Winter, 65 A.C.

"Starving is never a fun activity. Before the world changed or ended whichever you prefer, people would go on so called 'diets' in order to lose weight. Can you image that? People actually willing to forgo food in order to change their outer appearance by a small degree. According to records most of them gave up and then gorged on massive amounts of food and actually gained weight then they would regurgitate the food in an attempt to not absorb the calories. Nowadays we are all skinny and it's a sign of great wealth to even have a little bit of extra weight. My, oh my how the world does change."

- Last entry from a dead man's journal

No one saw the end or the new beginning coming. Scholars debated until their food storages were emptied but most people decided to call the new calendar A.C. or After Change. Human society crumbled but not in any expected way. Due to extreme tensions after World War IV people thought that the world would end with a nuclear winter caused by the first strikes of the next war but surprisingly all it took was a single lab and a single discovery of an amazing form of energy.

Records from that lab said that they had found a massive amount of a strange crystal on a newly surfaced island in the Pacific Ocean. The crystals gave off a bright, almost blindingly so, light. They had originally thought to use it as a possible alternative form of solar power or something similar.

As it turned out the crystals were surprisingly fragile and when testing took place someone's careless actions caused a single crystal to fall the the floor shattering it. Upon shattering it released a new energy or a very old one.

Stupidly excited at the amount of energy let out by that small crystal the lab quickly started to experiment with the other crystals. The new energy was more explosive than gas but much more stable than nuclear. They named the new energy 'Mana' as a joke because the energy released from each could power New York not just the city but the whole state for 25 years making it almost magical.

For a few years nothing happened and the lab started producing artificial mana crystals and found the artificial to be no less powerful than the originals and the cost of creating each was minimal. They could basically make an unlimited amount so the supply would never run out. They released the Mana to the public with an example of how to harness it.

Although Oil companies quickly tried to suppress it they were too late. To meet the demands of the public Car companies quickly switched sides and created Mana engines that ran off a single crystal or Mana dust. Each car could travel thousands of miles on a single millimeter long crystal. As it was much more plentiful and cleaner than Crude oil and other alternative forms of energy within 2 years it completely dominated the commercial power industry.

After 10 years mana was the only kind of energy still used crude oil and other forms of energy would be put up in museums. Thanks to mana the world's energy crisis were all solved and the world for the first time in several centuries was at peace. Several awards were given to the lab that discovered mana and it's applications. Mana Crystals started to be used on farms as well after an incident when a man drop his crystal while changing his tractors power supply and as soon as it broke on the ground his vegetables grew to the peak and ripened more fuller than ever before.

Mana was seemingly the number one discovery of the modern era. A World Government was erected with the scientists from the lab all placed in key positions. In the 25 years of its initial discovery all the problems of the world been solved. Any injuries or illness could be healed with mana crystals, there was no hunger, there was no poverty, no one went without and everyone lived in excess. The world was peaceful and stable and humanity had seemingly reached its peak of its existence but with any peak there is a fall.

After 30 years of peace a small cold developed. Even when healed with mana it would quickly get worse and worse. Soon the whole world had gotten this incurable cold. The ones who got over the cold quickly were the most fortunate. For most people the cold turned Flu-like and they were out of commision for several days. Then they changed.

Some people stayed human but most weren't so lucky. A few had there ears elongate and as if from shock their hair went white. This was known as the 'elf' mutation. Several grew shorter and stouter and grew beards at an alarming rate. This was called the 'Dwarf' mutation. Some took a much stranger turn and grew tails and had their ears move to the top of their head and morph into animal ears that matched the kind of tail they had grown. This was the most diverse mutation there were cat, dog, rabbit, wolf, bear, and some even had horns and small feather wings on their backs. These were collectively called the 'Beast' mutation. There were also several who took a even stranger turn during the mutations a few of the humans craved blood and were known as the 'Vampire' mutation, a few of the elves had their skin tanned and their hair blacken know as the 'Dark Elf' mutation. There were many others such as the 'Fairy' which shrunk the body down even more and instead created a dainty figure only a foot tall with small see-through wings. The 'Dragon' mutation grew out horns, a tail and a large pair of wings. Several mutations were not recorded as well as later mixing of the mutations through children of two different mutations.

