It first began on December 31st 20xx.
People were gathering to celebrate the New Year. The atmosphere was rich with joy and eagerness. Screens on display, families on their yard or the porch.
"10! 9! 8!"
People count the numbers, some were happy, some didn't care, some were working, some were sad. All things were happening despite the fact that everyone should be happy and easy-going to celebrate the New Year.
"7!"
But life goes on, time goes on. Not waiting for anyone.
"6! 5! 4!"
Still, nonetheless, even when time is pressing down on everyone, even if there are burdens or responsibilities that needs to be fulfilled. Everyone tend to forget about those things and try to enjoy anytime rest is available.
"3! 2! 1!"
It was supposed to be a happy day.
The screens showed the number 0, and thus came the New Year.
But, the New Year wasn't the only thing that followed after 0.
Loud cheering erupts, but soon silenced by the loud clattering chains that could be heard rumbling from beneath the earth, something was coming.
Earth shook, buildings trembled, instead of joy, people were anxious, confused, and most of all, surprised.
For a while, everything was quiet.
Until a roar shatters the earth, people clutch onto their heads, some kneeling down from the loud roar. Trying to dim out the noise, but earth once again trembles, and the ground beneath starts unveiling.
Eyes from below stare at the humans above. Murderous eyes filled with joy, eagerness, and madness. All unveiled by the cracks of the earth as lumps of flesh sprang up towards the ground.
People that weren't stricken by fear quickly ran away, screams bellowed and a sea of humans crash against each other as they noticed the ground cracking and splitting.
Soon, what followed was a disaster. Huge flesh reach out to the humans, tearing and crushing them under their mighty fists or kicks. Some bit off the humans and some even spat out fire from their mouths.
It was total chaos.
Everywhere in the world, the same phenomenon happened. Not even scientists or those monitoring the geography knew of this. Humanity was unprepared.
Those that could escape, escaped.
But, if there was one thing that people throughout the world noticed, is a pop-up appearing in front of their eyes, like a hologram.
Status: [Blessed]
Name: Sirius
Class: [Seed]
Soul Purity: [1/4]
Body: [Tainted]
Blessings: -
Runes: [Brightest Star]: [Supernova's Crown]
[Supernova's Crown]: You are bestowed upon the power of the stars, your body burns and explode out mana constantly. An autonomous cycle of pulling mana into your soul and releasing the stored mana formed in your soul once it cannot be stored anymore.
"What... the hell?"
Exclaimed a young man with bright blue hair and streaks of white.
His light blue eyes dart around, noticing his parents and his younger brother also seemingly looking at the air in front of them in shock.
"Everyone? Are you also-"
A loud crash rang in the household, concrete shooting towards the family of four as the young man, Sirius gets thrown across the room along with his family.
"Gkh..!"
Coughing, Sirius groans as he props himself up on the floor using his elbows. Looking up, he saw a hole on the wall of his house.
Inside the house, just past the crumbled wall, there appears to be a muscular red bull with horns protruding on the side of its head. It dons jagged rocks that covered its legs and torso like an armor. It lets out a heavy huff as it shakes its head from the concrete and dust.
In Sirius' line of vision, another thing occurred.
[Calamity]: [Rock Bull]
The hairs on his body stood on end, he quickly turn to his father and shook him,
"Dad! Quick! Carry mom, I'll carry Julian!"
He spoke in a hushed and hurried tone, not letting fear or panic overtake his body. His father, already quick on the uptake, quickly carry the unconscious mother, while Sirius looks at Julian and carry him out of the house.
The bull lets out a bellow and look around, as if trying to find something.
As they escape through the backdoor, the smell of fire and iron struck their noses, Sirius and his father both widened their eyes as they saw the raging flames and bodies, along with monsters on the road and houses.
"What the hell... is happening..?"
***
Three years later
They say that humanity's greatest power doesn't come from their weapons or power, it comes from the fact that humans are creatures that are easy to adapt.
Three years before, humanity was suddenly attacked by forces from below, where they first came from, called Calamity. That day would be etched into history, and to be called the Apocalypse.
The day when the world went into chaos, people fled their homes, making groups. Calamities roam the world, killing anyone on sight, rampaging wildly. Despite the chaos in the atmosphere, there were many brave men and women that led the people into safety.
These people would later be known as Masters of a House. They are humanity's strongest warriors and hope in these dark times.
