Imperial Calendar - Joun 32, 2178The High Room, Souver?nain PaistImperial Capital City of Valdr?d

  The dark room was dimly illuminated with the light coming from the holographic projections. The emperor sat at the center of the oval table, surrounded by ministers and military officers as they listened to the reports of Minister-General of the Ministry of Defense and Military Affairs about the ongoing situation.

  "The majority of our forces has amassed along the western and southern border with the Republic of Volkov, The 4th and 6th Imperial Fleets are currently deployed in the Iosyp Ocean, ready to strike the eastern coastal regions and ports of the Republic. The 2nd Imperial Fleet is en route to rendezvous with the 24th Armoured Division to provide critical air support over the Yvian Steppe." said Minister-General Viktok Reinjar as he tinkered with the holographic map to highlight those units.

  "How are the ongoing civilian evacuations? I must be sure that our citizens, no matter their css, has been evacuated away from the frontline territories." Emperor Aric von Al?an III with a strong but calm voice.

  "Eurtre Majest?té, the evacuation are proceeding on schedule, nearly 80% of the popution in the outer provinces have been relocated to secure zones. The remaining 20% are expected to be relocated within the next 48 hours. As of our citizens overseas, they have heeded the call to return home, in line with your Imperial Decree. Over half of the vessels transporting our citizens have arrived at the ports yesterday morning, the rest are expected to arrive this evening. As we all understand, we certainly don't want another repeat of 2141."

  This was among the rare things the emperor deemed significant. To avoid the isotion and potential danger to his citizens, he has instructed for all them to come home and be relocated to safer areas. All of this originated from the Hostage Crisis of 2141, when citizens abroad were seized during the 3rd Continental War. 183 innocent citizens, mostly women and children lost their lives before the rescue efforts even commenced.

  "I certainly don't want that, that's why we need to remain vigint and ensure our strategies leave no room for error. On that note, what are the status of our bombers and missiles?" the emperor said trying to get back on topic.

  "Our stealth bombers are on the air, circling major Republic bases and industrial facilities. Armed with 40 Mk 14 Tactical Nuclear payloads on each bomber, conventional ICBM's are also on standby to take out the Republic's isnd bases. Our anti-air defenses are working overtime, we'll shoot any missile or pne down before they even have the chance to enter our airspace." Viktor said confidently

  "Good, moving unto the Ministry of Economy and Trade, will this upcoming war of ours affect the economy?"

  "Eurtre Majest?té, while our nation has regurly exported multiple products to other nations, we have rgely remained self-sufficient and independent in our economic policies. Trade has always been a means of strengthening diplomatic retions rather than a necessity for our survival. As such, even if our exports were to come to a complete halt, our economy would remain stable. We have ensured that our industries, particurly those concerning essential goods, are not reliant on foreign markets. Our financial reserves, domestic production capabilities, and strategic pnning allow us to weather any potential disruptions." Minister Celeste spoke with calm confidence, her hands csped behind her back.

  "Furthermore, thanks to the Agricultural Domes we have constructed and refined over the past forty years, our nation has achieved complete self-sufficiency in terms of basic food necessities. These domes have been carefully engineered to provide optimal conditions for growing staple crops, ensuring that we will not face shortages even in prolonged periods of isotion. This means that rationing or emergency food distribution will not be necessary under current circumstances." she added.

  "Basic food necessities? Eborate."

  "Well, our Agricultural Domes are designed to cultivate a wide range of essential crops, including grains, vegetables, and legumes. However, while we have mastered the cultivation of food required to sustain our popution, these domes have yet to reach their full potential when it comes to more diverse or exotic produce. Research into artificial climates has indeed yielded significant progress, allowing us to simute various growing conditions, but we have yet to perfect the technology to the extent that we can produce food from vastly different climates at a rge scale. For example, while we can replicate the temperate conditions needed for wheat and potatoes, more delicate tropical fruits or rare spices still pose a challenge."

  "Then that is a sacrifice we're willing to make until we find a solution. Now, how about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs? Any movements from other nations?"

  "Eurtre Majest?té, ever since we began our rapid military buildup, multiple nations have condemned us for such actions, especially our long-time rival, the Divine Kingdom of Avalon. Intelligence suggests that once the Volkov Republic nears capitution, Avalon may intervene to prevent the destruction of their ally," Minister Rayne of the Foreign Affairs reported, his expression grim.

