical cool shit happen, and the first thing it does is make fun of me. Listen to this description...'Through tireless dedication to solitary magical pursuits, you have achieved a mastery of self-enchantment and repetitive mana channeling. This path offers great personal satisfaction, though perhaps limited combat prowess' you gotta be kidding me. Who would pick something like that???"

  I struggled to catch my breath from laughing so hard. After a minute or two I was able to calm down and said,

  "That's amazing, I cant believe that was a choice. I've got four over here. Arcane infantryman, Skyborn Magus, Hearthwarden, and Cartographer. Honestly the only one that really calls my name is Skyborn Magus. Who doesn't wanna be a wizard, and one who 'rains arcane destruction form above.' at that. Sounds awesome. "

  I went ahead and made my selection so I could get back to flying the plane and trying to look for a place to land. However the system had other plans for me at the moment. Another box popped up after I chose Skyborn Magus.

  "Huh," I muttered. "It says I got a spell. And turns out once you choose your class you can see your stat page. I've got 10's across the board but a 16 in will power. Maybe that had somthing to do with why I was still awake when all of this stuff happened?"

  "Oh really you've got a 16? Mine are all 10's exept my charisma."

  "Oh what's your Charisma stat?" I asked.

  "Its at an 8. Maybe thats why Im still single. I just need to boost my charisma."

  "Really thats what your worried about right now mike? The world just went through armagedon and here you are trying to figure out how to get laid. Tell me you didn't pick the masterbation class." I said with growing concern.

  "No! I didn't pick that one! I chose Ether sketcher. It says I can use the air as my medium and things I draw can become real. Honestly I think its pretty cool because..."

  He stoped talking as the number one engine cut off followed shortly after by the second. Luckily we were still approximately 30 ish thousand feet still so we had plenty of glide left in us. However the clock just started ticking. We only had about 15 to 20 minutes before we touched down from this height if we really streched it. Luckily I spoted a large open relatively flat field maybe 30 miles off to one side not to far from the base of the mountain. Seeing as we could glide almost 90 miles from this altitude we had plenty of wiggle room to check it out.

  Mike and I flew the plane simply by feel since we had no navigation and our instruments were still acting up. In aviation we call that pilotage. Just flying from what you can see out the windows. After a few minutes we were able to circle around the proposed landing area to look for any hazards. To one side of the field were a few large hills but the other side looked fine from the air. The field was at least 5 or so miles wide so we had plenty of space. Mike and I looped around for a good stabilized approach to the makeshift grass strip and hoped for the best. We couldn't use our flaps which help us fly slower, Or the thrust reversers which help us stop faster. So we were essentially flying very fast without an good way to stop other then brakes in soft grass.

  When we touched down, what had originally appeared to be a nice flat field made itself known to be rather lumpy. As the weight came down on the landing gears we felt ridiculous amounts of jostling and shaking. Part of me was wondering if the plane would hold together. The other part vaguely noticed that the trees to our side, that from the air appeared to be normal were actually enormous. They towered over head as we careened by sliding in the dirt and grass. We kept sliding getting closer to the approaching Forrest ahead till we stopped a good quarter mile from the first trees infront of us.

  I turned over towards Mike. "Well, It definitely could have been worse."

  "Yea, Dean. That was some top notch flying right there. We actually made it in one piece not gonna lie I was a little worried there after we touched down."

  "I'm just glad were still alive after all the crap ive seen today. Let's go check on the rest of the crew and passengers."

  The sound of hundreds of people yelling and causing a ruckus could be heard through the door to the cockpit. But just as I was about to get up and open the door, movement caught my eye. I had to do a double take to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me, but no, they definitely saw movement. Sprinting full speed out of the woods ahead was a small army of what I could only imagine were goblins. Green humanoid creatures in loin cloths came forward out of the trees by the dozens. Sprinting strait for us.

  Maybe they"re friendly Goblins who just happen to be sprinting towards us with weapons and angry faces. Yea fat chance of that, not with the day I've been having.

  "Well I suppose I'll get to use that spell sooner rather than later." I said as I made my way to the cockpit door. "Come on Mike we've got some passengers to protect."