Magic is just another name for reality warping. The dangerous kind of reality warping that should never be played with. Mages awaken their magic through traumatic, life-changing events such as death, horrific injury, insanity, becoming a parent etc. This tends to create a kilometer-wide bubble around the mage that badly messes with reality, often ending with everything inside that bubble destroyed by the shifting reality.

The villian's goal is to tame magic and confine it so that reality will not be destroyed everytime a mage awakens or uses their powers. This however will require the culling of all things magical so that new magic can take their place. The protagonist does not want to die and so tries to find a way to stop the villian.