The rising sun was reflected on the calm river’s surface. With the rising sun, the sky was transformed into shades of pink and purple.

I rose out of my light slumber with a painful cramp in my back. Shit that hurts. I rose out of the small hole, stretching, listening to the soft movement of the river and the light chirping of birds somewhere far in the distance.

I moved over to the river to wash off my morning face, dipping my head into the cold water. The cold sent goosebumps running down my arms and- wait… what the feck? Birds? Emotions? The hell?

I jumped back to my feet in a hurry, listening carefully for any noise, any at all, to make sure I wasn’t going crazy.

…

There it was again! Fucking birds! And holy shit, I’m not calm! In fact, I’m freaking out and it’s wonderful! What does this mean!? Where are these birds even at? They sound pretty far away, and I still only see grasslands around me. So, no trees for them to roost on.

I took a deep breath. Okay, so I’m not constantly calm anymore. That’s good and bad. Bad because I have other emotions to distract me now, but good because I have other emotions to distract me now. A double edge sword.

So, I have to think with a calm mind right now, to get into that mindset. Prioritize. Gotta prioritize. One water. Boom river: dealt with. Two food. Boom birds; however, far they may be. Three figure out how to open the System. The last one is really important.

I took a quick glance around me and seeing no animals around, I took a seat next to the river. Food may be important; but, I think I can ignore the hunger pangs for just a little while longer. Closing my eyes I felt inside of my self for the system’s energy. This may take a while.

Damn, I forgot what It was like to be bored.

--

Narrator here. Sorry not sorry for the interruption, but it’ll take him a while to figure out the system. So, while you wait I want to update you on the state of Earth.

Previously the Earth was populated with 8.5 billion people. Your world was on a steady decline, and it was human’s fault. But now? Eh, there are only 1.2 billion humans left now. Aether changed your world dramatically, killing many in the process, and then there were the people whose body couldn’t adapt to that much aether. But hey. It’s not all bad. The world’s better after all!

But let’s be serious for a second. You humans are in for a surprise. You’ll need more than your intelligence and reasoning to rule the planet once more. Animals without reasoning are more malleable to aether and mana. They evolve and change quicker than those with high intelligence and reasoning. Why? Because, ultimately, they will reach a limit. Sooner or later they’ll reach a point where they can’t advance any further because they don’t know what there doing. They’re just going off of instinct, and the aether in them kinda leads them instead of them leading themselves.

So, animals have the strength advantage, and humans have an intellectual advantage. Well, moving past, how big is Earth now? Well, pretty big. Like, almost twice the size. What’s more, is that everything shifted. Continents broke apart, islands formed, new land formed, etc… Oh, there is a giant pit in the middle of one continent. Like its massive. Could fit New York City in it I bet. If it was still around. Oh well.

I just thought I would mention an interesting change.

Afterall, Aether is a hell of an energy.

--

Looking up at the sky it looks like I spent two hours trying to open the system… But, I would be damned if I didn’t succeed! Man, it feels so good to be happy, it almost overwrites the feeling of hunger I constantly felt!

Acott Myers Level: 0 Race: Human Mana: 10/10 Status: Strength-9 Constitution-7 Agility-6 Dexterity-6 Intelligence-11 Wisdom-8 Skills: Rock Climbing:1 Meditation: 1 Effects: Hunger

And I was right too, the ‘System Calmness’ is gone. So, it only lasted a day? It doesn’t seem that long… Wonder why I was given that effect? Huh, I also gained a new skill: Meditation. Must be from me looking inside myself.

Another effect of me trying to find how to open the system is that I found my mana. I can’t do shit with it though. It’s like it is behind a brick wall, so for right now I’m gonna have to ignore it. Which sucks. I want to throw fireballs out of my hand! Or, at least to start a fire… Oh well. It’s going have to wait for me to sit down and fiddle with it.

I stood up, slapping my legs to wake them up - sitting on your legs for two hours tends to make them fall asleep. It was time to find these birds.

I think they were this way? It’s kinda quiet again.