In 2019, humanity was thoroughly on a path of no return. Animals were dying, trees were falling, the earth was drying due to too much agriculture, while the sea was rising. Thus, God offered humanity a way out.

“You can ask for something you’d wish there was in this world which will prevent this from happening again. You have 1 year to decide.”

The countdown began.

This was said to all humans on the 31st of December. This created an uproar in society. Media were talking about this. On the internet multitude of forums were created to have an idea of what people were thinking. And by the end of 2020. God asked us what we chose. Everybody answered in their mind. And on the 1st of January, it happened. The Selection.

Magic won, by how much, we couldn’t know. Because all those who hadn’t chosen magic suddenly disappeared. Leaving only 2.5 billion people on Earth, this was the first step.

Then, Earth changed. Cities collapsed and were reduced to nothingness, mountains, plains and forest appeared in their stead. The Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean, China’s Sea disappeared. New territories replaced them. Composed of pristine lakes and highlands. Australia gained in size and fused with all the island which were in between it and Asia. The sea was cleansed. And, Earth grew, which resulted in longer days and nights, and longer years. This marked years 0 of the new calendar.

Beasts changed, evolved, or appeared for the first time on Earth, and monsters appeared. Humanity changed to. All the techniques acquired after the 15th century was forgotten, a status page was visible like in a game. And it started. Some humans stayed the same, while others evolved, they grew horns, ears, fur or tails, and on their status screen, near the ‘race’, ‘demon’, ‘beast man’ or ‘elf’ could be seen. At first, it didn’t have much importance. We were weak, while magical beasts had a way stronger innate strength than us. The Hunt began. It lasted 20 years, this was the second part of the Selection.

Humanity grew strong enough to defend itself and managed to developed ‘cities’ with the help of magic, magical beasts were no longer that much of threat. People had a place to stay and to defend. Though beasts’ tides are still considered as calamities, some could be resisted whereas before it was a one-sided slaughter. Then, human and demons started to fight among themselves. Since they both had gained in power, enough to protect themselves, they no longer needed to associate with the other party. The trigger to this was a food shortage. Farms didn’t exist yet. People survived with what they found in the forest, were beasts were kings. And to develop farms time was needed, but people will die in the process. Then came the problem of who will eat and who won’t. Priorities were needed.

Humans used the fact that demons and the like were of a different race, an inferior one, thus needed to serve their new masters. The third part of the Selection began the Divide. In cities where a race was the superior, the others needed to leave.

This choice was not without consequences. Separating themselves meant reducing their fighting potential, which left the cities more vulnerable to beasts’ attacks.

Around year 70 post change, Human, Beast man, Elf, Dwarf and Demon each found a territory. Humans were mainly around former Europe, Beast man in America, Demon in Asia, Elf in Australia and Dwarf in Africa. Kingdoms have taken shapes, everything was still unstable and cities were fragile, but it started to become more secure for the people. This marked the end of the Selection. Then, came the Development.

Between year 70 and year 124, walls, farms, street, everything was improving at a fast rate until it reached a state which was like the constructions the Middle Age. That was not all. Magic was further studied, manufacture of weapons too. Demons’ introduced the magic devices, beast men introduced magic weaponry, and humans introduced array which improved greatly the use of both magic device and weaponry, elves studied the new ecosystem and developed alchemy, and dwarves provided metals and other natural resources at a moderate rate to the other races.

Though, there was still discrimination among them. They needed to establish trades and relationship among them if they wanted to survive and thrive in this new world.

It was common belief that the dragon next door will be the one to kill you if you couldn’t defend yourself at that time. But sometimes, it will be your closest friend you invite in your house who will backstab you and flee with your wife. Thus, unless you’re strong enough, nothing you have can be preserved.

However, no matter how strong you are, the only thing which will change is how and when you die.