May 27, 2048.
Eighteen years have passed since the giant wormhole opened up over the Pacific Ocean.
What followed was the decrease in earth's population from 8 billion, to only 3 billion.
After the yellow gas started to spread from the giant wormhole, it caused a chain reaction leading to smaller wormholes appearing around the globe.
The increase in the number of wormholes wasn't the cause of the earth's decrease in population though. The cause was the yellow gas that each of them spewed out.
When the yellow gas came in contact with humans around the world, their body's cellular structure started to evolve. Humans with superhuman abilities started to appear in society.
Some of them had the strength to lift cars and trucks, some had the ability to fly in the air, while others gained psychic abilities.
The superheroes told in fiction were starting to appear one by one.
However, when everyone was focused on the evolved humans, they forgot they weren't the only species on earth.
Tigers, snakes, sharks, some of the planet's deadliest animals, and more began to evolve as well.
Brazil, home to the world's most poisonous snakes.
Australia, known for having the funnel-web spider that can kill a human in 15mins.
And even vampire-like insects like mosquitoes can be found almost everywhere.
Within a week over a hundred million people lost their lives. Guns became useless to the now 60meter long snakes, their scales became stronger than tungsten metal and more flexible than rubber. Tigers and leopards became stronger, faster, and more vicious.
Humans couldn't use their most prized possession, the nuclear bomb.
They were only created to target each other, so when the animals began to evolve within their own country, unless, they're willing to bomb themselves, then the nuclear weapon was out of the question.
As for the evolved humans that gained superhuman abilities, what can they do?
A tiger lives in a harsh environment where being able to survive depends on how successfully it can kill. Due to this, they've honed their strength and speed to hunt their prey with precision. Even if humans gained abilities that match or surpassed the now evolved tigers, they still can't compare to a tiger's natural instinct for killing.
And this goes for all the other evolved beasts.
By the time it reached the third year since the wormhole appeared, half of the world's population was gone.
The larger countries such as the United States, and Russia was where the most death occurred. Smaller Islands and countries that were surrounded by water were somewhat safer as the evolved beasts on them were fewer in numbers.
The fifth year since the wormhole opened was when the situation took a turning point.
A group that called themselves the 'Heroes Raising Guild' appeared and started gathering the evolved humans to counterattack the evolved beasts.
The group was led by a man called Danzel Stein.
With his ability to manipulate gravity, he led the group across the northeast region of Asia, all the way to the southwest region.
Along the way, the group gather other evolved humans and slaughtered the evolved beasts.
As the group's momentum grew, this sparked a chain reaction that caused other guilds to pop up all around the globe. In every country, several strongholds were created.
Scientists at this time had thoroughly studied the new characteristics of the evolved beast and came up with countermeasures.
By studying the scales and hides of the evolved beasts, they were able to create a stronger metal that was able to resist their attacks. They then went on to erect walls made from the new 'Alevium' metal around the strongholds to stop the evolved beasts' advancements.
Within the next few years, humanity had adapted and evolved far more than it ever did for the past millions of years.
The UN acknowledged Heroes Raising Guild as humanity's savior and declared them to be viewed as an independent country, while also allowing them to become a member of the United Nations.
The Heroes Raising Guild, not only became the undisputed number one guild in the world, it became a conglomerate organization that spread to every country's stronghold.
Following that, more and more guilds started to appear, while schools began to introduce programs that focused on training children to use their superhuman abilities.
The threat of the evolved beasts wasn't solved, most of the strongholds would face beast hordes on a large and small scale. To keep humanity from becoming extinct, new generations of strong evolved humans needed to be created.
And what's even more, humanity's threat isn't only their evolved animals, they also have to watch out for what's on the other side of the wormholes too.
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Seoul Stronghold, Gangnam Lab 19.
17:18
"Beep… beep… beep, click… click… click"
The sounds of computers making noise and keyboards being clicked echoed in the lab. Various people in white lab coats could be seen moving around the room.
At the entrance, two military soldiers could be seen with assault rifles standing guard.
Suddenly, the door slid open allowing a bearded man wearing a military uniform to walk through it. By his side was another man wearing a white lab coat with a pair of glasses on his face.
The two military soldiers saluted the bearded man as he walked past.
"Professor Kim, remind me why you've called me all the way here from HQ."
