Dungeon Break Chapter 1 The Great Fracture (Patreon)

It all started five years ago. April 20, 2003.

The day the world split open. The first tremor came without warning. Across every continent, at the exact same second, the earth convulsed. Skyscrapers swayed. Bridges twisted. Mountains cracked and the ocean surged in violent waves.

Within minutes, casualty reports began flooding in. Cities collapsed. Highways split apart. Entire neighborhoods were swallowed by fissures. By the end of that single quake, the dead numbered in the tens of millions. But the earthquake was only the beginning as the sky tore open.

Above Tokyo. Above New York. Above Rome. Above Cairo. Above Mexico City.

Cracks of violet, red, and abyssal black split the heavens. The fractures widened and released a pressure against the ears and mind that no one could explain. From those wounds in reality, structures forced their way into existence. Massive gates of energy were seen floating in the air that the governments of the world would later be classified as Dungeons. Foreign realms anchored violently into Earth and from them came the monsters.

It will later be discovered that the Great Fracture caused the connection between Earth and its hidden realms to be shattered as teleportation circles fizzled out when casted. Summoning rituals failed. Communication spells returned with nothing but static. The pathways between Earth and the Underworld, Heaven, and the countless spiritual domains were destabilized or collapsed as Earth became isolated and alone.

And on that same day, Champions rose and took their first step toward becoming this world’s salvation.

—----------------------------

Kuoh, Japan. April 20, 2003.

In a junior high classroom in Kuoh buzzed with the low murmur of bored teenagers pretending to listen. Chalk scraped against the board in steady, irritating strokes.

“The Sengoku Period marked one of the most turbulent eras in Japanese history,” The young female teacher droned, writing dates in neat lines.

Near the back, Issei Hyoudou leaned on his elbow, chin in hand, eyes half-lidded with disinterest as he wasn’t listening. Instead his light brown eyes tracked the outline of his teacher’s figure as she reached up to write. Her skirt shifted with the motion, fabric tightening for a moment before settling again. ‘History can wait. Those curves can’t. Just a bit higher and I might see some panties.’

A quiet snicker escaped him before he could stop it. The nerdy serious} boy beside him, Matsuda, glanced over with a flat stare. “You’re disgusting.”

Issei didn’t even look away from the front. “I’m a man of culture.”

“You’re thirteen,” Motohama hissed from the seat in front, shoulders hunched as if even being near Issei would get him arrested. “At least pretend to care about the lecture.”

Issei waved a lazy hand. “I’ll care when the Sengoku generals become cute girls and start wearing skirts.”

Matsuda’s mouth twitched despite himself as the image gave him a chuckle. “Idiot.”

Issei’s grin widened. He shifted in his seat, trying to angle his view better. The teacher leaned forward slightly as she wrote another date, and Issei’s pulse picked up. ‘Come on. Just a little. Just—’

Then a faint vibration ran through the desk. Issei blinked, irritation flickering across his face as his pencil rolled a few centimeters on its own. A low hum crept into the room and the windows rattled. Issei’s grin faltered. He lifted his head, finally pulling his attention away from the front of the room and looking around. “Huh?”

The hum intensified. Desks trembled. Chairs squeaked against the floor as if something beneath the building had grabbed it and started shaking. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered, buzzing louder, strobing once, twice.

Someone laughed nervously. “Is this… a prank?”

A girl near the window grabbed the edge of her desk, eyes widening. “Why is it shaking?”

The teacher finally noticed. Her shoulders stiffened. The chalk in her fingers stopped moving. “What—”

It is then that the floor lurched with screams erupting instantly. Students were thrown sideways, bodies colliding with desks. Books slid off tabletops. A chair toppled and clattered across the floor. The chalk snapped in the teacher’s hand as she stumbled forward, catching herself against the board.

“Duck and cover!” She screamed, composure shattering. “Under your desks! Now! Make sure not to let it go!”

Issei’s heart slammed against his ribs. For a second, his body didn’t move but he dropped fast, hitting his knees hard as he shoved himself under the desk. He yanked his bag over his head, arms tight around it as the world roared around him. 

