So, here we go. For real this time. It's January 2017, and I started this story over 3½ years ago. But I'm finally ready to give it a proper go now. Updates will be at least once monthly. Constructive criticism is very welcome (also, PLEASE point out SPG mistakes so I can fix them). I'm not taking story ideas or OCs though.

Let me know what you think.

-theheartlesssoul010

The year is 2047.

Things are looking pretty dire for planet Earth.

Despite numerous worldwide efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, and even after several emergency meetings by major world leaders, global temperatures have risen by over 5oC.

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have begun an inevitable melting cycle, at a much, much greater rate than had ever been expected. Trapped carbon dioxide and methane have begun to escape from the thawing ice, accelerating the process exponentially. Every summer vastly more ice melts than can be replaced in the following winter. Global sea levels have already risen 9 metres on average, flooding many low-lying countries and creating in excess of half a billion refugees.

Earth's population is currently 10 billion. And growing. The planet does not have nearly enough resources left to sustain the human race at the current rate of use for more than a few decades longer. Shortages of food, water and fuel have escalated geopolitical tensions so much as to give rise to full-scale wars in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and beyond.

And, yet, in many countries ordinary people get on with their lives. Governments have built extensive flood defences, and many cover-ups of climate studies and natural disasters along with heavily state-regulated news across the globe ensure people live on unaware of just how grim humanities' situation is.

London. May 23rd, 2047. 08:50.

Rain. Eowynn was sick to death of it. He had his fair share of it living back in Ireland for the first thirteen years of his life, and it just seemed to have followed him when his family moved to London almost five years ago. "We'll be much safer there," his father had said. "I've got a great job lined up, and I can't have us staying here any longer, not without enough money to support ourselves". His 'rousing speech' could have been right out of a movie. Honestly it probably was. Naturally of course, things never really worked out that way.

They had tried their best to forge a new life here in London, albeit a mediocre one at best. Their new home was a small, two bedroom flat in an old 1990's tower block, one that really should have been torn down by now. After his 'great' job prospect suddenly fell flat, Eowynn's dad joined thousands of others in the benefits queue, and Eowynn himself began attending the local comprehensive secondary school, one of the lowest rated in the country. As the government poured more and more money into national defence and infrastructure to deal with the changing climate, the budget for domestic issues such as education was slowly being throttled, the effects of which were starting to make themselves apparent across the country.

Eowynn trudged on to school. By the time he arrived, his uniform was drenched from head to toe. His black hair, worn shoulder length-as was the fashion in the late 2040's-clung to his neck and drizzled rivulets of water over his shirt. At least he didn't seem to be the only one leaving little puddles behind him as he walked to class. He almost wished he lived further from school, so he was eligible to ride the bus and could avoid the regular soaking. "P.E. first, great" he said to himself as he checked his timetable. "Crap, I forgot my gear. Mr Collins is going to kill me."

But before he could get to class, he was interrupted. "Hey, shortass!" Eowynn heard. As he turned, he was shoved roughly onto the ground by a big, beefy pair of hands.

"Fuck off, Michael!" Eowynn, as he picked himself up off the ground, readying a punch, only to see Michael and his goons sprinting away, chuckling to themselves. Puzzled, Eowynn looked behind him, only to be met with the snarling face of Mrs Carr, the old, shrivelled Head of Year. Mrs Carr was renowned for not taking any nonsense, and all the students lived in fear of being the subject of her ire.

"Just what do you think you are doing, lounging around on the floor?" she questioned in her harsh, nasal voice.

"Miss, did you honestly not see what happened?" Eoghan asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Less of the cheek from you!" she retorted. "Hurry up and get to class, before I give you detention."

Rolling his eyes, Eowynn trudged off to class muttering expletives under his breath. He and Michael seemed to be locked in some sort of war of attrition, with insults and physical abuses being traded back and forth on a daily basis. Eowynn placed another tally under Michael's name on his mental scoreboard, and resolved get back at him later.

The day didn't get much better after that. In PE he was made participate in his uniform, which ended up even soggier than before. Biology, Maths and English were a bore. The final period, Chemistry (which Eowynn somewhat enjoyed), had been going fine. Until he was partnered up with Michael, who thought it would be fun to 'accidentally' spill water all over Eowynn's book.

That did it. Filled with pent up anger, Eowynn turned and punched Michael as hard as he could in the face.