The man in the lab coat named professor Kim adjusted his glasses before saying,
"As I said on the phone General. Gangnam's wormhole is showing signs of instability. If something like what happened in Australia happens here, not only Gangnam, but the whole of Seoul could kiss its ass goodbye."
"Hmm" The General hummed in agreement.
Both of them began walking down the flights of stairs before coming to a stop in front of a huge monitor on the wall.
The military General was stroking his beard while he watched the monitor that was showing people wearing Hazmat suits while circling a miniature wormhole with various devices in their hands.
Without taking his eyes off the screen the General asked, "How long has it been since it started becoming unstable."
Adjusting his glasses again professor Kim responded, "The first signs started to show around May 2nd."
"What?!" The hand that the General was using to stroke his beard pulled a little too hard causing strands of hair to come off in his palm.
"You mean to tell me it started to become unstable nearly a month ago, but your only now reporting it?!"
Professor Kim diverted his gaze away from the General's and said, "At first the instability was minimal and wasn't anything to worry about, but since an hour ago the instability increased three folds."
The General's intense glare lingered on professor Kim for a moment, before he turned to look back at the monitor screen.
"If it were up to me I would've dismissed you from your position as the Chief Scientist for withholding information."
"Well I'm glad it's not up to you." replied professor Kim as he adjusted his glasses once more.
"Chief!! Something's wrong, the instability just jumped from 32% to 68%!!"
"What?!!"
Professor Kim swerved his head around so fast his glasses flew off his face and landed on the ground, shattering into pieces.
Not caring for that, he ran towards one of the many computers in the room and stared with squinted eyes at the data results being shone. In the top right-hand corner of the computer screen, a flashing red 68% could be seen steadily increasing.
"Fuck me!! It's still increasing!!"
Professor Kim raised his head from the computer and shouted at the many scientists in the room, "Someone hurry to tell professor Soo-jin and the others to evacuate from the portal!!"
Professor Kim then turned towards the General and said, "Gener…"
Before he could finish though, the General cuts him off by saying, "No need to tell me, I'm already on it."
Saying that, he put the communication device that was hanging by his side to his lips and pushed a button on it with his thumb before speaking into it, "Squad B, make sure you destroy anything that comes out of that hole."
On the other side of the two-way communication device, a voice could be heard replying, "Roger that General!!"
Looking at the large monitor, the wormhole could be seen shrinking and expanding, which caused the space around it to be torn apart.
"The instability just reached 92%! "98%!!" shouted professor Kim.
The General turned to look at the monitor with a serious expression, while he mumbled to himself, "If something really comes out of that shit hole like in Australia, then one-third of South Korea would be whipped out before help arrives."
{You know those transitions in movies where the camera slowly moves towards a tv screen and then enters through it? Picture that happening here.}
As the camera came through the monitor screen, five people could be seen standing in front of the wormhole, three were men while two were women.
The person situated in front of the group was a man with a cleanly shaved head, wearing military pants and a black vest. He had a two-meter-long blade made from Alveium strapped to his waist and was nonchalantly chewing a piece of gum with crossed arms.
On his left were the two remaining men, and on his right were the two females.
One of the men on his left wore similar clothing as the bald man, and instead of having a single blade, he had two one-meter-long swords strap at his side.
The other man was a lot taller and muscular than the two men. He held two machine guns in each arm, while two straps of bullets were wrapped around his shoulders.
One of the two females on the right wore skin-tight clothing that outlined her deep curves and assets, while the other wore similar clothes as the three men.
Popping his gum, the bald man who seemed to be the leader of the group said, "We're going with our second tactical formation, if it turns out to be something we can't handle, retreat and regroup!"
"Roger!!" The four behind him shouted in unison.
Following that, the two-meter wide wormhole that was sixty meters in front of them suddenly contracted to the size of a pin, then expanded to five meters before going back to normal. This began to continuously repeat.
Back in the lab, professor Kim was standing beside the General looking at the huge monitor.
"It's reached 99%. It's going to continue contracting and expanding like that until it fits the size of whatever is coming out of the other end. And based on research, the wormhole size is like a power indicator." Professor Kim stated, but it sounded like he was just speaking to himself.
"What was the size of the wormhole in Australia when that 'thing' came out." The General asked from the side.
Adjusting his newly worn glasses, Professor Kim replied, "It was fifty-two meters, making it a rank 5 evolved beast."
