Prologue

The ruptures happened all at once, across the entire planet, affecting hundreds of locations. Even before visible signs appeared, there was an energy that preceded the events, so great was the existential forces involved

The first to notice it were their animals. Huge swaths of land and sea were emptied as animals rushed to evacuate. Even the insects joined the exodus as a threat was detected.

Most humans were late to the party. Some people outside the areas near a rupture noticed the panicked migrations of herds of animals, flocks of birds, and swarms of insects. A few even felt the hair on their necks rise, and many felt irritable or anxious.

The ruptures were spread randomly. Most were, of course, over water, and those over land were often far from populated areas, but not all of them. One rupture appeared over the city of Makati, the heart of Manila in the Philippines, and one of the most densely populated places on the planet. Nearly four million people lived or worked in an area roughly the size of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, population of thirteen thousand. It would be known as the greatest loss on a day of incalculable sadness.

The ruptures appeared at approximately 7:54 AM local time, on July 30, 2012. At this time, the stations were already packed with people waiting to board the crowded trains to get to work in the city. The strange and sudden absence of birds, pets, and even the rats that plague all dense urban centers went largely unnoticed by the tired workers, most of whom were hardly eager to be out so early in the hot, humid weather on a Monday morning.

The mood was tense. People seemed even more irritable than normal, and a few fights were breaking out here and there as grumpy people pushed against each other in the crowded stations. Other commuters were exhibiting the signs of panic attacks and forcefully pushed through to the exits so they could retch up their breakfast without soiling the clothes of the people surrounding them. Everywhere there was a tension in the air, like standing at the center of a place where something very bad was happening.

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Suddenly, the skies cleared completely. The ever-present clouds over the city evaporated in an instant, and a clear sapphire sky stretched as far as anyone could see. The blue was so clean and bright that it drew the attention of many of the people lining the streets. Even more eyes turned skyward when the screams started.

Slowly, the streets darkened as something gigantic appeared over the center of Manila. It was incomprehensible in size. Dwarfing Makati, it completely obscured the entire city, causing an eclipse, as if night suddenly returned. Except that on the horizon, the blue sky was still visible. Something huge was floating above the city, blocking out the sun completely. The dark shape blocked all light from the sky above, making it impossible to make out what it was. Only the enormous size was clear to those below. If it was as close as an airplane, it was like a mountain, and if it were as far in the sky as a satellite, it would have to be the size of the moon.

In an instant, more than three million people in Manila alone, over one-third of one of the most populated cities in the world, suddenly died. There was no explosion. There was no fire. No screams. Just a sudden silence. Simultaneously, every living being in the shadow of the monolithic shape in the sky just stopped. Stopped moving. Stopped breathing. Stopped living. Millions more perished in other locations around the world at the same exact moment.

For a time, in the days that followed the ruptures, those who perished instantly, like the residents of Makati, were considered the lucky ones, as they did not have to live through the nightmare of the days that followed. Indeed, the quick deaths brought about by the sudden appearance of the islands were far less traumatic than the horror that befell the entire world as a result of the ruptures.

In the days that followed, that day would be called by many names, in many languages: The Event. The Arrival. But the name most commonly used by many in the Western world was a familiar term, reused and given a new meaning as the most consequential day in the history of human life on the Earth. The survivors would call it D-Day.