Leon sat near a rough stone outcropping, his back pressed against the cold cavern wall as he stretched his legs out in front of him. His fingers absentmindedly traced the uneven ground while his mind drifted, replaying the events of the last week in these godforsaken tunnels.

  It had been exactly seven days since their world had turned upside down.

  Seven days since the subway.

  He let out a quiet sigh, watching the dim glow of the blue fungi that had taken root along the walls. The light flickered faintly, casting eerie shadows over the cavern floor, where the seventy or so survivors who had stayed behind moved about, each caught in their own struggles. Some were talking in hushed voices, and not a small amount just sat in exhaustion and mourning, lost in thought.

  Leon adjusted his position, rolling his shoulders. The first few days had been the worst. After the initial panic, and setting up a watch rotation to keep guard against whatever was lurking in the tunnels, some people had simply decided to leave.

  Leon had watched them go—groups of survivors convinced this was some elaborate prank, an underground military experiment, or something even crazier. They had stormed off into the tunnels, insisting that there had to be an exit nearby.

  Ethan tried to stop them and tell them we needed to stay together, but people made up their minds. In the end, their original group of two hundred had been cut down to seventy. The rest split off, vanishing into the darkness of the tunnels.

  At first, those who remained had waited.

  They waited for the groups who left to return with good news.

  But after two full days of sitting in the cavern, surviving off their rapidly dwindling water bottles and whatever snacks people had on them when they arrived, it became painfully clear—no one was coming back.

  It had been Ethan who finally said what everyone was too scared to admit.

  “We can’t sit here and wait for them,” he had said, his voice carrying across the cavern, silencing the nervous murmurs. “They either found a way out and forgot about us, or they got lost. Either way, we’re out of food. If we stay here much longer we will starve” Just like that the atmosphere changed. And not for the better.

  People had started complaining—seeing things, and that it wasn't safe. The things they said they saw weren’t hallucinations, not exactly, but the shadows in the tunnels played tricks on them, and fear made every flicker of movement feel like something watching from the dark. People began whispering that maybe help wasn’t too far off. Maybe rescue was coming.

  Ethan had shut that down fast. “We don’t know when—or if—help is coming,” he had said, standing tall in front of the group. His voice had been steady, calm but firm.

  Leon had seen it—the doubt in Ethan’s eyes when he glanced at him. The two of them had talked about the system and tried to make sense of it, but they didn’t have any answers. But one thing they agreed on, help wasn't coming. But Ethan knew better than to tell that to the others.

  So instead, he had told them what they needed to hear.

  “If we want to survive, we have to help ourselves first” Ethan had said. The argument that followed had been ungodly. Leon had never seen people argue about basic survival before, but dear God, people were difficult. Too many opinions. Too much fear. Too much uncertainty.

  But in the end, they had decided to move.

  It had been chaos at first, but one tunnel was chosen, one of the same two tunnels the first groups had taken. No one knew what had happened to those who left before them. But they had to take a chance, and some argued that it was better to follow in their footsteps. And so, they walked.

  The further they traveled, the more the tunnels changed.

  Leon had been the first to notice the fungal growth. Strange, blue mushrooms lined the walls, casting a ghostly luminescence over the path ahead. They pulsed faintly, their light ebbing and flowing like breath.

  Then, the man wearing a business suit collapsed.

  It happened suddenly—one second, he was walking behind Ethan, the next he let out a strangled gasp and crashed to the ground, convulsing.

  Everyone had scrambled away in panic, their collective fear making them hesitate. Ethan had reacted first, kneeling beside him. “What happened?” he demanded.

  A man wearing cargo pants, someone Leon hadn’t spoken to, stepped forward. “I think I know, we had spoken earlier his name is Jack, and while we were talking he got hungry,” he said grimly. “He picked one of those mushrooms and ate it...”

  Leon’s stomach twisted. Shit.

  “Is there a doctor?” Ethan called out, scanning the group.

  A long pause. Then, to everyone’s surprise, the elderly woman from the subway—the one who had been knitting—stepped forward.

  She hadn’t said much this entire time. In fact, she had been eerily quiet throughout everything. But now, she moved with purpose, kneeling beside Jack’s convulsing body.

  Leon exchanged a glance with Ethan, but neither spoke.

  The old woman checked Jack’s pulse and then placed a hand over his stomach. A faint green glow pulsed beneath her fingertips. The cavern fell deathly silent. Someone behind Leon muttered a prayer.