"A single rank 5 evolved beast was able to destroy an entire stronghold protected by dozens of rank 3 and 4 evolved humans. Right now the only evolved humans we have are those five, four of them at rank 3 and one at rank 4. If the portal is anything like the one in Australia then we're all dead."
Turning to look at professor Kim the General's eyes turned cold as he continued, "If it weren't for you withholding information, then there would've been plenty of time to prepare for this. I don't know which guild your secretly working for, but, let me tell you something... if I see that there's no chance of me surviving this, I'm going choke you to death with my own two hands."
Professor Kim's face was calm, but, his back became soaked with sweat.
"Instability has reached 100%"
A female at one of the computer desks shouted out.
On the monitor, the wormhole contracted to the size of a pin before it expanded to five meters.
Ten meters.
Fifteen meters.
Twenty-five meters.
Thirty-two meters.
.
It stopped at thirty-two meters.
Professor Kim released the nervous breath he was holding before he smiled and said, "Thirty-two meters, that's probably around a rank 3 evolved beast. I think your men can handle that Gener…."
Professor Kim's sentence became stuck in his throat before his eyes went wide with shock and horror.
Falling onto the floor, with his glasses barely on his face, he pointed at the monitor with a trembling finger and shouted.
"Th...th...that's impossible!!!"
What he was pointing at was the increasing size of the wormhole.
After it had stopped for a while, it started expanding again.
Forty meters.
Fifty meters.
Sixty meters.
Seventy meters.
Eighty meters.
Ninety meters.
Hundred meters!!
Without pause, the wormhole expanded to a frightening size of a hundred meters.
Professor Kim was trembling on the floor as kept on mumbling the same something over and over again, " It's rank 10, it's rank 10, it's rank 10"
The General who was by the side gritted his teeth and lunged himself at professor Kim.
"It's all your fault, you bastard!! watch how I'll choke you to death!!"
Professor Kim's face started to turn red from the lack of oxygen going to his brain, but he still managed to struggle out a few words.
"E..ven if a..ll the ev..olv..ed hu..mans on th..e pla..net we..re here in Ko..rea, it sti..ll wou..ldn't have ma..tter..ed."
The now hundred-meter wide wormhole suddenly released a blinding white light that caused everyone to close their eyes.
After the intensity of the light was diminished, everyone slowly opened their eyes and looked at the monitor.
Standing in front of the wormhole that had now shrunken to its normal size, was a young man that looked around twenty years old.
He wore a strange combat suit that had designs unrecognizable to any on earth, while on his shoulder rested a snake-like creature, that had four legs and wings that were folded onto its back.
The young man looked around and saw the group of five on the ground, not too far away.
Walking over to them at a leisurely pace, he came to a stop in front of the bald man before he opened his mouth slowly asked a question,
"What is today's date?"
The bald man was still slightly dazed by everything, but he still instinctively answered,
"It's May 27, 2048"
When the young man heard that, his eyebrows came together in a crease, as he mumbled under his breath, "He was right, time moves slower over there than on earth."
The bald man was closer to the young man so he was the only one that heard him, and when he did, his dazed expression just became more bewildered.
Sensing something the young man turned to look in the direction of a camera.
In the lab, the General was still over Professor Kim, but he had stopped choking him, and the both of them were watching the young man.
When they saw him turn to the camera, they felt as if he was looking directly at them.
Turning to Professor Kim, the General asked, "Is that what a rank 10 evolved beast should look like?"
