Poisonous? Fortunately, no. Tasty? A resounding “no.” Kyle looked at the meat he had harvested from the beetle and grimaced. C.H.A.D.D. had confirmed that the meat wasn’t poisonous, and was actually fairly nutritionally dense. This was a beetle that had somehow mutated due to the exposure to the foreign energy, and had ascended into the early E Grade. The meat was free of contaminants and toxins and was quite high in protein, a resource Kyle knew he would need plenty of in the days ahead.

He was running low on the energy bars he had looted over a week ago, and while the crisps were a good source of calories, the lack of protein in his diet would cause his body to start eating away at his muscles as he continued his journey. It wouldn’t be immediate, but without replenishing it would be inevitable. Kyle looked at the small scalpel in his hand, retrieved from the first aid kit. The last thing he thought he would use it for was as a replacement chef’s knife, but he was glad the first aid kit included it. He looked over his admittedly amateurish butchering of the beetle, four remaining upper segments of leg and a few smaller pieces of the thorax which he wrapped in the remaining wing of the beetle and put in his sack. All in all, about six pounds of meat, this would get him through for a while. Even if the flavor was terrible, food was food. Kyle felt satisfied that he was able to make use of the beetle, but knew he would need to find some solutions to cook and store the meat.

Thinking back to his time camping with his grandfather, he set his supplies aside and began to collect broken pieces of wood to start a fire to cook with. As the light faded, he found a sheltered place in what had been the corner of a building – this portion of the rust-colored brick the only part still standing. It took some time, but he was able to get the fire started before night fell, skewered beetle meat roasting over the flame. He brought over the rest of his supplies as the meat cooked, the only sound the crackling of the fire.

Unfortunately his suspicions were correct, the flavor of the meat was awful, tasting like springy wet cardboard. He grimaced as he continued to eat, resolving that as soon as he made it back to civilization the first thing he would eat would be a hamburger. As the fire began to settle, he laid out the remaining strips of the meat to slowly cook over the smoke, idly hoping that smoked bug jerky would taste better than flame-roasted. Yeah, if only I could be so lucky, he thought. C.H.A.D.D. had settled in near his side, and Kyle leaned back in the corner, watching the stars in the sky as the fire crackled. Before he noticed it happened, he drifted off to sleep.

~~~

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Clark asked him. The first time his grandfather had taken him up into the mountains to camp he had been absolutely blown away by the beauty of the night sky. With mana-supplied light the cities were always aglow and abuzz with activity, with only the brightest of stars visible to the naked eye. The vastness of the night sky was breathtaking to Kyle, having spent virtually his entire life to this point in the comforts of the city. His parents were so happy that he was born with the ability to cultivate mana, as neither of them were. As a result, they had invested heavily into his development, leading to Kyle being shuttled from school to school, getting the best training his family could afford. This left precious little time for frivolities like camping, so when his grandfather had asked his parents if Kyle could go with him for the weekend, he begged until they finally relented and let him go. His grandfather’s question snapped him out of his gaping stare, and he met Clark’s eyes, knowing his own were full of wonder.

“It’s amazing. Was it like this before?” Clark smiled and stroked his beard.

“Yes and no. We couldn’t see them as well, but it was a lot easier to get out and enjoy it.”

Of course, that went without saying. Wild beasts were a real and present danger in the wilderness if you went outside of defined safe zones without an armed security team. Or, well, without a bona fide D Grade looking out for you. Say what you will about their intelligence, but many of these creatures could identify trouble pretty quickly and knew to stay out of the way.

“Did you used to go see the stars a lot?”

Kyle had always been curious about his grandfather’s experiences before their world had awakened to mana. It had only been about one hundred and fifty years, but so much of what the world used to be like had been lost.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The wrinkles around Clark’s eyes deepened as he smiled.

“Not as often as I’d have liked back then, work kept me busy and the weekends I had free I’d typically be working on some project or another. But I’m glad I’ve had a chance to make up for lost time, and even happier that you’re able to join. Oh! I almost forgot…”

Clark trailed off as he unslung his backpack, rummaging inside. He took out a small package of marshmallows and a small fire-attuned mana crystal, followed quickly by a bag of crackers and a couple of chocolate bars.

“It’s not camping if you don’t get an opportunity to treat yourself after all!”

They spent the next couple of hours roasting marshmallows and eating s’mores, with Kyle telling Clark about his recent acceptance to a medical program and the decision to take the HEALER class. His grandfather smiled along and listened, until Kyle had finished and the two settled into a contented silence. This was broken when Kyle asked the question that had been on his mind for years, but that he’d never had a great opportunity to ask.

“What was it like when mana started entering the world? I’ve read the histories, and nobody ever really talks about the time between when the world awakened and when the Originators established the Central Authority. It’s just a big blank… spot.”

Clark sighed. His grandson had always been a sharp one, and even if the questions weren’t exactly the right ones, he’d picked up on an important one nonetheless. Besides, that’s part of the reason he wanted to come up here together, to get a chance to honestly talk and share some thoughts from an old codger with a lot of regrets.

“Frankly, it was hell. Just like now, not everybody was able to absorb and cultivate mana. There’s a lot of talk about how it was man versus nature, and to a degree that’s true. But it was also man versus his fellow man more often than not.”

Clark trailed off, looking his grandson squarely in the eyes.

“A lot of people died in those first few years, Kyle. If the estimates were correct, close to seventy-five percent of humanity didn't make it. Powerful awakened beasts were a part of it, but more than anything else it was bands of everyday people ruled over by warlords fighting against one another. The only way to make it was to be part of a stronger group, and eventually it was clear the Originators were the strongest group around. This peace we’ve enjoyed for the last hundred and fifty years was built on the back of three decades of death. Sorry, I know that’s probably a lot more than you were hoping for. But it’s important that you know.”

Kyle sat quietly, taking it in. That added a lot of color – with only about half of all people able to use mana and achieve E Grade, he was always curious about how groups made it through without the Central Authority providing resources and support. It made a lot of sense that it was harder than the histories would share. He had a million more questions he wanted to ask, but instead he plopped backwards and looked back up at the stars.

“Thanks for sharing, Grandpa. For now, I’m just glad for what we have, and for the stars.”