Plaster cracked overhead, dust spilled down in thick bursts and the air turned gritty in Issei’s throat. Then glass shattered to his left causing him to flinch hard, curling tighter under the desk as shards hit the floor and skittered. He could hear students coughing, choking on dust and crying.

As the tremor intensified. The classroom door tore off its hinges with a violent snap and slammed into a row of desks. A cabinet tipped, its contents exploding across the room in a storm of paper and books.

Issei clenched his eyes shut. ‘This place is going to collapse. We’re going to die in here, if it doesn’t stop.’

A sob broke through the chaos, small and helpless. “Mom… Dad…”

Issei’s stomach twisted as he forced his eyes open and twisted his head under the desk, trying to see through the dust and the shaking legs of desks. A boy two rows over was curled into a ball, hands over his head, shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

Issei’s throat tightened. ‘Shut up. Don’t think about it. Just survive.’ The desk above him jolted again. Something heavy slammed into the floor nearby and made the tiles crack. Issei swallowed hard, the dust sticking in his mouth. His fingers tightened around the strap of his bag until they hurt.

He heard Motohama shouting somewhere in the chaos, voice high and cracking. “Issei! Matsuda! Answer me!”

“I’m here!” Matsuda screamed back.

Issei wanted to yell too, to prove he was alive, but another violent jolt cut him off. His head smacked the underside of the desk and stars flashed in his vision. “Gah—!” He bit down a curse.

The teacher’s voice rose again, raw with fear. “Everyone stay under cover! Do not run! Do not—”

A sharp crack split the air. The ceiling above the front of the class fractured, a jagged line spreading fast. Dust poured down in a thick sheet causing students to scream louder.

Issei’s breathing turned fast and shallow. His palms were slick. His heart felt too big for his chest. 

Another surge hit and the whole room lurched sideways. Desks slammed into each other. A student cried out in pain.

Issei gritted his teeth and braced his shoulder against the desk leg, forcing himself to stay anchored. ‘Please stop. Please stop. Please—’

—-------------------------------------------

New York City, USA

Morning commuters packed the sidewalks, shoulder to shoulder, rushing past one another with coffee cups and briefcases. Horns blared. A delivery truck double-parked. Someone cursed at a taxi.

Then the asphalt beneath them jolted. At first, it felt like a hard bump, the kind that made people pause and glance around with irritation. But then it kept going. The ground rolled again, harsher, and the streetlights shook. A row of parked cars rocked on their suspensions. Glass in storefronts shivered and cracked.

“What the hell is this?!” Someone shouted, voice snapping into panic.

A businessman in a navy suit grabbed a streetlight with both hands, knuckles white. His phone slipped from his grip and smashed on the pavement. He didn’t even look down. His eyes stayed on the towers above him as they started to sway.

“No, no, no,” he muttered. “Not here. Not again.”

Across the avenue, windows burst in a chain reaction. Glass sprayed outward and rained down, forcing people to duck and scream. A woman’s coffee flew from her hand and splattered across another man’s back. 

The street was then split as a crack tore down the center of the avenue. The pavement buckled upward, then dropped. The fissure widened, chewing through the painted lane lines and shredding them into curling strips.

A city bus hit the edge and tilted with passengers shrieking inside as the bus lurched sideways, tires screeching, as the driver wrenching the wheel. “Hold on!” He screamed, voice raw in fear. “Hold on!” The bus slid toward the widening gap, metal groaning as the road beneath it failed. A man inside was thrown against a window. A child screamed for her mother. The mother grabbed her and pulled her close, shaking so hard she couldn’t speak.

On the sidewalk, people surged back, pushing each other, stumbling. A man tried to run and fell when the street buckled again.

“Get away from the road!” Another commuter yelled, gripping a stranger’s arm and dragging him back. “Move! Move!”

High above, a crane on a construction site swung wildly. Its operator screamed into a radio, his voice lost under the alarms and roaring wind. The crane’s hook slammed into the side of a tower, smashing a line of windows into shards.

Inside an office tower nearby, alarms blared and lights flickered. Ceiling panels dropped onto cubicles. A row of monitors crashed to the floor.

