Hunters, Monsters, and Variants (Part 1).

After the exchange was over, Romeo had a short conversation with Raphael that wasn't audible to Bruno. Bruno was lying on the ground, trying to digest all of the information that Romeo had bombarded him with. He had the general idea that the main reason was still being kept a secret from him. After the conversation was over, Romeo walked away from them and left the cemetery in a hurry. Raphael picked up his son on his back and walked towards the exit without saying a single word. Bruno was too ashamed to have lost his temper, and Raphael was frustrated because of his wife's promise and how Romeo used it to pull a reaction out of his son.

"June, Bring the car by the cemetery."

After the phone call was over, they spent a silent 20 minutes outside the cemetery as they sat beside each other on the bench. A large van soon arrived, and before they could get into it, Raphael handed Bruno his phone.

"Romeo asked me to give you this file to read. Tomorrow, he will be coming over to visit, and he expects you to present your opinion on the points in the file."

File Number 1- Pre-NSO. (2113-2115 AD)

In 2110, 7000 gate-like structures, now known as warp gates, opened up in various locations all over the globe. After the Third Great War and the unification of continents, humanity had been living without the threat of war for a century or two. The appearance of these structures puzzled researchers because, for three years, they existed as ethereal entities, ranging from about 200-1000 meters in height and 100 meters to 15 kilometers in length, and 10-100 cm in width. One could only see them; they were physically non-existent and had no impact on their surroundings. Many religious cults, which had been lying dormant due to the great war, capitalized on their appearance and began flocking to them, claiming divine interference in the face of all the technological progress that humanity had achieved as it denounced the work of religious organizations. Their influence started to grow as the scientific community provided no further explanation for the existence of these gates, and a new age where science was being questioned in the face of the unknown seemed to be on the horizon. This would have been the case if not for the activation of these gates two years later, which led to a perpetual event dubbed 'The Nexus Singularity Occurrence' (NSO)."

NSO (Critical Event) -(2116 AD-2123 AD).

On April 2nd, 2116, these warp gates underwent a change which took place between 2:00-2:15 am GMT, wherein their structure bent inwards, resembling an artist's depiction of a wormhole. The edges of the gates turned red, while the rest of the white changed its hue to tilt towards gold. The reaction of the religious organizations to these changes is unknown, but satellite data shows millions of people kneeling in front of the gates, possibly expecting something to the effect of the appearance of a deity. With all of the gates undergoing this change simultaneously, the number of people that had gathered in close proximity to these gates is said to be over 300 million. Accounting for the total population, which was around 2 billion, this was a significant number.

At 5:00 AM, these gates underwent another change. This time, the now golden interior changed hue once more, turning pitch black. A roaring sound, measured to be about 140 decibels, followed, rupturing the eardrums of people who were the closest to them. This led to a slight panic, but the crowd didn't take much time to calm down and move further away from the gate, possibly on the orders of their respective leaders.

After a few minutes had passed, several loud grunting noises were picked up by the instruments set up around the gates. From the images gathered by the satellites, various small bipedal creatures ranging from 0.2-0.5 meters in height started to emerge and rush forward towards the crowds at a blinding speed. They had rudimentary weapons like knives, axes, clubs, along with bows and arrows. Their intent was soon made clear with their actions, as the blood of people was drawn without any sign of remorse or mercy. They were here to hunt, and they did so with frightening efficiency, even with their awkward and instinctual method of movement. Unarmed followers tried to take advantage of their numbers, but the one thing that made these creatures so terrifying was their lack of an attribute that had been ingrained into the people after the great war,

Hesitation.

There was no chance of fighting back. For every one of these creatures killed, more than a thousand humans had perished. And their numbers kept on increasing as more of them continued to come out of the gates with no end in sight. One of the pictures recovered from Site A- (The largest Warp Gate based in the former country of Australia) gives us the horrifying sight of a mother and her child being beheaded by a single one of these creatures, now known as Goblins. Some were killed as they stood paralyzed by fear, other were killed along with their loved ones as they tried to run away, and the leaders that were responsible were hunted down before they could escape. In about an hour, 6783 out of the 7000 warp gates sites had been captured by the invading goblins, as they began looting the corpses for meat, skin and bones.

What happened at the remaining 217 gates, however, was something that could only be described as a 'Miracle.' Here, the satellites were able to capture a completely different sight. The pushback from 217 individuals and the birth of humanity's fighting chance.

Humans with abilities beyond the capacity of their species,

The Hunters.