A scream woke Lee.

He jolted upright to the fading echoes and looked around in a daze as he absently brushed at the side of his face. Lee struggled to figure out where he was and what was happening until something appeared in both his vision and his mind and it all came rushing back.

Congratulations! You have gained a Class.

Welcome To The System May Your Name Echo To The Heavens and...

Another scream and a crash sounded out from the apartment next door. Lee flinched and the words faded to the back of his mind. He struggled to his feet as his body ached with dull lines of pain throughout and his mind swirled with new knowledge.

“So many runes…” He thought.

Lee was about to try drawing one when his eyes landed on the glowing point of light hovering in his otherwise dark living room.

With the knowledge that had been crammed into him he knew that the blue energy must be Mana. He tentatively reached out to touch it again and when he did a new message popped up.

You have discovered an Unclaimed Mana Well

Would you like to Claim this Mana Well? [Yes/No]

He selected [Yes]

He didn’t feel anything different except that the glowing star floating in front of him seemed to dim somewhat.

Congratulations! You have Claimed a Mana Well. No Others may access this Mana Well without your Permission or your Death.

“Not ominous at all,” he thought.

Another crash sounded next door and Lee moved hesitantly through the dark room to the window next to the front door. He cracked the blinds and peeked out onto the balcony that wrapped around the central courtyard of the apartment building.

Moonlight left bright spots in the darkness but he couldn’t see anything that could be causing the racket or the screaming. He froze when something jumped over the railing in front of his apartment.

A creature with a pale, bald head and large pointed ears stood up from where it landed after jumping the railing. Moonlight reflected from a long blade in its hand. He couldn’t see what it was wearing but light glinted from metal in various spots on its body as it moved.

Lee wasn’t sure how it had climbed up three stories but it was here now. It’s dark eyes swept past his window and he held his breath until its gaze continued over to where his neighbor’s apartment was. Another crash sounded and the creature moved out of his sight toward the neighbor.

“Elves?” He thought back to the system message about dungeons. “The Dungeon Invaders!" He realized. "Well shit, that didn’t take long.”

“How long was I out? He wondered. "They aren't coming my way yet but it's likely only a matter of time."

His thoughts raced as he delved into the new Runic knowledge in his mind, looking for a way to protect himself. Numerous Runes flashed through his head before he settled on one. Tapping into his new Class he drew one finger across the window following the pattern in his mind.

A faint blue glowing line appeared and traced out the rune as his finger moved. When he reached the final portion of the rune, he felt what he now knew to be Mana rush out of him, leaving him feeling drained and weak. The Rune on the window flashed bright for a moment and then dimmed until he couldn’t see it.

He staggered back from the window that according to his Runic knowledge should now be stronger than bulletproof glass. Lee ran his eyes around the dark room trying to remember anything that could be used as a weapon and his vision settled on the Mana Well. “Of course.” He shuffled over and touched the spark of light. Mana rushed into him pushing away the fatigue and leaving his body thrumming with power.

Another sound like someone trying to break down a door shook the building and he hurried to the other window and started the glowing line of a Rune to protect this window like the previous one. Lee was halfway through the Rune when a louder crash sounded followed by a man's roar of anger and a woman's scream. He flinched but managed to complete the rune while hearing a high-pitched cackling laugh from next door. Fighting against the Mana fatigue, which felt a bit stronger this time, he hurried back to the Well and touched it to recharge.

The clash of metal on metal could be heard now and he tried to focus past the growing fear. His eyes jumped to the front door. "Idiot! Buff the windows but forget the door." At that thought he spun towards the balcony and the sliding glass doors. Visions of that creature climbing three stories effortlessly flashed in his mind. "Giant glass doors first." He decided.

He ran towards the porch and tripped over a half destroyed cardboard box. "Shit!" He scrambled up and reached the doors. When he lifted his hand to draw the rune it was shaking too much to even start.

"Deep breaths." He told himself. He closed his eyes for a moment. "I've got this." He opened his eyes.

Another bald elf landed on the porch in front of him.

Lee stared through the weak, thin glass door separating them. It smiled at him, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth, hefted its shiny silver sword and took a step towards him.

Lee flinched back, raised both hands up towards the creature and did what he had been practicing all day.