A woman in a white blouse clutched her desk with both hands, her nails digging into the wood. She could feel the building shifting under her feet. “This can’t be happening,” She whispered in terror.

Her coworker staggered toward the window, pale, breath coming too fast. He pressed his hands to the glass as if it could keep him upright. “This must be the biggest earthquake of this year,” he muttered, voice hollow.

The Hudson River churned below, waves breaking in uneven patterns, tugging against the shore with violent force. Boats lurched yanked by the waves.

Outside, the building across the street gave way first as concrete fractured, steel groaned and the structure leaned, slow enough for a heartbeat of disbelief. Then it fell with the collapse hitting the street in a thunderous roar. Dust surged outward and swallowed the block. People screamed and ran, coughing as the air turned thick. 

A man tripped over a fallen sign and crawled, eyes watering, reaching for anyone. “Help me!” he shouted. “Please!” But no one could see him.

In the dust, someone cried out a name. “JESSICA! JESSICA!”

—--------------------------------------------

London, England

Midday traffic crawled across the Thames, engines idling, drivers tapping their steering wheels and staring at the clock. Then the tremor hit, causing cars to jerk sideways with tires squealing. A bus clipped a sedan and sent it spinning into the curb. People shouted through rolled-down windows, confusion turning sharp.

The Thames surged against its banks, water slamming against stone, splashing up onto the walkway. Tourists near the river stumbled and grabbed the railing as Westminster Bridge cracked at its center. A jagged line split across the roadway. The bridge groaned as its supports shifted.

A police officer stumbled, catching himself against the hood of his cruiser. His radio bounced against his chest. He grabbed it and yelled into it, voice shaking. “Control, we have an emergency! Repeat—” But all he got was static hissing back. He didn’t wait and went to get the situation under control. “Get units off the bridge! Now! Get them—”

A deep crack thundered overhead as Big Ben shuddered. The clock tower’s upper section fractured. Stone broke away in chunks and fell, smashing into the street. A car was crushed under falling masonry. The alarm from its crushed frame wailed once and died.

As people ran, briefcases fell and were trampled. Phones slipped from trembling hands. A man tried to drag an elderly woman away from the street, shouting, “Come on! Come on!” As she struggled to stand.

A mother dropped to her knees and threw her arms around her child, turning her body to shield him. Her eyes squeezed shut as debris hit the ground around them. “Don’t look!” she cried. “Don’t look!”

The child sobbed against her shoulder. “Mum—Mum, I’m scared—”

“I’ve got you,” She said, breathless. “I’ve got you.” But her voice shook. She could feel the street pulsing beneath her palms.

—-----------------------------------

Cairo, Egypt

The air already carried heat and dust when the earth began to move.

Ancient stone trembled. But the pyramids held, unmoved by the violent movement, but the city around them cracked and broke. Apartment blocks crumbled, lower floors crushed as the ground shifted in brutal waves. Power lines snapped. Sparks jumped across the streets. A transformer exploded in a burst of light and smoke. A mosque’s minaret split down its spine and collapsed into the crowded street below causing screams to erupt.

A man ran into the street, looking up, hands out as if he could catch the falling stone. He froze a step too late and backed away, eyes wide. “Ya Allah!” He shouted.

People prayed aloud in the open, words spilling out between sobs. Others screamed for their families, pushing through crowds that surged in panic.

The desert itself rippled. Sand lifted and rolled. Cracks tore through the ground beyond the city, long dark wounds opening across the dunes.

An old man stood in the middle of the street with a trembling cane, staring upward as birds fled in frantic swarms. “Is this Judgment Day?” He whispered.

A woman grabbed his arm. “Grandfather, move! Please!”

He didn’t seem to hear her as he only watched the sky, waiting for something he couldn’t name.

—-----------------------------------------------

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The coastline shifted violently.

The ocean pulled back.

People on the beach stared, confused, as the water retreated farther than they had ever seen. Boats scraped against sand. Fish flopped on exposed seabed.

Then the ground shuddered again and the ocean came rushing back.

A wall of water slammed forward. The surge swallowed the shore in seconds. Screams rose as people ran, sand sucking at their feet as the water tore at them.

