It was a day like any other in the nice small rural town of Hazleton. Everyone was just doing their thing - no one realized that something could possibly go wrong. No one thought that this day would be the day that will mark the beginning of a new era or even the new world. That was the day that changed not only this small town but the whole world.

Suddenly the ground had started shaking and thousands of huge blue veins appeared everywhere in the sky. Trembling shook the streets, and waves of mysterious energy swept over everything and everyone.

That was the day that everything changed.

A week passed and all nations descended into chaos. First, it was the electric machines that stopped working. Then came the gun powder and, in the end, even fuels somehow changed their properties and stopped working.

Even though the fuel could still be lit to burn, it changed too much to be used in motors as they were. People started to call mana/essence/qi - as popularized by modern literature.

In the case of the material´s the mysterious energy changed their proprieties, composition, and how the materials react.

The mana even seeped into the atoms and completely changed everything humans knew, the matter welcomed the energy like a long-lost child, this mysterious energy, or mana if you like, and matter were two things that were meant to be one and they finally reunited.

Animals started going crazy, not knowing what to do the animal ran away, some seemed to be just fine, some suddenly died, some mutated in unpredictable ways. From two tails, two heads to an increased number of eyes to monstrous abominations of mutated flesh.

These mutations came even for humans although they came much more slowly compared to animals.

The mana affected every human in a way. As human bodies accepted the new type of energy they started to change, the genetic codes that were sleeping inside them activated, in some rare cases their DNA was straight-up changed by the environment they found themself in.

Long ears with elf-like features, change in skin color, newfound abilities. In short, no one knew what was going on.

Without any way to get the information from higher-ups the world was in chaos, people knew only what they experienced for themselves.

And when gun powder lost its effects police and the army couldn´t control the situation anymore, what can batons do against groups of thousands of people, and the fact there was no communication with anyone outside only added to the fire.

The villages, towns, everyone was on their own.

Soldiers, policemen, firefighters, doctors, everyone run home to protect their families and homes. It looked like the end of the world was here.

***

Jordan was laying on the sofa in his apartment, trembling from the pain which felt like every fiber of his being was tearing.

And it indeed was tearing, he could see how his muscles getting torn apart and squirmed like worms under his skin and then reconnected in a never-ending cycle, his veins turned black and his blood went from crimson to black as well.

All the pain and changes started on the day the veins appeared in the sky and the more time passed the worse it got. He tried to get checked by a doctor, but all hospitals got raided and all the personal escaped, the same went for a shop with food and pharmacies.

Because of his situation, he had no time to stockpile food or any other necessities... not that it mattered since it looks like he will die at any moment.

Every person got affected by the so-called mana, some more than others.

Most people felt just mild headaches, some just like him went through much more, some couldn't stand the pain and died.

It was funny and illogical for someone who is heavily dependent on logic like him, but it looked like surviving through those mutations depended heavily on willpower.

Jordan never believed in God or the paranormal, so he found it hard to accept things like willpower but... giant veins in the sky were enough to slightly change his worldview.

Just like that, he kept fighting through the pain and at some point, his eyes started to bleed black blood, his bones crumbled and teeth fell out. It was hell.

And exactly on the seventh day after the blue veins pierced the sky precisely at 22 o´clock white rays so blinding that they could be seen even through his closed shutter came from the sky.

The white rays began to appear all over the town, connecting with the ground, and just as they came they disappeared.

Jordan tried to stand up and look out from his window to see what is going on but just as he stood up the pain suddenly exploded, together with his body. The last thing he could see was his body tearing to shreds and blood flowing from every pore of his body.

Finally, the sweet release of unconsciousness came as Jordan fell on the floor.

Time flew by while Jordan was laying on the ground, it took a while but slowly his limbs began to twitch and his wounds started to close, the wounds healed themselves so fast that if someone was here they would be shocked to see how the muscle fiber reconnecting and the skin regrowing over the open wounds.

After the healing process was over the pain finally stopped and after several hours the sounds of steady and normal breathing resounded through the flat instead of cries of pain.

Very slowly Jordan began to open his eyes, he felt different, full of power.

The pain that kept him awake for days finally ended.

He stood up and tried to look around, even though it was a deep night he could see clearly, he could even hear sounds from the outside as if he was there, but just as he looked around his room he closed his eyes.

The blood which was splattered everywhere was mixed with something black who knows what.

"shiit, I might as well start looking for a new apartment"

Jordan was pondering over his choices ´a) cleaning b) burning it all down c) move somewhere else´ but just as he was thinking about that he noticed something much more pressing, something was growing on his head and it shouldn´t be there.

Jordan quickly ran to the bathroom to check himself in the mirror, he tried to open the door but with a loud "bang" the door slammed to the wall while at the same time a big crack showed itself.

For a second he dozed off while looking at the door, but he quickly woke up from the shock and looked at himself in the mirror.

In the mirror, there was a demon-like creature with a thick about 16 cm (6 in) long horn growing from the demon-like creature´s left side of the forehead.

Besides the horn, there were various other changes, the most shocking there were hid long black hair, black beard, glowing dark green eyes with split pupils, a smirk on the demon´s face, teeth that looked more like fangs.

Jordan didn't want to accept it at first but he couldn't deny it, the demon was his reflection, his brain went to overdrive and strange thoughts flooded his mind ´how did my hair grow so long... how long was I out? WHAT IS WITH THE HORN?´

In the unlit room, slowly with trembling fingers, he started to check his new horn, the horn felt almost metallic and gave off a weird vibe. The weirdest thing was that he could feel things with the horn as if the horn was full of nerves.

Jordan´s breathing got irregular and panicked, he could feel his hearts pumping. Wait, hearts? "W- what the fuck is that?"

There was another heart, pumping inside his body.