"Aah!" he cried. "You-you piece of shit, you've broken my nose!" And he was right, for blood was dribbling from his nostrils all over his hands and onto the table. Cradling his bruising knuckles, and adding a mental tally under his name, Eowynn's sense of smug satisfaction was soon replaced by dread when the chemistry teacher roared his name.

It was just one of those days.

As he trudged home that afternoon, feeling more than a little sorry for himself, Eowynn paused for a moment, and stared up at the imposing concrete flood wall casting its shadow over him. It seemed to silently judge him, questioning his small existence in this huge, daunting world. Eoghan stared back, unwavering.

"Goddamit" he suddenly muttered, turning away. "What am I doing with my life?"

He honestly didn't know. His grades were certainly not the best in the world, he had a poor behavioural record in school, and no artistic skill of any kind…Life was just such a bore, he realised. There was nothing to do, especially without much in the way of friends. Not that he was antisocial, just that he'd never gotten round to making any after the move to London. He didn't even have any real hobbies or interests, which certainly didn't make it any easier to connect with others. His day-to-day experience consisted of school, food, sleep and TV or internet.

With no small amount of bitterness, Eowynn realised he was slowly turning into the same kind of person as his dad. He gazed at the matte-grey sky, uncaring at the odd glance or two he received from his fellow pedestrians.

Everything in this city, from the river to the skyscrapers seemed to come from the same greyscale palette; so boring and depressing you could hardly dwell on it for any length of time before you considered simply giving yourself to the rising floodwaters. He surprised himself with that thought. Normally he wasn't the kind of guy to think something 'deep' like that. Maybe he should write a book, he joked to himself.

"Nah. Wouldn't have the patience. Would probably just give up halfway" he muttered to no one in particular. Then, "Hah. Deep. You know, like the water…"

He trudged on.

It took around half an hour to reach the hulking tower their family called home. The lift was still broken, so Eowynn sighed heavily before making his way up the seven flights of stairs leading up to their floor. Upon entering the tiny apartment he was unsurprised to see his father lounging on the sofa, can of beer in one hand and TV remote in the other, looking not unlike a character from an old cartoon Eowynn remembered watching at some point.

"Hmph" his dad said, with a slight inclination of his head. That was all you could really get out of him when he was like this. Best to leave him be for now.

"Afternoon" Eowynn called out as he wandered into his bedroom.

His mother replied with a half-hearted "How was your day?"

"Alright, I guess"

"That's good dear. Dinner will be ready in about an hour"

"Thanks"

"…"

That was the end of that. It wasn't that Eowynn disliked his parents, they just…never seemed to have anything interesting to talk about. Although thinking about it, they probably thought the same of him. He shut the door behind him, letting his schoolbag slide off his back before practically falling into his desk chair. He took a look around his room; taking in the single bed in the corner, his television and games console, the desk and his computer, before he flicked on the PC to begin the mountain of homework.

Sure, technology had advanced greatly since the start of the century, but all that really translated to was higher definition flatscreens, more powerful computers, and thinner phones. Nothing really 'new', just upgraded versions of existing things. Disappointing, really. His father had told him stories of back in the 10's and 20's, when they seemed to create something new every day. It was at times like those when you could catch a glimpse of his dad's old self, his real self. His eyes seemed to light up at the memories of those exciting times, times before the floods and refugee crises, before the Oil wars and power shortages. The world seemed like such an interesting place back then, all colourful and interesting.

Then reality caught on. The reckless resource-gobbling of the early 21st century came back to hit humanity like a ton of bricks. Then, subsequently, it all sort of went to shit.

The distinctive buzz of a police drone passing over a nearby street interrupted his train of thought. There he was, being all thoughtful again. Fancy that. Eowynn slipped his phone out of his pocket, unrolling it and setting it on the wireless charging pad. Okay, he had to admit that the rollable phone was a cool gimmick.

"No messages. What a surprise". Was he just a boring person? He harked back to his thoughts earlier. "Maybe that's it then. Note to self: be less boring".

He would certainly achieve that goal, albeit through methods he could not yet even conceive of.

Unknown Location. May 24th, 2047. Unknown Time.

The test laboratory was a flurry of activity. Fingers danced along touchpads, men with clipboards hurried in and out of reinforced steel doors which opened and closed with audible hisses, and faces were creased with worry and excitement simultaneously. One could sense a feeling of great anticipation in the air. Suddenly, the room fell silent and all of the scientists and engineers quickly turned and stood to face the man who had just entered.