Since a lot of Earth's countries are destroyed or became inhabitable, the habitable part of the world would soon become what one would call a Post. The Post becomes a home for the refugees and the warriors of humanity, each Post have their own powerhouses. There's a group that governs the Post and take care of its inhabitant, called Houses.
In the Southern Hemisphere of Earth, there is a Post on the east side, specifically on the continent of Australia, called the Southern East Post.
"Julian, I'm going out."
Sirius shout out in front of the entrance door, informing his younger brother. Few seconds pass but he doesn't hear a response, Sirius was about to go silently but hears a sudden quiet okay. Upon hearing his brother, Sirius smiles and goes outside.
Now, the young man appears more older than before, and a tad messy. A volume of his hair from the crown tumble down in layers that framed his face and curled gently over the tops of his ears. The back of his hair reaches down to his nape, while longer strands that curtains down as his bangs swept across his forehead, obscuring his brow.
His skin is cream-coloured, though with some rough edges here and there, but it is smooth nonetheless. His body is lean but not too skinny, there are some fat and muscles here and there but it is not quite defined.
The young man stands at a height of five feet and six inches.
Looking around, just around the door, in front of his house, a car is parked on the road. Two young men could be seen sitting on the driver and passenger seat.
"Get in!"
The one on the passenger side waved at Sirius, Sirius quickly complies and gets in the backseat. Making himself at home, he lets out a heavy sigh and look at the two young men in front of him.
"So... are you guys serious on going outside?"
"Of course. Trust me, it's safe! It's just right outside the border to the South. Though, we'd have to sneak out past Border Patrol, but we have John for that."
The one on the driver seat spoke, confident with his words as he look at Sirius with a grin. John, the one on the passenger seat simply smiles.
"Just to make sure, we're only going outside for a few hours to explore this cave you found right? After that, we're done for the day and go back inside the Post?"
Sirius asks, a bit unsure whether it would be safe or not.
"Ah! Trust me. No need to be so scared. Besides, you told me that you wanted to do some dangerous stuff. So here it is!"
"Well, I didn't really say that I wanted to do dangerous stuff. Just try things out with my friends..."
Sirius mutters weakly, his face defeated.
"Bah! Whatever. Adrian, drive!"
John spoke as he waves off Sirius' words, before telling Adrian, the one on the driver seat to drive. Adrian clicked his tongue and shouts a 'Shut up!' before driving the car.
As they drive to the South border, Sirius silently glance at the window, watching houses blur by.
Blinking once and thinking in his mind, a Status hologram shows up.
Status: [Blessed]
Name: Sirius
Class: [Seed]
Soul Purity: [3/4]
Body: [Tainted]
Blessings: [Red Horn] [Shard of Night]
Runes: [Brightest Star]: [Supernova's Crown]
Looking at his status, Sirius stare blankly at his Blessings before dismissing the Status window. Closing his eyes, he let out a soft sigh. At the past, he had to force himself to fight to live when the Apocalypse came. But now that at least life in the Post have stabilize and everything is peaceful, despite it being a facade, he had planned on just enjoying a simple life of doing things he wanted and doing things he couldn't before.
Talking and joking with his friends, they soon arrive near the border. Parking at a bar 100 meters away from the border, the three of them got out of the car. Sirius and Adrian each touch John's shoulder and they start walking towards the border. A looming shadow cast over them as they walk nearer to the border that stands at 55 meters tall, guards patrolling the border, some on top of the border and watching over the land that is the South.
Walking past the guards, they seem to not care about the fact that three young men are walking past them and outside the border.
They continue on walking silently towards a dense amount of trees and unsteady ground. The sound of water crashing against rocks reverberates throughout the rainforest, with Sirius and Adrian each touching a side of John's shoulder. Feeling that they're safe now from any patrol, Sirius and Adrian pulls back their hands off John's shoulder as Sirius looks around the heavy rainforest. He blinks in amazement from the dense trees and the sight of mountains and cliffs, along with water rushing down from the crack of a cliff.
"This way."
Sirius follows Adrian as he leads them down a ravine, slowly climbing down the steep rocky path. Each of them summons a dagger, as Sirius follows suit and summon [Shard of Night], a black glossy short dagger that curves slighty materialize on his right hand. He stabs onto the rocky walls with great strength as they climb down the ravine.
Finally reaching down, they all land on a shallow river, their boots splashing into the shallow water as they walk further south. Further down the path, they all arrive at what seems to be the entrance of the cave, a hole huge enough for a car to fit in.
