The midday light suddenly dimmed without warning. The sky above the ruined city changed as if someone had spilled poison into blue paint.
Sickly streaks of yellow, green, violet, and dull red bled across the sky. The sun still hung in place, but its light no longer felt pure. It filtered down in distorted hues that painted the streets and walls in unnatural colors.
Inside the house, the companions felt it before they fully saw it.
Ether around them changed.
The flow they had been carefully circulating through their cores suddenly grew restless, thicker, and heavier.
The air pressed against their skin like damp heat before a storm.
George opened one eye first. The strange light crawling across the walls caught his attention.
"Do you see that?" he muttered.
They all opened their eyes and turned.
The interior of the house now glowed in warped shades. Outside the cracked windows, the street shimmered under a sky that looked diseased.
