The City Rift

Part I

Prologue

The city of Rift could better be described as two sister cities joined at the hip. In the north, nestled within a crescent of jagged mountain peaks, was Uptown. Home to the city-nation's capitol, Uptown was the mind and soul of Rift. In Uptown's inception it knew hardship. The people of Uptown knew pain, adaptation, and sheer determination. Rift itself almost died several times had it not been for the perseverance and love of home that Uptown felt for the city. Uptown and its citizens had weathered all seasons of life, and therefore held a somewhat ungenerous view of their siblings to the south.

At the mouth of the crescent of mountains was a bottleneck, a passage wide enough for a highway to pass through, connecting Uptown to a sprawling, dizzying, massive Downtown.

Downtown had been little more than a few apartments and factories while Rift went through its phases of prosperity and woe. When Uptown helped stabilize Rift's future, Downtown exploded in population. People flocked from all corners of the world to become a part of this young nation. What Downtown lacked in Uptown's rich, cultural Riftian history, it more than made up for with its diversity of thought and people. If Uptown was the mind of Rift, Downtown was the heart which ceaselessly beat and never seemed to tire.

It was, ironically, not the people at the ivory southern beaches of Rift but those nearest the mountain bases that noticed the disturbance first. A chronic whine, almost creaking sound. Decor subtly swaying on the wall. A constant, barely noticeable tremor that ran through the floors. It wasn't until the waves crashing against Downtown's shores grew tall enough to reach the streets before breaking that people began to panic. Seawater rushed down the motorways, growing to ankle depth at an alarming speed. Waves continued to crash against the shore, each larger than the last.

The ground shook violently. Windows shattered in their frames. Cascading shards of glass plummeted down onto terrified and screaming citizens. Drivers swerved erratically through the shaking, flooded streets, colliding with other vehicles, buildings, and fleeing pedestrians. Fuel leaked from broken tanks and mixed with the water. Sparks hopped from a downed power line, causing the water to erupt into a sea of flames. Thick, oily smoke masked the sky while flames below cast the scene in a hellish crimson glow. The smell of smoke assaulted people's nostrils as the sounds of screams and collapsing structures pounded through the turbulence.

Almost at once, an enormous tidal wave washed through most of Downtown, thinning the water's depths as the water spread. Four behemoth machines burst out of the water and onto the beach. Their design was similar to a locomotive engine pulled forward on enormous tank treads. As each one emerged from the ocean it seemed as if they would never end. Each was easily longer than a city block, almost half as wide, and at least seven stories in height. Their engines bellowed an unearthly cry. Metal screeched against metal and gears ground heavily against each other. Countless covers on the surface of the machines slid back, releasing armed drones, revealing massive cannons and firearms which began firing indiscriminately, punctuating the air with the punches of gunfire and explosions.

Joining in the cacophony of screaming machines and ballistic fire came Rift's military forces from the north. Helicopters and jets flew overhead dropping payload after payload of explosives onto the hellish contraptions. Troops mobilized on the ground to combat the drones and subweapons emerging from the mysterious machines. Gigantic Gatling guns and rocket-propelled grenades blasted through the air, causing a resonance that could be felt in the chests of all the Riftians. For hours, Downtown was bathed in shades of red and orange; fire devouring everything in its path, blood flooding the streets, the red hot wreckage of Riftian and enemy machines alike. The military fought to fend off the attack as Downtowners desperately made their way to the bottleneck to seek refuge in the safety of Uptown.