High-rise apartments along the coast fractured. Cracks raced up their sides. One building’s corner collapsed, sending concrete tumbling onto the street below.

Christ the Redeemer trembled atop the mountain. The rock beneath it split and a deep fracture opened along the ridge, and chunks of stone broke free and rolled downward, smashing through trees and tearing into the roads below.

A young boy clung to his father’s leg, knuckles tight, eyes wide. “Papa, what’s happening?”

The man’s mouth opened but no words came. He grabbed his son and pulled him into his arms, holding him tight as the world roared beneath them with his heart hammered. ‘This is it. This is how we die.’ He refused to say it aloud as he couldn’t.

—---------------------------

California, USA

A seismology lab shook with the aftermath of its own alarms. Monitors flashed red across every screen. Graph lines jagged in violent peaks.

A seismologist stared at the wall of data, lips parted. “There doesn’t seem to be an epicenter,” He said, voice flat with disbelief. “Report says it’s happening globally as if the entire planet is currently shifting.”

His supervisor slapped a hand on the desk. “That’s impossible!” He yelled, face twisted with panic. “That’s not how earthquakes work!”

The seismologist didn’t flinch. He didn’t look away from the screen. “But it’s what happened,” he whispered as he swallowed, throat dry. ‘Just what is happening?’

Another technician stumbled into the room, breathing hard. “Sir! News reports are coming from every country! Everyone—” His voice broke. “People are dying everywhere.”

The supervisor stared at the screens as if he could force the data to change and the seismologist felt his stomach turn.

—----------------------------------------

Across continents, the pattern repeated. Buildings swayed, then snapped. Bridges twisted, then collapsed. Entire districts vanished into widening fissures. Airports shut down mid-flight. Planes circled, running low on fuel, pilots yelling into radios that gave only static and screaming voices. Hospitals overflowed in minutes. Doctors and nurses ran through shaking corridors, shouting names, grabbing patients, trying to keep beds from rolling into walls. Emergency lines jammed worldwide. Governments screamed for reports, for numbers, for anything that resembled control. No one had an explanation or an understanding of what was happening.

In Moscow, sirens wailed nonstop as towers cracked and streets split. In Sydney, a skyscraper tore down its center, glass falling in sheets. In Beijing, residential blocks crumpled into clouds of dust, families trapped inside. In rural villages, the earth opened under homes and swallowed them whole.

The death toll climbed faster than it could be counted. And as survivors staggered through rubble, bleeding, shaking, screaming names into the dust and as they looked toward the sky for answers.

They didn’t expect it to break open next. Above shattered cities and burning streets, the first fractures began to glow in violet, red and black.

People stopped running or breathing. One man in New York looked up through the dust, eyes wide, and whispered the question that spread across the world as the cracks widened.

“What… is that?”

—-------------------------------------------

Kuoh, Japan

Then, just as violently as it began, the shaking stopped. Silence crashed down on the classroom. For a moment, nobody moved, nobody breathed. The only sound was the faint creak of the building settling and the distant wail of alarms somewhere outside.

Then coughing started. A girl near the front gagged on dust and covered her mouth with her sleeve. Someone else started crying, the sound thin and broken. A desk leg scraped as a student shifted beneath it.

Issei stayed frozen under his desk for one extra heartbeat, staring at the floor tiles as if they might start shaking again. ‘Is it over? If I move and it starts again, I’m dead.’ But he forced himself to inhale. Dust scratched his throat. He coughed once, sharp and painful, then pushed himself out from under the desk.

As he rose, his eyes caught the damage.

Dust floated through the air in slow drifting clouds. The ceiling had cracked open in jagged lines that ran across the room like scars. A portion near the front had partially collapsed, chunks of plaster and insulation scattered over fallen chairs. One wall had caved inward, exposing bent metal supports and splintered panels.

The teacher stood near the chalkboard on shaking legs, one hand pressed against the desk for balance. Her face was pale, hair disheveled, dust streaked across her cheek. “Everyone…” Her voice trembled. She swallowed, forcing air into her lungs. “Everyone who can move, stand up. Those who can’t, tell me. Please speak up. We’re going to evacuate to the gymnasium, and we we must stay together!”