Mana roared out from his hands in a blinding, screaming torrent.

He had a moment to see the creature's eyes widen in the blue glow before the sliding glass doors between them shattered into a cloud of glittering shrapnel that slammed into the elf, literally into. He saw its face become a bloody ruin as it was driven back before it ragdolled into the metal railing, flipped over backwards and disappeared into the night.

Lee meanwhile was thrown off his feet back into his living room. The system tried to tell him something but it didn’t get through the ringing in his ears, burning pain in his arms and strength draining fatigue that he was now sure came from draining his Mana. He landed hard on his back beneath the Mana Well with a breath stealing impact.

He stared up at the glowing light, his mind struggling to focus while his lungs spasmed. “Mana…” he thought. “I need more Mana.” He finally managed to draw a small breath and lifted up a trembling, aching hand, stretching towards the Well above him. His arm felt burnt, inside and out. In the dark room he couldn’t see if it was and wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

As he strained to reach the Well, the blue glow shifted and Mana poured into him, chasing away some of the fatigue but leaving his arms burning and aching. His ears popped and the ringing was replaced by a man’s scream of pain. And following right after that a child screamed

“Daddyyyyy!”

Lee felt his blood run cold.

He didn’t care about the neighbors...

He didn’t even know them...

He had no reason to risk his life for them...

But could he hunker down safe in here while listening to a whole family screaming and dying next door?

“Fuuck!”

He rolled over onto his hands and knees. Sounds of metal on metal came through the wall and impacts vibrated through the floor under his hands. Whoever was over there they were still fighting.

His mind raced through the library of Runes in his head while he got to his feet and tried to ignore the burning in his arms and hands.

Something crashed into the window next to his front door and his breath caught for a moment but the window held.

“Can’t go that way…” he thought. Lee looked at the wall separating him from the neighbor and had an idea. He scrambled to the wall and started drawing a Rune with the glowing tip of one finger. Something that sounded suspiciously like a sword slamming into wood came from his front door and his hand jerked, botching the line he was drawing. He cursed and wiped the partially completed Rune away and started again.

He heard breaking glass from the other side of the wall and a woman yelled something in Spanish that he couldn’t make out and the child screamed again. The chopping sound at his front door was a steady rhythm now. Mana steadily drained as he drew out the glowing line of power into an increasingly complex pattern.

He ended it with a spiraling loop that left a somewhat lopsided circle on the wall about three feet in diameter. He knew that part didn’t need to be very precise as it was just a target for the actual Rune.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

When the loop had connected into a complete, if not perfect, circle. Mana flooded out of him and down his arm into the pattern and the whole thing flashed a blinding blue and then the wall inside the circle vanished.

His head was spinning when the Mana finished draining out of him. He fought to remain conscious as he belly flopped forward through the new hole in the wall and halfway into his neighbor's living room and his eyes finally set upon the source of all the noise.

It was chaos.

A man stood at the front doorway, the door itself nowhere to be seen. One hand held one of the elves swords and the other held a pot lid… a glowing, metal, pot lid. In the glow of the pot lid Lee could see a bald pointy eared body laying unmoving near the man's feet. A woman was next to the broken window to the left of the front door, waving what looked like a machete in one hand and a hammer in the other. She was screaming what Lee was sure were curses in spanish as she hacked and hammered at the elf trying to come through the window.

Behind the couch Lee spotted a small boy with his arms wrapped around a smaller child. The boy's eyes were wide and the glowing light reflected off tears glistening on his cheeks as he watched the fighting.

“Over here…” Lee wheezed out. He took a deeper breath and managed to yell over the racket. “This way!”

The man at the door blocked a slashing silver sword with his glowing pot lid and returned the attack with his own silver sword. The woman forced the intruder at the window back and it toppled out with a high pitched musical sound that may have been speech.

Only the small boy behind the couch heard Lee’s call. His eyes locked onto Lee and the hole in the wall and he yelled something. The woman presumably his mom whipped her head around, looked at the boy, followed his pointing finger and spun back to the window while yelling something back at the boy.

The boy hesitated for a moment but then dragged the other child with him towards the hole. Lee backed out of the gap and struggled a few exhausted steps to the Well and recharged his mana. He turned back and saw the boy helping his little sister climb through the hole.

