6
Apocalypse
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Alduin and Veleda’s parents were inside catching up with each other.
“I still can’t believe he gave those flowers to you and not Veleda, why didn’t I get any?” Lydia spoke with a sigh as she stared at the small and slightly disheveled bouquet.
“Well, that must mean he likes me more, doesn’t it?” Dahlia, Veleda's mother, said with pride.
“My son has always been kind, but it’s alright, I get more than enough flowers from my husband.” Lydia laughed as they started speculating about their children's relationship.
The two had known each other since their childhood and were as close as ever, but hearing the content of their conversation shift, Lucas, Alduin’s father, felt cold chills wash over him. Turning to the side he patted and comforted Werner. “Don’t be too sad Werner, everyone has to grow up someday.”
“Can you believe it? My little girl is going to be taken away.” Werner sat in shock, knowing what had occurred earlier, the largest obstacle he was hoping for caved in almost instantly.
Lucas sighed and looked at his phone before frowning. “An alert?”
A sharp sound echoed through the dining hall.
***
Alduin and Veleda sat at the bench as they continued their conversation well into the night. It was only a short distance from her home. A wooden bench overlooked the path in the forest towards the old pagan shrine. This little garden had a wide view with no trees obstructing the night sky.
A peaceful scene of a young couple excited for their future, while the moon shone brightly in an unclouded sky.
That was true, only until a moment ago.
“N-no way,” Veleda was the first to speak out.
“Do-” vibrations traveled through Alduin’s throat as his voice hesitated in disbelief. “Do you see that?”
Both of them stared at the sky, however, neither of them was staring at the moon. No, the moon and the stars that were shining brightly were fading into blackness. In its place, a hairline fracture lit up the entire night sky. A large gash. A straight line. Something defying common sense.
The silence of their shock was only momentary. Alduin felt the hairs on his body stand upright at the same time the heavens sundered from what seemed like a thunderstrike. The sky was crying. The exploding wave completely woke them up, yet this sight was more than they could process.
Like a bolt of lightning laying across the skies. The explosion. No, the shockwave had rippled through the straight line and now branches were extending everywhere. Interconnecting lines, almost like a spiderweb fracture, covered the entire dome of heaven. And from its center, a blood-purple hue started infiltrating the remaining darkness of the night sky.
Everything happened instantly, Alduin grabbed Veleda’s hand and the moment he pulled, their phones started ringing.
“RUN!” Terror, unlike any he had experienced before, pushed him into action.
In less than a minute, the entire sky was covered with a bloodlike spiderweb.
“What’s going on?” Veleda looked at Alduin with tears in her eyes.
‘No, no, no, no,’ Alduin repeated to himself, but as he almost reached the house they could hear Veleda's father yelling at both of them.
“Veleda! Alduin!” The terrace door had swung open the moment they arrived. With a last look, standing outside, all three could only stare up in disbelief.
Blood red seemed to leak from the spiderweb splitting the sky. With every shockwave, more threads and cracks appeared. And each line, each heaven-defying thread, brightened the sky with a clear blue shine before it was washed over with a blood-red color.
“It’s the end...” Veleda’s father mustered the courage to speak.
The sky had shattered as if the clear night sky was an illusion. The entire heaven was painted red. And finally, fragments like glass floated towards the ground as if blood-coloured leaves fell from heaven.
The serene night sky had turned into a nightmare. It felt as if the entire world had changed in an illusion. Alduin, who felt lightning coursing through his body as every sense in his being signaled death, tightened his grasp on Veleda’s hand.
“Dear, Dear-” Dahlia, Veleda’s mother, came outside with tears in her eyes. “Come inside, you have to see this!”
From the open door, the television could be heard as Veleda’s mother had come outside. However, she seemed more shocked by the television broadcast than by what was happening in front of her eyes.
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[-not only that. We have discovered a shocking change in the middle of the arctic region. NASA has provided footage of this unexplainable phenomenon. Please watch for yourself.]
The sound became clearer as they entered the living room. The news anchor seemed terrified and large red notices covered the screen to declare a national emergency, telling everyone to stay in their house, but it was clear nobody knew what was going on.
And now, on the screen, multiple hairline fractures, much like the one in their sky had collided above the center of the arctic region. Unlike the cracks of blood, something more shocking was happening here.
Aurora Australis. Arctic lights. A massive influx of energy seemed to escape from the hairline fracture in the sky, but this place showed a collection of bright colors, all vying for dominance, being pushed away from the center.