Professor Kim shook his head and said hoarsely, "I don't know, no one has ever seen a rank 10 evolved beast on earth, or, from the 'other side'. "
Seoul Stronghold HQ.Interrogation room.May 27, 2048. 18:38In a white room, sitting in a chair around a table, the General had on an annoyed expression as he looked at the young man that was across from him.He had been trying to get him to talk, but, ever since he got here he just sat there in silence."Are you mute? Why aren't you saying anything?" Slight anger could be heard in the General's voice.Suddenly, there was a knock on the door before it was pushed open.A man wearing a military uniform who looked to be in his early twenties entered the room.His right hand was wrapped in bandages and was placed in a sling around his neck, while his left hand was holding a folder with documents inside.Walking up to the table, the young soldier handed the documents to the General while saying, "Here are the reports you asked for General.""Hmm" The General let
The General watched as Young-soo walked past the now non-existent wall and entered the hallway, disappearing around a corner soon after. He wanted to move to stop him, but, when he looked at the dust that remained from the wall, he was unwilling to get near a person that could destroy earth's strongest metal with just a touch. 'Does he have the power of decay? Or is it an evolved ability that allows him to deconstruct something at a subatomic level? I can't tell what his evolved ability is just from looking, but one thing's for sure since he's able to destroy Alevium metal with just a touch, the higher-ups won't just allow him to roam around by himself.' As the General was thinking to himself, sounds of alarms could be heard ringing within the building, while bullets being fired echoed. The door to the room was pushed open, and in came running was the young soldier from before. "General what should we do, or men are reporting that our Alevium
"Where is he."The General felt the heavy pressure lifted from his shoulders.Steadying his raged breath he looked at Young-soo and said, "This isn't the place to talk."The General pointed his thumb in the direction of the building.Young-soo frownslightlyand said, "If you're lying your dead."Saying that he started walking back to the building's entrance.The General didn't say anything and lead the way through the corridors, back to the same interrogation room with the missing wall.Sitting down on the chair, the General gestured for Young-soo to take a seat.As Young-soo sat down, the General glanced towards the damaged camera, before he turned to Young-soo and started speaking."Back when the portals first started to appear around the world, there was a one year period before the evolved beast started to attack humanity. Between that one year, the UN had a hard time controlling the evolved humans that st
Seoul Stronghold, Gangnam Lab 19.Chief Scientist Office.May 30, 2048. 17:13 pmInside his office, professor Kim was examining the dust, from the wall Young-soo destroyed, through a microscope."F*ck!!""Crash!!"Professor Kim cursed as he swept the test tubes and equipment that was next to him, onto the ground.Looking at him, one could see the dark lines under his eyes and his slightly sunken chick bones.Due to a lack of water, his lips were starting to become dry while his face was turning pale.For the past three days, he had been continuously examining the dust without any sleep or food.And for the past three days, he still hadn't been able to identify what sort of ability Young-soo had used to destroy the Alevium wall."Goddammit!!""It's not decay, it's not deconstruction, it's not time manipulation, nor is it spatial manipulation. What the hell is it then!!""I have th
Seoul Stronghold. Stein Hotel. May 31, 2048. 11:59:pm Messy. One word that could describe the current state of the hotel room. All over the floor, several empty cans of beer bottles, instant ramen noodle cups, and dozens of pizza boxes could be seen. There were several pieces of clothes thrown randomly around the room as well. "Beep..beep..beep.." Young-soo who was sleeping on the large bed suddenly snapped his eyes open and jumped up from a sleeping position. His body started radiating a brutal aura, while his eyes that were filled with hostility, scanned the room. After realizing where he was, the brutal aura he was releasing slowly withdrew into his body followed by the hostility in his eyes. Looking down at the watch on his right arm, he sighed and tap a button on it, stopping the alarm. Scratching his disheveled hair, he slumped back onto the bed, causing the sleeping
Seoul Stronghold. Gangnam Memorial Building. May 31, 2048. 13:37 The General park the black SUV in front of the huge memorial build that housed the names and pictures of everyone who died in Gangnam during the disaster. Getting out of the car the General and Young-soo walked up several steps to reach the double door entrance. A huge monolith made from marble was placed next to the doors with the words, "Gangnam's Memorial Building", carved in bold letters on it, there was also a sentence underneath it written in cursive writing that read, "So we will never forget" Young-soo only gave it a cursory glance before continuing to the entrance. Upon entering through the double doors, Young-soo was greeted by an open area that had several tens of rows of marble monolith that were smaller than the one at the entrance. Each monolith had hundreds of names and pictures on them that show the now dead citizens. They we
Seoul, Gangnam. December 19, 2030, 15:03 "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh." The sound of the helicopter's rotor blades echoed from the TV as a female Korean reporter, reported the news. "This just in, a huge wormhole appeared in the sky above the Pacific Ocean. We don't know how it came to be, but scientists believe it to be a wormhole leading to an entirely different universe from our own." The female reporter paused as she pressed a finger against her earpiece, seeming to have been told something, she then looked back to the camera and started speaking again. "We're getting reports that the UN has decided to send a fighter drone to investigate the wormhole." As the female reporter's voice sounded out, the camera swerves around to show the scene. In the middle of the sky, a pitch-black hole several hundred meters wide could be seen. Even from miles away, it still looked enormous.