Xu!on, the chief of the local bushman tribe looked at the horizon in apprehension.
He knows their tribe is far from the magic cities. Even so, their tribe has a radio. He heard what was being said about the calamity.
While the rest of the world is frightened, he celebrated.
He may be old and illiterate, but he heard the meaning. The land is going to be filled with beasts, like it once was. Their tribe, which now lives in a strange mix of old ways and new rules will once again follow old ways.
The magic capitals are far now, but when the calamity comes, they will be impossible to reach.
This much, he knew.
He will once again be as powerful as his father.
They will forage the endless savannah, once again, like old times ! he couldn't be happier.
Unfortunately, the rest of the tribe did not share his enthusiasm.
The women are particularly incensed, as were the young ones.
They talked of running off early, so that they would be near the capital, and they could participate in the first bouts of the portal's opening.
Only, poverty limited their means.
The jeep which runs from town to their village did not come by this time.
Even at the heights of enthusiasm, bushmen children knew better than venturing off into the horizon with naught but a straw bag and a knife.
Thus, they were stuck in their village.
Good for them too, for their village portal has been cleared by Talin.
If not for him, they would have been wiped off the face of earth when the portal opened, what with its man eating python.
Instead, the portal that is fifty kilometers off from them burst first.
The strays that reached their village were naught but mobs, so the bushmen had plenty of meat and clothes for the time being.
Like that, they lived, exactly like they once used to.
On the other hand, the masai tribe faced a completely opposite fate.
The farmland was recovered from dense forest and wetlands.
It is one of the few extremely fertile lands, even in a country that's famed for having fertile land all over, and only lacking in water.
As such, the portals opened contained animals that roamed dense wetland forest.
Elephant, Rhino and mountain tiger.
Even the mobs needed at least a hundred people to kill them, much less a portal special mob, which is double the size of recorded on earth, and the boss of the portal, which is almost always a giant capable of leveling land for hundreds of kilometers.
The military responded, even a tanker has a limitation against a raging group of rhinos and elephants.
While the first three elephants and rhinos died, the rest just jumped over their bodies, then flipped the tankers, putting them out of commission.
A few stamps from their legs, the tankers are buried underground, even if they are not completely mashed into scrap metal.
In South Africa, the only country which really had a sizable air force, things were slightly better.
Slightly better, only compared to other countries of their own continent.
Thousands of stags and bison invaded their towns and cities, bashing into anything moving.
On top of that, all the criminal elements of the society came out.
Worst of this bunch are the moguls of various countries.
They had little concern for the land, and lesser concern for the people.
After all, the contempt is mutual, as a minority, the moment they lose one step, they will face annihilation.
Thus, they pressed on tightly, gathering in single space, taking control of some of the easiest portals.
This proved to be the right choice.
If nothing else, their senses have become preternatural.
Their working speed was fast, their access to technology greater than local governments.
Thus, in a span of a day, a tented area became a militaristic area that flew their home country flag.
In the first place, the populace held more faith towards the tribe than the country, with this failure where Indians and Chinese both were able to successfully gather and establish a safe area, yet, their own government has no solution for its people, the faith in government broke.
Thus, the old ways returned once again, with both camps slowly claiming land, Indians by trenching in area after area, Chinese by buying people and building wall after wall.
Egypt and Argentina fared better.
Even if the government is slightly inactive, both countries had entrepreneurs who had enough cash and the need to protect their own interests.
As such, half the portals in either country were destined to be cleared by private forces, as such, most of the country is sold to someone or other. Not that the governments or people are bothered with such an equation.
After all, a man willing to earn money will treat his employees better. The same could not be said of a politician willing to earn votes.
When midnight came, the situation in Africa changed.
Unlike other countries where the portals formed a ring connected to another ring, Africa had a gigantic ring of portals covering all internal portals, which formed three non interfering rings, on three sides of sahara.
Thus, the land on the outer coast expanded ten times, while the land encircled by the inner portals did not expand.
Talin cleared two portals belonging to different rings, while the third portal was cleared by David Cruiser, one of the local hunting enthusiasts.
This way, the portals burst, spewing out the deadliest animals known to man on all three sides of an inhospitable desert.
The portals within the desert themselves burst, causing the desert to expand significantly.
The forests are locked in the three concentric circles, while the harsh climate of savannah has expanded greatly.
What none of the countries paid attention to at this time was that the sea also expanded, at the same rate as the land.
The earth, which has become a global village, had once again been divided into continents with impassable barriers.
Despite the technology, getting around the alps and himalayas was just as hard.
Going through sahara or gobi for a long campaign is a death sentence.
Reaching America or Australia took longer than any possible flight could manage.
On top of that, the existing fueling stations have all moved to the nearest coast. At most, a flight could be taken to the nearest island, but that's about it.
The worst hit are the island nations which have had the taste of civilization and money.
The price of goods has risen once more.
While their own countries could feed them to an extent, they would have to give up a whole deal of international imports, including coffee and chocolate.
Not good news, for any involved.
Yet, Africa survived the best, for it was the only continent where people are far more prepared to deal with the beasts, as little as their ammunition was.
Only, life has reverted to how it was once upon a time.
The tribes became active once again. Those who used to be farmers turned to nomads once again.
The impassable desert became even more impassable.
Only, all the animals which have gone extinct and endangered returned with vengeance. This time, they are not going away any time soon. However, this time around, the poachers are unwilling, for the supply and demand is reversed, as the clientele for these products was trapped in other countries with no way out.
The army may have failed in killing the beasts, but the people did not.
As such, the physical quality of the players increased all over. On top of that, They were the first continent to make their bows and arrows out of the newly procured animal materials, allowing for the population to be more widespread.
Only, the old problems returned too.
A beast tide, a flash flood, or even a plague - all the disasters that could kill vast stretches of people returned once more.
If this was all, Africa could have been a not so great but not so bad place to be.
The problem came from the most unexpected source.
' The sea '.
A sea beast of immeasurable size has taken residence in the chasm between Africa and Europe, preventing any and all transport of any kind.
Called 'Crackathan' for having a fish-like head, and octopus-like legs, the beasts only attacked the ships on the first day, but on the second day, they landed on the coast.
On that day, it is said, a river of blood flowed into the sea, marking the entire coast red.
As expected, the camps established by other countries once again weathered this storm, better than local populace. Of course, given they were all adventurous enough people who were brave and confident enough to believe they are capable of establishing themselves even in a wasteland had more to do with it, yet, it did not look like that to the people involved.
All the same, colonization happened once more, albeit on a small scale, as the forces belonging to various countries once again took residence on the coast, each establishing a stronghold of their own.