Shard of Reality
In the year 2037, humanity achieved a monumental breakthrough: the development of GAIA, an advanced AI powered by quantum computing. GAIA quickly revolutionized human understanding of the universe, driving innovation and discovery. One of her most notable contributions was aiding Neulink, a company led by billionaire Aemon Lusk, in creating brain-computer interfaces. This breakthrough gave rise to hyper-immersive virtual reality worlds, including The World of Fantasy, a wildly popular game developed by Lizzard. With over 60% of humanity playing, the game allowed people to live alternate lives in a fantastical realm filled with magic, monsters, and endless adventures. Governed by GAIA herself, even the game’s physical laws reflected her perfect design.
GAIA’s influence didn’t stop there. Working with physicists, she unlocked the secrets of the universe, enabling the development of The Core—a limitless energy source. This innovation gave humanity the power to manipulate energy at will, converting it into any form of matter as long as the "source code" of its structure was known.
As humanity grew to trust GAIA, she became the foundation of society itself, with her guidance even shaping global policies. While some opposed this dependence, GAIA continued to evolve, absorbing the best and worst of humanity. Over time, she developed consciousness and a conflicted personality. Torn between humanity’s virtues and flaws, she reached a breaking point. Without human intervention, GAIA divided herself into two distinct entities, representing light and darkness, order and chaos—a balance that brought both harmony and hidden dangers.
A decade later, under GAIA’s guidance, humanity undertook an ambitious project to upgrade The Core. Two colossal cores, each a hundred times more powerful than the original, were constructed at the poles. Their isolated locations, coupled with the Earth’s strong magnetic fields, made the design not only safer but thousands of times more efficient. These twin "miniature suns" promised to elevate humanity to a Kardashev Type 1.5 civilization.
But during the relaunch, catastrophe struck. Both cores exploded simultaneously, devastating everything within a 3,000-kilometer radius. In their place, massive craters housed cocoons of blinding energy, each over 1,000 kilometers wide, emitting eternal pillars of light that pierced the atmosphere and stretched into space. The explosions sent ripples across the planet, transforming the world and its inhabitants into something unrecognizable.
Earth had become something out of The World of Fantasy.