I leave the floor and make my way to the roof. There I walk out and climb over the guardrail that prevents people from getting too close to the edge. At eleven stories up I feel as if I’m on top of the world. Even though other buildings reach even further higher up.

Looking down from the edge I can see the whole street between this building and the restaurant. A few zombies shamble around, unsure what to do with themselves. Leaving Everett street I follow the edge to Second street, where the garage is. I find this street almost vacant of zombies.

The high leveled one I kept out is nowhere to be found. Part of me was hoping to try and snipe it from here. I sigh and continue my patrol. The third side of the building lines Stone street and shows a spacious lot behind the building.

A few years back this whole block was a parking lot. The company bought it and started building this building, but didn’t need the whole block. So the back half of the parking lot was sold to some guy who apparently was planning to build a skateboard shop. I have no clue what happened to that but it was never built. Instead the lot has fallen into disrepair and is used as free parking by the people who work in this area.

More than a few zombies congregate in this lot meandering between cars. From here I can’t make out any details about them or their levels but there's probably twenty or more down there.

I continue to the last side of the building, Third street. Looking down I see my car in it’s cheap beat up beauty. Only a few zombies shamble here, seemingly heading down the street as a group. Maybe they heard something or the zombies in the lot are drawing them in.

With my assessment of the streets complete I plop myself on the corner of Third street and Everett. A cold wind blows through, reminding me that fall is already here and that winter will be quick to follow.

Looking down at myself I’m revolted by the clothes covering me. The blue and black of my uniform shirt is almost replaced by the dried stains of blood. The temptation to remove the clothes grows too strong to resist.

The smelly shirt falls to the ground leaving me in my black undershirt. It isn’t covered in blood like my work shirt is but part of me still wants to get rid of it. However, I have no other clothes to change into.

“I was really hoping to take a shower.” I tell the beautiful night sky

The stars are truly captivating. Their beauty is on display like never before. I wonder if this is the same night sky that the people in ancient times saw. No wonder we had such a drive to explore it and understand it.

I wonder if we’ll ever leave the planet now. Will the humans out last the zombies long enough to rebuild and start exploring space? Are the zombies some kind of divine punishment for dirtying the planet and trying to leave?

The world has definitely changed. From the system to the zombies to magic. Nothing will ever be like it was with any single one of these things, but all three. It’s demolished how life will be lived from now on.

Another brisk wind blows through, sending a shiver down my back. My mana reacts almost on it’s own, burning through my body. Instantly I feel warmer and remember the moments before the fight in the garage.

The magic now present in this world has so many more applications then what I’ve been using it for. All my made up spells only scratch the surface of what’s possible. My mind wanders back to my thoughts on the healing properties of mana.

I pull up my stats sheet and read my health at seventy-nine. Closing my eyes I focus on the lake of glowing water in me. The lake spills out into paths that trace through my whole body.

The mana flows through these paths and splits off into smaller and smaller paths but it never returns to the source. I focus on a specific path curious as to where the mana goes. I know it doesn’t leave me unless I tell it to. So it must be draining out somewhere.

The path leads from my center and travels up and out towards the end of my hand. There it splits off into each finger that also has smaller and smaller diverging paths. At the end of the path is nothing. The energy just vanishes.

No, that's wrong. It doesn’t vanish. It spills inside of me. Into my muscles and bones. Through my actual body and not these channels that only appeared after I became a mage.

Ideas flood my mind as I wonder what the mana spilling inside of my body can do. The first thought I act on is one that concerns if mana has any healing properties.

I follow the paths that lead to the right side of my chest, where the extensive bruising is. There I find a concentration of mana ebbing out of my reserves. Curiously I call for more mana to flood this area. I feel a drain on my mana pool as the extra energy glows alongs the paths.

Once at the area the mana simply ends it’s progression. Refusing to flood my body like I originally intended it to. Opening my eyes I see a blue glow in my side from under my shirt. If I push anymore the mana will just leave my skin like all my other spells.

That same tickling sensation floods my brain. I know that this isn’t the extent of what my mana can do. There is some way to let it flood my body.

Closing my eyes again I concentrate on the area with the mana. This time I try to not just see the mana, but also the bones and muscles beyond it. At first nothing happens but the tingle in my brain tells me this is the right direction to be going.

If my body is being flooded with mana then why can’t I sense it like I can when I push it out of me. Like a reverse Magical Sonar. That single idea flips the switch in my mind.

My mind races as I stop reaching out to the mana connected to my mana pool. Instead I reach out to the mana in my blood and bones and muscles. At first it’s like trying to scream in a dream. Like I’m trying to grab the moon through a lake.

I refuse to give up and slowly but surely I feel the mana in my body. Like tiny moats of lights being collected. Different parts of my body open up to me as I feel the mana embedded in them.

Through the mana inside of my bones I can tell that my fifth rib from the bottom is fractured in a few places. However, the mana seems to be stitching the bone back together. While keeping my focus on the bones I pull mana from my pool and focus it on those cracks.

Instead of stopping at the end of the pathways or flowing outside of my body the mana drains into me. White hot pain burns where the concentrated mana touches me. However I know it’s not damaging anything like I would expect something this painful to do.