Students crawled out from beneath desks in uneven waves. Some were bleeding from cuts on their foreheads and hands. One boy held his wrist and gritted his teeth, eyes wet. A girl near the window had tears running down her face, her shoulders shaking as she tried to breathe through panic.

Motohama stumbled up from the floor, coughing hard. “Issei—Issei, you alive?”

Issei looked over, dust clinging to his hair. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

Matsuda answered from behind a flipped desk, voice strained. “I think I bruised my ribs.”

“You’ll live,” Motohama snapped, but his hands were shaking as he helped Matsuda up. His eyes darted around the room, scanning for injuries, scanning for exits, scanning for the next disaster.

Issei finally stood fully, but his knees felt loose. His heart still hammered too fast, refusing to calm down. His mind jumped to home without permission. ‘Mom. Dad. Are they okay? Did our house collapse? Are they trapped?’ He swallowed hard at the thought, his throat raw.

The teacher started guiding them toward the door, counting heads with shaky focus. “Okay everyone alive. Let’s go, we’ll treat your wounds at the gymnasium. Stay in pairs and don’t push.”

But then a scream cut through her words. “Look outside!” The voice came from near the windows. Students surged toward the cracked glass,wondering what else happened. 

The teacher snapped around, eyes wide. “No! Stay back from the windows!”

Of course, nobody listened.

Issei’s body moved with the crowd. His chest tightened as he pushed between shoulders, heart thudding harder with every step. He reached the front line just as someone pressed trembling hands against the window frame and the entire group froze.

Kuoh’s skyline was visible beyond the school grounds. The sky above it was splitting apart with cracks in the air. Jagged portals ripped through the clouds, tearing open in widening scars. Violet light poured out and bled into red. Black fractures webbed across the heavens in branching lines, spreading farther, wider, as if reality couldn’t hold on anymore.

“What…” A boy whispered, voice barely audible. “What is that?”

Issei’s mouth went dry. His brain tried to force an answer. Is this a movie, hallucination, a nightmare? Anything that makes sense.’ But nothing fit.

The cracks then widened again. Energy rolled out in pulses that made the hair on Issei’s arms lift. The air grew dense and pressure was felt in front of his eyes.

Several figures emerged from one of the portals. At first, they were only silhouettes against the light. Then they moved closer, and Issei’s stomach dropped as they weren’t people or animals.

Something with a hunched spine and too many joints crawled along the edge of the gate.

Another floated, its body wrapped in ragged cloth, its head turning in sharp jerks as if it was sniffing the world.

A third figure stepped forward, tall and broad, plated in dark metal that pulsed faintly with red lines. Its face was covered by a helm with no eyeholes, only slits that leaked the same violet light as the portal behind it.

Then a roar, deep, guttural and hungry was heard as it vibrated through the town and through Issei’s ribs. The windows rattled again from the force of it. Students screamed and staggered back. Someone fell to the floor and crawled away.

Issei didn’t move as his legs refused. His mind locked on the horizon, watching as more portals stabilized across the sky. He could see more distant gates forming, like wounds scattered across the heavens. 

The teacher grabbed the nearest student by the shoulders and yanked him away from the window. “Back! Everyone back! Move to the gymnasium, now!”

A student yelled, voice cracking. “Sensei, what is that?!”

“I don’t know!” She shouted back, fighting to keep control. “But we are leaving! Now!”

Issei’s hands curled into fists at his sides. His heart thudded in his ears. ‘Mom. Dad. They’re out there and could be in danger.’

The portals then widened and the light intensified as the first monsters began to descend.

Then a roar, deep, guttural and hungry was heard as it vibrated through the town and through Issei’s ribs. The windows rattled again from the force of it. Students screamed and staggered back. Someone fell to the floor and crawled away.

Issei didn’t move as his legs refused. His mind locked on the horizon, watching as more portals stabilized across the sky. He could see more distant gates forming, like wounds scattered across the heavens. 

The teacher grabbed the nearest student by the shoulders and yanked him away from the window. “Back! Everyone back! Move to the gymnasium, now!”

A student yelled, voice cracking. “Sensei, what is that?!”

