Years of extreme weather have become the new normal. Temperature charts rise and plunge wildly, and even scientists have confirmed that the climate is moving toward conditions seen in the Mesozoic Era.
Warnings also say that the shadow of an ice age is drawing near. Humanity may be standing on the brink of being selected for extinction by Earth, watching the old era come to an end.
But no one expected this purge to arrive so suddenly. A cataclysm once predicted to come in a hundred thousand years has been forcibly compressed into the immediate future.
Torrential rain, floods, scorching heat, and bitter cold take turns wreaking havoc. Animals begin showing signs of reverting to their ancestral forms, while plants in the cities grow wildly at an almost frenzied pace.
It seems humans are changing, too.
This world stands at the threshold of a new age. The order of the old world is being crushed by an entirely new era.
Ji Yufu presses a hand to his forehead, his fingertips bearing down on his throbbing temples as his brows knit tightly.
Amid a hangover-like headache, fragments of dreams mingle together. The scenes may be from a parallel world, or perhaps from a past life, but they are so vivid it feels as if he experienced them himself.
The good news is that he seems to have glimpsed the truth behind this catastrophe ahead of time.
The bad news is that it seems a little too late.
He looks out at the endless rain. The first signs have already begun to appear in this relentless downpour.
He doesn't know whether the events in his dream will come true, but the scenes were too real. It felt as if the warmth of blood still lingered in his palm, and the smell of rust clung to his fingertips, impossible to shake.
"We can't wait any longer," he says softly.
If everything in his dream is true, then the mutations have already begun.
This rain is only a harbinger of a new era. There's still time to prepare, but not much.
Reader's Guide
This is an ensemble-focused story with several secondary couples. Stockpiling, a portable space, and leveling up by fighting monsters.
Theme: Never give up hope, no matter what
