Beneath the watchful gaze of the Great Heavenly Creator Albora, the world known simply as Earth exists as a stark lesson in survival. There are no neighboring dimensions to escape to, no parallel realms offering refuge. This is the only home humanity has ever known and it is dying by our own hands.
Humanity isn't fighting over borders drawn on maps. We're fighting for the last habitable centimeters of soil. For the last clean drops of water. For the last breathable molecules of air. There are no other worlds to flee to. No hidden dimensions offering sanctuary. This broken Earth is all we have and all we will ever have. There are things not enough to be shared.
The war cannot be stopped because stopping means extinction. Both sides understand this terrible truth. The trenches of Thway Kan aren't monuments to human failure; they're dams holding back the flood of annihilation. Every meter of contested territory represents a calculation: how many lives must be spent to preserve the possibility of future lives?
This isn't war waged from greed. This is war waged from desperation. In the final analysis, humanity faces a brutal equation: sacrifice the species that has always loved us unconditionally, or sacrifice our own children. There are no third options. No peaceful alternatives. No diplomatic solutions that don't result in human extinction within three generations.
The planet's surface is now partitioned into three starkly different territories, each representing a different phase of humanity's struggle against extinction. This division didn't begin with ideology or cultural differences. It began with physics. With soil. With water. With the slow, grinding mathematics of survival.
The Paradise Zones occupy a mere 0.8% of global territory, yet contain 97% of surviving humans. These heavily fortified metropolitan areas maintain pre-war quality of life through quantum-diffusion barriers that filter radiation and war debris, creating perpetually clear skies and clean water systems. Within these sanctuaries, children laugh in parks where fountains still sing, lovers walk beneath streetlights that glow at dusk, and elderly couples remember a world before the mud of Thway Kan demanded its terrible tribute. This isn't luxury it's preservation of what makes us human.
The Support Territories comprise 12.3% of the planet industrial and agricultural zones serving as buffers between paradise and war. Humans work here under strict rotation policies (no resident may stay longer than three months), manufacturing supplies and maintaining infrastructure. It's in these territories that the Paradise Enhancement Centers operate clinical, windowless structures built with sound-dampening materials to muffle the transformations happening within.
Thway Kanthe Blood Pool. Eighty-six point nine percent of a planet given to war. What was once Huan Mei, the Valley of Gentle Breezes where three rivers braided together like lovers' fingers and rice paddies shimmered gold beneath a benevolent sun, has become a necrotic wound on the planet. A century of continuous warfare has poisoned the soil with heavy metals and radiation, creating a self-sustaining ecological collapse. The mud in the trenches isn't merely dirt and water it's a complex biome of decay: liquefied organic matter from fallen soldiers, petroleum byproducts from munitions, and genetically engineered bacteria designed to break down corpses but which now feast indiscriminately on living tissue. This "blood mud" has a specific gravity of 1.7, making it twice as dense as normal mud and capable of swallowing a soldier whole within three minutes if they fall wounded.
The Unwinnable War
History books call it The Great Stalemate. Those who live it know it as the mathematics of extinction.
The conflict began not with ideology but with physics. In 116 A.E. (After Extinction), the planetary magnetic field began deteriorating, causing catastrophic failures in electronic infrastructure. Nations that controlled rare-earth minerals for quantum-stabilized technology became power centers, while others descended into darkness. What started as border skirmishes over mining rights escalated when the first tactical neural disruptors were deployed in 121 A.E., scrambling human cognitive function and causing permanent psychosis in exposed populations.
By 156 A.E., traditional human warfare had reached its breaking point:
Global birth rates had plummeted to 0.4 children per woman
Radiation mutations made 68% of pregnancies non-viable
Entire ethnic groups had been erased through targeted bioweapons
The last human general died weeping in his command bunker after ordering the conscription of children under twelve
The war cannot be stopped because stopping means extinction. Both sides understand this terrible truth. The trenches of Thway Kan aren't monuments to human failure, they're dams holding back the flood of annihilation. Every meter of contested territory represents a calculation: how many lives must be spent to preserve the possibility of future lives?
This isn't war waged from greed. This is war waged from desperation. In the final analysis, humanity faces a brutal equation: sacrifice the species that has always loved us unconditionally, or sacrifice our own children. There are no third options. No peaceful alternatives. No diplomatic solutions that don't result in human extinction within three generations.
