A New Beginning In A Mana Apocalypse

Just before they left though the screen showed almost twenty of the dog monsters near the gate all turn back to look at the gate then run off together in a hurry. I would guess that something even worse was about to come through but the screen moved back to the station to report that the national guard were making their way to the stadium and were prepared to a.s.sist the local police force in handling the new appearance of the beings. Worse reports were coming in that the beings appearance was no longer limited to the Phoenix area of Arizona in the United States. The rest of Arizona and all the states around it, and those bordering Ontario were seeing appearances of beings.

Twenty minutes after the energy wave and h.e.l.l was breaking loose.

I grabbed my phone and dialed Momma in a hurry. I had no idea where they were at the moment but if the beings were showing up in Colorado then there was a chance she could be in danger.

"Daryl?" Momma asked after answering the phone, she seemed to be crying.

"What is it Momma, what"s wrong?" I asked.

"James is….is...oh G.o.d." she sobbed.

"Momma!" I shouted through the phone.

She cried for a moment before she returned to the phone. "James is dead." she told me.

"What happened?" I asked her hurriedly.

"Our neighbor Mr. Hartford became one of those beings." she told me between sobs. "He came after us, James tried to protect me but he killed him." she told me with a sob.

"What about the being?" I asked.

"He"s dead." she replied as she seemed to pull herself together. "I unloaded a full clip of forty fives into his head." she told me the firm reliable Momma I remembered coming back. "How are you kids doing?" she asked.

"Looks like chaos down here. A gate to another dimension opened at the stadium and monsters started to come through. The news is reporting a lot of sightings of the beings all over the valley, and plenty more all across the state." I replied.

"You kids should get out of there." she told me.

I nodded despite the fact that she couldn"t see me. "I was thinking the same thing." I told her. "We should meet up somehow." I told her.

"Daryl, it is a nine hour drive from Phoenix to Grand junction on a good day, with everything that is going on right now I doubt there is anyway to get through." she told me.

"We have to head somewhere. The beings are mutations of people so California sounds like a bad idea." I told her.

"Daryl!" Megan called anxiously.

I turned to see that the news had changed to a familiar gas station. It wasn"t a professional camera but a streaming video from someone"s smartphone. There were several beings attacking the cars at the station and the cars that had stopped for the stop light. The most important thing to note, and the reason the news had put this video amongst all the others that was being sent to them, was the fact that there was a new color amongst the beings. It had dark blue skin, was buffer than even the reds, and had wicked looking claws on its hands. Obviously it was deadlier than the red or greens, but worse it would roar and the other beings would stop what they were doing. While I wouldn"t call it organized, they attacked and retreated as a group. The blue was a leader making the danger level of the beings rise exponentially, and that gas station was on the corner of our own block, a ten minute walk from the house we were in.

"s.h.i.t." I cursed.

"What is it Daryl!" Momma asked me worriedly.

"A new type of being showed up. Its has blue skin, and can lead the others." I told her.

"That isn"t good." Momma confirmed.

"It"s at the gas station right by my house." I told her.

"Daryl, get out of there now!" Momma told me.

"Yeah, we gotta go. Love you Momma." I told her.

"Be safe Daryl!" she said then hung up.

I looked around the room, but everyone looked as scared as I felt.

Then as if someone hit the pause b.u.t.ton the television image froze.

"What an interesting group." a female voice I had never heard before said from the kitchen.

We all turned to see a woman in a long dark green dress standing by the kitchen counter. She had a incredible figure, large perky b.r.e.a.s.t.s, a slim waist, and a pretty face framed by long bright red hair. Her eyes were like a pair of blood red rubies. Beside her were two people, one an older man in a neat butler"s uniform which was immaculate, the other a younger man in a soldier"s uniform with a short sword strapped to his waist.

The butler had pure white hair carefully combed and steel like gray eyes that regarded us warily. The soldier was a handsome man with short brown hair and a similar look in his brown eyes as the butler.

