Smoke filled the entirety of the horizon, blotting out an otherwise clear sky. Bitter odors reached his senses despite being numerous kilometers from Denver’s urban center. A once majestic skyline now lay in ruins, continually aflame. Large objects flittered around the high-rises, eerily reminiscent of his previous Forest Wyvern encounter. Driving his mount forward at top speed Marcus would reach the outskirts within half an hour.

He’d come back to his hometown to get friends, family, and coworkers out. Sure, work life had been rough, but for the most part rank and file employees had been pleasant if not occasionally supportive. Playing favorites would stain his legacy, and that, in it of itself, could snowball into a trend of discrimination; if they are allies, regardless of race, nothing else mattered.

Aggressive monsters began appearing as Marcus entered suburbia proper. Ruined husks stood where homes had once existed, some appeared to have burned while others had been shattered into splinters. Creatures here in the city had no fear, and unlike their forest brethren rushed him wildly. Each type had its own unique flair, but plain standard beasts could also be found in the wave moving towards him.

Of those in the pack, insects contributed by far the most members. Sparing a glace at a random beetle he inspected it.

Pine Beetle – Level. 5 | Type: Insectoid | Common beetle that has undergone massive growth due to power saturation. Possess a thick outer shell acting as natural armor.

Mana-Incensed: Driven to aggression by excessive mana concentration in area.

As predicated, native species have already begun to mutate into monstrous deviations. At least their level is much lower than mine, even if their numbers are large, they can’t harm me. For now, let’s see how effective this bear is for trampling crowds.

Marcus directed the Ursine to accelerate towards the monsters. Three hundred kilograms consisting of heavily armored and muscled flesh plowed into a high density of monsters inciting a brutal spectacle. Blood, bone and carapace splintered and spilled in his wake, mildly surprising Marcus with how damned strong an incomplete summon could be.

Despite its shortcomings the Quartz-Plated Ursine was perfect for crowd control tactics, and within minutes, dozens of creatures had been trampled to death. Minor wounds covered the bear, Marcus infused mana into the construct prompting it to repair itself gradually. If these pack tactics continued to worsen, he’d need to attempt innovative applications of existing spells, or develop new ones. For now, he glanced over his mount - satisfied with the healing results, he continued moving.

Home consisted of a two-bedroom apartment located in the southern suburbs, but before Marcus could even travel a kilometer, he began to hear panicked voices. Jerking his head around he searched for the survivors.

An arrow shot out of a nearby window, drilling towards him. Whoever had taken the shot was well practiced, the shot came close, but Marcus was able to reposition his bear to take the attack on its quartz-plating – deflecting it with only a scratch.

Yelling out, “Don’t shoot - I’m friendly! No need to act hastily, let’s talk “he hurriedly finished. Just in case the situation further devolved Marcus began to gather mana, preparing for the worst-case scenario.

A voice sounded out from the location the last attack originated, “And why on God’s green earth shouldn’t a kill you?! You’re riding a demon!”

What…? They think the monsters are demons. Haven’t any of them bothered to inspect anything – that would clear this right up – probably.

“It’s not a demon,” Marcus responded, “Do you know how to inspect yet? If not just focus on the bear and you’ll understand.”

Several seconds stretched into minutes, as whoever, or whomever, had him in their sights discussed something amount themselves. Fortuitously, no longer than five minutes passed before someone emerged from the home.

Looking over his new acquaintance, they stood slightly taller than average at 180 cm. The man was heavily-built, stocky, but not fat – they’d either been a gym junkie before Integration, or similarly to Marcus had been boosted by the System.

Wearing hunting camouflage, something that would be ineffective in the city - the man stood at like a sore thumb. Otherwise, he sported combat boots, gloves, and a freaking quiver on his back. Arrow nocked, but not drawn, he slowly made his way towards Marcus.

For the heck of it Marcus tried inspecting the man – surprising himself when a result appeared.

Jared Wagner – Level. 4 | Class: Ranger

Maintaining some distance, the man asked, “Marcus was it? That’s what your doohickey told me your name was. I assume you already know mine as well, now, care to explain what in the hell is going on?”

“Yes, Jared, my name is Marcus. The situation in the city, or rather the world is chaotic, to put it simple – Armageddon. Alternatively, it’s called Integration, something you should’ve known through System notifications.”

“System what’s? Class? I ain’t been in no class since I dun got out of school! You’re speakin’ in tongues boy, betweens you and that bear, a God-fearing man like myself gonna get nervous,” Jared rambled on.

“Now hold up, you may not believe me, but hard evidence is easy to find. Just picture the word ‘Status’ and you’ll know what I mean, Jared.”

Jared remained incredulous briefly before going wide-eyed in disbelief. He attempted speaking, but everything came out as gibberish – his brain too overloaded by shock. If the man was as devout as he’d said, these revelations would certainly test his faith if not sanity.

Marcus continued trying to get his attention for a several minutes before giving up. Either Jared would come to terms with the status quo or he’d die soon, either way it was time to leave.

“Look man, the situation is fucked, I won’t lie. Humanity is going to have to adapt, and that includes you. Every man, woman, and child is being forced to face abominations we’ve only seen in fantasy; its madness, but also our new reality. I need to leave now; I’ve got friends and family who live in the city – each second I waste here is another they may perish in. Before leaving I’ll come by here once again for you; if you need to run, do it, but head towards the Purgatory Resort – that’s where I’ll be heading. Good luck, Jared.”

Marcus finished his quick speech, before directing his Ursine to pick up speed once again. He didn’t want to just leave a man alone to die, but hard choices needed to be made; was his single life worth multitudes of others? Marcus still didn’t know the answer.

