"I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I just found myself transported somehow to a wonderful world with mana, and it has been a huge blessing to me. And then found a way back. Home. To earth. Here. So I thought... I wanted to share with you all this fun and cool and amazing thing I discovered."

A new voice whispered into my mind. One different from the last. Deep and ethereal, far less robotic, strong emotions carried within.

And oh, what emotions they were. The guy is admitting to some very worrying things. And judging by the paltry ruins that is left of my apartment, I doubt I'm the only one affected.

...Wait.

Wait just a fucking second!

Paltry... ruins? My apartment...?

I gasped and stared, taking a really good look at my surroundings. The ceiling was gone, the roof blown away as if by a spontaneous storm. Dust and debris caked my surrounding as lazy motes of light streamed in to the now open space.

What the fuck happened here!?

The walls were also gone. Not all of them, but most. I was on the second floor of a three floor apartment, and I just noticed that I'd sunk to the first. Ground level.

I won't discount someone or something having the power to accomplish such a feat given what had happened in just my most recent of memories. But, if that's the case then why am I perfectly fine?

"I didn't know this would happen. I really didn't. If I did then I never would have done this. I really just wanted to share my wonderful gift. I didn't mean to kill everyone. I didn't! I just wanted to help. Really, I just wanted to help. I just wanted to help. To share my blessings. Give people power. That was all I ever wanted to do. Please. You have to believe me. This was all an accident. An accident. A cruel accident!"

I was at the edge of the house now, where there once was a wall. Beyond I could see the sprawling city of York Wood. Now up in flames, buildings collapsed, horrific screams, and smoke rising up in fumes no matter where I look. A big accident happened just a single block down. A truck lying on its side, the starting point of a pile-up as numerous cars and even a bus crashed into the truck, and into each other. Burning fire covered at least half of their mass.

I saw a woman climb out of the crash, blisters and burns in her skin, the expression on her face clearly pained, but she focused on running away from a pack of rabid cat-headed dogs. She navigated across motorcycles dotting the road, dead bodies of people littering every street. Likely because of how painful and sudden of a process getting Magic is, they all just kinda forgot they were supposed to be driving.

The woman passed by me, our eyes met for a second, but without acknowledgement. I saw her trip, before swiftly getting up. The cat-dogs were getting closer, a buzz in my head as I observed them from afar. But she never got caught. I know she didn't.

For at that very moment, a two headed eagle with stripes like that of a tiger descended and picked her right up, taking her away from the pursuers.

Oh, and the eagle was about as big as an elephant.

I hid. In a shadowed corner, a piece of roof leaning on a cracked wall, shelter provided against the prying eyes above.

And then I saw, from the side of the house-apartment, a vintage car had crashed into my former home, though quite far away from my room, or the area it would have once occupied. I hardly even noticed the vehicle, because everything is just destroyed.

I looked at the car, its windows all gone, shattered. The air bag had gone off, but it didn't help when its sole passenger had a twisting bar of metal stuck through his skull and out the other end.

The man's face, as he died, was contorted in pain. Eyes and tongue lolled out.

I remember the words, spoken to me telepathically, moments prior.

This is not what I call helping.

Holy shit what a colossal fuck up. Worse than I thought, and I'm saying that as someone that had suffered the consequences, nearly dying in the process.

I turned away from the destruction, something to face for later. I found myself crawling, I didn't even notice I've been on all fours thanks to all the confusion.

I pushed myself up, now that I have seen. Except I wobbled immediately and fell to my butt.

What...?

And then I saw it. Staring back at me from a tiny broken piece of glass. A horse baby, a brown pony.

