The Beginning of the End

A dark cloud now sits on the horizon. In northern Serinaustra, a family of flutterfoxes perch on a dying tree at the edge of a once continent-spanning forest, as the empty, dry plains overtake the only world their kind has ever known a little more each year, leaving the forest fragmented - now islands in a changing landscape.

And even the islands will not remain forever.

~~~

Residual greenhouse gases that have kept the hothouse tropical have by now been depleted, and the temporary resurge of volcanic activity is over. As volcanism finally dies for good, Serina's magnetic field weakens and its atmosphere is now starting to thin, lowering the oxygen concentration and making it more difficult for animals to get enough oxygen to maintain prolonged flight. The ozone layer is beginning to deplete, allowing stronger, harmful solar radiation to reach the moon's surface. Auroras, produced by strong solar winds, become visible even at the equator.

Rainfall patterns have begun to shift, and aridity now spreads across the world. Dry grassland now becomes the dominant biome worldwide, and its spread is hastened by brushfires, sparked by dry electrical storms, that are no longer doused by rainfall. Temperatures everywhere become more extreme, rising over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius) by day and dropping to below freezing by night in temperate regions.

Serina is changing once again, facing another mass extinction event, but life's story will go on as long as it can as we enter the final stretch.