It was 3 am, and Kayden still had yet to sleep to get ready for his 10 am P.E class. He was playing his favorite game inside his room with his two little brothers behind him, sleeping soundly. Quietly cursing his game trying not to disturb his brothers' sleep. "Ah! This piece of shit bandit! Why are you always popping out to stab me right at the back when I'm healing?!"
'...I can't believe I've only been playing this game for 5 days, and I'm already near the endgame. I haven't played this much for a single game in years! After I beat this final boss and end the game, I will finally get some rest and would probably grind more after I get home from school!'
An hour went by and he was nearing the end of the game.
'Here we go guys, this gigantic piece of shit is just one shot away from being dead!'
His game character raised his arm and swung his sword, casting a skill and ultimately defeating the boss in one strike. Right after dealing the last blow and defeating the boss, his screen slowly fades to black and faded in, playing a cutscene.
[ Zhohan the Exiled has perished... ]
Zhohan dropped down to his knees, plunging his sword into the ground for stability. "Thank you, Nomad Warrior—Finally... I can rest..." Zhohan looked at his character with a soft smile. There were no resentment behind his eyes nor any twisted intentions, instead he rather looked happy...
satisfied...
[ You have defeated Zhohan the Exiled! ]
[ The Main Story Line is now completed! ]
[ You can now explore the world of Zorath to your heart's content! ]
Kayden paused for a moment before processing everything that happened in that last fight.
'...That was pretty sick, I'm gonna be honest. I didn't expect him to talk and smile at the end. This is peak gaming! I can't believe it's been out for 10 years and only 8 people, including me, have played it so far. It's a shame they quit the game halfway through, and left pretty bad reviews because the game was "too hard" for them.'
He closed the game and shut off his laptop and looked to his right and saw his digital clock display 4:58 AM.
'Oh damn it's already this late? I should get ready and cook some breakfast before my family wakes up.'
[ 4:59 AM ]
Kayden stood up and did some stretches after playing for so long. He took his phone and walked towards the door, but before he could grab the doorknob, a bright light shone through the window behind him, slipping in between the partially open blinds. He stopped for a moment before walking towards the window.
He opened the window blinds wide to check what had caused the blindingly bright light. All he could see was his neighborhood with street lights turned on, but these wouldn't be enough to emit such strong light. But for a brief moment, from afar, the night sky lit up as if thunder were about to strike. It happened a couple of times before stopping.
Kayden thought a storm might be approaching, but he found it strange—there was no wind, and no sound of thunder brewing either. And shortly after, the night sky slowly turned red like a sunset, and the clouds began to move and twist in a strange, unsettling way. He was completely speechless and stunned by what he saw. He thought that the lack of sleep was finally taking effect on him, but that wasn't the case when people came out of their houses and looked at the sky.
[ 5:00 AM ]
Neighboring dogs began barking uncontrollably, and flocks of birds scattered across the sky, flying in a panic. Soon after, more clouds gathered, slowly growing larger and darker. They formed a massive circle overhead, its center pitch black, then gradually turning bright, orange, and finally red, like a volcano about to erupt. Sparks of electricity crackled from the swirling cloud ring, followed by deep, thundering roars.
The people panicked, and Kayden wasn't an exception. His body shivered, his skin turned pale. His instincts were telling him to run away... far... very far...
He woke up his younger siblings, his big brother in the other room, and finally his parents. They all followed him downstairs, half asleep. Kayden spoke in a clear, loud, and calm tone, explaining what was happening outside and why he had a bad feeling about it. His father went to the window to take a look and was shocked; the rest followed with the same reaction.
"I don't know what is happening right now, but I have a really bad feeling about this." They all stared at him with their eyebrows raised and their heads tilted, confused to Kayden's panic actions. Kayden gestured to the window showing to his family the strange events happening outside their home. Their faces were surprised, full of questions and thought that they might be still dreaming of
"Have you checked the news?" His father asked and turned on the TV, a man in his mid thirties was holding a microphone, ready to break the news to everyone that was watching. Behind him were people, young and old that was looking up in the sky with confused expressions on their faces. The man cleared his throat and began to speak.