My reflection.

~~~

I remembered that weird voice. Not the guy apologizing for blowing up the entire world, but the one talking about magic and mana and my ego fucking disintegrating.

And then as I thought about it, a list of all those notifications appeared in front of me, helpfully, arranged in a neat list.

How sweet.

[Mana Singularity Event Detected.]

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

[Mana Integration Initiated.]

...

[Monsterization Will Make Systemization Possible]

[Monsterization Initiated.]

...

[For Unlocking an Upgrade in Advance, All of Your Class Selections Have Been Upgraded.]

[Now Go Forth And Discover Mana.]

I quickly found what I was looking for. Monsterization.

Because I'd failed to do the systemization thing, I ended up getting turned into a monster. And then Systemization was attempted again and it succeeded this time.

Look, I don't fucking know what I'm doing. But I bet many people are dead and I'm still alive, so I'm clearly doing something right.

After the systemization's success, it said that ego death was imminent. Probably part of becoming a monster, or is it perhaps a function of systemization?

Hmm. I don't know. What I do know is that I'm fucking alive, and so many people are dead. So I must be doing something right.

Anyway, I got turned into a monster, a horse of some kind. A Horsezilla, my system notifications state, as well as an Omegasteed. Sounds... like a fun weekend, I don't know about an entire lifetime.

But clearly, I'm a fucking baby right now. Nothing omega nor zilla about it.

I gave a glance towards a larger piece of glass and examined my stupid... kinda cute baby pony face, with a thin mane a lighter shade of brown. I've no arms now, only feet, I've become a quadruped. For a horse, I seem fat, specially around my legs.

[Levels Sacrificed.]

[Horsezilla Class Lost.]

[Omegasteed Class Lost]

I think I know now what happened. The Omegasteed aside, it seems like Horsezilla would have been very big. My sheer size alone is what caved in this entire place. I think.

And then I shrunk when the Classes were lost, into this baby horse form about a quarter as tall as a human when standing up.

Which brings me back to now, the present, where I am no longer a human but a horse.

I neighed in indignation, my speech as well taken away. Because why not! Just add more to my growing pile of problems.

i groan and look around myself, finding pieces of the light blue walls scattered. I searched for the color red, and found curtains, furniture, and shredded remains of clothing. I found no traces of blood, so I concluded that I must not have killed anyone in my transformation.

Cool.

Not that it'd be my fault even if people did die. It'd be that asshole's fault, the one that spoke into my mind and confessed to having caused all this. Fucking idiot, he could've just lied, or shut up. I certainly would.

However, I'm still quite glad my neighbours weren't caught up in my erection.

Because I got bigger.

And I made a horse joke.

Hehe. Hahahahaha!

This is so fucked up.

~~~

I pondered to myself, like one of those philosophers that invented the hand-on-chin pose. Except I can't actually manage that gesture as a fucking horse, can I? And not for a lack of trying.

But still, I can think. My knowledge, the vast wisdom I've accumulated, still ever-present.

If I am a horse then am I still yet a man? Is my new dick big for a human, or laughably tiny for a horsie? Is there humanity to be found within a single pony?

Kidding. I don't give a shit about that. Being a horse, a really small and weak one, would need some getting used to. But, I have magic! I can't see how that can be anything other than amazing.

So, I tried for an embarrassing amount of time to fart out magic from my ass. Which I succeeded with, but only in the most literal sense.

And I have to say, horses are fucking nasty.

I got up from my position from the rubble, kicking dirt and debris to cover up the hot piping shit I just dumped. I'm almost convinced that I did manage to do magic. Maybe some poison or miasma variant.

I step away from the potentially harmfull substance I'd birthed, and noticed how all the things I once had in my apartment must now be buried under metric tonnes of rock. I tried kicking a particularly towering piece beside me just in case I have super horse strength.

The boulder tilted and groaned.

I quickly fell back, frantic, not wanting my new magical life to end so quickly, specially not to something so mundane.

My eyes caught a glint from below me. It was my phone, I recognized, from the ash-clad woman pummeling an oversized lizard drawn on the casing.

Right. Phones, people. I should meet up with my friends, maybe give like a text to my parents to confirm they're not dead or something.

Hooves clicked on the ground as I tried to flip the object over, horse legs not the most dexterous of appendages. It took me an embarrassingly long time to succeed, only to realize that I can't even press the power button for it to open. Neither will my unwieldy limbs be able to actually operate the thing.

Ugh. Nothing against horses but couldn't I have gotten something at least with opposable thumbs!?

Oh wait. I might be able to get that. Didn't those earlier announcements mention something about Classes. One made me as tall as an entire building. I don't see why it wouldn't give me opposable thumbs.

That is all I'm asking for, really. I don't even care if I'm able turn back into a human or not. Being a horse would surely land me some acting roles that only I am uniquely suited to accomplish.

Not that anyone really is thinking about that right now. Considering the pandemium that had swept over the... city? Country? World? I don't know if there even is a theater scene anymore.

The fucking apocalypse and that is what I'm concerned about. Blood hell.

Erase. Erase.

Leave that for later, if society even still stands.

I brought up my earlier notifications again and read from it about having a Class and Class selections. The format of those notifications totally looked like they should belong in a game.

Is that what this is? A game? A system?

I've read plenty of stories like that, with stat sheets and skills and other horseshit. I liked it, because let's be honest, it's the only way my dumb ass would be able to figure out magic even if it did exist.

Killing to get magic sounds way easier than actually studying it,

The moment the thought crossed my mind, an image formed in my imagination.

My theory was confirmed to be fact.

_______________

Name: Jackal Dolmer

Level: 0

______________

(Unassigned MANA: 0)

Vitality: 0

Strength: 0

Magic: 0

Agility: 0

Intelligence: 0

_____________

Class: None (2 Slots Available!)

Skills: None

_____________

A Holographic display that follows my eyes as I go. I cannot touch it, a mere illusion. It does emit light so I tried going close to a random rock to confirm, and yes only I can see it, for its shine is not reflected on the piece of stone.

But the mechanism is only secondary. What matters is that it's a Status Screen. My Status Screen. I can obtain power as easily as I would in a game.

Meaning not very easily, because much as I enjoy a good game, I fucking suck.