  The Divine Kingdom of Avalon, formerly the Federated States of Avalonia, had once been a great ally during both the Second and Third World Wars. However, by the dawn of the 21st century, everything changed. The ruling government was violently overthrown by the old royal family, and the nation was reestablished as a theocratic state. What was once a strong alliance had long since deteriorated into an intense rivalry. The Republic of Volkov remained one of Avalon's key allies, a constant thorn in Alnania's side due to their shared border.

  "Even our most optimistic predictions conclude that this will escate into another global war," Minister Rayne continued. "Fortunately, most of our allies remain true to their commitment to the Zeatly Pact and will come to our aid if Avalon decides to intervene."

  "Because of that, Eurtre Majest?té, the 3rd and 7th Imperial Fleets are currently en route to the Cythen Isnds and the Veusan Strait to reinforce our allies and secure vital supply nes. Orbital weapon systems are primed and ready for an immediate decapitation strike on the Avalonian central government, should the need arise. Meanwhile, the 1st Imperial Fleet remains stationed in the Ulys Ocean, awaiting further orders." Viktor interjected.

  The room fell into a tense silence. The weight of the moment pressed upon them all. This was no mere regional conflict but this was the spark of something much greater.

  "Once the st of our citizens return home, I hereby authorize the immediate strike into Volkovian territory," the emperor decred, his voice resolute. "This war must end swiftly. And if it escates, then so be it. We shall bring the fight to them. This session is adjourned."

  The holographic projections flickered and vanished, leaving the room in utter darkness for a moment before the regur lights flickered back on.

  In just nine hours, a war that would change history forever was set to begin.

  But it never came to pass.

  For an unexpected event was about to unfold. One that would alter the fate of the world in ways no one could have foreseen.

  Port of AlnanImperial Capital City of Valdr?d

  The docks were packed with anxious families, military personnel, and news crews as the st ships entered the harbor. Cheers erupted as passengers disembarked, embracing loved ones they thought they might never see again. Reporters flooded the scene, documenting the final wave of returning citizens. Among them was the Alnanian Imperial News Network (AINN), the rgest media outlet in the empire.

  A well-dressed reporter stood before the camera, her voice steady but urgent.

  "We are live from Port Alnan at 08:38 PM Imperial Standard Time. The st ships carrying our fellow citizens have finally anchored. As you can see, dozens of people are disembarking now, let's get a closer look at th-wait... what in the empire's name is that?"

  The camera panned upwards, focusing on the night sky and that was when everything changed.

  A crack had formed in the heavens. Not a cloud, not a shooting star but a jagged, glowing fracture in reality itself. It shimmered unnaturally, like a mirror shattered in midair, its jagged edges pulsing with an eerie white light. Then, suddenly...

  The world plunged into darkness.

  Every light, every screen, every electronic device snapped off in an instant. The ships in the harbor, the streetlights, even the towering skyscrapers of Valdrad were all bcked out at once. Gasps of confusion quickly turned to screams as panic set in.

  Then, the crack in the sky shattered.

  An impossible shockwave erupted outward, a force so immense that it tore through the city like a hurricane made of pure distortion. Gss exploded from every window. Cars were flipped like toys. The very air itself howled as gravity twisted erratically. People were hurled through the streets, their bodies smming into walls, light poles, and even each other. The shockwave ripped the docked ships apart, splitting some clean in half, while others were wrenched into the air, floating like weightless debris before crashing back into the sea.

  Buildings colpsed in on themselves, some bending at impossible angles before glitching out of existence entirely, only to reappear in different locations, half-sunk into the pavement or stacked atop one another like some deranged architect's nightmare.

  Screams filled the air. The cries of the injured, the shrieks of terror, the helpless sobs of those unable to comprehend what was happening. Families reached for loved ones only to watch them flicker out of sight only to then suddenly reappear meters away, disoriented and horrified.

  The AINN crew was caught in the chaos. Their camera smmed to the ground, the screen going to static before abruptly cutting back in. The cameraman y half-buried under debris, groaning in pain. The reporter, Shinea, was struggling to move, her face streaked with dust and blood. She clutched her microphone with trembling fingers, her voice hoarse.

  "W-what the fuck was that? What just happened?"

  Then, just as suddenly as the chaos had begun...

  A fsh of light.

