On the other side of the world, things were equally dire. “Did you see the one with the elephant head? Damn, what a strong beast. I wonder where they all come from?”

“Who cares about some weird two-legged elephants? Did you see the gigantic one? Legs like tree trunks? At least 50 feet tall?”

“Who couldn’t see it. I heard it took at least thirty high-levellers to take it down.” The second speaker nodded. What had their world come to. A month ago, he was sitting on his comfortable couch, watching TV and lamenting, that he had to collect his teenage daughter from her dance lessons. His soccer team was finally winning, after a season of losses, and his device couldn’t record the game. He had to beg his neighbour for their netaccess, so he could rewatch the game.

Luckily he took a few minutes longer, otherwise he would have been in the car when the Ruin happened. He had seen those people. Like everyone else above the age of 20, he was transported somewhere else. Those in a fast moving vehicle arrived as minced meat. He quickly banished those thoughts. The pictures were seared in his mind, and he retched for a moment.

“Did someone finally find out, where we are exactly?” he asked his partner. “I heard, someone bought a shopskill and it was something navigational. They confirmed that we’re still on earth, but only because they can sense where they had been before. So nothing concrete,” the first answered.

“Damn…still, good to hear that we’re not on a complete alien planet, even if it feels that way.”

“Sure…Sure…do you see that too?” he asked his partner.

They were standing on a walkway behind a wooden palisade, nearly 90 feet up. The first speaker pointed with his finger somewhere into the hazy horizon. Somewhere, at the edge of the gigantic forest, something was moving. The second speaker wasn’t sure and activated his farsight Skill, which he got from an air essence seed. A construct, pretty similar to a modern lens, build itself in front of him.

He concentrated for a moment and then cried out, “It’s them! Sound the alarm!”

A few thousand kilometres away, a young woman spoke to an older one. “Mom, do you really think this is a good idea?”

“Who cares. We have always gone to sea if the food was scarce. Even this new world or whatever this is, won’t deter me,” the older woman answered roughly. She continued with a gentler tone, “Darling, don’t be afraid. There are some big beasts, yes. But that was always the case, and we hadn’t had those ice and water powers before. Everything will be alright.”

“But what about Dad? He said the same, and he has vanished for weeks,” the young woman reminded her mother. She knew, she couldn’t change her mums mind. But she had to try at least. They were few up north. Their modern comfort had vanished with the advent of the Ruin. At least, that’s what the elders called it.

Ruin. What a weird word, but pretty accurate. Everything was ruined. Their oil heaters stopped working, cars wouldn’t start, and it got colder and colder. Instead of global warming and shrinking glaciers, the icecap grew bigger and bigger with every new day. And that wasn’t the only thing that grew. Gigantic ice-bears, enormous seals and even more terrifying sea creatures could be found wherever one wanders.

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Her father went out, to hunt one of those creatures, as their food grew scarce and nothing grew up north. He had been one of the first to gain one of those essence seeds and he was celebrated. And for a time, she was happy. Their family hadn’t lost anyone. Not like their former neighbours whose pair of twins had vanished from one moment to the next. The village searched together, but nothing could be found. And then her father disappeared a few days later.

Now there were only a few people left and they grew desperate. So desperate, that her ageing mother decided to venture out and hunt one of those seals. She grew up in a time, when their folk still hunted more. So she was one of the most experienced hunters, or at least most experienced and still able to move. She wouldn’t even be here, if she hadn’t had her semester break.

The young woman watched her mother row their boat out to the sea. Suddenly a huge body lifted from the more or less calm waters and a trumpeting sound spread above the waves. The woman, shaken from the sound, sank moments later to the floor as she had to watch her mother being buried by that ocean monster.

Finally the Tracker was successful. He had found their quarries trail. A day before, they had shot an old and pretty weak Tapir. An animal pretty similar to a pig. And if the group got it, the food supply was secured. At least for the next few days.

Still, it may be old and weak, but it was nearly seven foot tall and if it got angry or the hunters careless, death would ensure. The hunters were lucky, as instead of attacking with its posse and maybe injuring one of them, it had run. So they had followed the animal through every rough terrain imaginable. Up and down the hills, beneath the canopy of the jungle. Through rivers and along swampy grassland. A pair of eyes always looking in every direction and weapons cocked.

But the old animal got weaker and weaker and had finally stopped. Carefully, the group of hunters surrounded it. The worst thing that could happen right now, would be, if it got a last wind and ran. They needed the food source, the replenishment, the nourishment. Some hunters couldn’t take another step and most were already starving for a few days.

They were desperate, as while some people had the Skills to hunt solo, or even craft to earn coins. They didn’t. They had only found weak seeds, or got them pretty late. So instead of growing strong during the last three weeks, they sat at home, looting or hoping for handouts. But the time had come, and nobody would or could help them anymore.

So they gathered together and planned to hunt. And finally, this animal could be their salvation. They would get essence, food and hope shone on the horizon.

With a loud cry, the humans stormed the dip. Gun shots echoed through the jungle and moments later cheers. The group was triumphant. Everything would work out. They and their families would live for another few days.

An eardrum shattering roar, interrupted the celebrating group. A huge, enormous black monster jumped into the small valley. From another direction, another roar sounded through the jungle. They were surrounded. Some people struggled, some broke down and began to cry. It didn’t change anything.

A minute later, silence returned. Another group of former “top of the food chain” forever lost in this merciless world.

Tens of thousands meter above…

“Is it time yet? Should we activate phase beta?”

“Not yet…”