"It is now currently 5:11 AM, and the sky right now, Tom, has mysteriously turned red. The clouds are forming a strange, massive circle in the sky, and the animals here are going crazy–" Kayden's father changed into another station, but no matter what news outlet or country, it's all happening at the same time. One of his younger brother, Mark, turned on his phone and saw a live video of a social media influencer broadcasting his point of view of the events also happening in their home. This was no way a dream or some kind impressive prank to be wide spread across the world. Something caused this... but what?
Their father tried to calm them down and reassured them, thankfully it worked, the worried, panic expression on their faces slowly disappeared but only until a massive ball of blue flames hit one of their neighbor's house, causing a huge explosion. The ground shook a little and more people screamed in terror and fear.
***
At the center of the city, a cloud ring had formed—twice the size of the one that loomed over Kayden's neighborhood. The red and orange light at its core grew brighter, while the electric sparks became more violent, crackling across the sky. People stopped in their tracks, staring up at the massive formation, listening to the distant roars and booming noises rumbling from within.
Then, without warning, a single entity emerged from the clouds. It hovered silently in the air. Its body was slim, with unnaturally long twisted arms and legs. People instinctively reached for their phones, raising them to the sky to get a better view. News reporters quickly zoomed in with high-powered cameras, broadcasting the scene live to the world.
The entity had pointy ears, sharp eyes, and a twisted, deformed head—it was, by all appearances, the very image of a devil come to life. People stood frozen—stunned, speechless, completely overwhelmed by the entity's appearance and the chaos unfolding around them. The figure remained motionless in the sky, silently observing the crowd below.
The city streets erupted into noise—panicked voices, urgent murmurs, and distant screams. Some shouted in terror, claiming it was the end of the world. Others remained skeptical, guessing it was some kind of government drill or staged event.
Before long, armored vehicles rolled into the city, and armed soldiers spread out across the streets to keep the situation from spiraling further out of control. Fear, anger, and confusion rippled through the crowd. People swarmed the soldiers, shouting questions, demanding answers—but the military remained silent, focused only on maintaining order.
"Currently, the unknown entity appears to remain motionless, and the military has stepped in to control the situation. We expect to hear an official statement from them soon," one reporter announced, her voice steady despite the chaos around her.
Countless news reporters flooded the streets, broadcasting live as billions of people around the world watched from the safety of their homes—afraid, anxious, uncertain of what was unfolding outside.
All eyes—and cameras—were fixed on the mysterious being hovering in the sky.
Then suddenly, it moved. It turned its head and locked eyes with one of the cameras. Its eyes glowed faint red, and it slowly reached out a hand. At that same moment, General Rato, the commander overseeing the military presence, was giving a live interview nearby. "As of this moment, our research teams and specialists are doing everything they can to understand these strange phenomena," General Rato said firmly. "We do not yet know what this creature is or what its intentions are, but rest assured, citizens of this country—we will do everything in our power to protect our people and this nation."
But just seconds after his words, a deafening explosion ripped through the area—just a few meters behind him.
The blast was powerful enough to send people flying. Many reporters were killed instantly; others lay wounded and screaming in the rubble.
No one knew exactly what had caused the explosion at first, but minutes before, the hovering entity had been seen reaching out its hand. A strange red light had gathered in its palm before it unleashed a blinding beam straight toward the crowd. Billions of people watched the scene unfold live, and in an instant, panic erupted across the globe. Fear spread like wildfire. Streets filled with screams, sirens, and chaos. All around the world, people shouted the same thing:
"It's the end of the world!"
Society began to fracture. Mobs formed. Shops were looted. Governments scrambled for answers as order slowly unraveled. The world, once watching in fear, was now drowning in it.