"Time?" I asked a thought appearing in my head.

"Yes, do you have the ability?" the woman in green asked, she seemed to be the leader of the group.

I shook my head. "No. It hasn"t awakened yet." I replied.

The woman in green squinted her eyes at me. "Are you claiming to be a silver core?" she asked.

I looked back at her a dangerous feeling coming from her but nodded anyways.

"If that is so then what is the other ability beside time?" she asked me.

"s.p.a.ce." I replied then pulled a few drinks from my s.p.a.ce. "Would you like a drink?" I asked politely. I had no idea who these people were or how they appeared in the house without us knowing, but I got a very dangerous vibe from them. As none of us were that proficient in the use of our abilities I couldn"t say we would be able to defend ourselves very well.

"Interesting." the woman said then stepped closer and took one of the drinks from my hand. Her hand grazed mine briefly. I felt a jolt from her then her eyes widened. "So it is true." she said excitedly. "Which wave is it now, and when did you become a silver?" she asked me.

I had no time to process the change in her att.i.tude before she had pounced on me her large bust pressing into my chest her ruby eyes boring into mine.

"Back off!" Megan yelled angrily and tried to intervene but the soldier drew his sword and pointed it at Megan stopping her in her tracks.

"Sorry." the woman in green apologized as she took a few steps back. "It is rare to run into silver cores. I just got excited that we found one with our first group."

I moved closer to Megan who wrapped her arm around my waist possessively as she glared at the red haired woman. "As for your questions we just had the second wave, and I had a silver core when I woke up from the first wave." I told her honestly.

The woman in green seemed surprised by my answer. She looked back at the butler, "Is that possible?" she asked.

"Yes my lady, it is rare though and hasn"t been seen since the fall of the ninth realm, or at least if there was one since then they did not survive for long." the butler replied.

"Wonderful, we have to take him back with us!" the woman in red said excitedly. "We can meet our quota with him alone!"

"We can not my lady." the butler told her. "There are rules regarding the recruitment of gold potentials."

The lady in green frowned then seemed to pout. "I know, but…." she said then stopped.

"Can you tell us what is going on?" Karen asked suddenly from beside Michael.

The red haired woman looked over at Karen for a moment. "I guess I did forget to introduce myself in my excitement. I am Calidia of the fifteenth haven." she introduced herself. "This man is Jorrimus my aide, and the pretty boy there is Nessin, careful he really likes to use his sword."

"As for what is going on." Calidia stated seriously. "Simply put your world is coming to an end."

I sucked in a breath, I wanted to deny what she said but there was something in me that knew that what she said was the truth.

"Why?" Karen asked.

Calidia shrugged. "Even we don"t know." she admitted. "We just know the process. Gates will open between the various world and the great realm. That realm is full of chaotic mana which causes people to become twisted. I am sure you have seen a few of them already." she told us.

Twisted had to refer to the beings that mutated.

I nodded the pointed at the screen which was displaying a frozen image of a blue and green being.

Calidia looked at the screen then nodded. "Yes, though those are still gemless twisted. Once they form their gems they will become far more dangerous. The second opening of the gate will last longer, as will each successive opening until the fifth. The fifth wave will open a permanent gate. As will the sixth and seventh, the eighth opening isn"t actually an opening, during the eighth opening your world will fuse into the great realm." she told us.

"And you come from the great realm?" Karen asked.

Calidia shook her head. "No, only the twisted and the mana beasts live in the great realm. We visit in search of resources but true humans no longer live there." she replied. "Which brings me to the reason I am here." she told us. "I am here to find talents and bring them back to the haven." she told us.

"You"re a recruiter?" I asked.

Calidia nodded. "The same thing happens with all the worlds as they end, your society will crumble as your governments fall, then anarchy will rule over everything as you strive to survive a world overrun with twisted and mana beasts. We want to find the talented and take them out of here before they lose their humanity."