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Some people fell into comas and didn't awake until the changes were completed. Most were awake for the changes unfortunately. Records of survivors say that you could hear the screams of agony for miles outside the cities. Most didn't survive the changes these mutations brought about cutting the world's population in half. Humanity went from 11.1 billion to 5 billion according to salvaged medical records.

The survivor as if in a daze gathered all the bodies and placed them in large piles and prepared to burn them. They didn't act fast enough.

Later called the Cataclysm, Apocalypse part 2 and many other much fouler names the monster strains emerged from the piles of corpses. Orcs, Goblins , Undead, and other basically Fairytale monsters. Over 6 billion of them rose from the pits and attacked the living mindlessly killing everyone who they could lay their hands on. It was truly chaos.

Recorded history stops there so we have no way of determining how many died during that first day the Monster mutations rose. From within this incredibly dark time several glimmers of hope for survival grew. The mutations of the alive hadn't changed just their outer appearances. The 'beasts' could run at 50 miles an hour and could grow claws that were harder than diamond and sharper than razors. Their stamina was almost unending. The 'dwarves' were incredibly strong and very durable. The 'elves' were nimble and incredibly agile. Even the humans who had only been slightly mutated became faster and stronger than olympic athletes.

Unsurprisingly, even with the enhancements of the humans it couldn't really help that much. Even with increased speed a human cannot outrun a monster. While the other mutated people could get away the non-mutated humans were quickly slaughtered by the Monsters. The elves, dwarves, and beasts tried to protect or carry away them but sadly 90% of the humans were either eaten or torn apart.

It was then when we learned of the full changes that had happened to our bodies. A human saw his wife and child torn apart by a orc and snapped. He held out a hand and in anger cursed something. A powerful beam of light flew from his hand and struck the orc in the face drilling a hole through its ugly forehead. That was when we discovered magic. The man's name was Thomas Well.

Thomas, enraged at the loss of his wife and son, flew towards the front lines and single handedly torn open a path for the survivors to flee. With the rising of the sun the monsters fled back into the cities and claimed them as their own. Not every city was as lucky to have a Thomas Well.

Thomas organized the remaining survivors and taught them basic skills and most importantly taught them how to use magic. Still torn for grief at the loss of his wife and son he only stayed with his first community for a year and after they were settled he left. Never was he seen again.

There are stories of course from other surviving groups of a man saving them and sharing the art of magic and teaching them to survive. Some of these tale come from as far off as Africa but they are all unconfirmed due to the amount of time it took to reestablish connections.

The last scientist from the original group that researched the mana crystals was shocked at what his and his fellows had wrought. He worked tirelessly for a year to create something amazing. A virus that harmlessly infects its host and allows for the ability of monster or other people to be shown as levels. The magic virus is called 'Status' and quickly spread around the world. It basically used magic to create a game like system with health bars, stamina bars and stats that show strength. It also bestows titles and skills based of actions and allows for the easier use of magic. When everyone reaches a certain age a video pops up and an old man apologizes and explains how the system works.

The first few years were hard but slowly humanity built a foothold. Small communities turned into villages and villages turned into towns and then cities. Many children were born but also many people were lost due to the lack of modern medicine.

Slowly but surely the mutations distanced themselves from one another and small conflicts arose. No one really knows or remembers when the first wars started but they did. The four main mutations decided that they would become different races.

The Elven race, the Dwarven race, the Beast races, the Fairy race and the High human race. They all agreed that the old human race was officially extinct and wasn't going to return.

The cities of the old world weren't reclaimed and turned into monster territory. They quickly became ruins but the Monsters rarely ventured outside their territories except for the goblins, orcs along with a few others. Occasional clashes happened outside the old cities but no large engagement have happened in the last 500 years.

And so the old world died but in its place a new one arose from the ashes of the old. The world changed into something like a fantasy novel/game for better or worse.