It was a beautiful day. Sun shining, birds singing. Much too beautiful for going to school and work but that's the way the world works unfortunately.

This is what Rose was thinking as she walked her ten year old daughter Emily to school. That is, until a wave of pure energy energy burst from the earth and the whole world shifted.

An unearthly scream echoed through Rose's mind. It was agony and despair. A sense of extreme loss and unending regret.

As Rose stumbled and regained focus she saw in front of her a man. A man whose flesh was melting and reforming, becoming something monstrous and demon-like.

Emily clung to her leg as this thing lumbered towards them, slowly picking up speed as if learning to move for the first time. All Rose could think is "How do I protect my daughter from that?"

The creature came closer and Rose heard that unearthly scream again. Only this time it felt more like protection and mother's love for her child.

Without knowing why she thrust her arms before her and pushed with all her might. To her suprise, a strange feeling started somewhere near her gut and forcefully made its way out of her hands in the form of a blistering heatwave, this wave hit the creature and it boiled. Howling in pain it stumbled towards them and Rose pulled Emily backwards away. After a few steps the creature collapsed to the floor and stopped moving.

Rose collapsed next to Emily oddly exhausted and gathered a hysterical Emily into her arms, whispering "It's OK, mum's here. I won't let anything happen to you." Emily began calming down and Rose noticed a strange thing in her vision. Wiping her eyes didn't help and suddenly the thing expanded and became a translucent box floating in the air before her.

You have recived Gaia's blessing

Human's latent fire affinity has been awoken.

'I am sorry my child, I will do my best to right the wrongs I have caused'

Before she could make sense of that, it was replaced by one that was familiar to her from years of computer gaming,

Level Up!

You are now level 1, you have unlocked the interface.

Congratulations!

Putting aside the weird boxes, Rose knew she had to get somewhere safe.Taking Emily to school then heading to the office defiantly wasn't an option anymore.

All around them the world was shifting. Billions of people exposed to an as of yet unknown source and mutating into beasts, monsters and other being only found it fantasy stories and game world's. All living this, from the largest mammal to the smallest insect, all fauna and flora began absorbing and using this force to change and grow. Ordinary Animals becoming Great Beasts of old and developing new ways to survive and use this force. This essence of the world.