It was May 5th when the arches appeared in every capitol around the world. They were enormous formed of seamless stone which towered several hundred meters into the air. Their face was covered in lichen and moss as if they had stood in place for an age.

Between the arches there was an impenetrable veil of mist roiling about in ceaseless motion, giving vague impressions to the imagination of what might lie beyond.

The gates were cordoned off by the local authority in each city as law enforcers and officials tried to make sense of how to deal with the situation, and news organizations were quick arrive to begin their coverage of the mysterious phenomenon, and the scene was quickly packed with a myriad of police, onlookers and reporters.

Olivia Oakdale, one of many reporters on scene, stared fixedly at the camera in front of her, shifting her clammy grip on her hand-held microphone.

'When was the last time I was this nervous?' she thought to herself as the camera's red light came on.

“With us tonight live from Washington, DC is Olivia Oakdale to give us the latest updates on the situation.” Olivia heard in her ear piece, and the camera man gave her the signal to begin her report.

“Thank you Susan. Here behind me where the Washington Monument used to stand, there appears to be some form of massive stone arch. We have received several reports that similar structures have appeared in all other countries across the world.”

“Fascinating! Does the arch appear to be any danger to the public, Olivia?”

“That is uncertain at this time. All we know is that during the day you could see what appears to be a veil of some kind between the arches. Hold on, something is happening”

At that the camera panned away from Olivia and zoomed in on the arch where a robot lead on a tether was slowly rolling towards the arches.

Moments before the robot was able to cross the boundary of the arches, billowing plumes of mist suddenly rolled out from it, puddling on the ground around the robot until it was hidden entirely from view. When the mist receded the robot was gone and in its place stood a strangely glowing stone tablet.

At that same moment, a voice called out, heard by everyone surrounding the arches. It spoke in an unfamiliar language yet Olivia understood it perfectly, as if she had always spoken this foreign language but until now had just forgotten.

“We have chosen your champions. Three of each nation must be sent through the gates. Once done, light will be returned to your world”

The plaza surrounding the gate fell into deep silence.

“Olivia, what happened?” Susan's voice said in Olivia's ear.

“We're fine. Somehow, the arches spoke to us” Olivia said in response.

“Olivia? You are not making any sense”

“It's hard for me to explain”

“I'm sorry. Our correspondent appears to be in shock and has momentarily lapsed into a different language. We will give her a moment to compose herself.” Susan said, but she was no longer directing her voice at Olivia.

Olivia could only stare in confusion while the camera man gave her the signal that the broadcast had been cut off. 'What did she mean, different language?' she thought, but slowly she began to realise that that although the words seemed as familiar to her as ever, she hadn't thought them in English.

Similar events had happened at all gate sites across the planet, and exactly 8 minutes and 20 seconds after the voice had been heard the light of the sun disappeared.

Alex Greene woke bleary eyed in his chair, exactly where he had passed out the night before in front of his television. As his senses began to return to him two details became distinctly clear. First, he had unpleasant splitting headache. Second, the headache was getting so much worse by his phone making a happy racket as it vibrated on the table, slowly jostling along a haphazard path formed by nearby empty bottles.

Alex picked up the phone with a tired groan to glance at the display.

The words 'Mom Aggro', flashed at him, accompanied by a picture of a rotund woman in her 50s with hair in a style that seemed to scream I'm still young, if you would just ignore the crow's feet and wrinkles.

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Ah mom you really do love to worry don't you?

“Wonderful Alex speaking, still alive”

“Alex? Where are you. Your dad and I are worried sick”

I swear, I love her but sometimes she worries too much

“I'm in my apartment. Did something happen?”

God I need a piss. How late is it anyway?

Alex's mother said something else that almost slipped by his attention as he glanced out the window to see dark streets. He must have slept through the entire day.

“I'm sorry mom could you repeat that? I just woke up.”

“ALEX, I need you to act like an adult for two minutes and actually listen to me” his mom said in an aggrieved tone.

She actually sounds serious this time. Get your shit together Alex.

“Is it dad? He's okay right?”

“No Alex it's you. Your name is on the news...” his mom trailed off into silence.

The news? Why would I be...  

Alex reached for his remote and turned on the television, flicking through channels until he found a news report.

“...Law enforcement is currently investigating the whereabouts of the last suspects, Alex Greene, in regards to his involvement in the mysterious arch in Washington DC.”

Arches? Washington DC? What in the world...

The anchor woman continued to drone on about difficulties near the arch as a group of people near it appeared to have developed some form of acute aphasia that made them unable to speak properly.

“Alex we love you but we had no choice”

“What are you talking about?”

“We told them where you live Alex. We don't want to believe you did it, but those poor people...”

This must be some kind of fever-dream.

“I...” Alex said before he fell silent. He suddenly realised how desperate his mother sounded. How pained the situation must be for her.

“I promise you, I'm innocent. We will sort through this.” Alex finally managed to say.

There was a long silence on the line before the call disconnected.

Alex turned his attention back to the television where the report had shifted over to display some kind of graphic showing the solar system.

“...With us in studio is astrophysicist Kevin Barkley. Kevin you tell us there's no reason to believe the sun is actually gone. Why is that?”

The camera panned over to a thin man in his thirties with thick-rim glasses and brown hair with strands of grey peppered about, looking like a mantle piece someone had forgotten to dust off before putting on display.

“Earth and the other planetoids are still following their normal orbits, and we haven't seen any side-effects that would indicate that we are no longer affected by the sun's gravitational pull” Kevin said.

“So how do you explain the missing sunlight?” the anchor-woman countered.

“I can give you no answers. This situation is highly unprecedented” Kevin answered

“So, you admit the sun could be gone?” the anchor-woman said pointedly to the astrophysicist, prompting a sigh from Alex.

Come hell or heaven, trust the media to always drum up the fear

with that thought Alex turned off the television. Sitting quietly while anxiously waiting for someone to come and arrest him turned out to be an almost impossible. Always one to opt for his own sense of practicality Alex decided to take a shower and relieve himself.

If he was going to be arrested, at least he didn't have to smell like last night's party while it happened.

Not five minutes later while Alex was still blinded by his shampoo, six armed men dressed in Kevlar combat gear broke through his front door, and quickly subdued him, hauling him off still naked and soaking wet.