The Xia Doctrine
When Scientist-General Xia presented Project H2xD to the remnants of the Global Military Council in 197 A.E., he didn't frame it as a moral choice but as mathematical inevitability. His presentation wasn't filled with lofty rhetoric but with irrefutable calculations:
"Dogs reproduce at sixteen times the human rate. Their gestation period is sixty-three days versus our two hundred eighty. They mature in eighteen months versus our eighteen years. Canine loyalty is neurologically hardwired, a trait we can enhance but never manufacture in human soldiers. Most critically, dogs do not question the morality of war. They only understand the command: protect."
The Council chamber fell silent as Xia displayed the final calculationa graph showing human extinction within three generations versus species preservation through canine substitution. The numbers didn't lie. They never do.
What Xia didn't share with the Council was his private research showing enhanced canines would process human emotions more deeply than unmodified humans, making their sacrifice not less tragic but infinitely more profound. His notebooks (later classified) contained this entry:
"I have created heaven only to cast them into hell. Sunny would have hated what I've done in his name. But Jian is safe. My boy is safe. Is a father permitted to weigh the life of his child against the souls of three million dogs ( This number of casualties will never officially increase)? God help me, I have already answered."
The Xia Doctrine was ratified unanimously within forty-eight hours. Not because it was right, but because it was necessary. Not because it honored life, but because it preserved it. This is the terrible mathematics of survival in a broken world.
Project H2xD: The Science of Salvation
Project H2xDHuman-Canine Hybrid Deploymentisn't merely biological engineering. It's the application of cross-dimensional science to solve an extinction-level crisis. The project integrates four sophisticated systems, each addressing a critical survival need.
Neural Enhancement Matrix (NEM)
Using targeted viral vectors carrying human-derived FOXP2 and ASPM genes, the procedure expands cognitive capacity while preserving core canine traits. The viral delivery system is 99.3% successful in creating functional human-level intelligence, but with critical limitations:
Enhanced dogs cannot process abstract moral concepts beyond immediate loyalty bonds
Their time perception remains partially caninethey experience "present moments" with intense clarity but struggle with long-term planning
Most critically, their emotional processing is amplified while their impulse control remains canine-level, creating profound psychological distress when forced to kill
This isn't about creating human minds in canine bodies. It's about creating minds capable of understanding complex battle coordination while retaining the one quality humans lost centuries ago: the ability to love without conditions.
Musculoskeletal Restructuring (MSR)
Through CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing and myostatin inhibition, canine bodies are rebuilt for combat efficiency:
Spinal restructuring allows bipedal movement for 12-18 hours daily while maintaining quadrupedal speed
Jaw strength increases 300% to enable equipment manipulation while preserving bite force
Paw restructuring creates opposable thumb-like digits on forelimbs while retaining running efficiency
Pain receptors are partially muted to allow continued combat effectiveness after injury, but not eliminated. Tactical awareness requires some pain response.
For smaller breeds like Pembroke Welsh Corgis assigned to Logistics & Morale Division, weight remains critically important. Their average 10kg frame must carry specialized equipment while navigating narrow trench networks. Every gram is calculated, every modification precise.
Tactical Processing Implantation (TPI)
A pea-sized quantum processor (developed through dimensional permeability research) is embedded at the base of the skull, connecting to the visual cortex and auditory processing centers. This "TacChip" enables:
Real-time tactical assessment (threat calculation, route optimization)
Instant language translation across all major human dialects
Automatic weapon calibration and targeting assistance
Biometric monitoring of pack members' stress levels
Sustenance Optimization Protocol (SOP)
Perhaps the most dehumanizing adaptation, the digestive system is modified to process battlefield nutrients that would kill normal canines:
Stomach acid pH was reduced to 0.8 to digest chemically preserved ration bricks
Liver enzymes rewired to process industrial toxins present in Thway Kan's water
Nutritional requirements reduced to 800 calories daily (versus 1,800 for unmodified dogs)
The cruel irony: enhanced dogs can survive on less food while their emotional need for comfort from familiar scents (like home-cooked meals) is heightened. Their bodies are engineered for austerity while their hearts remain hungry for home.
The Paradise Procedure: Biology and the Burden of Understanding
The Paradise procedure doesn't artificially amplify pain perception by a specific percentage, nor does it "enhance" memories through technological intervention. Instead, the cognitive transformation creates a natural state where enhanced dogs experience pain with greater awareness due to their elevated consciousness, not because their pain receptors are deliberately heightened.