General Bryant surveyed the room with the air of a man who was fully confident in his authority. He smiled (internally, of course. His stoic expression remained unwavering), savouring the moment. It felt like only weeks had passed since he was first lined up in front of his drill instructor with the other recruits. The sergeant had worn the same look which Bryant did now, steely-eyed and judgemental, appraising the scene in front of him. Bryant could never have imagined where his military career would lead him. After his tour in Iraq he was recommended by his CO for the officer training program, and proceeded to work his way through the ranks over 3 decades to finally reach the coveted 'General'.

Five years after achieving the position, he was transferred back home from commanding the US forces in Iran near the start of the Oil Wars. The base he currently oversaw was on more familiar territory, the heart of the Nevada desert. Albeit nearly a thousand feet underground-less for secrecy than for safety reasons. Some of the research carried out here was, quite literally, groundbreaking in every sense of the term.

"Carry on." With the slightest inclination of his head, the General motioned for work to continue, and so it did. He motioned for his personal guards to remain at the doorway and made his way to the back of the rows of computer terminals, onto a slightly raised platform where the lead researcher sat behind his desk, triple checking his calculations.

"Doctor Stantz."

"General" the doctor replied, glancing briefly over his shoulder before quickly resuming his work.

"Are we ready to begin?" Bryant questioned, making clear his displeasure at being kept waiting.

"Eh…almost," Stantz said hesitantly, "I would prefer to run a few more simulations first, but-"

"I was brought down here under the impression I was to be shown a successful demonstration, Stantz" the general interrupted. "Have you been wasting my time?"

Stantz rubbed the back of his head nervously. "No, I…we can begin immediately if you wish, it's just we really should-"

"Good. Whenever your people are ready doctor"

"Right." He looked towards the front of the lab at the machinery behind the reinforced glass window. It all looked rather messy, tangles of wires hanging out of the back and running into the walls on either side. He had designed this machine himself, although in reality it was only a single component of the whole system. The real genius lay in the idea he had first postulated, which had underpinned the whole project. Of course, the 'parallel universe' theory had been around for some time, however had never been explicitly proven.

Until now.

The idea was, by precisely aiming concentrated beams of neutrinos directly at each other, enough energy was generated at that single point to allow some of the miniscule massless and chargeless particles to pass through the 'barrier' separating dimensions. This would open a channel into whatever lay beyond. The first time this had been achieved, however, created an explosion of energy so great it all but levelled the entire research building (which had thankfully been evacuated before the test was carried out for fear that something of the sort might occur). However, once the supply of neutrinos stopped the rupture appeared to seal itself, which was intriguing. Stantz discovered that whilst he had not succeeded in accessing a parallel universe, he had opened a doorway into what seemed to be the space between universes. It was some sort of a buffer region, a highly energetic soup of energy which held universes apart. Stantz had dubbed this 'the Flux'

The reason they were here today was the fact that this 'soup' presented an almost limitless source of energy-if it could be harnessed. Furthermore, smaller scale tests shed light on its nature being like that of a high energy plasma, albeit made up of no known matter. It could, however, be magnetised (which was surprising considering there were no discernible charged particles within), allowing it to be channelled and used to produce electricity via the simple heating of water.

That part of the process was relatively simple-it utilised techniques originally developed for now defunct nuclear fusion plants. The real challenge was obtaining strong and concentrated beams of neutrinos, which could generate enough energy upon collision to keep the doorway open for more than a few milliseconds.

That was where the satellite network came in.

Two dozen specialised satellites were placed in varying orbits around the Earth, designed to redirect high-energy neutrinos originating directly from the sun into two beams, which are then redirected again to pass right through the planet in opposite directions (since the neutrinos are so small and massless, they could pass straight through most matter) and meet at a point in this very lab. The machinery Stantz was regarding was to be the collection mechanism for the interdimensional plasma which would be liberated from the Flux. There would be no explosion this time. Hopefully.

Stantz's train of though was interrupted by one of the female researchers.

"Doctor, we have confirmed satellite acquisition and are standing by for firing"

"Excellent" replied the senior scientist. "Beginning activation of magnetic coils." His index finger hovered momentarily over a key on his touchpad before tapping it. The light dimmed and the quiet whirr of the magnetic coils could be heard in the now almost silent room. Stantz leaned towards a microphone on his station.

"Neutrinos firing in ten…nine…eight…seven…six"

Suddenly, the sound of blaring alarms drowned out the countdown. Stantz's eyes widened.

