The king has returned enjoy this horrifying story.
The moving truck rattled down the palm-lined streets of Miami, its tires grinding over asphalt that gleamed gold in the dying light of the 1980 sunset. Shadows stretched long across the lawns, bending like molten metal in the late afternoon heat. A breeze carried the scent of salt and gasoline, tangling with the faint hum of cicadas that buzzed lazily in the orange haze. For a suburban street, everything felt… off.
Briar Sinkaf perched on the edge of the truck bed, legs dangling. He watched the neighborhood slip past—a place that was supposed to be normal, safe—but the soil under the neatly trimmed lawns seemed to ripple beneath him, like a pulse, like a heartbeat just under the ground. His chest tightened. He wasn't sure why, but something beneath the earth felt awake.
"Come on, kids!" His mother, Karen, clapped her hands, her voice bright as she stepped out of the truck. "Let's get everything inside. Fresh start!"
Briar glanced at his father, Luca, a tall, practical man with a stern face and tired eyes, dragging a box that looked far too heavy for one person. Behind them shuffled Briar's ten-year-old sister, Taya, already grumbling, and the twin brothers, who were less interested in moving than in bickering over who got which box.
Grandma Luca followed slowly, her thin frame bent with age, but her eyes sharp, scanning the ground like a hawk hunting prey. She stopped near Briar and laid a frail hand on his shoulder.
"Don't stare at the earth, boy," she said softly, her voice trembling just slightly. "Some things are better left unseen."
Briar frowned, glancing down. The soil near the garden seemed to shift, subtle and unnatural, like something alive moving just beneath the surface. He blinked, and it stilled.
"Grandma…?" he asked, but she was already walking toward the house, muttering to herself.
He shook his head. Probably nothing. Just his imagination. But the tightness in his chest didn't leave.
—When the moon is full:
The house smelled of dust and new beginnings. Boxes were stacked haphazardly in the living room, kitchen, and hallways, their contents spilling over: books, clothes, toys. A television sat on a dusty stand, silent and black, though a faint flicker of static danced across its screen as if it were breathing.
—First encounter:
Grandma Luca sat near the window, staring out at the street, her thin fingers drumming a rhythm on her knees. The moon had started to rise, pale and unnaturally bright. It cast a silver-blue light across the carpet, painting everything in ghostly tones.
"When the moon is full…" Grandma murmured, her voice low and almost melodic, "…the light dies. Shadows wake. Things you thought were gone… come crawling back."
Briar swallowed. His siblings were unpacking, oblivious to the tension in her voice, but he felt it. Something in the air thickened, a vibration that wasn't just sound. The floor beneath them hummed faintly, almost like a pulse.
"Ghost stories don't belong here," Karen said, trying to sound cheerful. Her smile didn't reach her eyes, and Briar noticed the tremor in her hands as she stacked books.
The vibration grew. The television's static spiked, crackling loudly. Outside, the soil wriggled again, spikes of movement breaking the smooth surface, vanishing as quickly as they appeared. Briar froze.
Grandma Luca didn't flinch. She didn't even blink.
"The moon remembers," she whispered.
—Creatures of hell:
The next day, Briar walked down the streets of his new neighborhood. Kids played basketball in the cracked asphalt courts, laughter echoing under the warm sun. The neighborhood looked like a postcard of the 1980s: neon signs, kids with boomboxes on their shoulders, roller skates and skateboards weaving between adults who ignored them.
Briar felt small and out of place until a group of teenagers waved him over. They were confident, their leather jackets and faded jeans a uniform of casual defiance.
"New kid?" a tall boy asked. "Come on, we'll show you around."
Briar followed. They introduced him to local hangouts, shortcuts through alleys, the best arcade, and the old park everyone whispered was haunted. He laughed with them, for the first time in weeks, feeling normal. Almost human.
But even here, the moon loomed in the sky, pale and metallic, a quiet watcher.
Night fell quickly in Miami, and with it came unease. Briar and his new friends walked home under flickering streetlights. Then an old man appeared, leaning on a cane, coat ragged and fraying at the edges.
"Never come out at night," he rasped, voice cracked and grave. "If the moon is full, your humanity will be judged. Creatures of hell rise… and you… you won't survive."
The teens snorted and laughed nervously. Briar felt his stomach turn.
The ground trembled beneath their feet. A sharp crack tore through the asphalt. A boy named Lucas screamed, clutching at the empty air, and then he vanished. Nothing but a gaping hole remained.
Briar stumbled backward as thick, wet blood spattered onto his shoes. From the darkness of the hole, something shimmered—an impossibility: black, glistening, writhing with countless spindly limbs and glowing eyes along its spine. Its mouths clicked, mandibles clicking, testing the air.
He screamed.
The others scattered, some tripping, others screaming incoherently. Briar's heart pounded, and his legs moved on their own, carrying him away from the hole that seemed to pulse with hunger. The moon above gleamed brighter, almost alive, as if feeding.
—THE FUTURE QUEEN:
By the next night, the horror came to the family directly. Taya was locked out by her brothers for throwing a tantrum over pizza. She stomped into the park, shouting, her small fists clenched.
"I want pizza!" she yelled. "You guys are mean!"
The ground beneath her shook violently. Fissures opened, and from them emerged the creatures—Death Crawlers, skinless, spindly, impossible. Their long, segmented bodies slid like nightmares come to life, their mandibles gnashing.
Taya froze. A pulse of strange energy surged through her chest. Her screams twisted into laughter as her ribs cracked outward and reformed. Veins glowed silver, bones rearranging themselves under her skin like liquid steel. Her voice split into multiple layers, older and younger, human and something else entirely.
Her eyes went lunar blue. Blood ran down her teeth. She smiled.
"I'll be queen," she whispered.
The creatures bowed.
The world had changed.
—EXPLODING ENDING:
Chaos erupted quickly. Briar and the remaining teens fled in a pickup truck, weaving past overturned cars and flaming debris. Death Crawlers poured out of the earth, tearing anyone in their path apart with limbs that shouldn't exist, mouths that shouldn't bite.
A gas station exploded in their wake, flames licking the night sky. Only seven survived the initial pursuit, each of them bloodied, terrified, hollow-eyed.
By the time they reached the high school, they were running low on hope. They barricaded doors with desks, lockers, and whatever they could lift. Walls shook. Concrete splintered. The creatures forced their way inside, dragging screaming teenagers into the floor as if they were nothing.
Briar's hands began to glow faint silver. His veins pulsed with the same energy he had glimpsed in Taya. He didn't understand it yet—but when a crawler neared him, it hesitated, almost reverently.
The moon above pulsed, a living thing, alive with hunger. The creatures were everywhere. Humanity was burning.
Briar stood on the rooftop of the school, watching the city collapse. Flames rose like rivers of fire, smoke thickening the sky. The streets were filled with shrieks and metallic, inhuman clicks.
His sister had become a queen. The Death Crawlers obeyed her. The moon fed them. And now, the world was hers.
Briar clenched his fists. His veins burned silver in the moonlight.
"If she is the queen… then someone has to be king," he whispered, and the first pulse of power surged through him, answering the call of the moon.
The sky trembled. The city burned. Humanity was finished.
To be continued…
Only four chapters are gonna be released and book two will also have four chapters.