Forged By The Apocalypse - A LitRPG With Draconic Potential

Away Grant's dungeon, the world still exists. Meet Ewan.

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The world had gone to complete shit and it felt like I was the only person able to see it. London was literally burning, who knew about the rest of the world? Running theory was that Earth itself had moved, and while most said it was crazy, who could argue when someone else replied “magic”?

The System had ruined everything, down to my marriage. Those thirty minutes where everyone thought the world was ending had been… damaging to their relationship. When the flames of hell hadn’t appeared, things turned awkward. She was gone now, so it didn’t matter.

Everyone was gone. Either physically, running off to poke their heads in dungeons and die or mentally, zoning out to stare at the stupid floating messages appearing all the time. “Go here, do this thing,” and you get rewarded. I’m no sheep and I was never very good with authority, so the magic voices in my head weren’t welcome.

Getting out of London had been a struggle. First there were the neighbours wanting to know what happened, but it was easily dealt with. Getting the train covered in blood hadn’t even seemed that strange to people considering monsters were now a thing.

Once I was in the countryside, I could breathe. The stink of pollution in the city had always bothered me. We stayed because Nancy worked somewhere. I don’t know, it wasn’t worth thinking about. All done now. I had relied on her quite a lot towards the end there, but I had found my own way in this new world. A path I could follow.

Apparently that was important these days. The System blew up at me one night, two weeks after it arrived. Everything became sharper. I stopped ignoring the beeps and blinks, losing myself entirely to the high which was levelling up. I was finally able to sleep that night. As was often the case, I needed to experience the effects of a thing before I could understand it. Empathy had always been a skill I lacked.

Once the slew of levels stopped, I became a little frantic. I hadn’t thought to save one for the next night, blowing the lot at once. Another fairly simple fix, though harder in the countryside. Finding and exploring a dungeon was an option but people who I had seen go into the terrifying domes hadn’t come out. There was more than enough monsters outside to be getting on with.

Killing a few of them showed me it really wasn’t for me. I didn’t get the same thrill, and the System didn’t reward me as much. A group found me nursing an injury and immediately set to helping me. I let them, told them my name and they told me their’s, even though it didn’t matter. One of them had actual magic to make the pain go away, which was absolutely insane.

My only magic was a type of poison. I didn’t even have to hurt someone to apply it, just touch them. I didn’t completely understand it but it was called Dao and it made me stronger than just about everyone. The two had been higher level than me, and both had given me two levels each when they died, not even knowing it was me. I held the hand of the man as he choked on his own vomit.

The look of hate which passed over the man’s features suggested he knew it was my fault in the end, but so? People were dying all over and all the rules had disappeared. Apparently, for me that meant the blinders were off. Everyone else could kill the monsters and I would, in turn, take the fruits of their hard work for myself. Looking back, it was entirely in character.

I’d always let others put the effort in while reaping whatever benefits I could. An innocent symbiote. The System had unleashed the beast within, and I had no desire to keep it restrained. The Dao of Murder was an easy itch to scratch, after all. Especially once I found Newtown.

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“Something awful is going to happen.”

“You’ve been saying that for two weeks now, Julianna.” There was a slight pause while Frederick saw my expression. “Sorry…”

“You will be. Twat.” With that light insult, I stormed from the office. Quite literally, since my last quest reward. My emotions were harder to calm now that there was a literal inferno in my chest. The Aspect of Fire was common, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t as strong as some of the rarer ones I’d seen. As with most, it seemed to fit me perfectly.

But that was just the problem. The System wasn’t super charitable but most people had an Aspect or a quest for one at this point. A few naturally occurring ones had even appeared in the surrounding area. Those seemed more potent than others, so when the fire I had been staring at seemed to solidify, I shoved my hand into it quickly, before anyone else could.

Now, I had been reformed. Reforged. I had reached level twenty one and gained the eight or so attribute points which went with it but the Aspect had unlocked so much more. My emotions felt more like my own than they ever had in the old world. It meant the things I found beautiful were all the more gorgeous, but the reverse was true as well. Try as I might, the smouldering anxiety smoked away in my gut.

I barely trusted herself with her new powers, so why was everyone so trusting of everyone else? I had seen a man lift a car over his head in an altercation earlier. It had been settled without bloodshed, thankfully, but what about next time? What about when someone ripped the ground from underneath your feet and turned it into a weapon? Never mind the actual weapons.

“Augh!” My shout scared a pair of children and I apologised, laughing. I took a breath and tried to calm myself. It wasn’t a bad thing people weren’t more scared, even if I felt they should be. Maybe I just wasn’t cut out for leading. Maybe I never had been. It hadn’t been my idea to begin with, but then Fred and I both received quests to found a town together.

Pretty simple given there were already buildings here. We were firmly in the rural side of things, but a small village centre became the base of operations. Getting people on board with the new world was easy enough once they saw their first monster. Being the only people willing to fight them made her and Fred look like superheroes. I’d seen the huge rat going for a little boy, and moved without thinking, but that didn’t matter afterwards. It just became part of the legend.