  Just as quickly as it had appeared, the glow faded.

  The old woman wobbled, her body swaying, but Ethan caught her before she could collapse.

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  “What… the hell was that?” Ethan asked, his voice carefully controlled.

  The old woman exhaled slowly. “I used to study to be a nurse,” she admitted. “When this all started, thats where my mind went, I tried to think of logical reasons for what was happening. A mass hallucination. A government experiment. Some kind of gas leak.” She sighed. “But last night, I felt something. And then… I got a notification saying I had acquired Basic Healing.”

  Leon had blinked at her in shock. The next few hours had been chaos. Half the group refused to believe her. Magic wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

  The other half? They wanted answers. Some had watched too many Harry Potter movies and were asking her ridiculous questions. Leon had firmly placed himself in the middle group. If magic was real… then he had to try it for himself.

  Hours later, after their first rest stop in the tunnels—where the glowing crystals embedded in the walls bathed the space in an otherworldly light—Leon had found a quiet spot and sat down.

  He closed his eyes.

  The old woman had said to focus on something, like she did with medicine. And to try to find a feeling inside their body, she didn't know more than that. Leon thought about glass. About how fire shaped it. How temperature control made it malleable but stable.

  Then, suddenly, he felt it. A soft, subtle energy flowing through his body, warm and alive. His breath caught as it spread throughout his entire being. He focused harder—on fire. A small flame flickered to life in his palm. Leon panicked. His immediate reaction was to throw it. The fireball flew from his hand and smashed against the cavern wall, sending sparks flying and dislodging loose stones. A chime rang in his head.

  [ Skill Acquired: Fireball. ]

  Form a small fireball. Damage is based on the amount of mana infused.

  Leon stared at his hands. What. The. Hell. The entire group had turned to stare at him. Ethan, his eyes wide, had said the only thing that made sense. “What just happend?”

  Leon was staring at his hands, his fingers twitching as if expecting the fire to return. I just cast a spell. The thought was absurd. Magic wasn’t real—it shouldn’t be real. And yet, here he was, standing in the middle of a glowing underground cavern, his palm still warm from the fireball he had hurled into the wall. The silence stretched.

  Ethan’s stunned gaze flicked between Leon and the scorch mark left behind. His jaw tensed, and he exhaled sharply. “You’re telling me that you—” he gestured toward Leon, “just… threw fire?”

  Leon swallowed, his mind still struggling to process it. “Yeah,” he finally muttered. “I guess I did.” That was all it took.

  The group exploded into chaos. People backed away, whispering among themselves. Some looked at Leon like he was some kind of walking hazard. Others? Their eyes burned with curiosity—hope. A younger guy, maybe in his early twenties, let out a nervous laugh. “No. No, this isn’t real. It’s gotta be some kind of trick.”

  “Then explain the glowing hands!” someone shot back.

  Leon sighed, rubbing his forehead. He had seen this before. Not the magic part—that was new—but the way people reacted when their understanding of the world was shattered. The human mind did not handle the impossible well, there was such a thing as existential dread after all. It was the same when his grandma was shown the video on how big stellar objects could get, by comparing their sizes.

  Ethan, on the other hand, was still staring at him, his expression unreadable. “So now there are two wizards” Ethan eventually said, nodding toward the old woman.

  That shifted the attention. The old woman, who had healed Jack, stood calmly despite the dozens of eyes now pinned on her. She exhaled slowly, glancing at Ethan. That was the final push.

  People started trying it themselves. The first person to succeed was the woman with the dog. She stretched out her hands, eyes squeezed shut, mumbling something under her breath. For a few tense moments, nothing happened. Then, in the space just above her open palm—a thin spike of ice formed, floating in the air.

  A gasp rippled through the group.

  She yelped in shock, flinching back. The moment her focus broke, the ice shattered into pieces, dropping to the cavern floor in a fine mist. And then, it happened again. The homeless man—the same guy who had been laughing at their predicament since day one—lifted his hand, and a nearby rock levitated off the ground. It hovered awkwardly, trembling in the air as if uncertain whether it wanted to stay or fall. Leon swallowed. That’s… dangerous.

  “Alright,” Ethan clapped his hands together, loudly. “Enough experimenting for now!” His tone had the weight of command, and people froze.

  Leon didn’t blame him for cutting things short. A bunch of untrained, panicked people suddenly wielding elemental magic? That was a recipe for disaster. For example, someone could end up throwing a fireball in a space full of people in panic.....

