2073 – Jakarta Incident
The first Gate tore through the sky without warning.
It split the heavens above the ruins of Old Jakarta, a jagged wound of searing light that liquefied concrete and turned steel to dust. Then came the monsters: towering serpents with scales like molten iron, their roars igniting the air. By dawn, Jakarta was gone.
Survivor's log, recovered 2102:
"The light… it wasn't a fracture. It was an eye. And it blinked."
---
2085 – The Hunter Era
The world held its breath. Then the second Gate sundered the Alps. The third devoured a fleet in the North Atlantic. Governments scrambled. Scientists dissected the beasts, finding DNA that defied taxonomy, cells that devoured radiation. The United Nations formed the Global Defense Unit (GDU), a coalition of soldiers, engineers, and the first Hunters—ordinary survivors of Gate encounters, now changed. Their bodies hummed with alien energy, their abilities defied physics: pyrokinesis, gravity manipulation, flesh that healed in seconds.
For a time, humanity rallied. Hunters stormed Gates, slaughtered monsters, and sealed rifts with brute force. Cities rebuilt themselves using salvaged dungeon core fragments, their crystalline structures pulsing with latent power.
GDU Internal Memo, 2090 (Classified):
"Core radiation exposure correlates with 'awakened' abilities. Recommend ethical review of voluntary exposure trials."
---
2115 – Ghostfire's Folly
The GDU dissolved into squabbling factions. Guilds arose, auctioning their services to the highest bidder. Dungeons became goldmines, monsters commodities.
Then the Ghostfire Collective breached a B-Rank dungeon in the Congo. Survivors described skeletal warriors clad in armor etched with faded sigils—Hunter insignia from the Jakarta era. One corpse's armor was tagged for analysis. The report vanished.
Final transmission from Ghostfire Captain Arin Voss:
"They're not animals. They're learning. They're using our own tactics against—[Static]
Addendum (Declassified 2138):
The armor's sigils matched a Hunter team lost in Jakarta. Their bodies were never recovered.
---
2120 – Cairo Calamity
The first S-Rank Gate materialized over the Nile Delta, its core radiating a black sun's glare. Guilds scrambled for glory.
Field log, Solaris Brigade rookie Hunter Kael Ren:
"Captain died laughing. The acid had eaten through her respirator, and her last words bubbled into my comms: 'They're herding us. Fuck, they're herding us like—[Static]
The Gate sealed itself after 48 hours, leaving no survivors.
Drone Footage Recovered:
Monsters arranged human corpses in concentric circles around the Gate's core. Symbols glowed in the blood.
The Gate closed 48 hours later.
---
2128 – The Hollowing
A Gate opened in Chernobyl's dead zone, birthing creatures of living shadow. They ignored Hunters, dismantling power grids and mana reactors instead.
GDU Scientist Dr. Elara Vorn, post-incident report:
"The 'Support' entity exhibited neural patterns akin to human tactical genius. Hypothesis: They're not evolving. They're being trained."
Whistleblower Audio Leak, 2130:
"They're farming us. Every reactor they sabotage cuts our mana supply to the city by 12%. They're not invaders—they're strategists."
---
2135 – Absolute Nightmare
On the anniversary of the first Fracturing, every active Gate pulsed crimson. Monsters retreated. For 24 hours, the world held its breath.
When they reemerged, they were different.
Stronger. Smarter. Organized.
Survivor Testimony, Mumbai Outskirts:
"The beasts moved in squads. One would flank while another casts spells. They left the children alive. I don't know why."
---
2143 – The Beckoning
A Gate fissured beneath Vatican City. No monsters emerged. Instead, it broadcast a signal—a harmonic frequency that seeped into radio waves, dreams, and even static. Those exposed reported visions: a sprawling lattice of Gates, each node pulsing like a heartbeat.
Transcript from Vatican Scholar Lucia Maro:
"The signal isn't a warning. It's a map. And we're not the center—we're the periphery."
---
2150 – Eclipse Protocol
The guilds launched Operation Starfall, detonating a dungeon core inside an active Gate. The blast sealed the rift but birthed the Silent Zone—a mile-wide void where mana ceased to exist. Survivors emerged mute, their eyes replaced by smooth obsidian.
Last Entry, Starfall Commander Jerek Valt:
"The core… it wasn't a tool. It was a door. And we just knocked."
---
2157 – The First Communion
A child wandered out of a Gate in Iceland's ruins. She spoke no known language, but her skin shimmered with Gate-light. When touched, she dissolved into ash, leaving a message scorched into the earth:
"Prepare."
---
Present
Guilds still sell their services. Cities still burn mana stripped from dungeon cores. But in the deepest Gates, where the air thrums with the static of unborn stars, something watches. Something collects.
The Hunters call it superstition. The survivors call it judgment.
The truth is far worse.
The Gates were never rifts. They were invitations.
Somewhere out there, the guests of honor have finally awoken.
And humanity just RSVP'd.
Yet they continue to live none the wiser.
---
Addendum – Encrypted File Recovered from GDU Server
Subject: Project Eclipse
Status: FAILED
Note: Core radiation patterns suggest sentient architecture. The Gates are not random. They are tests.
Final Recommendation: Pray.