Streets blurred by, scenes of destruction repeated ad Infinium – numbing Marcus to it all. He’d expected to see bodies covering the roads, but so far, they’d been missing – he hazarded a guess that many of them were devoured rather than left to rot. Survivors like James were either hidden, or they’d left the city long ago. Not a soul showed themselves as his home appeared in sight - or at least the remains of it.

Most monsters had weak enough to be ran over, but what Marcus spotted would be a challenge. The range of inspection continued to lengthen as his Perception sustained growth; from a football field away, he was able to glean information on his new foes.

Deranged Troll Brute – Level 22 | Type: Giant | Trolls hold an innate desire to devour anything they come upon. Trolls will keep prey alive for sport, tormenting them endlessly before being consumed. Brutes are both powerful, and own strong regenerative powers.

Mana-Incensed: Driven to aggressive by excessive mana concentration in area.

Rubble provided him little cover; the trolls discovered Marcus at the same time he’d spotted them. Unable to plan for the encounter, he planned to retreat; that was until someone screamed. Marcus wouldn’t have known who was yelling from this distance if not for another quick inspection; it was his neighbor.

[Heather Roth – Level. 0 | Class: Accountant]

“Heather hold on I’m coming, don’t draw attention to yourself!” he yelled loudly, trying to draw the troll’s ire.

“Is that you Marcus? Ple-please help me they’ve been tor- “

The voice cut-off suddenly – a troll had grabbed the woman and…eaten her. Before he could process what just happened it once again reached down, gathering another person. Crunch. The sound acted like a call to charge – they would be upon him soon.

Rage flooded him, heart hammering into step with his potent mana empowering arcane magic. Power coalesced into deadly arrangements, temporary representations of hate. Shouting, Marcus released the spells while activating Capacitor Discharge – further amplifying Scorching Ray’s potency. Rods of flame were upon the trolls within seconds – inflicting heavy damage, but not nearly enough. Tendrils of Earth appeared next, temporarily binding their limbs and halting their forward momentum. Marcus additionally directed his summon to attack them as well - which it did with gusto. If not for its lack of strategy, or sense of self preservation, it’d be perfect; all it needed to do now was buy time.

On his trip here he had used every free moment working on an application of shaping – not one to build, but instead destroy. Grasping his staff firmly and with heavy focus, Marcus drew upon Inorganic Shaping – tuning himself to the environment, granting him control of the terrain. Sounds greeted Marcus after bonding to the area, each new frequency spoke its own story. Concentrating on one particular tone, Marcus seized the note, and began flooding mana into it. Mana and Elemental Shaping worked overtime maintain stability over what was forming below his feet. Masses of aspected mana pooled into the unworked ground underneath the roadway forming rough mana constructs; each humming with potency.

His experiments with summoning introduced him to several mana shapes, many of them useless, but some had promise. For instance, cones - they had issues holding stability for long, but they’d dump their stored power rapidly into a focused stream; perfect for his current formation.

Beads of sweat rolled down Marcus’s face as cones of Earth aspected mana formed one after another. As the cones began to solidify, he was packing each with a charge of Fire aspect mana at their core. Marcus’s mana pool and willpower began to stretch thin after forming a dozen constructs. He fought to maintain each construct, holding them stable for much longer wouldn’t be possible; like a wild animal searched for freedom, his magic wanted to be let go, and as the last of them formed, he granted it.

It began as a deep rumble as if the Earth itself was crying out. The paved road cracked and split - releasing magical hell. Spines of stone ripped into the trolls before they could react; each of them speared through by at least one construct apiece. The show didn’t end there, no, now was the fun part. During their construction he’d placed a special core within each cone, and as he said before - they tended to fall apart; which began to happen in spectacular fashion.

Each spine released its fiery payload directly into the troll’s massive bodies causing catastrophic damage. Misshapen limbs, grotesque faces, and more began to burn, then melt into disgusting puddles; even their bones blackened before falling apart. Heat continually radiated from the now semi-molten roadway, causing Marcus to back away to avoid burning himself.

By the time the stone had cooled nothing remained of the trolls - all eight of them reduced to less than slag. If not for the twenty seconds needed to prepare the spell, he’d be calling BS on what just happened. All said, the spell required specific circumstances to viable, at least until he obtained mastery. For instance, his Tendrils of Earth had delayed them along with his summon, but they’d also run INTO the area of effect of their own free will. Marcus imaged higher level creatures would be able to detect amassing mana and avoid it. Another unfortunate side effect was the loss of his mount; at least it was something he could replace - unlike those he’d seen consumed.

Marcus skirted around the affected area, running the remaining distance to his home. The apartment building was mostly intact outside missing its doors – all too likely knocked in by trolls. Other signs of struggle existed, blood and other unmentionables littered the area, but nothing else.

Searching the area were the trolls had originated from finally yielded results – survivors. Two-dozen people had been stuffed into an outside maintenance building, leaving them to suffer while stained by their own filth. Marcus was disgusted, but without hesitation began to pull people out – even if they were unwilling at first.

“Come on people, lets get you out there. We have much to discuss and I’d like to get each of you somewhere safer ASAP,” Marcus tried to say authoritatively.

Someone walked up behind him and leaned into his back, “Is that really you Marcus? We thought you were dead, you hadn’t been home, so we feared the worst,” a feminine voice said.

Marcus turned around, causing his knees to weaken at the sight – he hadn’t been too late.

“Yes, it’s me. I’m finally home…mom,” hugging her powerfully they shared a moment of weakness, sobbing into each other.