1 Project Rift

Huo Ling woke up early in the morning like always to exercise Everyone of fourteen and under had to exercise unless you were disabled in some way. This was required by the government - which was now called The Republic and all of humanity was governed by The Republic - in preparation for Project Rift.

Huo Ling took half an hour doing the exercises before he got breakfast. He didn't eat much though, he was way too excited and nervous at the same time. Today was the 28th of May, 3649 and in three days a major change in Huo Ling's life would take place. Every 1st of June every child the age of fourteen would be gathered in the capital of the planet. And then Project Rift would officially start.

Project Rift came to be six hundred years ago. At that point on one of the planets taken over by humanity a rift opened. All electronic devices stopped working simultaneously, seemingly without reason. The planet was evacuated, but the government placed all kinds of researchers there to find out exactly what that was. In the two hundred years after that, a lot of news would be published about a new dimension. The rift was actually a portal to another world called God's Domain. They were able to make a stable reconstruction of the rift and perform tests on it.

In 3462 around two hundred years later, the portal was build in every capital. This was the start of Project Riff, but not the reason behind it. The real reason was that humanity was in a tight spot. One hundred years earlier, one of the planets, we found another sentient race. Humanoid beings, but devilish. They had horns, black blood and most importantly, the ability to completely ignore any weapon the human race used against them. We called them Shadiri and they were carnivorous, they are all things with flesh and they especially loved their new found delicacy: humans. For them, we were just pigs waiting to be slaughtered.

This was where Project Rift came into play. In this new world, humans could strengthen themselves. This was our newfound hope and we bet a lot on it. The Republic ordered everyone the age of fourteen to go to the capital on the 1st of June. They would then be sent to a random place in God's Domain.

Huo Ling checked the time on his watch. On normal days it would be rather early to go to the station but around the 1st of June, all transport would definitely be messy as hell. Thus, after checking for the fourth time if he left something behind, he walked to the nearby station. The stations in the year and age differed a lot from sixteen hundred years ago. Now they used vacuum tubes and capsules which would go as fast as 4000 kilometres an hour.

After standing in line for half an hour, he finally got in a capsule with seven others around the same age. There was a short 'please sit down' and half a minute later they got launched. Huo Ling looked around him. There were four girls and three other boys in the capsule. The girls were talking to soothe their nerves. Two of the boys were talking as well, albeit in a lower volume and speed. 'They are most likely the first to panic in a dire situation.' Huo Ling thought. He then looked at the last boy who seemed completely composed and didn't strike a conversation with anyone. After examining the others, Huo Ling closed his eyes.

After thirty hours with only fifteen minutes before the end of the ride, one of the boys couldn't help but ask Huo Ling and the boy who looked completely composed. "How are you two staying so composed, are you not nervous or excited at all?" The others were interested in this as well and stopped their conversations. Both kept quiet until finally, the other boy said: "My father is from the military and he learned me to always keep calm. He said people who kept calm often survived longer." Huo Ling nodded approvingly and said: "I learned myself to keep calm while playing games." The others didn't find this weird at all, as one could experience up to twenty hours in the game compared to one hour in the real world, while also resting!

Now the right people were all discussing what place they would be transported to. In God's Domain, there were a few towns at common and safe transportation locations. These places had teleporters in which you'd be able to go back to your planet. They also had so-called Evolution Rifts, though not all towns.

Most of the children hoped to safely spawn near a town, except the calm boy which was called Finn Welton. Most of the names still used nowadays were used on Earth hundreds of years ago.

A little later everyone got out of the capsule and started going towards the Rift Portal. There was a huge square for this event. Due to the sheer quantity of people needing to be teleported, there was always a bit of trouble. When they got to the square they were shocked. Both by the size of the square and the number of people already there. Already over four million people were already present, even though there was still two days to go till the event officially opened. The Government encouraged this though.

Every single person was checked on illegal things such as firearms. Firearms were completely useless against anything in God's Domain except Humans. This was why firearms were forbidden. When they came early they could already check every person before they had to start.

After waiting in line for two and a half hours while talking to the other people they finally got into the square. They could easily space twenty million people here. The huge square was made up of 200 by 100 smaller squares. In each square, a thousand people would be placed. When they passed the checker they all got a paper. 'Square 11342' This square wasn't too far off and they got to it rather quickly.

In square 11342 there were already around a few hundred people. Most looked nervous, excited or both. There weren't many like Finn Welton who kept himself calm. Huo Ling himself felt excited though. To him, this seemed exactly like an endless unexplored dungeon. Of course, some parts were explored and researched, but a lot wasn't! He half felt that there would be a ton of hidden bosses. During the time they waited, more people came. Now they had a little over nine hundred people in square 11342. The square with the highest amount of people would have only ten more than the square with the lowest amount of people. Huo Ling calculated and came with the conclusion that this year eighteen to eighteen and a half million people would be sent.

These people couldn't come back soon though. Even the ones who got teleported near a town with a Portal to return, couldn't simply go back to their planets. Requirements were set in order for Project Rift to work. By sending them to God's Domain they could not only get stronger and braver but also learn how to follow or give orders, learn strategies and get battle experience.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity finally, they heard a voice.

"I am honoured to be able to open this annual event. I would like to invite everyone to listen to this old man's talk."