"Emergency alert, meteor strike warning..."
"Countdown now begins, ten minutes remaining..."
"Breaking news: The Quantum State's high-energy laser weapon, the Quantum Fissioner, has failed to disintegrate the meteor or alter its trajectory."
"Governments and international organisations are taking urgent measures to contain the disaster. The 'Pit Plan' has been successfully implemented, adjusting the Earth's rotational speed. The meteor is expected to hit the Mariana Trench directly."
"Predictions suggest that the residual energy from the buffered impact could be several trillion times that of the Hiroshima atomic bomb, potentially triggering massive tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic activity. Long-term effects could include widespread destruction of ecosystems and a threat to the survival of most species, including humans".
As the report was being broadcast, a series of rapid, chaotic noises could be heard in the background. There was the distinct sound of tables and chairs being overturned, followed by the shattering of glass, as if people were hurriedly fleeing or seeking shelter. Mixed in with this were various human voices: some screaming loudly, others wailing mournfully and still others calling out the names of loved ones.
"Please stay tuned to major media and government announcements, follow emergency evacuation and emergency procedures. Stay in touch with family and friends to ensure everyone receives timely information".
"Stay calm and face this global challenge together. We will do everything we can, working with global partners, to find a way to save our planet..."
The broadcast paused, then a faint but distinct sound of paper tearing was heard.
"I am grateful to have lived in this country, and if possible, in the next life..."
The hum of the transmission stopped abruptly. Then came a deafening roar, followed by earth-shattering explosions, each vibration seeming to shake the entire planet. The air was filled with tension, accompanied by the sounds of buildings collapsing and glass breaking, as if the whole world was shaking at that moment.
"Phew," the young man awoke from the dream, looking around in panic before finally exhaling in relief.
"It was just a dream. Hard to believe it's been three years already." The young man picked at a root beside him, chewing thoughtfully and staring blankly at a flock of sheep in the distance. Ahead were some unusually large lambs, bathed in the afterglow of the sunset, their wool as white as snow, reflecting a golden light that made them look even more immaculate.
The young man's name was Stone, and he had just finished dinner with his engineer father, whom he hadn't seen for years, when he suddenly fainted and woke up in a strange world. Stone quickly realised that he had entered an alternate reality and soon came to terms with it.
Raised in a single-parent family and having lost his mother at a young age, Stone rarely saw his busy father, meeting him only once every few years. He spent his childhood in a boarding school with a vague concept of 'home'. The aftereffects of the crossing initially left Stone unable to control his body - it took him a year to master basic movements, and he retained no memories of his original self. Fortunately, the body he now inhabited belonged to a fourteen-year-old young man who looked exactly like him, leading Stone to speculate that this was his counterpart from a parallel universe. Initially hampered by language barriers, it took him three years of study to become fluent in the local language.
Stone looked down at the jade pendant on his chest, the only item he had brought back from the crossing. The pendant was black, semicircular, smooth and delicate on the surface, with irregular wavy edges, apparently a broken half of a complete pendant.
According to an old blind man who had rescued him, Stone had been rescued from a river, stark naked. He suggested that he had been robbed by mountain bandits and forced to jump into the river. The original owner of the body couldn't swim and had drowned, giving Stone his chance.
Over the years, Stone had come to understand this world, known as the Land of Wild Demise, which was similar to Earth's primitive environment with a slightly higher oxygen content in the air. This caused the plants to grow taller and the fauna to become fiercer and slightly larger. Sheep were among the few domesticated animals. However, human society had developed more rapidly here, not like the blood-drinking, hair-eating Ancients, and was generally similar to the Ancients of his previous society.
However, Stone was slightly different from the locals; his blood was thicker than that of his peers, and the high atmospheric concentration accelerated his metabolism, giving him unusual strength for his age.
In addition, most people here possessed abilities beyond the five senses.
The landscape was familiar, but often overlooked in the quest to understand its essence.
If humans were born without hearing, 'sound' would be a non-existent concept to us. If we lacked touch, terms like soft, hard, smooth or rough would lose their meaning.
Just as snakes detect heat radiation to locate prey in the dark, before the concept of energy was understood, humans could not perceive this attribute with their eyes, nor could they manipulate it.
But is the world as simple as we think? Are there only the attributes we know and feel, or are there countless others, unseen and unfelt because we lack the senses to perceive them?
The meadow in front of Stone, for example, seemed distinctly richer than others, a realisation from his years as a shepherd. To the untrained eye, both patches of grass were just grass, but to Stone, one was just grass and the other was rich pasture.
This perception felt like an innate gift, not unique to Stone, but present in many in the world. This was attributed to a celestial event in the first year of the Heavenly Commencement, when countless meteors fell upon the land, almost destroying everything. After this celestial fire, it was discovered that while the meteors brought destruction, they also caused mutations in humans. Newborns were the most affected, with almost all of them developing abilities beyond the normal senses, such as height control or monstrous strength. These abilities, known as Talents, proved to be hereditary, leading to a rapid proliferation of human offspring.
The celestial disaster was so devastating that people feared the unknown timing of the next occurrence, causing panic and rumours to spread like a plague. The land of wild doom was shrouded in fear and despair.
Originally divine gifts, these talents became the focus of conflict in this chaotic land. Those with powerful abilities became rulers, while the weaker populace were reduced to their victims. Blood and tears mingled, staining every inch of Wild Demise with grief and despair.
However, during the darkest of times, a sage known as "The Human Saint
"proposed an unprecedented plan. He wanted to create a sanctuary where humans could learn to control their talents and unite against the dreaded Celestial Fires, bringing peace to the land.
Ten years after the Heavenly Commencement, the Starfall Pavilion emerged as a beacon of hope for Wild Demise.
Forty years after the Heavenly Commencement, the celestial fires returned, bringing another cataclysm to humanity. Though smaller in scale, the Starfall Pavilion was nearly destroyed, and its core disciples perished fighting the celestial fires.
In despair, humanity lost the will to face such catastrophes, seeing them as divine wrath. As children of heaven, they could only endure in silence. With this mindset, people lived in fear, unsure when the next celestial fire would strike.
Just when all hope seemed lost, the new leader of the Starfall Pavilion announced important news: although they had been unable to stop all the meteorites from falling, the sacrifices of Power and other disciples had spectacularly shattered several large meteorites. From these fragments, a mysterious core was extracted that could enhance sensory abilities, giving the disciples extraordinary talents derived from the meteorites.
It was discovered that the powerful meteorites had weaknesses. A few gifted individuals possessed the ability to shatter these stones, and the families who possessed these talents quickly rose to prominence in Wild Demise.
With this power, the Starfall Pavilion became more confident in facing future celestial fires. They believed that they could withstand disasters from the sky. This proclamation revived the spirits of the people, and many young students joined the Pavilion, hoping to use their talents to drive the Celestial Fires beyond the heavens.