A Brilliant Mistake
14 YEARS AGO
Dr. P. Sakai stood before his life's work, the Dimensional Displacement Engine. Months of endless frustration had left him exhausted, a hollow-eyed man driven only by a relentless obsession. The machine, a complex nest of wires and glowing circuits, had failed him time and again. Yet, as he stared at the console, its dormant lights seemed to mock his genius. He had to be a fool to think he could breach the boundaries of reality. He designed the engine to open a portal to alternate dimensions, to pull forth new knowledge, technology, and understanding for humanity's benefit.
Suddenly, a low hum filled the room. A single wire on the engine began to glow with an electric blue light. It pulsed, then another wire lit up, and another, until the entire intricate web of circuits was a blinding lattice of energy. Alarms shrieked a warning he had never heard before, but Dr. Sakai didn't care. His heart hammered against his ribs. He had done it.
With a thunderous crack, a brilliant flash of light consumed the room. A shimmering, iridescent portal burst forth from the machine's core, its surface rippling like disturbed water. The air crackled with power, and the scent of ozone filled the lab. He felt a sense of overwhelming triumph. This was a new dawn. Humanity would look to him as a god.
But his victory was short-lived. As he stared deeper into the swirling vortex, his blood ran cold. The portal wasn't pulling forth knowledge; it was tearing a hole in reality. A figure emerged, its pale, deathly skin and twisted features a stark contrast to the sterile lab. It was a vampire like creature, its eyes glowing with an otherworldly red light. It wore an all-red suit, complete with a crimson hat and a white shirt underneath. Its razor-sharp fangs glinted as it turned its gaze to Dr. Sakai and smiled.
Horror seized Dr. Sakai. He frantically smashed buttons, screaming at the console to shut down, to close the portal. The machine sputtered and groaned, but it was too late. The vampire stepped through, and the air behind it warped. The portal didn't collapse; it fractured. It shattered into a thousand smaller pieces of light that flew across the globe, each one a seed of destruction. The lab's alarms blared, and the lights flickered and died.
When the first response team arrived at the scene, they found the lab in ruins. The walls were scorched, and the floor was littered with twisted metal and broken glass. Dr. Sakai was missing, and there was no trace of him. The only thing they found amidst the destruction was a young boy, around five years old, curled up in a corner. He was unharmed, but his eyes were wide with a blank, unsettling stare.
The Dawn of Chaos
Across the world, the sky turned a bruised gray as new portals, tore open and monstrous creatures began emerging one after the other, leaving destruction in their path. Governments struggled to respond. The sounds of screams and destruction filled the air, and the once-blue skies turned gray with smoke and ash. Humanity was on the brink of extinction.
A New Hope
Five months after the world went silent, a new hope emerged from the ruins. The world's remaining governments established the Special Suppression Defence Unit (SSD), a team of highly trained agents and scientists dedicated to fighting the monsters and closing the rifts.
The SSD's agents were trained to face the impossible. They learned to fight creatures that defied explanation, and they battled with a desperate determination. They were humanity's best hope, and with every battle, they grew stronger. The SSD's scientists, working tirelessly in hidden bunkers, created weapons capable of killing the monsters and tried to understand the rifts.
As the SSD fought to protect the world, the people began to see a glimmer of hope. They had a name for the portals: "rifts," and a name for the monsters who came through them: "Rift Walkers." And they had heroes who would fight to the last breath. Maybe, just maybe, humanity could survive this apocalypse after all.