So, Newtown came into being on the edge of Oxford.

Once the System decided enough people considered themselves residents of Newtown, instead of unaffiliated, the benefits started pouring in. For pretty much everyone. For the general populace, it had brought the safety of System-built walls. Something about having solid stone between them and the increasingly dangerous world helped. Monsters not appearing under their beds also might have been a factor.

For Fred and I, it had signalled a divergence. The System reward felt random at the time, but had been right for both of us. Fred became leader of the town, with me as deputy. I got less responsibility and gnarly bow. Without noticing it, I was suddenly the protector of over a hundred people. Including children.

It was no wonder I was stressed.

The gate opened, which was strange for this time of night. I went to see what was happening and found a lone wanderer being allowed entry. I threw a silent look of questioning at Darren who shrugged. “He’s hurt,” he said from atop the wall unhelpfully.

“Cheer, Daz, I can see that.” Stephanie was already tending to his wounds but because I had been in the area, I managed to see the wounds. I hadn’t been a police officer for long before everything went crazy but that wasn’t the only reason I could tell the injuries were from another human. I had various reasons for seeing bite marks on others over the years.

“Where you from, mate? What hurt you?” I asked with a demeanor learned on the job. Polite but forceful. Being the de facto leader of the guards could be seen as a promotion. At least a sideways career move. I found the man’s eyes and was met with… nothing. I suppressed a shiver.

“Came from London. Name’s Ewan. A monster attacked me on the road. Strange badger looking thing. I’m not a fighter, so I ran. Lucky it wasn’t very fast.” Rote. like every word was a chore, read from a script in his head. I looked over his disheveled form. Black jeans, ratty running shoes, a button-up shirt with all the buttons and a leather jacket too big for him. Very short hair, probably bald when the System arrived. He was dirty, but not dirty enough to have tumbled with a monster.

But there’s no goddamn protocol to follow. We didn’t even have a jail, despite me asking. We hadn’t turned anyone away yet, and doing so just because the guy gave me the willies wasn’t a good way to start. Stephanie would show him to one of the barracks we had built for new arrivals before he was put to work and assigned a home tomorrow.

I jumped up to the parapet with a single leap. Fortitude was my main attribute - who’s wasn’t? - and it felt good to use it properly sometimes. “Keep an eye on him tonight, Daz. Seeing as you let him in.” He squawked in protest but I shook my head and smiled. “I’m joking, got to keep letting people in or everything falls apart. We have to trust people. That said, I don’t trust that fucker for a second. Keep an eye.”

I had nothing else to do anyway, so I drew my bow from its space in my soul and sat down in the guard’s chair. Darren knew what he was doing.No one would bother me tonight, hopefully, so I just looked out over the fields and hills surrounding our little attempt at creating a safe haven.

I kept a vigilant eye, praying I saw a monster which looked like a badger, but knowing there was no chance.

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It was time. They were ready. Out of everyone they had met, they were the strongest. Harry was even pushing against the bottleneck of evolution, which was the coolest thing I had ever heard. I was only level 24, but I wasn’t worried. If push came to shove, I was probably the most important member of the team.

Harry walked to the front of the group and I had to control my face. No one needs you to give a speech, Haz. We had done all the planning and preparation we possibly could. I said nothing, as I wouldn’t be heard over the clatter of platemail anyway. Let him get it out of his system, I told myself.

“Alright guys and girl, we’re here. This is the only dungeon we’ve seen which didn’t let anyone in to start with. Jason went inside and hasn’t come out, which probably means you can’t leave once you’re in. We used that first dungeon to get levels and gear so we could help him, which is what we’re going to do.”

Right. Only option is he’s stuck, sure. Considering the other dungeon they had used let them go without hassle, it seemed like there might be another option for the loss of Harry’s brother. I was smart enough not to say anything. It was sad, but hopefully we could find his body at least. Holding onto hope let Harry do what he needed to do.

“We’re with you, Haz,” Ellie chimed, “let’s fucking do it.” The lone woman of the group, Ellie had always been ‘one of the boys’. Friends for years, the five of them had tackled the new world together. Myself, Harry, Ellie, Aaron and Luke made up a solid team, covering all the classic bases. Harry was the tank, with Aaron able to cover the role on occasion. Aaron was better off doing damage where possible, like Ellie and Luke. All three of them had more Speed than Fortitude, and Aspects which leaned towards aggression rather than defence, like Harry.

Then there was me, the healer. Absolutely no clue how it worked beyond using the skills the System gave me, but it was potent stuff. I might’ve felt like I jogged a mile, but the results were honestly just too damn cool. Being able to repair a broken arm in minutes was a trip. I still had a large mace to hit things with but it was more for show really. No other words were spoken. Harry turned and walked into the dungeon, with the rest of us in tow.