Day 924

The old mansion by Creechwood upon Thames was open to the public on the conditions that they only visit once and that they never take anything from there, not even from the gift shop. These rules were set in place after the first signs of dimensional shifting were tracked down to that exact place, making it the largest rift in the northern hemisphere.

It was hardly the only dimensional rift around but most others were only big enough to allow basic particle transfers, maybe pull the occasional insect or small bird inside but rarely enough to allow for a human to cross let alone return in the same day. Rifts like these are fairly commonplace, we walk through them daily without batting an eyelid, maybe losing a few skin cells or strands of hair but nothing we'd miss.

The larger ones, the Big Three as they are known, those are to be used carefully and only once per place. Too many uses by the same person risks them being torn to shreds in the process, known as Sidana's Principle (so named after Doctor Sidana traversed the Jaipur rift for a fourth time he was seen to split like wet tissue paper). Despite strict scrutinising of anyone who wants to cross the rift, several slip through each year and are torn to pieces just as the late Doctor Sidana was.

 All of this just to see the other side, the alleged "mirror Earth" which is proven to not be Earth at all but a planet more akin to Mars in temperature and colouration. Even the sky in the rift is the same ruddy brown as the dirt and plants, as though it was painted by a man with only three colours. Still it was as alien a world as humans could hope to come across without traversing the lightyears by shuttle and it was far cheaper to head to one of the Big Three and walk around in the breathable air of somewhere existing in the same place as Earth but not the same dimension.

Creechwood upon Thames was the only rift that showed signs of mergeance with the other side and thud nothing was allowed off the premesis in case of contamination. This information, the high fine and the countless warning signs all about the mansion still weren't enough to deter theft. The ruddy brown colouration of the rift began to appear all over the world.

People thought it was some kind of rust that was eating away at the multitude of metals all around them, not thinking to look at their stolen leaves and strips of wallpaper. The strength of the Creechwood rift seemed to boost any other rift it came into contact with, even those in passing now leading to eight known rifts almost the same size as the Big Three but in less convenient places like schools and in one case the base of an underground station's escalator.

There are no known ways to stop the rifts, to close or otherwise block any transfer between them. While no beings have been confirmed in the rift, sightings of strange plants seeming to have humanoid faces are increasing as though they have been migrating towards the larger rifts all this time. Perhaps we've even been tempting them, showing them how to get through by traipsing about carelessly. either way there are now so many portals large enough for a person to get through - too many for any local authority to watch over. Who knows what's slipped through by now?