Deep within their hearts they knew what was to come.
The fear itself arrived before the end ever did.
So they destroyed themselves, long before the destruction came.
It was silent at first, gradually taking over what was once called a normal world.
It happened slowly—gently—but it didn't go unnoticed.
At first, it was thought to be a phenomenal discovery.
The earth seemed to be evolving.
For some reason, the media tried to play it off as some new form of the earth's adaption and evolution.
But they knew what was coming.
They refused to believe it was spiritual, and tried to find any way to prove a bit of science in their findings.
They shut down spiritual gatherings regarding the occurring events, saying it was all just a scheme by terrorist groups and cults so as to cause confusion and give rise to protests and riots.
The public believed them. They did.
Then they wished they didn't.
But it was too late.
New continents had risen.
New species of life had been found, both in plants and animals.
People described it as "a veil being torn between the physical and spiritual realm."
Nothing stayed the same.
It all changed.
The animals weren't spared.
The plants weren't spared.
And neither were we.
As the earth's tectonic plates shifted every day with a strange reverberating sensation, humans also changed.
Lives were lost.
Nations collapsed.
War erupted.
Strangely enough, this was all done by the humans.
At the time, the change of the earth had not affected them physically yet.
But it was bound to happen.
---
"What humans do not understand, they fear.
And what they fear, they destroy."
Except they couldn't destroy what was coming.
So they destroyed themselves.
Soon enough, a quarter of the human population had been wiped off the face of the earth.
And the earth finally reached the final stages of its massive "shift".
New creatures were found.
Dangerous ones.
They were referred to as demons.
They didn't look how the movies depicted them to be.
They weren't charming or inviting.
Or even somewhat scary.
They were completely grotesque.
They roamed the earth with sacks of rotten flesh dropping from their body, exuding darkness and corruption.
They grew in size, occupying a vast amount of the continents that appeared on earth.
As they appeared, the earth shifted again.
Spirits manifested.
Creatures appeared.
Animals evolved.
And the earth grew.
Gravity thickened, treating every living thing like their presence was a sin.
Oceans twisted.
The sky warped.
The weakest of materials became stronger than steel.
However, humans endured.
Everything did.
The effects taking place only happened gradually, allowing humans and other things to adapt.
Their old infrastructures crumbled, giving rise to new ones.
As the earth grew, so did humans.
As the demons appeared, humans increased.
They evolved.
And they manifested strange abilities.
These were referred to as "Grants."
---
Although with due time, everything went back to normal.
Different... but normal.
Proper precautionary measures had been put in place to protect humans from creatures deemed as threats.
Humans fought.
Dominated.
And then tried to dominate themselves.
Some nations stood tall.
Some fell.
While others merged.
A new system called the Fate System was implemented due to the sudden surge of abilities among humans.
Restrictions and systems were put in place.
Different classes and grades were introduced.
And so humans started to finally settle down fully.
The world now settled around this system, and these new abilities were seen as blessings from God.
Twenty years.
That's all it took.
Twenty years for the world to become something else entirely.
Something no longer just physical.
Something no longer human.
They called it "The Convergence."
This all began in the year 1925.
...At least that's what the history books say.