Now at least somewhat refreshed Lee stepped over and lifted them both through while watching the glowing blue ring around the hole grow slowly dimmer.

He stuck his head through the hole just in time to see the window on the other side of the door shatter inwards in a spray of glass. “Hurry!” He yelled. “Run! Now!”

The woman spared a glance then turned towards him only to stop after a couple steps, turn and throw her hammer through the window she just left. There was a high pitched scream from outside and she yelled at the man who began backing towards them with his sword and improvised shield held up defensively.

Another elf hopped cleanly through the newly broken window and landed easily, its motions smooth and confident. The newcomer walked casually towards the man while melodic sounds issued from between sharp teeth that almost seemed to glow in the light of the man's pot lid shield. Its sword moved in a weaving hypnotic pattern as it advanced.

Lee backed up after a particularly loud thunk from his own front door and looked over just in time to see a sword blade retract from where it had pierced through the door.

"At least the doors are sturdy here," Lee thought. He looked back through the hole in the wall just in time to see the elf launch a quick sword strike towards the man's face. The pot lid moved to block when the elf suddenly pulled back and struck towards the man’s now exposed stomach.

The man yelled in pain and his wife screamed when the blade stabbed into his gut. The man slashed his own stolen sword towards the elf with less grace and skill but it still forced the elf to retract its sword to block his strike.

It opened its mouth in a horrifying pointy smile but before it could speak the glow on the pot lid flashed brighter and at the same instant the man blurred forward and slammed the improvised shield into the elf’s face with a booming clang.

The elf tumbled back through the air and crashed upside down into the far wall with another building shaking boom.

"Nice!"

The other elf in the room stopped its advance after that display and looked over at the fallen one. Meanwhile the man's improvised shield, now heavily deformed, began to lose its glow as the handle detached, dropping the mangled disc onto the carpet. The man clutched his now free hand onto his stomach and staggered back as his wife pulled him towards the hole in the wall. As the glow faded the room was plunged back into near darkness with only faint moonlight coming in the windows.

"Not good. Not good!"

Lee quickly leaned over through the hole and sketched a simple rune on the wall. After a surprisingly small Mana drain, blue light flooded from the symbol and lit up the room revealing the remaining upright elf advancing on the couple. Lee noticed that the elf recoiled slightly at the sudden light but then continued forward.

A crash from the door behind Lee was followed by a child's scream. As he pulled back to check he spotted the elf that had been launched into the wall getting slowly to its feet.

"Shit!"

He looked at his front door. "Still holding." He noted the blue ring around the hole getting even dimmer. From somewhere else in the building another boom rattled the walls.

"Other people are fighting back. I hope…"

Another bang from his front door brought a fresh scream from one of the children.

He stuck his head through again and yelled, "Hurry the fuck up! If you die I'm not taking care of your kids!"

The woman, now right next to the hole said something to her husband as she tried to get him to go through first. He was shaking his head and saying something back while blood, looking black in the blue glow, spilled through the fingers clutching his gut. Behind them Lee saw the fallen elf, now upright, lift its sword overhead, a white glow covering the blade. It said something and the other elf that had been closing in jumped back.

“That can’t be good,” Lee thought. His mind raced as he tried to think of something, anything he could do. Then he remembered something.

Lee yelled, "Close your eyes!" as he reached through, touched a finger to the Rune that lit up the room and poured Mana into it, at same time squeezing his eyes shut. The Rune burst in a blinding flash and went out. The elves screamed in high pitched wails and he heard something strike the wall off to the side. Even with his eyes having been closed he saw spots when he opened them and reached blindly out, grasping onto someone's clothes and pulling with all he had.

"I should really work out more," Lee thought as he hauled someone through the hole. Whereupon he toppled over and they landed on top of him, knocking the wind from his lungs. A man's voice groaned above him while Lee tried to catch his breath and struggled to push the man off of him. The only light was the now very faint glowing ring around the hole. “Hurry!” he tried to yell but only wheezed, unable to draw breath.

The woman climbed through into view and if he could have he would have sighed with relief until she yelped and something yanked her back towards the hole. The man on top of Lee must have heard her voice because he lurched up with a roar of defiance and pain and grasped her outstretched hand before she could be pulled back through the hole.