They understand the implications of injuries in ways unmodified dogs cannot, recognizing when a wound might lead to infection, when pain signals true danger, and when continuing despite pain carries strategic consequences. Memories remain intact not through artificial preservation protocols, but because the procedure integrates with existing neural structures rather than replacing them. It builds upon the canine brain's foundation, adding human-level cognitive abilities while leaving emotional memories, attachments, and personality traits undisturbed.
This creates a dual-processing system where instinctive canine reactions (for immediate threats) coexist with analytical human reasoning (for complex problems). The dog doesn't just react to gunfire; they understand why the guns are firing, who is shooting, and what happens if they fail.
Core emotional processing centers remain fully functional and unaltered. An enhanced dog doesn't just feel loyalty, they comprehend the abstract concept of loyalty, understand its moral dimensions, and recognize the weight of betraying it.
The psychological burden comes not from artificially heightened pain sensitivity but from the cognitive dissonance of understanding their situation completely: they recognize they are soldiers, comprehend the mathematics of their likely death in Thway Kan, yet choose to continue fighting out of love for their human families.
This is the true tragedy of the Paradise procedure, not that it creates weapons, but that it creates conscious beings who fully understand what they've become, yet continue to serve out of unwavering love. Their pain awareness isn't chemically enhanced; it's a natural consequence of knowing exactly what each wound, each loss, each death ultimately means.
The Infrastructure of Survival
The trenches of Thway Kan weren't born from the Enhanced Canine Corps, but from human desperation a century before. Constructed between 217-240 Post Extinction, these fortifications represented the pinnacle of human military engineering before The Great Safe Guard.
The primary trench network spans 3,200 kilometers, with secondary trenches adding another 8,700 kilometers. Walls are reinforced with ferro-concrete and recycled vehicle armor plating from early war periods. The original design accommodated 3-meter human soldiers' dimensions that now challenge the smaller frames of enhanced canines.
After human soldiers were replaced, the Enhanced Canine Corps maintained critical biological systems:
Xylem Filtration Network
A living filtration system using genetically modified mangrove roots integrated into trench walls. The roots extract heavy metals and toxins while releasing oxygen. Canine soldiers receive regular injections of symbiotic bacteria that help them process trench water. The system maintains air quality 78% more effectively than mechanical alternatives.
Microclimate Regulation
Temperature-stabilizing gel injected into trench wall cavities maintains 18-22°C year-round. UV-emitting crystals (harvested from Albora's realm) neutralize pathogens in the air. Waste processing occurs through anaerobic digesters that convert organic matter to methane for trench heating.
Psychological Architecture
Curved trench walls (never straight lines) reduce claustrophobia. Bioluminescent moss provides soft, non-shadow-casting light during night operations. Acoustic baffling reduces the psychological impact of constant artillery by 63%.
These systems were designed by human engineers who understood that soldiers would live here for years. The Enhanced Canine Corps didn't build these trenches they inherited them, along with the burden of maintaining a war machine designed for entirely different beings.
The Unspoken Truth
The most classified aspect of Project H2xD isn't technical, it's emotional. Early research revealed that enhanced dogs would retain memories of their pre-Paradise lives with perfect clarity, including the trauma of separation. Xia's team developed a partial memory dampening protocol that was 89% effective at suppressing specific traumatic memories.
What they didn't anticipate was emotional transference. Enhanced dogs don't forget their human; they simply redirect that love toward the mission, creating a profound psychological fracture. The TacChip monitors this constantly, flagging soldiers who show "excessive emotional recall" for mandatory reconditioning.
In the final hours before deployment to Thway Kan, dogs undergo "Focus Calibration" a process where they're shown propaganda images and scenarios of their human families if they're losing the war while simultaneously exposed to combat simulation. This creates neural cross-wiring where thoughts of loved ones trigger combat readiness rather than longing.
This is the true horror of Thway Kan, not the mud, not the guns, not even the dying. It's watching a being with human-level intelligence choose to walk into hell because they've been engineered to equate sacrifice with love. Every pawprint in the blood mud represents a soul that understood exactly what was happening to them, and went forward anyway.
In the end, the most efficient weapon Xia ever created wasn't the enhanced canine soldiers, it was the unbreakable bond between dog and human, twisted into a leash that led three million (Official number does not reflect the true number of casualties) faithful hearts to their graves.
And tomorrow, another transport vehicle will arrive at another family's door. Another small dog with trusting eyes will be handed over. Another set of light-up sneakers will be clutched to a chest.
Because in Multiverse 217v, this is the only way to survive.