Gritting my teeth I try to keep my focus on the bone. Guiding the hot mana to replicate the process that the mana was naturally doing. I feel the bones shift and crackle under the unprocessed energy. A few seconds into the process the pain becomes too much and my concentration breaks.

I breath heavily gritting my teeth as I feel as if someone was pressing a hot poker into my ribs. Except the pain isn’t external, it’s as if my ribs themselves are on fire. The sensation lasts for an unknown amount of time as I grit and bear the pain.

The fire dies down and I’m left gasping for air through gritted teeth. Sweat drips from my face. Opening my eyes I find myself drenched in a smelly sweat. The smell is almost as bad as the rotting bodies in the lobby.

I force my mind to focus as I lift my shirt. I gingerly poke at the bones expecting pain upon the touch. But I feel only slight pain as the bruised skin is poked. Curiously I open my stats screen.

Personal Stats:

Attributes:

Value

Name:

Joel Dylan

STR:

10

Level:

12

DEX:

6

To Next Level

223/600

AGI:

7

Sex:

Male

END:

12

Age:

18

INT:

55

Class:

Mage

WIS:

11

LUC:

4

HP

91/100

CHA:

5

Mana

96/120

PER:

8

WIL:

7

Free Attribute points:

6

My eyes fall to my health points instantly. Almost not believing what they were seeing. I dismiss the screen, excitement bubbling up inside of me unrestrained.

My mind turns inwards and beneath the ley lines of mana criss crossing my body. Focusing on the previously fractured bones I find the white bone to be whole. No longer supporting any visible damage.

Despite how painful it was, it worked. Mana can be used to heal. What about others? I can heal myself but is there a way to do the same to others? I don’t even understand exactly how it healed the damage in me.

How much damage can I heal? Gun shots? Viruses? Can I regrow limbs? Ides of instantly healing damage in the middle of battle fly through my mind. An undying immortal. The idea brings a smile to my face.

I banish those ideas and try to imagine other ways mana can be used. If I can heal my body can I alter it? Make myself taller? Alter my hair color? How deep does it go? Can I alter DNA, or does mana just restore my body parts to what my body finds healthy. Does it just quicken my natural healing rate?

So many questions and no one to answer them. Is this what ancient scientists like Aristotle or Sir Isac Newton felt like? So many questions and so little answers and no one to ask about it. It’s like I’m standing on an iceberg, only being able to see it’s surface. Let alone whatever rests below the water levels.

I’m going to need to live long enough to experiment with this. And the mana to do the experiments with. At that thought I bring up my stat sheet again and examine my Attribute Points.

I’ve leveled up twice since I’ve last dumped all my attribute points into intelligence. However instead of having ten I only have six. I know I didn’t put any into anything so why do I have four less than what I should?

The only answer that comes to mind is that as I level up I’ll get less and less Attribute Points. Meaning that I shouldn’t be so hasty in putting them into anything. Going over my attributes I try to imagine which ones would let me survive better.

Being strong is almost always useful as well as being fast. Decker and Andy are a good example of this. Up until now my survivability has banked on the destructive force of my spells. In order to be more destructive I’ve been needing to boost how much mana I have but that won’t save me in every situation.

What am I going to do when I run out? Just adding more to Intelligence doesn’t mean that I won’t ever run out. It just means that it’ll take more effort to completely run out.

With that in mind I should make sure that I can handle a few zombies without mana. Meaning I need to be stronger, faster, and be able to last in a fight. A sturdier body and a better weapon is going to be a must.

Wait a second. My mind catches on the idea of a weapon. The sole word brings panic to me.

My hand races down to my utility belt where my baton should be. It only finds the fabric that usually holds the weapon to me. My heart races as I remember something snapping when I fought that last zombie.

I race down the stairs to the garage. Once down there I’m met with the horrid stench of several rotting bodies. My eyes scan the area looking for the black metal. After a few seconds I find a piece of black metal in the shape of a ‘j’ and coated in dried blood sitting just a few feet from the wall.

Picking up the cold metal my heart sinks. The top half of my baton shows me what that snapping sound was. Looking around I find the handle of the weapon half buried under a zombie.

With the two pieces in hand I leave the foul smelling area and make my way back to the roof. There I sit watching the city silently crying to myself. It feels as if I lost a loved one.

Before the apocalypse I only ever took the baton out during our training periods. I never once used it as an actual weapon. But in the first few minutes of the apocalypse it was the thing that saved me.

It set me apart and let me be the predator I wanted to be. Granted the mana helped a lot, but these chunks of metal were there for me before I had magic. The baton was with me through every battle. It felt like a part had died with the baton.

I know logically that the baton is just a thing. With my mana I'm still just as deadly if not more. But that baton meant more to me, it was like a companion to me. My first ally in the apocalypse. One of the few things I could rely on.

I set the two pieces of metal on the bloodied shirt I stripped off earlier. They may be useless now but I can’t bring myself to get rid of them.

I turn my attention back to the streets below eyeing the zombies shambling around in the dark. The sorrow in me turns to anger as I watch the cause of my loss just shamble around. The zombies were the ones that broke my baton. They’ll be the ones to suffer.