They both hung there in a frozen moment until the glowing ring around the hole went dark. Both the man, and the woman he was pulling, toppled onto Lee.

“Ow…”

A high pitched scream sounded from the other side of the now smooth unbroken wall.

A sword slammed into his front door with a loud thunk. The woman scrambled to her feet and said something in rapid fire spanish while she pulled her husband off him and onto the floor. All he understood was “first aid” and he would have told her “one of the boxes” but he still hadn’t caught his breath as he rolled over and started dragging himself towards the front door. Another strike hit the door just as he reached it. The door still held and he lifted a tired trembling hand and started drawing the rune.

Somehow he managed to complete the rune despite the tremor in his hand. The rune flashed and faded into the door just before another strike landed, now much more muted.

Relief washed through him as he finally drew in a breath even as the Mana drain left him even more tired. “I did it.” He thought as he rolled over to check on his neighbors. “We’re safe now…” He looked at the moonlight shining through from the porch where the sliding glass doors used to be.

“Shit!”

He didn’t think he had the strength to stand so just started crawling and dragging himself towards the porch while he tried to think of a way to block it off. The woman was saying something in spanish that he couldn’t understand but he thought he recognized one word.

He halted his crawl next to the short counter wall that blocked off the kitchen from the living room and sketched out another simple rune which flared into a steady blue glow that lit up most of the room. The Mana requirement, while still very small compared to the one on the door, still left him trying to catch his breath as he laid his eyes on the Mana Well.

“Need to…” That was all he had time to think before three thousand miles away his brother snapped.

There was a brief moment where he felt his brother and felt relief at the knowledge that he was ok. But then the rage flooded into him and he gasped as he saw through his brother’s eyes. “Caff…” Lee whispered.

Then he was screaming as bright, blazing power raged and burned through him.

He couldn’t see the apartment in front of him. Couldn’t see the brilliant white light that shone from his eyes and lit up the room and everyone in it. He didn't hear the System chime in his ear.

All he could see was horrible undead monsters as his brother obliterated them one after the other. All he could feel was the rage that came with this terrifying power coursing through him as it slowly devoured him from the inside out.

Lee raged along with his brother, reveling in the destruction. The revenge. "Yes! Rip and tear!" he thought. "Kill! Kill! Destroy them all!" He watched as his brother wielded overwhelming power to crush and shred everything in front of him.

And yet even as he raged a small part of him realized that this power was killing both him and his brother. He could feel it pouring into him, through him, filling him up and without an outlet it just rampaged through his body and mind, shredding his body while simultaneously repairing and rebuilding it in an endless cycle.

Finally the rage faltered as his brother ran out of enemies to destroy.

As his brother slowed and settled, Lee could feel his confusion and pain through their link.

And still the power continued roaring through both of them.

Lee didn’t hear his own voice screaming at his brother to let go of the power, to put it down, release it, close the door.

It was too much.

He needed to do something, to dump the excess, use it up somehow.

He dove into his mind and the newly gained knowledge of Runes. With the burning power filling his mind he saw the runes in a new light, a blinding, screaming, burning light. He saw connections that he hadn’t noticed before. Ways that different Runes could be combined to create stronger or in some cases completely different effects.

His hands were already moving before he consciously decided, drawing out brilliant white lines that burned through the carpet and seemed to sink into the floor beneath him. And then the lines of power exploded out from his hands, no longer following his fingers, they branched and spiraled out, spreading and splitting across the floor, up the walls, through the walls, spreading further and further until the whole building glowed with blinding white patterns.

Lee felt his mind expanding, following the patterns throughout the building. He saw fights between humans and elves grind to a halt as everyone and everything was blinded by the light emanating from every surface. The light flashed even brighter for a moment and then slowly faded as his new awareness shrank down and settled back into his own head.

As the power drained from him, Lee saw Caffeine doing his best to calm and soothe Stan. He could tell that his brother was already mostly unconscious as he saw Caff howl into the sky and his brother's vision tilted up and faded to black. His own vision tunneled down and he whispered “Good boy” before everything faded into blissful, peaceful, silence.