| 2005 | A highly classified experiment in Livermore, California, attempting to understand the properties of dark matter results in a doorway to the Multiverse that scientists name The Rift. Within hours, thirteen more Rifts open, each one getting sequentially smaller as they move east around the world in Battle Ground, Washington; Brazil; France; Algeria; Zimbabwe; Poland; Saudi Arabia; Russia; Siberia; Myanmar; China; Australia; and New Zealand. The Rifts are portals not to other planets, but to an infinite number of other Earths. |
| 2005 | Out of fear that the Rifts would cause mass hysteria, a global effort is launched to keep them a secret. World leaders meet and form ARC: the Allied Rift Coalition. |
| 2005 | ARC is tested almost immediately when all manner of dangerous creatures spill out of the Rifts. These creatures are a panacea of evolutionary biology, as humanity learns that Homo sapiens are only one of many sentient beings that could have evolved on Earth. |
| 2005 | One month after the Rifts open, seventy-three Roones enter Earth. The Roones are a highly evolved humanoid species that promises to help ARC deal with the Rifts. |
| 2006 | With technology developed by the Roones, human trials begin with military troops. Soldiers are implanted with a chip intended to make them exponentially stronger, smarter, faster, and more agile. The test subjects are unable to handle the metamorphosis the brain must undergo to allow for these new “super” abilities. Each subject dies. |
| 2006 | ARC theorizes that by changing the microprocessor in the implant and delaying the time the chip takes to activate by seven years, a child’s young biology can better accept and adapt to the massive changes their bodies would undergo. ARC agrees to let the Roones implant children with the chip. |
| 2006 | Seven-year-olds within a two-hundred-mile radius of each Rift site are tested in school. ARC chooses one hundred with the most average test scores. They do not want to take a potentially bright future away from a gifted child and they want their “super” soldiers to appear as unremarkable as possible. |
| 2006 | Without these children’s parents’ consent, the first crop of one hundred children is implanted with the chip. |
| 2007 | The first Village is created outside the Battle Ground Rift. This is where ARC takes all Immigrants (anyone or anything that Rifts to this Earth from another) to be held in captivity, away from the general population. |
| 2007 | A second crop of children is implanted. |
| 2008 | Militaries from around the world continue to deal with the hostile Immigrants exiting the Rifts; there are numerous casualties on both sides. |
| 2008 | Construction begins on six more global Village sites. |
| 2008 | A third crop of children is implanted with the chip. |
| 2009 | Levi Branach and a fourth crop of children are implanted with the chip. |
| 2010 | Henry Gibbon, Violet Henshaw, Boone Castor, and Ryn Whittaker are all implanted and join a fifth crop of children. |
| 2011 | A sixth crop is implanted. |
| 2012 | A seventh crop is implanted. |
| 2012 | ARC creates an elaborate subterfuge to relocate the families of the implanted children. ARC tells the parents of these children that its acronym stands for Accelerated Rate Curriculum. It is staged as the most prestigious program in the world for gifted students. It guarantees a bright and successful future. Parents believe their kids will attend a highly competitive high school program when in reality they will be policing The Rift. |
| 2013 | The first crop of implanted children is activated. ARC calls these new soldiers Citadels. |
| 2013 | The Karekins immigrate to this Earth. They are a deadly and highly advanced humanoid race. Their attacks become increasingly brutal and frequent. |
| 2013 | An eighth crop of children is implanted. |
| 2014 | A ninth crop of children is implanted. |
| 2015 | A tenth crop of children is implanted. |
| 2016 | An eleventh crop of children is implanted. |
| 2016 | Levi Branach is activated and becomes a Citadel. |
| 2017 | A twelfth crop of children is implanted. |
| 2017 | Henry, Violet, Boone, and Ryn become active Citadels. |
| 2018 | A thirteenth crop of children is implanted. |
| 2019 | A fourteenth crop of children is implanted. |
| 2020 | Present day. |
| 2020 | Ryn’s parents believe she is a junior in high school and a fifteenth crop of children has just been implanted … |