  Blinding, all-consuming. A pure white nothingness that swallowed the world whole.

  Then there was silence.

  And just like that, everything was back to normal.

  The docks were untouched. The buildings stood tall and undamaged. The ships were whole again, resting peacefully in the harbor. The people who had been torn apart, crushed, or flung into the abyss just moments ago were standing exactly where they had been before the event- alive and unharmed.

  Silence lingered. People touched their faces, checked their bodies, ran their hands over the solid ground beneath them, they were alive. They remembered dying, but they were alive.

  Then, before anyone could even begin to make sense of what had happened, a small voice broke the fragile stillness.

  "Mom... since when did we get a new moon?" a child in the crowd pointed skyward. One by one, heads turned. Then gasps filled the night.

  High above them, where their familiar moon, Lunestrein should have been alone in the sky, a second moon loomed. Pale, massive, and undeniably real.

  And just beyond that, stretching across the heavens from horizon to horizon, was something even more impossible, it was a vast asteroid ring. A swirling, majestic band of countless celestial bodies, glowing faintly in the night.

  The people of Alnania weren't just witnessing a cosmic anomaly. They were no longer on their own world. Their empire, their cities, their very pnet had been ripped from their universe and thrust into another.

  A world that would forever shatter their understanding of reality itself.

  The High Room, Souver?nain PaistEmergency Session

  The room was thick with tension. It had only been a few hours since the st meeting, but the recent events that had unfolded were both disturbing and incomprehensible. The emperor demanded immediate answers.

  "Can anyone expin what just happened?" The emperor's voice was eerily quiet, his tone betraying a rare hint of uncertainty.

  A heavy silence settled over the room.

  "As of this moment, we don't know, Eurtre Majest?té," Minister-General Viktor replied, his voice low and cautious. "At first, we suspected a military attack, either from the Volkovians or Avalonians. But the events that transpired cannot be attributed to any known technology from ours or theirs. The fact that it occurred throughout the entire empire suggests this was no mere action of men."

  "We at the Ministry of Innovation and Scientific Affairs have conducted a thorough review," Minister Elei added, her voice cking its usual confident edge. "The fact that the people experienced mass destruction and then saw everything revert back to its original state-without any sting damage or expnation-is unlike anything we've ever seen. For the first time in the Ministry's history... no, for the first time in the empire's history, we have no expnation other than something magical. A cosmic force, perhaps. A being... maniputing reality." She trailed off, clearly struggling with the words, as if the very suggestion felt impossible.

  "Something magical?" the emperor repeated, the weight of the phrase hanging in the air. "Well, that could be the only expnation for the new moon and the asteroid ring system in the sky." He paused, staring out at the assembly of advisors. "Any success in contacting any other nations after the bckouts?"

  "Eurtre Majest?té," Minister Rayne, head of Foreign Affairs, spoke up, his voice steady despite the overwhelming circumstances. "The lines of communication we maintained with our allies have remained silent ever since the bckout. Any attempts to reach out have been futile, and we expect that we won't be able to contact anyone outside the empire for at least 48 hours. This leaves us blind to any potential threat or attempt to undermine us."

  "Couldn't the satellites report any activity or reestablish communications?" the emperor asked sharply, his frustration growing.

  "That's the issue, Eurtre Majest?té," Minister-General Viktor responded quickly. "After the event, we lost contact with the majority of our satellites. The remaining ones are inaccessible for now, and our efforts to regain communication are ongoing. The Bureau of Aerospace Command reports they may be able to reestablish contact within the next four hours. However, the active satellites are primarily used for military surveilnce, not imaging, so they're not equipped for deep analysis or communication. Their primary function is stealth and defense."

  A sudden movement caught everyone's attention. An aide approached Minister Elei, whispering something in her ear. She quickly checked her datapad, her eyes widening as her face contorted with shock and dread.

  "If I may, Eurtre Majest?té," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "I've just received reports from the Hochfort Aurelion Station and the Lunestrein Moon bases. They're still operational and able to contact us. But they couldn't provide any information about the surrounding nations... because, according to them, we're not on Arkanis anymore."

  A collective gasp rippled through the room. The emperor's eyes narrowed, his patience waning.

  "I-I beg your pardon?" he asked, his voice dangerously calm.

