The sky darkened in an eerie way. Strange wisps of black smoke danced in the sky, swirling and coalescing into tornadoes that towered up to the heavens.
All around, the Earth seemed to be drained of life as a black sickening colour spread across the lands. Trees withered till nothing was left.
The wave of black reached their home, draining everything of colour and eating away at the walls.
Sally still stood there, shock and unbelief frozen on her face.
Sol's mind rolled with thoughts of alarm. This was not something any natural phenomena could cause. He already had his suspicions from the red lightning he saw flickering across the sky, but they were quickly confirmed when he heard it.
A faint distant chime, like it came from a clock tower.
From the way Sally turned sharply, he could tell she heard it too.
Just then, a screen flickered before his eyes, translucent but real.
Written across it was a menu that spelled
"Click Me".
Sol had no idea on how to interact with this holographic madness. He turned to his mother for some help. She was very smart, maybe she would know what to do.
He saw the same screen flickering before her eyes.
And saw her arm moving towards the "Click Me" menu.
He was about to scream at her not to, only to see that his arm robotically moved towards it as well, seemingly encased by a black swirling aura.
He couldn't even struggle. All around them, the walls of their home crumbled, blackened sand pouring from the ceiling.
In the distance, the clock chimed for the fifth time, Sol's dreams had taught him to take note of that.
Sally and Sol clicked the button at the same time, and an audio track began to play.
Just then, text written in bold covered the entire hologram screen.
THE REALMS SHALL MERGE!
Sol heard another chime from the clock tower. That was the twelfth…
And the last.
All hell broke loose.
Dark clumps of energy gathered everywhere, in the skies, on the ground, at the walls of Max's house. They seemed to eat away at the fabric of reality, opening up what seemed to be dark portals. Out of them came the most nightmarish creatures.
They towered at ten feet tall, with skin the patchwork of charred muscle and bone. Dotted across their bodies were more eyeballs than Sol could count. Their fingers were elongated and spindly, with talons that ended in razor-sharp, bone-white claws. They roared in synchrony, with unnaturally wide maws that gleamed with rows of jagged teeth.
Two of them immediately burst out of the house, their killing intent immediately shifted to the people outside, but one remained.
It stared at Sol, and he was paralysed with fear.
Literally…
His muscles froze against his will, locked in place. The creature lunged.
Sol saw death come at him with razor sharp claws and a gaping mouth. He was tackled to the ground like a ragdoll, his head slamming against the wooden floor. He looked up, expecting to see a nightmare demon chomping at his sides.
He saw Sally instead.
"Quick, we have to go. Now!"
His mother had somehow managed to push him out of the way before the monster could get to him. As the creature completely missed its target, crashed into the dining area an shattering the table and dishware, Sally took advantage of the distraction to lead her son to safety.
She moved with expert ease, like she somehow knew how to respond to apocalyptic emergencies. Sol found himself rushed to the basement though secret passages he never knew existed. When they both arrived, Sally knocked down a section of the wall with her foot, revealing a door Sol never knew existed.
"Take this." She shoved a small box that glowed with yellow light into his palms.
"I love you Sol, don't ever forget that.", she said with tears in her eyes.
She pointed at the direction of the collapsed doorway. A tunnel ran through the ground.
"Go, and don't turn back." She shoved him into the dark passage and ran back towards the basement door. Sol's heart sank as he realised what she was doing.
Before she even got within fifteen feet of the door, it crashed down in splinters, a roaring creature standing at the doorway.
It jumped towards her and sank its wide mouth round her throat, ripping a section of her neck out of her body. Blood gurgled as her eyes turned white. She had already died before she hit the ground.
Something within Sol snapped.
He felt pain, anger, bitterness… Waves of emotion crashed down on him like a raging hurricane as he stood there, frozen in shock.
The creature turned its multiple eyeballs in his direction. It roared and gave chase on its hind legs.
He charged back at it with unbridled fury. He was not going to back down like a coward. This thing had murdered the only family he ever knew. The only family he loved.
Time stood still as man and beast lunged at each other, roars and screams deafening the space between. Max was halfway through the air when he heard a strange robotic whirr at the back of his mind.
DING!
His body froze, again. He had the feeling that the creature had somehow done what it did earlier, and he was now going to be its second human snack.
But suddenly, a blinding white light enveloped him and the creature was knocked back so hard it flew through the far end of the wall. The light seared at his skin, blazing brighter and brighter till the edges of Max's vision burned white.
The small box Sally gave him shone like the sun, scorching his palms in the process. Before he knew what was happening, everything turned black…again.