"It's eerily quiet... I thought it would be brimming with Calamities, are you sure there are no Calamities around the area?"
Sirius ask as they walk towards the entrance of the cave. Adrian simply respond by summoning a lantern and a shrug, a teasing grin on his face as he lifts the lantern close to his face.
"Why, you scared?"
Sirius stare at Adrian with a strange look, his brow furrowed as he rubs them before sighing.
"If I die, I'll hunt the both of you and terror you both till the end of your lives."
Both of his friends merely laugh at his remark before descending further down the cave. Spikes protrude from the ceiling of the cave, with puddles on the unsteady ground. Each step rang through the cave, setting a chilly atmosphere.
A narrow entrance could be seen from the cracks of a wall.
"That's a tight entrance... we'd have to squeeze through."
"Yeah, but it's fine. Me and John have tested it out. We'll be fine."
Sirius stare at the crack and scratch the back of his head before following Adrian and John who's already squeezing their body through the crack. Slowly but surely, as to not scrape their body against the rocks on the walls.
Squeezing past the crack after a minute or so, they all breathe in the thick air of the cave, taking in as much air as possible as they finally stand in a wide empty area with rocks. Looking forward, they are all greeted by the sight of a massive crater on the center of the cave with deep depression on the center of the crater. As though as if a meteor landed on the ground.
"Damn, that still looks crazy..."
John mutters in amazement, as Adrian nod with a smile. Sirius blinks in amazement, but... there's a nagging feeling that makes his hair rise on end. He shrug it off as a feeling of goosebumps from looking at the massive crater spanning around as huge as a football field with double the width.
Around the crater, there are some paths that lead somewhere, but most importantly, there is something even more important.
"Are those... tents?"
Sirius asks, pointing to a dozen of worn out tents, northeast from their position. Adrian nods at that, before walking towards the area of the tents.
"I have seen them before, first time I came here. This place probably have already been explored by House Storm."
Sirius nods silently as they continue on walking. Nearing the tent, they could see shadows covering the tent, casting a dark curtain around the area. As they walk closer and closer the nagging feeling and cold sweat strikes Sirius like a hammer. The rhythmic thump of his heartbeat against his chest grow louder. A cold wave of air flows toward them. A smell of rotten accompanying the gust of wind.
Sirius stops on his track, both of his friends stop too. Something isn't right.
His heart rapidly punch his chest, a feeling of looming threat, quick-wittedly, Adrian and Sirius grab onto John's shoulder as they stand still. Everyone could feel it, a blade is hanging above their neck, a sense of fear and death silently approaching.
The cracking of shells could be heard, the sound of cracking slithering towards them like a snake, a brown segmented tail, each shell that covers the tail cracks as it near them. Everyone hold their breath, because at the end of the tail is a sharp stinger that looks like a simple graze could poison or outright kill them. The stinger is abnormal, having eyes on it as though as if its an ornament, but the flesh and veins hanging onto the stinger like an eyeball that is hanging out of its socket, only held by thread of veins that are connected to them tells everyone that the eyes are real and functional.
Loud steps reverberates through the silent cave, only the sound of water dripping from the ceiling onto a puddle breaking it. Sirius and his friends tremble as the stinger inch closer to them, but narrowly stop in front of them. Their eyes widen at the sight of it.
Everything stay still for a few moment, frozen.
Slowly, a pair of teeth enter their line of sight, sharp furry teeth covered with dirty liquid dripping down, a disgusting smell boils their stomach as they fight the urge to retch. A disturbing noise akin to a growl follow suit, before they finally see the face of the Calamity.
Everyone stand in despair upon seeing the face, hollow eye sockets on its head, bulging abdomen with deformed spiders crawling on top of it, as if it just hatched out a shell. The deformed spiders groans and moans like a baby, liquid showering the abdomen of the Calamity.
Underneath the abdomen, jagged teeth move rhythmically, as if gasping for air. A dark expanse on the bottom side of the abdomen, as if it's inside of a mouth. Liquid drips down underneath the abdomen from the mouth, a disgusting smell radiating from it. Eight legs with fur covering them carry its body that is way larger than its own tail, as the creature walk towards the group of trembling young men, their eyes tremble as they see the notification in front of them.
[Calamity]: [Skull Wolf]
[Class]: [Fallen]