Six months later, life continued to transpire as normal.
Okay, not so normal considering many had lost their family or loved ones, and their lives had no guarantee to last past the end of the day.
The tower continued to loom over them as a reminder of their impending doom, but with that said, most cities had been rebuilt by now, and many people's daily lives continued as per usual… mostly.
Most still needed money to live, and so most large companies and corporations were still up and running.
This can't be said for the global economy, which had taken a nosedive since the incident, and even when everything was rebuilt, it had not recovered at all.
This was partly due to the fact that during this period of time, most of the money that each country possessed was spent on rebuilding and healthcare services.
Ultimately, there were hundreds of millions of citizens in comas as well as those who had been injured due to the cataclysm. There were no new innovations or competition in the stock markets, and with nothing to drive them forward, most companies came to a standstill. It was as if the entire world was waiting for something to happen.
This 'thing' that everyone was waiting for finally happened another six months later.
It started with the appearance of dimensional rifts, which were doorways into other dimensions.
The first one appeared in China, and this inscrutable phenomenon took the world by surprise. Without knowing what the best course of action was, a handful of citizens even tried to enter it, but they were fortunately stopped by the authorities who arrived as soon as they found out about the news.
Not sure what to do about this, China decided to let the world know about it, envisioning the various dangers that could walk out of wherever the rift connected to.
The rift was being broadcast all around the globe as a countermeasure, which would allow the international committee of nations to cooperate if anything were to happen.
…
One week passed without anything at all happening. For that one week, almost everyone around the world was staring at the livestream of the portal, waiting for something to come out of it.
With nothing eventful having happened yet, some doubt began to arise, and many netizens began to post and share their opinions on all the events that had already occurred, as well as what the future would hold.
A minority even talked about the idea of nothing else happening and that they could go back to their normal lives, causing many citizens to drop their guard.
Just when the people had started to relax again, a huge burst of energy blasted out of the depths of the portal, and cracks began to form on it.
The cracks expanded like a spider's web on its surface until it completely shattered, letting a dark and ominous aura ooze out of the portal.
Those nearby, including the authorities, reacted too late, and a large, red, monstrous hand emerged out of the rift, clenched itself around the head of one of the police officers standing guard, and dragged him inside.
The officers on standby promptly armed themselves and started to shoot at the hand, but it was to no avail as the bullets simply bounced off its hardened, metal-like skin
Everyone watched on powerlessly as the officer was dragged inside. His screams permeated the air, but nothing he did now could change his fate. Soon his whole body had disappeared inside the rift, and the screaming slowly but surely died down.
As everyone watched on anxiously, something was thrown out of the portal. It was so fast that most people didn't have a chance to notice what it was, but almost everyone understood what had happened.
The live broadcast turned to face the object that had splattered on the walls of a nearby building, painting it red and even denting it in the process.
Though unrecognisable as he was, everyone knew his identity, or at least what was left of him and to whom it belonged. Blood had spilt everywhere, and his guts lay on the street for everyone to see.
It seemed that his skull had even cracked on impact, and what was left could only be described as a pile of flesh and bone.
This functioned as the commencement of war: whatever was inside this rift was clearly not friendly towards humans.
So, it began—a fight that the current humans were not at all equipped to win, and it won't surprise anyone that what happened that day would go down as one of the greatest and most brutal massacres in human history.
Everyone watched this scene on their phones, and even with the military arriving, nothing changed. The beings that came out of those gates could only be described as monsters, and they bore a striking similarity to what most knew as ogres through comics and films.
They were described as the personification of strength by the onlookers, though they would soon realise just how wrong and short-sighted they were.
But it was true that these beings were the strongest thing that they had encountered as of yet, and so humans were totally hopeless in this battle, as even their firearms had been rendered almost useless. At best, they could only really scratch or dent their skin.
China had lost many men that day, and they would continue to do so until they were able to kill these ogres.
Out of options, the leaders of China were ready to launch nuclear bombs. But it would be extremely difficult to do so, as the site was still being broadcast to the entire world, and since the portal was in a populated residential area, the damage done would be immense.
Almost all of their military personnel who were available had been deployed to the site of the rift, and they were still slowly losing.
They had been driven to the brink of despair; after all, this could be the end of China, as they were at their wits' end on what to do. At the very least, they would lose a whole state, millions of citizens, as well as their trust, in the case of nuclear weapons being used.
They naturally called for assistance from other countries, but without having countermeasures against these monsters, everyone was reluctant to lend a hand.
Most were at first delighted at being able to be owned by a country such as China, but this hope quickly turned into despair as the dire nature of the threat was revealed.
At this rate, it was not just China that was in trouble, as these monsters seemed unstoppable, as if they were a horde of wolves let loose into a colony of sheep.
Fearing the worst, many countries nearby prepared to evacuate themselves. Everyone who was able to do so booked private jets out of the country, to any destination that was a sufficient distance away.
But thankfully, this didn't come to pass, and today wouldn't be the end for one of the strongest countries in the world. In fact, it would be the start of a new age—a new age for humanity.
[The preparation phase has ended]