***
'I knew from the moment I saw the sky lit up and the clouds moving that this was gonna be bad.' Kayden knew instinctively that danger was upon them the moment he witnessed the strange events happening in the sky.
The huge explosion caused debris to fly away hitting anything or anyone that stood it its way. Many people were critically hurt, some died and houses that were near either got damage too or their windows shattered.
Luckily they were at a safe distance from the house and no one got injured. Kayden's father spread his arms and acted as a shield cover his family. Thankfully no more ball of fire came after the first one as if like it was a warning shot or simply something to make them scared.
Their father asked them to got to the kitchen because it's most safe inside than the living room. They all went except for their fathe who went upstairs to get a better view from the windows above.
Behind their scared and terrified mother, Kayden and his three brothers were also there as scared as their mother. Kayden took a glance to his brothers who were scared and his older brother hugging their two little brothers. He then took a glance of his mother that was standing at the door frame holding her phone and trying everything to contact the police. Her hand was shaking noticably terrified with the situation.
This is the situation for almost everyone is the world right now. All of them are in hiding, hiding from the chaos happening outside their houses.
Kayden looked at the hanging kitchenwares from the wall and took a small stainless sharp knife. He covered it in cloth to avoid being cut and hid it behind him while no one was looking. His face turned grim.
'...If I must kill, I will.'
Soon, their father came running downstairs and went back with the rest. He explained that more and more figure were coming outside the clouds but there was something strange. The flying figures in the sky weren't moving, they are all gathered above and then no more came out. He estimated that there had to be more than a hundred of them just flying still. All of their faces went pale as white and his father added.
"I heard from one of our neighbors that the military are on their way right now!"
'So it wasn't really some kind of prank? More like an invasion?' Kayden gripped his fist out of anger. 'Why the hell is this happening!?'
His father hugged them and said in a calm and reassuring tone. "Let's pray that everything that's happening will go away and this was all a bad dream."
A single tear dripped down from his eye, the image of his family dead and their house burning flashed in his head. He couldn't get the thought out of his head, he couldn't bear to imagine his family dying from what's to come.
Suddenly, a voice came from the left open TV. A female news anchor, calm and indifferent was holding a piece of paper in her hands reading the contents inside of it.
"This just in, we've received a much clearer image of the flying entity, captured by a reporter from a helicopter. Let's switch to them now."
The father went to the TV and watched. Soon Kayden followed, curious and later the rest joined.
The broadcast transitioned from the calm, indifferent woman to a point of view of a camera inside a helicopter. Infront is a man wearing headphones with a mic connected to the camera. He then spoke with his voice loud and shaking.
"As you can see, the devil has descended into our world! Fortunately, for now, it seems to be holding its position, carefully observing the people be—wait, what's happening?! Look!" The camera suddenly shifted upward, panning over the swirling clouds. There, in the red-orange glow, dark silhouettes began to take shape—dozens of them. Figures with the same eerie build as the first entity: tall, slim, long-limbed, and inhuman.
While the camera remained focused on the silhouettes and the reporter tried to explain what was unfolding, the figures in the clouds appeared to be drifting closer, slowly but steadily. But before the camera could capture them clearly, something unexpected happened. A massive, sharp object suddenly came hurtling through the sky at incredible speed. The crew had no time to react. In an instant, the object struck the helicopter, triggering a violent explosion. Flames erupted mid-air as the screen went black — cutting off the broadcast. Everyone inside was killed instantly.
"Dear god..." his father muttered quietly.
Kayden stepped toward the window and looked out at the swirling clouds above their neighborhood. What he saw made his blood run cold—and then, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
Across the globe, wherever the clouds had gathered, they had become gateways—welcoming in creatures of destruction, monsters that had only one purpose: to wipe out humanity.
Panic swept the world as chaos followed. Cities crumbled. Skies burned. Entire populations vanished in minutes.
Millions were already dead.
Thousands of cities obliterated.
It's the end of the world.
...Or is it?