Earth, 6th August Year 2045, England, London < 1.30 pm>

 

A young man sat leisurely on a wooden park bench in one of London’s many parks. For today’s lunch break, the young man had chosen his favorite spot in Hyde Park.

 

With his Tesco meal deal placed beside him, he calmly munched on a cheese and ham sandwich while sipping on his monster energy drink. The man silently praised Tesco in his heart for offering a sandwich drink and snack all for only £3!

 

The man subconsciously unbuttoned his shirt’s top button to allow for some airflow while he relaxed in the shade of a tree. Opening the newspaper he had picked up on the way here, he began reading and looking at the pictures. He used this time to take a break from screens so preferred obtaining his news from this old-fashioned source.

 

Some people had microchips implanted in their brains allowing information to be downloaded instantly. Although it was still new technology, so many including him had not had the technology implanted yet.

 

Some headline titles caught the mans attention:

 

[Heatwave for the 10th day in a row, Record temperatures reach 46 degrees Celsius (104f) in London, Climate change to blame!]

 

[World Population has reached 12 billion from today! Experts say that due to droughts the food production is struggling to keep up!]

 

[Xkarn technologies is predicted to become the first company to be worth over £10 trillion pounds after the release of their brain microchip implants]

 

[Africa to become world’s next superpower after China?]

The man could only wipe the sweat away with the back of his hand. Due to global warming, the summers have become unbearable, not just here but around the world.

 

Many have abandoned certain cities or even entire countries to escape the heat. Colder countries like Sweden or Canada had seen a huge influx of residents from countries like India where the summer temperatures could reach up to 55 degrees.

 

Many thought that India would become a superpower due to its large and educated population but who would have thought the country would be near abandoned due to climate change? 

 

While the man was lost in thought a loud bang awoke him from his trance. Around 500 meters away from him the air seemed to distort before a mile-high crack appeared.

 

The young man almost fell off the park bench from pure shock. What in the heavens was happening? 

 

He slowly got up and felt the need to hide behind the nearest tree while poking his head around, watching the crack in space attentively. 

 

Through the crack, he could see a forest and some weird black box on the forest floor. It was like a portal to another world?

 

While he was gawking at the sight before him others were running while screaming “Call the police!” 

“Call Anyone, AHH What the HELL is that!”

“IS THIS A FUCKING MOVIE SET?”

“Someone record this quickly. I need it for my Tik Tok!”

 

Is that last guy an idiot? The man silently thought in his head.

 

The black box on the other side of the portal started shaking and then a 10-meter tall spider emerged from it with hundreds of blood-thirsty eyes. 

 

The spider looked around but from the man’s perspective, it seemed to be moving at 10 times speed. The man could tell it wasn’t because the spider was just fast but it literally looked like a video had been sped up by 10 times.

 

The enormous 10-meter spider then walked towards the portal and emerged. As the man suspected the spider’s body moved at a normal speed once it came through the portal.

 

The young man watched as the self-absorbed idiot recording the whole thing with this phone for Tik Tok, suddenly found himself in the jaw of the spider and being thoroughly munched on. The young man could hear the crunching of bones and a heart-wrenching scream escaping the man’s mouth.

 

To say the young man ran for his life would be an understatement. “WHAT THE FUCK???” he screamed in his mind. He was terrified of spiders… especially 10-meter tall alien spiders. Who wouldn’t be?

 

***

 

Christopher Rodgers the 52nd president of America was currently in a meeting with his advisors when a man barged into the room and stood at attention.

 

“Mr. President Sir!”

 

“General, what seems to be the problem that you interrupt such an important meeting?”

 

To the president’s confusion, the man handed him his phone and showed him a Tik Tok video.

 

“_”

 

“_”

 

They stared at each other in confusion.

 

Did the general of the American army really barge into a meeting to show the president a meme?

 

Deciding that his general can’t be that insane he decided to watch the video.

 

In the video, a man showed himself in front of some weird portal that looked like special effects, then a frighteningly huge spider emerged from the portal and started chewing on the man.

 

The president had to applaud the man’s acting skills, he really seemed like he was being eaten alive! The man told all his fans goodbye as the phone fell to the floor. The live stream continued and showed the man being split in two as his organs fell out.

 

The president was disgusted by the video but was confused why he was being shown it. Sure the special effects were impressive but so what?

 

The General took his phone back and then explained himself.

 

“Sir at 1.30 pm today a weird portal appeared in London’s Hyde Park. The army was mobilized and an hour later they arrived at the scene. There were 30 civilian deaths including some police officers who tried to fight the monsters that emerged from the portal.”

 

“The video I just showed you is confirmed to be real by our own spies who went and investigated the scene.”

 

The whole room was in shock including the president. 

 

Remembering his position the president quickly recovered. “Get the United Kingdom on the line immediately! I need to know the situation!”

 

“Yes sir!”

 

***

Meanwhile, in London, Hyde Park had been locked down and surrounded by the Army. The weird box on the other side of the portal would periodically produce different-looking monsters.

They were all being photographed for future study before being promptly shot at. To the soldier’s surprise, their handguns and machine guns had no effect on the monsters no matter how strong they looked. The weaker bullets simply bounced off an invisible barrier surrounding the monsters.

 

For example, even a simple small green man that looked similar to a goblin from fantasy novels needed a 7.62mm sniper round MINIMUM to take any damage. These rounds could usually go through up to 3 concrete walls easily so how could a little goblin resit them?

 

The large spiders on the other hand could survive a shot from a tank with only heavy but nonfatal injuries. Only after 3 tank rounds would they finally die.

 

***

 

The video on Tik Tok had exploded to a billion views within an hour. It was being shown on news broadcasts across the world.

 

Excited and scared citizens of many different countries started discussing their views on the matter on social media sites like Twitter.

 

“Holy shit are those alien spiders? Are we being invaded?”

 

“Do you think those green men are intelligent? Could we maybe speak to them?” 

 

“KILL THEM ALL AHHHH” - a scared Twitter user…

 

While the citizens busily discussed, leaders of the world were stressed out of their minds. Leaders of the United Kingdom had assembled in Buckingham Palace to discuss the potential impending doom with the royal family.

 

The American president, Christopher Rodgers, had immediately boarded his private jet to London. He would arrive in 6 hours. Compared to the UK leaders who were scared half to death, the president was instead thinking of the potential benefits.

 

Could he invade this portal and acquire resources? Do they have oil? Or maybe technology he had never heard of? Even though these monsters seem rather strong due to some weird energy they use to shield themselves, what if he could discover how to use this energy too?

 

In this modern era, the USA is no longer the undisputed king of Earth. China now spends over a trillion dollars a year on its military. Africa is also only around 10 years away from becoming another superpower as well. Heck, even Russia has managed to recover and is starting to threaten Europe with invasion.

 

Christopher Rodgers laid back in his seat and stared at the ocean below, a smile appeared on his aged face. 

 

A new era could be on its way...