"From the depths they come, Writhing and creeping in shadows, Tainting all they touch."

On an Earth like ours, yet distinctly different, a single action caused parallel worlds to split and become wholly separate.

June 5th, 2024 

Chicago

"What's that from, Mommy?" a small voice whispered.

"Oh, just a part of a poem I heard once, honey." The mother replied as she smoothed down her daughter's hair.

Truth be told, she had been thinking of it all day. The poem, originally translated from ancient Chinese, felt particularly relevant today. Tomorrow, all hell would break loose as the seals did. Wrath, Pride, Envy, Sloth, Lust, Gluttony, and Greed—known as the seven deadly sins—would be unleashed. For millennia, they plagued the human race, just as fatal as any disease and much more sinister.

Long ago, ancient civilizations pondered these age-old questions: Why do we need these tainted emotions? Wouldn't the world be better and safer without their consequences? Wouldn't it be freeing to feel anger without the urge to raise a fist, to be envious without the desire to steal, and to feel lust without the desire to take by any means necessary?

And so, they decided to seal them away. Seven civilizations came together to accomplish this incredible feat—one from each of the seven major river valleys. The event's significance caused time to be referred to as 'BS' (Before Sealing) or 'AS' (After Sealing). To this day, historians and physicists can't quite figure out how they managed it. It shouldn't have been possible, especially with the lack of technology they had at the time. It wasn't until the 1940s that a clue emerged in the form of Kaprekar's constant.

Discovered and named in 1949, Kaprekar's method involves taking any 4-digit number, rearranging its digits to form the largest and smallest numbers possible, and subtracting the smaller number from the larger one. Repeating this process will eventually result in the number 6174, known as Kaprekar's constant, in at most seven iterations. It wasn't until the 1980s when they realized the constant had anything to do with the Sealing. Some scientist or conspiracy theorist ran the numbers out of sheer curiosity and realized that each number ran a different number of iterations, from 1 to 7.

 It was clear that they were chosen intentionally, as the iterations from randomly chosen numbers often run either a three or five. Though they learned this information, there wasn't much they could do with it. The exact ritual for the Sealing was lost many years ago, so they could only imitate what had already been done. That meant there was no room to experiment, as they risked the seal breaking forever.

And so, the event known as the 'Great Sealing' also became lesser known as 'Kaprekar's Sealing.' The representing numbers were as follows:

These numbers were arranged in an array on a lone island in the Bermuda Triangle, or 'Devil's Triangle,' with seven anchor points surrounding a seemingly endless pit that writhed with shadows. Due to the harsh seas surrounding the area, experts only journey there once every six years. Why, you ask? Well, a choice like this couldn't come without consequences. The seals would weaken and shatter every 6th day of the 6th month of the 6th year, causing the built-up maelstrom to burst forth. They could only be renewed again the next day, on the 7th. But before that could happen, a massive loss of life occurs. Alongside the sharp increase in murder and suicide, there is always a massive event. It could be a natural disaster or even a man-made one, though the former is more likely. Some of the most notable ones in recent history include:

Additionally, catastrophic events occur every 600 years:

Many experts in the field theorize that the next catastrophic event will be the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano.

She shook herself out of her reverie. It wouldn't do to tell her daughter all this. After all, there was a minimal chance they'd be majorly affected. And even if they were the unlucky ones, she didn't want her daughter to spend her last moments in terror but rather stay cozied up in bed, wrapped in her mother's arms.

Watching her daughter drift asleep, she clasped her hands together in prayer. Though she had never been religious, doesn't terror make avid devotees of us all? It felt wrong to pray for this, though. To pray that some other country was dealt the short stick and had to take the brunt of the damage. She sat on the edge of their bed, growing more tense with every passing minute. She watched the clock on the wall—tick… tick… tick… the hand growing ever closer to midnight. In the minute before the clock finally chimed, she slowly lay down in the bed next to her daughter, hugging her gently closer.

Clang. The hands that held her daughter tightened.
Clang. Tears welled in her eyes.
Clang. She clasped her hands together in prayer a final time.
Clang. She bowed her head.
Clang. Her phone let off a chilling noise.
Clang. "The Emergency Alert System has been activated."
Clang. "This is a national emergency."
Clang. "The United States has been subjected…"
Clang. "…to a nuclear attack."
Clang. "Three out of five missiles were intercepted."
Clang. "Chicago, brace yourselves."
The 12th chime was never heard.

2024, Chicago nuclear blasts: 1.37 million dead