  "Yes, Eurtre Majest?té," Minister Elei continued, her tone somber. "The Hochfort Aurelion Station reports that the ndscape they're seeing-" She tapped a command on her datapad, and a holographic image materialized above the table. "-this image was taken just minutes ago. The ndmass in the middle is the Valdan Continent, where we and the Volkov Republic are situated. But the surrounding ndmasses do not resemble any known continents. In fact, the pnet seems to be rger than ours. According to the station's report, the moon's orbit has shifted, and the gravitational field is different. The atmosphere is strange, too-far denser than ours. We have concluded that-"

  Minister Elei paused as the room collectively held its breath.

  "We've been thrown from our home. We aren't in Arkanis anymore."

  The room was utterly silent for a long, breathless moment.

  "By logic... this shouldn't even be possible!" the emperor finally excimed, standing up from his throne, his hands clenching into fists. His eyes burned with a mix of disbelief and fury. "How are we even supposed to process this? How could we have... shifted like this, without warning?"

  The ministers exchanged uncertain gnces, none of them offering an answer, for there were no answers to give.

  "This... this isn't just a cosmic anomaly," Minister Elei continued quietly, her gaze dropping to the floor. "We are not alone in this universe anymore. Something has pulled us from our home, and we are now in a pce... we cannot even begin to understand. There is no turning back. The forces at py here are far beyond our comprehension."

  The emperor's face darkened, his hands tightening around the armrests of his throne as the weight of what they had just learned sank in. No one in the room had an answer. None of them had a pn. They had no idea who, or what, had cast them from their world, or what this new world had in store for them.

  But there was one thing that was clear to them all. They had been thrust into an unimaginable new reality and the old rules no longer applied.

  Unknown RealmUnknown Location

  "The Imperial Federation of Alnania? Why didn't you choose any of the great powers of Earth? There are countless variants of Earth's nations out there. Surely, you could have selected a more... suitable version to help and guide our world," one figure said, his tone ced with disbelief and skepticism.

  "You really are a new god, aren't you?" the being in front of him responded calmly, almost amused. "Let me educate you. I would have preferred a great power from Earth myself. But transporting an Earth-based nation-any nation, whether it's a superpower or a struggling third-world state will demands nearly all of one's divine energy and essence. Earth nations, regardless of status, are innately potent. When brought into a new world, they carry with them the seeds of dominance, of influence... of destiny."

  She paused, folding her hands behind her back.

  "And besides, the best ones have already been taken. Hundreds of Earths are now missing entire nations, even entire continents were already cimed by other gods long before you or I were granted our own world."

  "Then why not pull from other Earths outside the Catalogue? The observable multiverse is practically endless," the first figure argued. "Surely there are untouched versions out there, beyond the selection you were given."

  "And risk invoking the wrath of the Agency?" the being snapped, her tone now sharpened with caution. "Do you have any idea what kind of power you're toying with?"

  She stepped closer, her voice lowering.

  "The Agency doesn't tolerate unauthorized tampering with the multiverse. They may seem distant, but they see everything. They're the only known force to have ever breached the universal barrier and some say they didn't even originate from a universe at all. The old gods, the first of our kind, once dared to interfere recklessly. It nearly unraveled reality itself. It was only after they begged for mercy that the Agency agreed to regute access through the Catalogue."

  A pause.

  "A carefully curated collection of Earths and Earth-like pnets, each marked and approved for divine use. One of those worlds is Arkanis, the one I took from. And from that world, I chose the Imperial Federation of Alnania."

  The first figure crossed his arms, unconvinced. "Still, why Alnania? They're technologically advanced, yes. Capable enough to face the Annonrials, Ravernals or even the [REDACTED] Threat, sure-but aren't you worried they might just conquer this world instead of helping it?"

  The being chuckled darkly. "Oh, and now you're worried about conquest? Please. Shall I remind you that you summoned the Imperium of Arcanum to the west? A militarized, theocratic-technological empire driven by expansionist zeal? You've already put the entire western hemisphere in peril. Let's just hope your followers don't act impulsively when they make first contact with the Arcańarin."

  She turned toward the shimmering veil that separated their realm from the mortal pne.

  "But if the Alnanians do try to conquer the world... then so be it," she said with quiet finality. "They've been given a purpose. They've been given power. And more importantly..." she paused, a glint in her eyes-"they've been given

  A New Dawn to Conquer."

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  Upcoming Chapter:New World, Same Threats

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