The world never truly ends, it just changes.

The incursion of magical power into an unsuspecting world creates a series of changes, some explosively dramatic and some dangerously invisible. But when the dust settles, what does it mean to survive? And in a world that makes monsters, is humanity doomed to join them?

This story follows a party of friends-turned-adventurers, struggling to survive and thrive in this new and dangerous reality.

This is a highly non-traditional LitRPG -- nobody gets thrown into a ready-made universe of conveniently structured classes and powerups. After all, there can be no System unless someone invents it, and the world, itself, has to progress for its inhabitants to thrive.

This is the story of how, and just as importantly, why the System was created and how it evolved into the familiar structure. This is that backstory -- a slow-burn apocalypse in a largely realistic context. The trappings of LitRPG arrive slowly, evolved out of necessity and assembled piece-by-piece by the very people who need them to survive.

Cover art is a placeholder. It's just the work of an afternoon and photoshop, intended to be quick rather than good.