  The group slowly settled, the tension still thick in the air. Leon could see it—the gears turning in their heads, the realization settling in. They weren't thinking of just survival anymore. This was something else entirely, what kind of person didn't want superpowers? This was like Oprah saying, you get magic, and you get magic and everybody gets magic!! People were tempted to take this opportunity.

  Not everyone had unlocked combat magic though. Some developed skills that were far less flashy. A woman in what looked like her late thirties, a mathematician by trade, unlocked a skill called “Efficient Calculation.” It let her solve complex equations faster. Not the most useful in a cave, but still.

  Another man, a butcher from Brooklyn, received “Butcher’s Eyes.”

  [ Skill Acquired: Butcher’s Eyes ]

  (Allows the user to analyze an animal or creature and determine whether its meat is safe for consumption.)

  That skill came in handy sooner than expected.

  Because not long after, they found food.

  Or rather… they found something that could be food.

  The tunnels stretched on for hours. The air had grown staler. Their water supply was running low. Then they saw it. A small lizard-like creature, its scales blending into the dark rock, its eyes glowing faintly in the dim light.

  It wasn’t alone.

  Leon counted at least a dozen. They clung to the cavern walls, hiding in crevices and cracks, their small, sharp claws scraping against stone. The group hesitated. No one wanted to make the first move.

  Then Ethan turned to Leon.

  “You have a ranged attack, and this might be edible and could be a source of food in these tunnels,” he said.

  Leon readied himself. He lifted his hand, swallowing his nerves, and focused.

  Fireball, he thought in his mind.

  The warmth flared to life in his palm, familiar now but still foreign. He pulled his arm back and threw it with all his might. The fireball sailed through the air, crashing into the nearest lizard. It let out a shrill screech, writhing as flames consumed it. Then? The others scattered. “Get them!” Ethan barked.

  A wave of energy surged through the group. The homeless man hurled stones with his newfound telekinesis. The girl with the dog fired off jagged icicles. The rest? They swung wildly with whatever makeshift weapons they had—rocks, crystals, even belts. It was clumsy and messy. But they won!! No matter how insignificant of a victory it was. When it was over, they had six dead lizards.

  That left one problem: Were they edible? The butcher stepped forward, his eyes narrowing as he activated his skill. After a long moment, he nodded. “according to the skill it says they are safe to eat.” After having evidence in your face, in the form of magic, it was hard not to trust, and having no choice being empty of food and all. They had to take what the butcher said at face value.

  They cooked the first real meal on Leon's fire, since arriving in the tunnels. Many refused, stating it was gross to eat lizards, one man even coming with some racist remark, getting looks in return. But hunger won eventually.

  Food was one thing. Water? That was the real issue. Just like food, they had close to nothing left. That’s when the man in cargo pants stepped forward. “I… I might be able to help,” he said, rubbing his hands together.

  Leon watched as he took a deep breath and focused. Water formed in his palm. A tiny droplet at first. Then more, until a small orb of liquid hovered in the air. Someone whispered in awe. But it was not nearly enough.

  After distributing just one and half water bottle’s worth to the group, the man staggered, looking sick. “Shit,” Ethan muttered, catching him before he collapsed.

  Leon looked on, thinking. So they had water but not too much at once. That meant no wasting it. No drinking too much at once. Eventually, they would need a real water source, or more people capable of making water. What a weird thing to say...

  It was also not long after this that Ethan discovered his own ability.

  [ Skill Acquired: Body Reinforcement ]

  (Allows the user to temporarily enhance and reinforce their body. Duration depends on the amount of stamina available.)

  But the cost was steep. The moment the effect faded, Ethan would be left physically drained. It was useful but dangerous. Leon had seen him test it—his body moving faster, stronger, a bit tougher than before, and his mind sharper. But after just a few minutes, Ethan had to sit down, his breath ragged. Still, it was another weapon in their arsenal.

  Leon sighed, rubbing his temples.

  “And that brings us here,” he muttered.

  The past week had been chaos. But they had survived, and found some semblance of order, at least for now. Leon looked at the system message that everyone else was looking at, at least the ones that hadn't broken down completely. The one after the system had said only 15% of humanity was left.

  [ New Quest: Slay the Lizard Matron. ]

  A Lizard Matron Hibernates somewhere in this tunnel system. Find and eliminate her and her children. Reward: Settlement

  Leon’s breath caught. Settlement? Then he heard Ethan curse under his breath.