In a world where only those that had Awakened could take on the monsters that come through the rifts, they were revered by many as heroes and saviours, using the latent mana that Awakened within them along with their affinities to defend civilisation from threats that had previously had humanity on the brink of destruction. In the midst of an outbreak, Arlo Awakened, discovering that he possessed a spatial magic affinity along with saving his friends in the process. Not wanting to be in the centre of a power squabble between every organisation under the sun, who would inevitably seek to use his powers for their own gain and stop at nothing to prevent him from falling into the hands of the competition, Arlo decided that he would rather forge his own path. Joining a travelling group of Awakened, he tries to hide the full extent of what he can do as he tries to gain an initial foothold in his ability to defend himself and those he cares about. Will he be able to continue developing outside the bounds of the relentless organisations that would covet his power or will he eventually have to make a compromise, a choice between either his freedom or those he cares about? This is a fantasy world where the MC goes from weak to strong, as well as looking at how different character dynamics and relationships play out as he develops. Eventually culminating in a network of people and places that develop over time that he builds up in order to preserve what he cares about as he goes into his future endeavours, as well as taking a look at a bit of the how and why of magic and world development that most other books I’ve read seem to fall a bit short on.  [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge]