Placing his hands on the table, Dr. Brian spoke in a deep tone: "All right, everyone is here. Good. Then let's get started."
Turning around, he ordered, "Open the command screen."
A screen blinked to life showing a map of Cromaria. Then he spoke: "As you can see, the rifts have been intensifying as of late and causing more damage to the surrounding areas where they appear. Local task forces have been securing the sites and stabilizing local neighborhoods to minimize damages and curb unrest amongst civilians."
Turning around, folding his arms, he continued, "You five are the most brilliant researchers in C.A.R.C. Do you have any new updates to share? It is of utmost importance that we share what we've gathered from other research sites around the country."
Clearing her throat, Dr. Jade stood up and walked to the front of the conference room. Dr. Jade was a short woman in her early twenties with striking green eyes that looked like jade behind her round glasses. Her beautiful, short, silky hair seemed to flow like water when she moves. Wearing a white short dress and a lab coat that was too big for her small frame, she spoke softly, trying not to fumble her words: "G-g-good day, everyone."
"My team and I have found out, after researching the rifts for some time, that there are three different types of rifts." Turning to the screen, she clicked the remote, making the image of three rifts show up.
Continuing to speak, Dr. Jade began to explain the difference between the rifts. "The blue rifts we have found have been the safest of the three, only producing a weird energy that we have been calling 'essence.' Prolonged exposure has made test subjects, researchers, and anyone that comes in contact with it calmer, happier, and healthier."
Clicking the remote again, a video started to play showing animals and humans that they put in the radius of the rift, which were initially sick, enraged, or depressed, started to become happier and healthier just by being in proximity to the blue rift.
"On the other hand," she said, clicking the remote to change the picture on the screen, "these green rifts cause quite the opposite." Letting out an exhausted sigh, Dr. Jade spoke with an annoyed tone. "These rifts cause atmospheric anomalies and mutation in mammals, such as causing lightning storms inside the affected area. If it's inside a building, it will still affect the area, causing the building to have random anomalous effects; some include rain, tornadoes, blizzards, snow, fog, and more. The mammals affected are mostly farm animals and domestic pets. The rift seems to make them bigger—some reports have shown that they can reach up to twice the size. And last on the list is the black rifts. They seem to teleport creatures from another reality to ours, swapping places with whatever was in the location when it appeared. We believe that the anoma—"
Before Dr. Jade could finish, a loud alarm started to blare throughout the facility, causing her to jump and clutch the remote in her hand.
"WARNING! WARNING! This is not a drill. A level four anomalous presence has been detected in the area. Please evacuate outside the building immediately in an orderly fashion."
"Welp, let's get out of here. We can continue with the meeting later," Dr. Brian said as he began to rise from his chair.
Not wasting a moment, the others in the room began to follow him out of the conference room. By the time they made it out of the building, the number of rifts detected to be opening soon was increasing at an alarming pace; it was now detecting six rift formations at level four.
"Well, it looks like we are in for a shit show now," Nick said while looking up at the sky.
"Could you be a little positive?" Jade cried at Nick, with tears slowly forming in her eyes.
Shaking his head, Nick chuckled. "All right, all right. Well, let's get going. We're going to have a lot of cleanup to do if those rifts open up. I'll see you guys later. Tommy, I will see you later after this ends. Looks like my assistant is calling for me."
With that, Nick headed towards the SUV waiting with his assistant outside, waving at him. Each head researcher at C.A.R.C. has an assistant to drive them wherever they need to be while assisting them with tasks or even eliminating threats to their life, if required. Saying that they are just assistants is an understatement. With that, everyone dispersed, heading to their vehicles to seek safety.
Walking to his vehicle, Tom realized that Dr. Jade had been following him to his car. Stopping right in front of his car, Tom turned around to look at Jade. "Did you forget to tell your assistant to come and wait for you?"
Awkwardly looking down at her feet, Jade replied with a shake of her head, too shy to look him in the face.
On their way to reconvene at another safe location to continue their discussion, they were traveling together with a convoy of armed personnel behind them. They were the only ones in their car because head researchers at C.A.R.C. are not allowed to stay together in groups of more than three in emergencies, to minimize losses in case of an accident.
An emergency news broadcast then interrupted the music they were listening to. With a shaky voice, she said, "BREAKING NEWS! Most of New Zealand has been destroyed in an event the government is calling the 'Great Fracture.' Officials are saying to seek immediate shelter. We will update you when there is more information availa—"
But before she could finish, the radio cut to static.
"What the hell is happening today?" Tom said out loud, his face twisted in confusion.
As he said that, the essence radar in the car, which is used to measure the amount of anomalous essence in the area, went to Level 4 and continued to rise rapidly. In utter confusion, Tom and Jade both looked at the monitor, wondering what the hell was happening. The ground started to shake violently, causing the asphalt to crack and the convoy to immediately stop.
"Wait here," Tom said to Jade, who was now shaking and grasping the seat belt with both hands. Shaken, Jade nodded her head in understanding.
Stepping out of the car, Tom walked over to the hillside as he looked down on the nearby city. His face began to show the look of a man that could not comprehend what he was looking at. Exiting their armored vehicles, the soldiers walked over to Tom, wondering what he was doing. Following his gaze, the soldiers looked over to the city to see what Tom saw, and then they saw it.
"The city—the city... it's gone!" one of the soldiers said in shock.
Indeed, the city was gone, like it never existed. The only thing that remained was large columns of smoke rising into the sky.
In a soft, shaky tone, Jade's voice could be heard asking, "Where is the sun?"
Everyone then turned to look up at the sun, but indeed there was no sun, just the empty sky. One of the soldiers then spoke, "How is there light if there's no sun?" Everyone was baffled.
In the next moment, a giant eye seemed to appear out of the blue, looking down at the world. In the next second, a loud screeching was then heard, becoming louder and louder, like glass was being broken into pieces. Falling to their knees, everyone began to cover their ears to try and block the pain of the noise.
The ground started to shake and crack as the earth below and around them started to crumble and slowly rise into the air. Looking up, Tom saw it—something that shouldn't be possible. The sky began to rip apart, stretching beyond the horizon in both directions. Before he knew it, his vision started to blur. Looking around, he saw the soldiers slowly passing out. Turning his head to look at the car he left Jade in, he began to try to get up to get to her, but before he could, his vision went black.
A silent voice then whispered: "Earth 313 has been destroyed, sending remaining survivors to the First Realm. The first trial shall begin shortly."