“I don’t know!” She shouted back, fighting to keep control. “But we are leaving! Now!”

Issei’s hands curled into fists at his sides. His heart thudded in his ears. ‘Mom. Dad. They’re out there and could be in danger.’

The portals then widened and the light intensified as the first monsters began to descend.

—---------------------------------------

Tokyo, Japan

Above the skyline, a violet gate pulsed with the air around it bending and vibrating, the people in the streets stopped running for one dangerous second because their minds refused to accept what their eyes were seeing as the first creature stepped through.

It was tall, at least two meters with plated jagged black armor. Cracks ran across its plating and glowed ember-red with the light pulsing in slow beats. An angular helmet concealed its face, and in one hand it carried a cleaver large enough to split a man in half. It paused on nothing, suspended at the mouth of the gate, and then looked down at the city.

That single motion spread fear through the crowd faster than any alarm as a salaryman backed up with his hands raised, voice shaking. “What… what are you…”

The armored giant moved, dropping to the ground with the impact hitting streets of Tokyo like a hammer as the asphalt exploded outward. Concrete cracked in a spidering pattern. A parked car jumped on its tires and slammed back down. People were thrown off their feet. Screams surged through the street as bodies collided and scattered.

“MOVE! MOVE!” A police officer shouted, grabbing a woman by the arm and hauling her away from the danger zone. “Don’t stop to look at it! Move!”

The woman stumbled, heels slipping on broken pavement. “My daughter—my daughter is—!”

“Keep moving!” He barked, shoving her forward. His own hands were shaking around his baton as he forced himself to keep shouting anyway. “Go! Now!”

Above them, the portal pulsed again as a second shape dove out, a wyvern. Its wings stretched wide, membranes torn and scarred, with its edges ragged. It beat the air hard, forcing a gust down into the streets that knocked signs loose and sent loose paper spinning. Embers flickered in its mouth as it screeched and swooped low over a line of fleeing cars.

A driver looked up through his windshield and screamed, swerving too late as his car clipped another and spun into a shattered storefront.

Then the wyvern roared causing windows  to shatter across multiple blocks. Glass rained down, slicing into shoulders and faces. People ran blindly, choking on dust, slipping on debris, crashing into one another. 

The wyvern banked and inhaled with fire pouring from its jaws. A wave of heat crashed through the street. Metal warped. A van’s hood folded. Traffic lights sagged and melted. A row of cars caught instantly, paint blistering, tires bursting with loud pops that were swallowed by the roar of flame.

A young man stumbled out of a car, his sleeve burning. He screamed and tried to slap the fire out, then fell to the ground, rolling and choking.

The police officer saw it and felt his stomach clench. ‘I can’t help everyone. I can’t.’ He dragged the woman harder. “Keep moving!”

Behind the armored giant, the gate rippled again, and smaller figures began crawling through. Grotesque quadrupeds with wolf shaped bodies that twisted incorrectly. Their ribcages jutted out. Their limbs bent at odd angles and their mouths hung open, drool trailing as they dropped to all fours and sprinted into alleyways. One darted past a vending machine and slammed into a fleeing man’s legs, knocking him down. The man screamed and kicked wildly. The creature snapped at his face. A second later, blood hit the pavement.

The crowd surged away, trampling abandoned bags and dropped phones. Somebody shouted, voice cracking, “They’re hunting us!”

The armored giant lifted its cleaver and took a single step forward. A nearby police barricade shook as officers raised rifles with trembling hands.

“Fire!” Someone ordered as gunshots snapped through the air. Bullets sparked against the giant’s armor and fell away. The creature didn’t even flinch. The officer who had been shouting froze, eyes wide. ‘Those bullets did nothing.’

The armored giant then turned its helmet toward the line of police and then it moved.

—---------------------------------------------

New York City, USA

The portal above Manhattan burned crimson, pouring heat and light down onto the streets. As people pointed and screamed, and those who had survived the earthquake stood in the open because they couldn’t comprehend what came next as something massive forced its way out.

A stone golem the size of a building fell from the sky and slammed into Times Square. The impact flattened taxis. A bus was crushed under a single section of stone, windows bursting as the frame folded. Shockwaves rolled through nearby blocks, blowing out glass and sending people tumbling across the pavement. A billboard snapped loose and crashed down, sparking as it hit.

