"what has the world come to." Alden grinned as he started out into the unrelenting snow storm. "Good thing I'm not in the city, dealing with them in this weather would be such a pain."Ever since the arrival of what was known as "Judgment" two months ago, the world had seen drastic change to it's topography and climate.
Several months before Judgment arrived, the earth had started behaving rather...funny. Out of nowhere small floods would emerge and engulf small towns around rivers and lakes. it would get cold during winter then suddenly there would be spikes in sunlight intensity for a few hours to the extent of causing sunburns to those happened to be caught in it. Snow would melt of ice caps and appear in double the amount almost overnight.
No one could tell what was happening. Scientists globally would come up with fascinating theories on the causes and reasons for all these but each time a reasonable suggestion was put forth it would be discarded immediately after. No explanation seemed to fit the puzzle. Overtime, rumours of the end of the world started spreading. Who could blame them? It did feel like the end of the world. Unfortunately this only kept getting worse and worse as time progressed, it was as if the earth itself was responding to something's coming, and the closer it got, the more agitated the planet became.
Then the day finally arrived. People had tried to get used to the chaotic state of the world's surface, they had been relocated away from fault lines and major areas prone to earthquake, floods or pretty much most natural disasters thought there were some who decided to take their chances and stay behind.
Alden at the time was a second year student studying in one of the most prestigious Swiss institutions. Coming from Malaysia after being lucky enough to get a scholarship, he did find the environment too cold for his liking at times but seldom complained.
On this unfortunate day, Alden was dragged out of the comfort of the warm buildings and into the cold for a pre-planned group excursion which he forgot about. However, this time Freya Liv had decided that she would not let him of the hook. Upon much convincing, they descended the school grounds and walked for a while before entering a café to get some hot tea.
"You're too lazy for your own good you know." Freya said as she picked the tea from the counter. "hmmm. It's not being lazy when I'm forced to go out in negative six thousand degrees, I'm just efficient. Plus, if I was lazy I wouldn't have tried running away from you. Unfortunately someone here had to trip me." Alden said while throwing a sharp glance at Mike who stood there smiling wryly.
"Yeah next time we plan something, make sure you turn up" Mike said mockingly to Alden. " Anyway jokes aside, doesn't it seem over the past week that the whether has been rather calm. By calm I mean... I'm not sure if predictable is the right word..." "the old normal?" Klara joined in," yeah the old normal, that's the right word " Mike Pelcher exclaimed. " it almost seems like the weather conditions and climate are as they were about three years ago before the sudden changes. I've noticed it over the past week."
"You slow idiot, these signs were noticable from two and a half weeks ago, how did you just notice it." Nathan Lelio finally spoke up looking rather frustrated himself. " Whenever I start having hopes you just keep surprising me with new lows. (sigh) anyway, metaphorically speaking, the Earth has seemed to calm down for some reason, even in other regions it's been almost three weeks since the last natural disaster occurred globally which is ridiculously rare"
After taking a sip of his hot drink, Mike turned out a huge smile on his face before shouting " then that settles it, we are free from all disasters!" Nathan grabbed his glabella in frustration before turning away. " you know, for a 21 year old you are one of the most childish and annoying People I've ever met, how did you even get drunk on tea, that shouldn't be poss... you know what, never mind" Nathan scolded him but Mike's response? "Awww I love you too Lelioooo".
Nathan stared at Mike for a while in frustration before continuing " I suspect that things are about to get worse, the calm before the storm or as we call it in Italy quiete prima della tempesta. Something is about to happen and we don't know what" Klara, tired of being sidelined the entire time, asked "what do you mean by this?"
Nathan turned to Clara and said in a low but serious tone " I mean that maybe..." suddenly screems could be heard from outside and those seated next to the café windows stared outside in absolute horror.
The five ran out as others inside did in order to investigate what was happening. Upon exiting the door they looked around and saw everyone's gaze fixated on the sky in both horror and confusion. They too looked up. The sky was turning blood red like a blanket being unrolled. They just happened to catch it as the blood red colour crossed the horizon and continued stretching over the whole sky. Notifications started popping up on people's phones over the sudden change in the sky's colour and were alerted that they were not the only ones experiencing this, it was on a global scale. A drop suddenly landed on Aldens hand, "Rain?" . It was unusual for it to rain at that time of the year, snow or light sunshine were the only weather conditions experience in that part of the Swiss country. Even with the increased unpredictability of the weather, certain climatic regions around the world remained relatively unchanged. However, what landed on Alden was not only a droplet but it was...warm. Very unusual. Alden lifted his hand to look at the droplet, it was quite dark in colour. He suddenly felt more start to fall, and out of the crowd someone shouted "take shelter" however just before he could finished his statement they all felt something hit them. Everyone on that Street and even in the buildings suddenly felt something, hit them. It felt like a shockwave or rather like a bubble that engulfed them. Suddenly Aldens heart started beating faster, for a moment it felt as if time had stopped. His pupils dilated, he couldn't breathe. At his core he felt it starting to get warm, it then quickly intensified to a sharp pain then the sensation disappeared as fast as it had appeared. all these lasted for less than two seconds but felt like minutes. "What the hell was that?" Alden mumbled to himself as he fell to his knees, he lifted his head to see everyone just as confused as he is. Some had even collapsed but the rest were already struggling to pick themselves up let alone help others.
Suddenly the blood red sky rolled back and the strange, mysterious rain stopped. Unexpectedly all the strange liquid began being absorbed by whatever it landed on, buildings, the earth, people and even their clothes. This was happening at such a first-hand agressive rate it was impossible to notice. In a matter of seconds, it was all gone. Suddenly a loud and deafening growl followed by screams coming from a distance round the corner.
"What is happening? I am so confused right now." Mike said loudly, typical of his nature. That's when something or rather someone walked round the corner of the street.