Rain struck the window, each drop thudding against the plexiglass in an even rhythm, like the tick of a clock, counting down to the end of the world.

  Aiden gave a small sigh at the translucent spreadsheets hovering in his vision, his head heavy against the bus window as public transit rattled and carried him closer to downtown. The cold from the rain beating against the window seeped through the glass and into his skin, but he found the chill somehow refreshing. Today was an important day. Annual performance reviews. Last year he’d talked himself up for a week beforehand, building up his confidence to demand a higher salary, but when the day came he froze like a rabbit under the jaws of a wolf. He’d left the meeting without even bringing it up. This year Aiden resolved to be more prepared. With a thought he dismissed the spreadsheets and emails from his AR interface, letting the panels instantly disappear from his field of view.

  “Just believe in yourself, Aiden. You got this,” he murmured under his breath. “Positive thinking.”

  “You talkin’ to me?” A woman in the next seat over raised her eyebrows at him over her reading glasses.

  “Sorry,” Aiden said, startled. “I was just… no, sorry.”

  Boutique shops and office buildings flew by as the bus crossed the bridge into the downtown core. It shuddered to a halt at the next stop, while a woman on the sidewalk ran to catch up. He thought at first she was waving her umbrella at the driver to hold the door, but then realized she was balancing the umbrella while flicking her fingers in complicated gestures behind herself as she ran, a mild look of panic plastered on her face.

  “In or out!” the driver yelled at her as she skidded to a stop in front of the open door, still flicking her fingers out in triangles and twisted shapes toward the back of the bus, even though there seemed to be nothing there.

  A smile tugged at Aiden’s mouth as he gave his neural implant the mental command to boot up Final Contingency. After a moment to let the AR game load, blue and green orbs danced in the space in front of him, then spread out to form the splash screen for the game, a blue and green banner window with Final Contingency proudly printed in letters made from fantasy weapons, each sword or wand dripping with green cartoon blood.

  The title card faded away and a rumbling growl abruptly cut in, mid-bellow, from a hulking humanoid monster that had popped into existence on the sidewalk. Mid stride, the creature stood at least eight feet tall, with mottled green skin and small porcine tusks protruding from the corners of its mouth. The monster’s single unblinking eye stayed locked onto the woman outside the bus as it plodded after her with lumbering steps, the enormous club it carried raised high in one meaty hand, ready to swing. Above its head floated an info panel. Level 12 Cyclops. Not weak by any means, but not much of a challenge for most players these days.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  Now that the game had been activated, Aiden could see green and brown energy flickering around the woman’s still-moving fingers. Her gestures had formed part of an Earth Magic-aligned spell to summon roots and vines from the ground. The thick green vegetation wove swiftly through cracks in the sidewalk and up into the air, long vines wrapping themselves around the cyclops’ legs, holding it in place as it roared in frustration.

  “Just… just a sec, I almost got him!” the woman called out to the bus driver, shoving her umbrella between her legs to free up both hands for her continued spell work.

  Since the initial release of Final Contingency a few weeks ago, it completely dominated the download charts, quickly becoming the number-one most played AR game on the planet. Seamlessly overlaying a virtual world on top of the real one was an international hit, and people were hooked. Aiden and all his friends, and the entire gaming community at large, had dropped traditional games for the AR world. Nothing could compete with a game combining reality with the fantastical.

  Aiden grinned and pushed the little bus window open, letting the brisk January rain sting his bare hand. He pointed two fingers at the one-eyed monster struggling to free itself from the entangling vines and began uttering one of his most powerful incantations under his breath. On character creation he’d chosen to play as a Sorcerer with mostly verbal spells, rather than one of the more traditional somatic caster classes like the woman out there must have chosen, with all those fine hand gestures. Those finger movements were hard to master, and he’d given up on guitar lessons as a kid for a reason. Memorizing long pieces of prose, though? No problem.

  He finished reciting the long spell phrase and a stream of molten lava shot from his extended fingertips, connecting with a green awning hanging over the coffee shop across the street, completely missing the cyclops. Sizzling visual effects of steam and sparks glanced off from the wall where it connected, but there was no actual damage. It wasn’t real fire, after all. Aiden swore under his breath and quickly adjusted his aim, bringing the burning red beam to bear and cutting across the cyclops’ arm, severing it, before Aiden’s mana bottomed out and the beam disappeared. A direct hit would have easily killed the creature, but it was hard to aim with a hand sticking out the window of a city bus.

  The cyclops cried out in pain, its severed arm falling to the sidewalk with an audible fleshy thud before bursting apart into motes of multi-coloured light. Aiden idly watched the lights float up and fade away into nothingness. He was out of mana, and that was all he could contribute to the fight.

  Reaching down with its remaining hand, the cyclops hefted up the club it had dropped, though the thing was more uprooted tree than crafted weapon. It slammed the gnarled log into the ground at its feet, breaking up a few of the vines clinging to its legs.

  The woman on the sidewalk shot Aiden a grin and a thumbs-up in what he took for thanks, then started running through another set of complicated finger and hand gestures, presumably to finish the beast off with one last attack spell. Before the spell had left her hands, the bus driver slammed the door shut and hit the throttle. Aiden heard the woman cursing at the driver through the window for leaving her behind, but the bus was quickly down the street and away.

  Aiden mentally disconnected his implant from the game as the battle continued behind him. If nothing else, Final Contingency certainly livened up a mundane commute.