The Second Big Bang

On November 17, 2030 the Second Big Bang occurred. Unlike the previous Big Bang this Big Bang did not create a new universe. Instead this Big Bang brought a new form of energy to the universe. Mana.

The mana spread throughout the universe almost instantly, traveling several times above the speed of light. The mana altered both the living and nonliving parts of the universe. and expanding the universe's size thousands of times over. Causing the planets and stars to grow thousands of times as well.

Life too was altered by mana creating mutations in living beings and birthing entirely new beings. The growth of Earth caused humanity to be divided into small groups and many lost their lives to the mutated and new creatures on Earth.

While some of the new creatures are peaceful, most of the new creatures are violent predators who hold little intelligence and follow their instinct. Many of the mutated and new creatures became mythological creatures with powers that humans had only dreamed of before. The mutated creatures would later be classified by the remnants of humanity as savage beasts and the new creatures, who were often more intelligent, as demons. The demons had a very large number of forms ranging from dragons to intelligent ants. Many of the demons with intelligence saw humans as inferior beings and would often attack the shelters of humanity.

Fortunately, with great catastrophe came great benefits. Some humans, mutated by the influence of mana gained supernatural power. Some had strengthened bodies, among them some were even able to match the physical strength of elephants before the Second Big Bang. Others, though rare, gained the ability to use magic. Magic the power that humanity only dreamed of and wrote about in their fictional stories emerged. Even rarer were those with both abilities.

However even with such miraculous power, without the time to develop it, humanity could not defend itself from the savage beasts. Humanity lost 70% of its population. Leaving around only 2.4 billion humans after the coming of mana. Humanity no longer had the power to rule the Earth. The mutated and new creatures now ruled 99% of the Earth including the seas.

Humanity, desperately clinging on to its life, started to form settlements with the strongest warriors and magicians as their leaders. However the populations of such settlements are small in population. When the world expanded the buildings in even the biggest cities were separated by many miles. Only those who were close to one another were able to stay close to other people.

Among the new forms of life were intelligent species. Many of these species actually came from mutated humans. The mutated humans gained abilities unique to their new species and came with many strengths and weaknesses. Such as the people who mutated to have parts of fish. The former humans, proclaiming themselves to be the "Merpeople", had a high affinity to water magic. However most of them lost the ability to survive on land causing them to flee to the dangerous depths of the oceans. Other mutated humans gained many new and many times strange new parts. Such as tails, or an extra arm. Unfortunately not all mutations are beneficial and are just an extra part of the body. These people would be widely known as "Demi-Humans". they received no species name due to the wide variety of such mutations with no real common ground between them.

The most mysterious of all the life forms that mana brought was the spirits. Spirits are formed from pure mana and often have a high intelligence. However spirits are very rare and can only be found in areas of high mana concentration. The spirits have the most of the knowledge of mana out of all the living beings. To survive all they need is mana. However, just like the monsters and demons, there are spirits who are savage and murderous while others are kind and generous.

On Earth the changes were not limited to the size and diversity of life on the planet alone but also the environments. Thousands of new environments were formed on Earth affected by mana. From hellish volcanic areas that spewed ash into the sky and blocked out the sun to absolute freezing areas where the toughest of animals before the Second Big Bang could not survive.

The depths of the ocean which were already mysterious and dangerous to humans before became deeper, wider, and far more dangerous. The merpeople who fled to the seas were far from being the top of the food chain. While they had many strengths in the sea and had the ability to survive in the upper levels of the ocean, they were often killed by predators. In the deeper depths of the oceans lied monsters and demons that could have destroyed the former Earth even when considering the power of humanities technology. Some creatures on land could match some of the creatures of the depths in power. However such creatures were rare and lived deep within the most hazardous zones on the land.

Earth was no longer the same planet it once was. It was now teeming with life of all kinds. Humans, the once dominant species has fallen from grace. Some extremists among humanity claimed that mother nature was reclaiming the Earth from humanities wickedness while others believed that it was the gods doing causing many new religions to surface.

With the coming of mana came a new age. An age unlike any that had occurred in the past. An age of monsters and magic ruling the world where only the strong could reign supreme.