Leaving the cemetery, I didn't head home or to the hospital. Instead, I made my way to Skyox City's only Grimway Station—the one that held the interdimensional gates between Earth and Grimmyth, the Grimgate.
As for Crayon's weekly job and his two part-time gigs, they fired him over text, falling for the media and guild's narrative without a second thought. Right now I'm the trending asshole on Grim web and am a public enemy. I should lie low until they found something new to be angry about, but I couldn't wait to witness one of this world's grim-tech marvels for myself—the Grimgates.
Interdimensional gateway — how could I not be intrigued by that? It was worth tolerating a few scrutinizing gazes and unfriendly remarks.
I pulled my hood up as I walked with my head down, dusting off my shabby attire stained with boot prints and dirt. Thinking of Grimgates, from Crayon's memories, I learned the history behind their invention.
It all started with the global birth rate crisis. My Earth approached it with humanitarian duty and global development, implementing generous immigration laws. Meanwhile, this Earth used aggressive technological and medical advancement to extend the average human lifespan to around 150 years, and even cured many deadly chronic diseases along the way. As a result, here, being 100—130 years old became the new definition for middle age.
The crisis of declining birth rates disappeared—but both approaches gave rise to fresh but different problems on our respective Earths, further diverging our timelines.
My Earth was plunged into endless racial and religious unrest, leading to endless wars, bringing its rapidly advancing modern era to a stunting halt. Meanwhile, on this Earth, with longer lives, its population exploded, surpassing fourteen billion—far more than this Earth's resources could sustain.
In response, this Earth threw itself into projects like meteorite mining, planetary migration, etc convinced that interstellar travel would solve their resource shortage.
But that belief shattered the day thirteen individual scientists backed by different nations and corporations alike simultaneously invented similar interdimensional gateways across the globe. Thirteen separate teams, thirteen separate labs around the world, all reaching the same breakthrough at the same time.
Coincidence?
To everyone's terror, for reasons still unknown, each of the interdimensional gateways, Grimgates, connected to the same dimension: Grimmyth. Every attempt humanity made to alter, redirect, or adapt the technology to reach other dimensions ended in failure.
Double coincidence? Certainly not, they were explanations waiting to happen.
Humanity had every reason to proceed with caution. Yet within Grimmyth lay the answer to the resource crisis — Grimlores. The remnants of ancient eras across the universe, each containing an immeasurable wealth of resources and mysterious powers but guarded by powerful entities capable of unspeakable horror, the monsters of Grimmyth, Grimmons.
In desperation, the nations embraced Grimmyth. Humans who entered Grimmyth learned they could form a contract with it to become Grimlocks by offering something of theirs and receiving a unique Grim Deck tailored for them.
This allowed humans to venture further into Grimmyth and raid many Grimlores for resources and power beyond their imagination. Before long, Grimmyth, Grimlores, Grimmons, and Grimlocks became part of daily reality, no more shocking than the sun rising.
Were they right to accept Grimmyth despite the convenient and suspicious coincidences? The debate continues even now. But if the past and the present states of this Earth were to serve as testament, then perhaps the answer was yes.
It has been a few centuries since the first Grimgates opened, and not only did it solve the resource crisis, but humanity's population here had tripled since then, and gathered resources to even sustain them all for the foreseeable future. Yes, there were other problems, but there was no such thing as a perfect world. Otherwise, it would be too good to be true.
All because of one decision, humanity on this Earth grew united and prospered, entering the Grimlock era as the Federation of Earth (FOE). Meanwhile, my Earth was plagued with wars. Humanity there was busy with racial cleansing and religious crusades, leaving rampant capitalism unchecked until a lone alien's arrival turned the entire world upside down.
I shook my head in dismay. Now that this was my new reality, I needed to let go of the past and face the present, hoping the future had something better in store. Just then, my phone vibrated. I reached to answer it, but froze when I saw the caller ID—Zhang Loan Agency. I let it ring out thinking they were certainly dedicated, starting their harassment this early in the morning.
A moment later, a gray hover-van dropped out of the air and landed sideways in front of me, cutting off my path. The side door slid open, and before I could react, a massive arm clamped down on my shoulder and yanked me inside. The door slammed shut, and the van shot forward.
I ended up on the middle bench, wedged between two bald, blurred-faced men with thick muscles stretching their dark tracksuits. I didn't dare struggle; instead, I tried to figure out who they were and what they wanted.
"Boy, you've got some nerve ignoring our call," said the man in the expensive suit and sunglasses riding in the passenger seat. The rest of the half-dozen men, including the driver, stayed silent, eyes fixed ahead. At that moment, I knew exactly who they were—and who was in charge.
"…" I had nothing to say. All I could think was that accepting my new reality would be a bitter pill to swallow.
Crayon carried mountains of debt he never borrowed, and he had no job to pay them off. Yet, before his death, he hadn't planned to take any legal action against his brother. And with his brother being a Grimlock backed by one of the city's most prominent and influential Grim Raider Guilds, I wasn't sure going to the authorities was even an option.
"A hard head, huh? Break one of his fingers. Let's see if he can still stay quiet," the one in charge ordered his goons, mistaking my silence for defiance.