The golem’s eyes glowed molten yellow as it rose slowly, stone grinding against stone. Broken asphalt fused to its body in chunks, sticking to it as if pulled by force. Its shoulders rolled, and the movement sounded like a mountain shifting.

The National Guard opened fire with rifles shooting and machine guns rattled. A line of soldiers behind sandbags screamed orders over the noise. But the bullets sparked uselessly against the golem’s surface.

“What is that thing?!” A soldier yelled, reloading with shaking hands. “It’s not even hurting it!”

“Keep firing!” His sergeant snapped. His voice shook too. “Aim for the eyes! Aim for the—!”

The golem then lifted one arm with its hand open as a car floated off the street, dragged upward without a cable or hook. The driver screamed inside as the vehicle rose, spinning.

“Holy Shit!” The soldier gasped.

The golem crushed the car in its fist with metal screeching and then the golem sent the ball of metal flying, crashing into a building.

The portal then pulsed again as Winged figures descended. At first glance, they looked angelic, with white wings. 

A woman in the crowd cried out, voice breaking with hope. “Angels! They’re coming to help!”

The winged beings hovered above the city, then their eyes opened. Their faces were split with torn flesh. Beneath it, metal moved. Mechanical limbs unfolded from their backs and shoulders. Their wings were not feathers as they were layered with metal plates and torn organic tissue fused together.

A soldier stared upward, mouth open. “Those aren’t angels.”

One of the winged entities raised an arm and a beam of concentrated light fired downward.

It carved through a skyscraper’s upper floors in a clean line. Concrete evaporated, glass turned to vapor. The building screamed as its structure failed, and the top section collapsed inward. People in the street didn’t even have time to scream again. They only ran, lungs burning, eyes wide, feet slipping on rubble.

Far below, on the street itself, the crimson portal widened and spat something out. A spider-like monstrosity the size of a truck, covered in segmented armor with twitching mandibles. It hit the pavement hard, then surged forward on its many legs and latched onto a bus.

The bus shook violently as the creature’s mandibles tore into metal. Screaming passengers pounded on windows. The driver tried to reverse, tires spinning uselessly as the spider creature ripped the roof off.

Its long legs reached out as a man fell out first, screaming as the creature grabbed him and yanked him back.

A child pressed her face to the glass, sobbing, eyes searching for someone who wasn’t there.

But a soldier quickly ran forward despite orders, rifle raised, shouting, “Get away from them!”

His sergeant grabbed him by the vest and yanked him back. “Are you insane?! It’ll rip you apart!”

The soldier’s face twisted, fury and panic colliding. “Then what do we do?!”

The sergeant stared at the golem towering over Times Square and the winged machines hovering above. His mouth moved, but no words came as his hands tightened on the rifle. ‘We’re not equipped for this.’

—-------------------------------------

London, England

The gate above the river Thames flickered sickly green as the air felt wrong. People on the riverwalk coughed and covered their mouths as the glow intensified. Then armored figures marched out in formation.

Black armored knights with cracks across their plating glowing deep red. Their footsteps touched the air, then struck the ground as they had jumped to the riverbank. Each carried a blade etched with unfamiliar runes.

Police barricades lined the street, officers yelling for civilians to fall back, trying to keep order while the ground still trembled in aftershocks.

“Hold the line!” An officer shouted, voice strained. “Back up! Get civilians out!”

Gunfire rang out as bullets bounced off the knights’ armor and ricocheted into walls. An officer yelped as a ricochet tore through his shoulder. He fell hard, screaming.

“They’re not stopping!” Someone shouted.

The knights then broke into a charge as their blades came down. One officer tried to swing his rifle. But the sword cut through the rifle, arm, and vest. The officer fell without finishing his scream. Meanwhile, people ran in blind panic.

Then the skeletal dragon burst through the portal. Its wings spread wide, bones wrapped in tattered membranes. Its skull turned as it took in the city. Then it roared, the sound rolling across the riverbanks and shaking loose debris from already cracked buildings.