~~~

Kyle woke up to the sun cresting over the horizon, the memory of his first night camping with his grandfather still fresh in his mind. He stretched as he stood, looking at the smoldering embers of his fire from the night before and the strips of meat that had been cooking over them. Kyle decided to take a quick bite of the jerky as he packed the rest of his supplies, and as he feared it tasted about the same as the roasted meat. Still, it was better than nothing.

Calling C.H.A.D.D. over, he started the day’s journey west. In many ways he felt more connected with Clark than before, trying to make sense of a world that defied it. Nothing was the same for him now, but just like his grandpa did, Kyle knew that the best way to honor his family’s legacy would be to adapt and make it through. He still hurt, he knew that the grieving wasn’t done. It wouldn’t be for a long time. But despite it, Kyle knew that he had what it took to keep going. One step at a time, he would walk a path of survival.

As he crested a hill Kyle saw that he was coming up on the edge of the city, and looked out at a devastated forest in the distance. Many of the trees were blown over or damaged, but a surprising number still stood. He knew it would be best to stick to established roads, and was looking to see where they entered the woods when his foot caught on something. His stomach lurched as he fell unceremoniously down a pile of rubble, mortar and concrete falling along behind him.

After much grumbling and a quick HEAL later, Kyle saw the culprit that led to his fall: a two meter long piece of mana-reinforced rebar. Kyle was about to walk past it when he stopped and looked back at it for a closer inspection. It wasn’t perfectly straight and had certainly seen better days, but it looked to be a piece that was used in building construction. He lifted it with minor difficulty, and thought back to his fight with the beetle. If he had been able to smack it from a distance that would have gone a long way towards keeping him uninjured, and he decided to take it along. Wrapping the bundle of food supplies around one end of his makeshift staff, he hefted it over his right shoulder and continued walking towards the woods.