"Come together and get the injured some first aid," Damien called out, his voice carrying the authority his military training had drilled into him. But even as he spoke, his hands trembled slightly. The adrenaline from the fight was fading, leaving behind the stark reality of what had just happened.
A middle-aged woman with nurse's scrubs stepped forward. "I'm Sarah, I work at Memorial Hospital. Let me see who's hurt." Her hands were steady despite everything, and Damien felt a flicker of relief. Medical training, even in this impossible situation, was invaluable.
The woman in business attire—her face smudged with dirt, her voice still trembling—repeated her earlier question: "What... what do we do now?" Her eyes, along with dozens of others, fixed on Damien with a mixture of hope, desperation, and barely concealed fear.
As people gathered around the fallen boar, something strange began to happen. Parts of the creature's body started to dissolve—its glowing eyes, the molten veins running through its scales, and the fiery core within its tusks turned into streams of pure mana that spiraled upward like glowing smoke. The energy dispersed into the air, but the majority of the creature remained intact.
Chris knelt beside the dissolving remains, his earlier bravado replaced by genuine curiosity. "The thick black scales, the meat... it's all still here. Only the glowing parts are disappearing."
"Look at this," Sarah said, examining the carcass while bandaging a burn victim. "The meat appears edible, and these scales... they're incredibly tough. We could use them for protection."
Damien watched the mana spiral into the air, and for a moment, he could swear he felt something respond within his chest—a warm pulse that seemed to echo the creature's dispersing energy. Around him, others showed subtle signs of the same reaction. Elena, the flower seller from across the street from his restaurant, was staring at her hands with a puzzled expression.
"Did anyone else feel that?" she asked quietly. "When the mana dissolved... it was like something inside me recognized it."
Before anyone could answer, Elena suddenly stiffened, her head turning toward the forest edge. "We're being watched," she said, not turning around. "Multiple creatures, but they're... waiting. Not like the boar. These are patient."
Damien felt his muscles tense, scanning the luminescent trees for any sign of movement. "How many?"
"Hard to tell. At least six, maybe more." Elena's voice carried an odd certainty. "They're not approaching. Just... observing."
The warm pulse in Damien's chest grew stronger, and with it came an unexpected awareness. Something about the way Elena was sensing the creatures, the way the dissolved mana had affected them all—they were changing in ways they didn't understand.
"We can't stay here," he decided. "The boar's blood is still steaming. The scent will draw every predator for miles."
"Move where?" Chris asked, gesturing at the injured people Sarah was treating. "We don't even know what direction is safe."
Before Damien could answer, sounds from deeper in the forest made everyone freeze. Human voices—shouting, then screaming. The sounds were distant but unmistakably terrified.
"Other survivors," the business woman whispered. "And they're in trouble."
The screams cut off abruptly, leaving only the eerie silence of the glowing forest.
"We need to find them," someone said. A few others nodded, but Damien shook his head.
"We need to survive," he corrected. "We can't help anyone if we're dead." The words felt harsh, but his military training had taught him the hard mathematics of survival. "We gather what we can from this creature, find defensible shelter, then figure out how to help others."
As they began organizing supplies, movement at the clearing's edge caught Damien's attention. Not the hidden watchers Elena had sensed, but human figures stumbling through the luminescent trees.
A woman in her forties emerged first, wearing what had once been a business suit. Behind her came nearly twenty survivors, all looking exhausted and terrified.
"You killed it," the woman said, staring at the fire boar's corpse with a mixture of hope and amazement. "We've been running from those creatures for what felt like hours."
"How long have you been here?" Damien asked, stepping forward.
"Since the beginning. We appeared in a different part of the forest." She extended a dirt-stained hand. "I'm Dr. Margaret Chen, research director at Zenith Corp. We lost several people before we learned these things could be fought."
As the groups merged, sharing information and resources, the reality of their situation became clearer. They were scattered across this transformed world with nothing but their wits and whatever they could scavenge from the strange creatures that hunted them.
"There was a structure we spotted from higher ground," Dr. Chen continued. "Strange architecture, but it might offer protection. About a day's journey north."
Elena, still positioned as their early warning system, suddenly tensed. "The watchers are moving," she announced. "Coming closer, but slowly. Like they're testing our defenses."
Damien felt that warm pulse in his chest respond to her words, and for a brief moment, he could almost sense what she was feeling—shapes moving with predatory grace through the shadows between trees.
"We leave now," he decided. "Everyone who can walk, helps someone who can't. Dr. Chen, your people know the way to this structure?"
"We can find it again."
As they prepared to move out, Sarah finished treating the last of the injured. "Three people need to be carried," she reported. "Burns are serious but not life-threatening if we can get them proper shelter."
Chris and several others had fashioned crude stretchers from boar hide and broken branches. The meat and usable scales were bundled and distributed among those who could carry extra weight.
Just before they left the clearing, Elena caught Damien's arm. "There's something else," she said quietly. "When that mana dissolved from the boar... I didn't just feel it. I could almost taste it. Like my body wanted to absorb it."
Damien nodded slowly. He'd felt the same thing, though he hadn't wanted to admit it. "Whatever happened to us when we arrived here, when that voice spoke to us... we're still changing."
As they began their journey through the luminescent forest, following Dr. Chen's group toward the promise of shelter, the dissolved mana from the fire boar continued to shimmer faintly in the air around them. And deep in his chest, Damien felt that warm pulse growing stronger, as if it were learning, adapting, preparing for whatever came next.
Behind them, in the shadows they were leaving, the patient watchers Elena had sensed began to follow at a distance—not hunting, but observing these strange humans who could kill mana beasts.
The first day in the new world was ending, but their transformation was just beginning.