"WARNING. SATELLITES MISALIGNED." The robotic voice shook the researchers out of their temporary state of shock, and they began furiously working to shut down the process. Stantz stared at the screen in front of him in amazement.

"No, no, no, that's impossible!" However, the computer did not lie. Not one, but two of the satellites had been somehow knocked out of alignment at the last minute. Unfortunately for them all, it was too late to stop the test now. But as Stantz read the information scrolling down his monitor, he saw the situation had only went from bad to worse.

"How…what…" He found himself unable to speak. Somehow, inexplicably, the misaligned satellites had managed to perfectly line up their neutrino beams in a completely different location on the planet.

Only ten seconds had passed since all hell broke loose, but General Bryant had had enough. "Stantz!" he roared. "What in God's name is going on?"

Stantz didn't reply, pressing a button on his workstation to stop the alarms. The magnetic coils wound down. The room was silent now, all eyes on him. He finally mustered up some words. "Where…where did the interaction occur?" He silently prayed it was away from a major population centre. Perhaps the resulting explosion caused by the uncontained rupture into the Flux would go unnoticed-especially if it occurred deep under the Earth's surface. It might even be too weak to be detected on seismographs.

As he lifted his head out of his hands, the woman he spoke to only minutes ago sadly shook her head before pulling up a map on the main screen.

The entire room gasped and the low mutter in the room quickly rose to a cacophony of heated questions and shouts of disbelief. Stantz slunk even lower in his chair than he thought possible. Even the usually unfazed Bryant couldn't contain his shock.

"God help us…"

London. May 24th, 2047. 10:17.

Today officially marked the greatest number of days of continuous rain in London's history. Eowynn couldn't see through the great concrete wall which ran along the course of the river bank, but the water could be heard sloshing around behind it at what was probably a record high level. He turned his eyes away from the wall and continued on towards the shop. Neither of his parents were awake yet, as was the custom on weekends, so it was up to him to obtain the groceries.

As he sauntered through the aisles, locating the required items, his thoughts couldn't help but drift towards his feeling the previous day. A feeling of pointlessness, futility even. It was blatantly obvious to him that the future was only going to get worse. More floods, more fighting, increased shortages of every major resource. What could he do about it?

"Absolutely nothing, that's what" he mused to himself. Eowynn paid for his items and began the trek home. He noticed the wind begin to pick up, and heard the sound of waves crashing against the wall at least fifty feet above his head. He ignored it, as did all the other passers-by. This was a common occurrence after all.

BANG!

At least, it had been.

Eowynn turned wide eyed towards the flood barrier, and was rather surprised to see a significant fissure running almost the whole height of the wall. Now that was somewhat concerning. The quayside was silent for a minute as passers-by gawped at the huge crack in the usually immobile wall, the wall that stood firm and protected them from the rising tides, before the grinding of concrete on concrete could be heard.

"Oh, shit"

Some primal instinct flared up inside Eowynn, one he never knew existed, telling him one simple thing:

RUN

He dropped the groceries, turned and broke into a sprint. It only took mere seconds for absolute pandemonium to erupt, people screaming as the wall visibly bulged inwards. Soon everyone around was heading the same direction as him, as far away from the river as possible.

His breath already ragged, Eowynn felt true panic set in. There wasn't enough time, he realised. He too close to the wall and would never make it to higher ground before it gave way! Looking towards the skyscrapers surrounding him, he made a choice.

Diverting his course to the right, he charged towards the nearest office building-which was about 200 metres ahead-planning to duck into the entrance and hopefully reach the stairs before-

CRUNCH

The displaced section of wall shifted one final time, before collapsing completely and releasing a roaring torrent of water nearly three times Eowynn's own height into the streets of central London. He glanced over his shoulder mid-sprint only to see the water rushing towards him speeds far greater than he could ever hope to, swallowing people and cars alike as it went.

This was it, he realised, as he felt a chill settle into the pit of his stomach. This was the end.

No! He would not give up. He pushed his body to go faster, expending all his remaining strength into keeping his already fatigued muscles going just that little bit longer. He was so close now! Looking back one last time, he saw the wall of water was almost upon him.

What he failed to notice, however, was the rapidly expanding point of purple light he now sprinted straight towards. As he turned to face forward again, feeling the water hit the back of his ankles, he closed his eyes to the sudden blinding flash and-

Chapter ends.