Finally the skeletal dragon exhaled as freezing mist blasted across Westminster Bridge. Cars stalled instantly as their engines died. Windshields frosted over. People who had been running faltered as cold wrapped around their legs and climbed upward.

A man tried to scream but his breath failed. His lips turned blue. He collapsed with his hands outstretched, eyes wide, body stiff.

Behind the dragon, wraiths drifted out. Translucent figures with elongated claws and no face. They glided through walls and barriers. They moved into the fleeing crowd without resistance.

A woman ran straight through a doorway, thinking she was safe, and the wraith passed through the wall behind her. Its claw sank into her chest as she froze, choking, eyes bulging, then dropped without sound.

A man nearby saw it and stumbled backward, shaking his head violently. “No. No. No—!” Then wraith turned toward him.

—---------------------------------------------

Cairo, Egypt

The desert portal churned violently as sand spiraled upward into a pillar, drawn toward the gate as if the air itself was pulling the desert into it. People who had survived the quake stood at the edge of ruined streets, staring at the horizon with mouths open.

Then the dunes exploded as a colossal worm burst from the gate and buried itself beneath the sand, its body ringed with rotating teeth. The sound of its movement tore through the air, grinding and hungry.

It surged forward and swallowed a line of cars in one motion as metal crunched and screams were cut off. The worm dove back under the sand and vanished, the surface ripping and collapsing behind it.

From the gate strode towering figures wrapped in ancient burial cloths. Mummified giants. Their eyes burned blue beneath cracked masks. Each step they took fractured stone, cracks spreading out from their feet. One raised a staff and the ground beneath a residential block liquefied. The building groaned as its foundation turned to sludge, then sank. People screamed from windows and balconies, clawing for anything to hold. The structure dropped, floors collapsing into one another, dust exploding upward.

Behind the giants, massive scorpion-like beasts crawled forward. Their tails crackled with dark energy. One tail lifted and an arc of destructive force launched into the street with the pavement exploded. A row of fleeing people disappeared in the blast. Shattered stone and blood sprayed outward.

A man who had been praying dropped to his knees again, voice broken. “Please… please…” He couldn’t finish as a scorpion turned its head toward him.

—-------------------------------------------

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The ocean portal expanded over the coastline as water churned violently beneath it, pulled upward into spiraling currents that defied gravity. People on rooftops watched, trembling, too exhausted to run again after the quake.

A serpentine shape rose from the depths in the form of a sea serpant. Its scaled body emerged in sections, coiling as it climbed, water cascading from its armor-like scales. It wrapped around skyscrapers near the shore and crushed them as it tightened.

Concrete cracked. Glass burst. Floors folded in.

A helicopter circled above, rotor blades chopping the air, its pilot shouting into the radio. “We need to evacuate—there’s no—!”

The sea serpent's head snapped upward and its jaws closed around the helicopter midair causing the rotor to stop with the craft vanishing into its mouth as the dragon swallowed.

Above the coastline, smaller portals opened in rapid bursts as hundreds of bat-like demons poured out. Their screeches tore through the air. They swarmed through the city, diving into streets and alleys, tearing at anyone caught outside. A man raised his arms and screamed as shadows latched onto his shoulders and face.

From the jungle beyond the city limits came another threat. A hulking beast covered in black fur and plated bone. Its eyes glowed red. It charged into the outskirts, slamming into vehicles and sending them flipping. A single swipe of its arm sent a truck rolling onto its side.

People ran, tripping over broken pavement, screaming into phones that had no signal. “Where do we go?!” a woman shouted, dragging her brother by the wrist. “Where can we go?!”

But no one answered because there was nowhere left untouched.

—----------------------------------------------

Across continents, the pattern repeated. Portals opened and monsters emerged. The invaders were not unified. They were not from one world. They came from dozens, maybe hundreds of worlds. Some fought indiscriminately, tearing into crowds and buildings without hesitation. Some moved with strategy, targeting bridges, power stations, and command centers.

Some observed from the mouths of their gates, motionless, watching humanity run and bleed. And high above it all, the portals continued to widen as the sky kept breaking.

Done, tell me what you think of this new story. What do you think will happen next?