And this, inevitably, brings us to the subject of the Mana-Born—and their unique relationship with Dungeons.

  During the early stages of our research into the events surrounding the Day of Awakening, an anomaly emerged that was initially overlooked: the complete absence of forced mana awakenings in pregnant individuals. At the time, this detail went largely unremarked—not out of concealment, but due to the overwhelming chaos and the widespread breakdown of global communication.

  The first indication that something extraordinary had occurred should have been the total cessation of births—across all species—for slightly more than 2 weeks. In hindsight, this was a glaring red flag. Statistically, there should have been an average of over 300,000 human births per day, not to mention countless others across the animal kingdom. But no births were recorded. Yet, due to partial infrastructure collapse, isolated regional responses, and the disconnection between local medical networks, the significance of this absence was lost in the noise.

  Crucially, many doctors, midwives, and medical professionals did raise concerns. There were whispers of still pregnancies, delayed labour, and an eerie quiet across maternity wards. But with world and local governments reeling from the deaths of key individuals—victims of the violent awakenings—and facing social and political upheaval alongside the sudden collapse of societal infrastructure, there was simply too much else happening for this anomaly to command the attention it deserved. In the rush to re-establish a sense of widespread normalcy—which, to their credit, was largely successful—this singular event was simply missed.

  Even more startling is what happened next. After the unexplained 2-week silence, all births that should have occurred during that window took place within a single 24-hour period. A global, synchronised wave of delayed births. An event unprecedented in both scale and biological impossibility. And yet, with no repeat occurrence, and no apparent negative consequences to the newborns, the incident was quietly set aside and forgotten as humanity turned its attention to more immediate and visible threats.

  It would take several years—and the emergence of the Mana-Born generation—before researchers began to re-examine this moment with the seriousness it warranted.

  — Extract from a lecture by Dr Elliot Barnes, Doctor of Applied Mana and System Theory, delivered in

  Chapter Eight

  Day of awakening – 03:00

  “Are you okay?”

  I didn’t know how long I had spent just standing there staring at the dead child turned monster, I felt hollow, not just tired, but empty. Thing that felt extremely important before, seemed irrelevant, experience? saving people? I just didn’t seem to care and even at Stevenson’s words, a large part of me, just wanted to turn and head back to the van, I had done enough hadn’t I, hadn’t I saved enough people?

  Do I have enough experience?

  Did I care?

  “We should take a break, we have been at it for hours now and starting to make mistakes.”

  I realised he was talking about me, just rushing in without assessing the situation properly, most likely if I stopped for even a couple of moments I would have noticed the bug on the van roof, it wasn’t as if it was even hiding.

  I nodded at that, a break. I wouldn’t need to think—I could just stop. The excuse was all I needed and started to lower myself to the ground, but Stevenson grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me back up.

  "Don’t sit. The second you do, it’s over. You’ll crash hard—I did, first time through this kind of hell. Lean on the van if you have to, but stay on your feet, and whatever you do, don’t shut your eyes."

  I stumbled across to the workman’s van and leaned my back against it, resisting the urge to slide down and close my eyes, happy to follow someone else’s orders and not make any decisions myself.

  After a couple of minutes of just staring into space, I turned to Stevenson and asked.

  “Done much of this before when you were with the… I think you said Navy?”

  "Yeah, Royal Navy. And no, no combat. I was a below-decks bloke. Mostly servicing and fixing stuff just kept the ship running. But they do put you through a bastard of a basic training. Builds your tolerance for this kind of long-haul stress."

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  “Sounds like that would be useful for times like this.”

  "Don’t think fighting monsters was part of the training manual, mind. It doesn’t turn you into some super-soldier—just teaches you how to pace yourself, manage the stress, push through the brain fog."

  I tilted my head back and rested it against the workman’s van already starting to feel better and myself again.

  “But you’re not with the Navy anymore?”

  "Nah, packed it in years ago. Marriage was on the rocks, and I needed to be around for my daughter. And truth be told, it was just time."

  “Sorry about your marriage.”

  "It’s alright. Ended amicably enough. We both saw the writing on the wall, just held on till our girl was old enough to handle it. I was actually riding up to see them when it all kicked off—noticed the lights going out and pulled into a petrol station to check what was going on."

  “You saw it all go down? Also wasn’t it pretty late to drive that sort of distance?”

