Chapter 170 - Year’s End
As the Spring rains came to wash the snow away, it completed the first year since the World was altered. While Chris and his fledgling City were slowly making progress on rebuilding, the rest of the world did the same.
Some had a head start, planting their pylon and building exactly where they were returned, while others had to seek out new places to carve out for themselves. The foothills of Virginia, being one such area, had turned into a perilous place for even the strongest on the planet, let alone the average human, causing any returned there to journey far away before they felt comfortable setting down roots.
In places similar, where the mana was thick and the monsters strong, people left in droves. Seeking safety and shelter wherever they could find it. A mass exodus away from certain areas happened all over the globe and in some, it still happened.
Where man once stood at the top all over the globe, some areas inverted that scale and it was undecided if it would ever be flipped back.
Some were able to painstakingly, and with great losses, fight against that hierarchy. Reestablishing 'order' and plant the seeds of civilization, but just as many stayed and died, failing to accomplish what they had hoped.
Where some fought walking horrors of grotesque monstrosity seeking to eat them, others had to fight for the resources just to survive. Water and food weren't freely available and stocking up took more than running to the store like it used to.
Rivers, streams, and watering holes were precious resources that many things needed for survival. While humans were among the many who needed them, they were far from the only ones.
The fight for territory between man and beast was rough for the first few months, but it had settled as the year went on.
The animals that man used to be wary of long ago became an even bigger threat after mana arrived but they were far from the only threats people now faced.
Mother Nature had made sure its dominance was not forgotten. Supercharged storms filled with mana were the smallest on humanity's list of worries.
The Laws of the universe weren't there for human use only. They were Laws for a reason and that was made known to all who witnessed them.
The very phenomena the Laws were birthed from took the biggest death toll in certain areas.