It was so bright, even the video footage couldn’t capture it, but what was clear was that there was something in the center.
Roots like a tree seemed to grow with the spreading energy, and from the concentration of these lights, a single bolt of lightning crashed down. The shockwave itself wiped out the entire video feed. But the last thing they saw was the entire ice plain being cracked.
The six people stood there in utmost silence before the newsfeed recovered and an urgent discussion and warning once more started.
[Several world leaders have spoken out. Whatever happens, the military-]
Alduin knew what was going to happen, no, he felt it coming. His hair stood up and panic spread through his body unlike any he had ever experienced.
He didn’t know why, or how, but his adrenaline spiked sooner than any person in this room.
“We must leave!” Alduin spoke with the utmost urgency. “We’re going to the church right now. This place is not safe anymore!” The death-silent living room turned towards Alduin.
Veleda’s father wanted to intervene but another voice was quicker.
“We’re leaving!” A deep voice yelled. Edward, bright-red with sweat pouring down his face, had returned to their home with a rifle hanging from his back.
Veleda’s father wanted to question it, and even Dahlia seemed to want to follow the advice of the military, but neither could answer. For the first time, Edward spoke with such a stern voice that the veins in his neck started showing
“Right now!” His voice couldn’t go any lower than this.
Alduin added on, “Fill your bags with food and water, I’ll catch up when I get back!” Right before he started running away.
Lydia stood in a panic not knowing what to do. “E-Egan!” But it only took a moment before her phone was already calling her son.
[The government has declared a national threat! If you hear this message, take shelter and prepare food and water. Wait until the authorities follow up.—]
The live news update was the last thing Alduin heard as he ran to the adjacent museum. Veleda, who wanted to follow Alduin, was held back by Edward.
“Grab what you can, we’re leaving now!” He already ran towards the kitchen as he cleared the cabinet of preserved foods.
The live news update was running on every station available. Even from the news studio sirens could be heard.
[Emergency update! This phenomenon is currently happening globally. The footage we received is as follows—] Mexico, India, and the United States. Country after country was shown on this broadcast. Cracks had spread over the earth’s entire sky.
With great urgency from both of these men, everyone managed to gather the bare minimum in less than four minutes. While they wanted to wait, Edward was the first to move outside.
The old man had completely disappeared, youth seemed to reinvigorate him. “We’re going!”
Edward's adrenaline kept spiking. And now that he looked at the sky, the shards of glass had almost arrived at the ground. Most had evaporated and seemed to become a cloud of fine dust, descending with a slow approach, but others fell in their complete form. Some were large, so large they seemed bigger than the sun in the afternoon. Edward already knew, whatever happened in the sky would change the world.
Everyone that stepped outside took a moment to witness their changing reality. The shards that descended struck their view, but it was something else everyone’s vision landed on, a sight that pierced their bones. In the distant sky, escaping their vision, were bright areas. These were places where so many massive shards had gathered that they had blocked everything from their surroundings. Even from this far away, those clusters overwhelmed everything else in this collapsing sky.
Edward told everyone to match his running pace but before they left, Lydia yelled in a panic, “What about Alduin?!”
“He’s coming, trust in your son, he’s right behind us,” Edward spoke with strength as he looked at Lydia and Lucas. Nobody dared question him. As he looked at Veleda, only determination could be seen in her eyes, in this dire time, one’s true character could be revealed. ‘It seems like she has even more trust in that boy than I do.’
***
In the museum Alduin stood before a display, his surroundings seemed to slow down as he broke the glass. Inside it was the replica of a wooden spear that was found in the archaeological site, it wasn’t the greatest, but it was better than nothing.
‘Sorry Werner, I’ll be taking this.’
Alduin who was still in a heightened state of tension left the museum with a wooden spear and two round germanic shields. Shields that were covered with a small bowl of iron in its center.
‘How can this be happening globally?’ Now that he had exited he could finally see the sky again. Alduin however, didn't witness the slow descent of those shards, no, when Alduin exited the museum he witnessed the moment one of those shards entered the forest behind the museum.
‘What?’ A monumental wave of fear washed over his body. With the sight in front of his eyes, every cell in his body screamed out in terror.
‘Those woods?!’ Alduin, the last person at the edge of this town, took one more look before escaping. He didn’t know if he heard it correctly, but there was no way in his right mind that he would wait to find out.
Running faster than ever before in his life, Alduin hurried over to the center road. The church now waited in front of him, and whatever he thought he heard, was behind him.