  "I like riding at night—less traffic, fewer roadworks, I can just hammer it through in one go. Safer too, when you’re on a bike."

  I nodded at that.

  “Makes sense.”

  "Yeah, the lights were odd. City was lit up one moment, then just… gone. Like someone dropped a curtain over it. Next thing, cars start dying mid-drive. I pulled off sharpish—lucky the station was right there."

  "Tried to restart the bike—nothing. Dead. Then I saw this weird aurora ripple across the sky. Thought it was just static at first, until I heard screaming from the kiosk."

  "Ran inside, and there it was, this—thing, like a bear but wrong. Spikes out its back like some sort of nightmare porcupine. Didn’t have time to think. Grabbed a cricket bat off the display rack and gave it everything I had."

  "Somehow managed to put it down, though not cleanly. Got those weird system messages right after—initialisation, kill confirmed, all that. Then the real weirdness started."

  "Bike still wouldn’t start, so I locked it up round the back. A few other folk had banged themselves up when their cars cut out, so I did what I could for them, then headed into town to find help. That’s when I heard you lot making a racket."

  I smiled slightly at the way he just nonchalantly described the start of the world ending and fighting a monster as though he was just recounting a dull afternoon, before my mind latched onto something.

  “Did you say your bike was still running initially after all the lights and the cars stopped?”

  “Yeah, was running fine up until I pulled into the petrol station and turned the engine off, I’ve been wondering about that as well.”

  “Anything special about the bike? It not some sort of special ex-military bike or something?”

  "Nah, nothing fancy. Just old. Only thing I got from my dad when he passed. Been restoring it in my spare time."

  “Did you try push starting it?”

  "...Push-start it? Huh. Never crossed my mind. Bypass the ignition… yeah, that might actually work."

  Feeling slightly recovered and Stevenson lost in thought, I went off to look for the kid, the fear of lost Experience was starting to raise its head again and I knew that we really needed to get a move on. Knocking on the door as I entered the house I found the father standing in the centre of the lounge looking and the scattered destruction.

  “Hey Sir,”

  He looked up at me, his face blank and lost.

  “Hey, do you know where Shannon is?

  “Shannon?”

  “The kid?”

  “Oh, I think he is still upstairs with Mel.”

  The man was clearly still in shock, so I left him and headed up the stairs. The kid was still on the landing, frozen mid-thought. The girl was pressed up against him, gripping his wrist with both hands as she tried to scrawl something on it.

  She looked to be about the same age—maybe even in the same year—but compared to his gangly frame, still very much under siege by puberty, she was stunning. The kind of girl who got asked if she’d thought about modelling, and who would’ve had seventeen-year-old me wrapped around her finger.

  It was clear he hadn’t processed a single thing since saving her family—his face looked like someone had unplugged his brain. A part of me—just a little cruel—wanted to wind him up. But the kid had earned this moment. So I decided to throw him a line.

  “Miss—sorry to interrupt, but I need him back. There are others who still need help tonight, and without him, we don’t stand a chance. He’s a real hero risking his life like that to take down these monsters.”

  Her hazel eyes lit up with something close to awe, and I could practically hear the kid’s brain short-circuiting.

  “Also,” I added casually, “use a permanent marker on his forearm—big numbers. Biro smudges too easily with sweat. And you don’t want to leave space for someone else to write their number, do you?”

  Manipulative? Maybe. But the way she gasped and ran off in a panic to find a marker—yeah, it worked.

  A little bit later we were back outside, the kid now had her mobile number covering both his arms and was waving goodbye to the her as I retrieved my makeshift spear, I found Stevenson with a troubled look on his face.

  “You want to go see if you can get your bike running again don’t you?”

  “Look I’m sorry but-“

  “I understand, it fine, your concerned about your daughter and now you think you might have a way of getting to her. My parents are currently in the middle of the Atlantic on a cruise ship and I have no idea if they are dead or alive, trust me I know.”

  I held my hand up to Stevenson while I thought for a moment.

  “Look I think I know the petrol station you are talking about. We have travelled quite far from it, but if we head down to the Highstreet, we can cut across and then head up the main road to where it joins the bypass and help anyone we can, and kill any monsters along the way, deal?”

  I was planning to head that way after this anyway, much more densely populated, should be better farming if there is anything left.

  Stevenson nodded, a slight smile of thanks crossed his face.

  Alright, let’s go.