The catastrophe that befell mankind was given many names by the pockets of people that survived its initial stages. As to what they universally agreed to call it is still undecided. 'Dia de Muertos' seemed fitting to most but the Mexican community strongly objected to that. Instead 'the Hallowing' gained popularity for a spell and usually was not faced with much confusion. The exact time it began is another point of contestation.

While the event didn't strike simultaneously all over the world it did begin in the span of a day. It hit the major cities and heritage sites the hardest. Both for different reasons that would not be discovered until much later.

Like a natural disaster would claim far more lives in a populated space, a paranatural disaster seemed to follow the same rule. The night that fell across the world as the Sun abandoned them to careless watch of the Moon. The spectres feared not the pale reflection of the Sun's light. Rather revelled in its cool illumination.

Possessions of the living and inanimate occurred and claimed the first lives almost immediately. Then these 'victims' acted against loved ones and strangers creating a second, far larger string of deaths. Like dominoes falling it all went from bad to worse in a systematic representation of chaos.

So the humans, not knowing how to combat what they'd never been prepared for, acted out in defence as one would expect. Going to friends and family. Seeking isolated shelter. Turning to the police and military for aid. Running to disaster shelters or places with the largest signs of 'life'. But much like carriers of a virus they only hastened the problem. The spreading.

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No one was trying to figure out the 'how'. First came the issue of survival. Of safety.

At some point, it became increasingly clear that survival in the cities was impossible. That older people were more likely to be possessed than the young. That men and women with strong 'faith' and 'resolve' could resist the attacks of their tormentors. It wasn't until the identification of the habits of their enemy that they realised that the only way to survive was to leave these man-made structures. Leave anything that was older than a few years behind. Buildings and structures were breeding grounds.

Once outside the cities, they found the incidents of ghosts to have greatly decreased. They began to cordon off people based on age where the older folk either volunteered as perimeter guards or teachers. Knowing that all of humanity would face this crisis made knowledge being passed on paramount to their survival and hopes of combatting this change.

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Athelston rubbed his eyes to clear away the drowsiness hitting him. Looking around the perimeter while stretching his legs. His simple wristwatch giving a clear indicator that he still had half an hour till he could rest. Looking over the two carefree figures fast asleep he stifled a yawn and went back to reading...