February 24, 2025.
In a hidden cave within the depths of obscure water.
In the unknown, deep part of the oceanic trench located in the Western Pacific Ocean, not far from the Mariana Islands, a group of people consisting of an oceanographer, oceanologist, and others who specialize in the field related to ocean study suddenly unearthed an ancient metallic box from an unknown era.
Bringing it back to the world's surface.
Strangely, upon examining the box, experts and scientists astoundingly found out that the material of the box was something that they hadn't encountered or seen in their lives.
Hence, with that, the box's mysterious origin immediately caught the attention of experts in various fields, using everyone's knowledge to discern the box's secret.
However, shockingly, even after studying for innumerable days, all the people who paid their visit fail to ascertain the origin of the item! Hence, in the end, they all switched their tactics to opening the box, hoping to find clues inside...
But who would have thought that after countless attempts and inspections — even with the help of professionals — the box remained locked and intact!
To the point that even a laser failed to damage the box's surface!
With the current knowledge that humanity possessed, they surprisingly found they had failed to unlock a box that originated from an unknown era! Further fueling their curiosity regarding it.
Due to this, the box's popularity exploded, and countless speculations regarding it began circulating among the masses. Some say that it didn't originate from earth, while some hearsay said that it was meant to be locked forever, while others speculated that it came from an advanced civilization in the past that was more glamorous than the current era.
Overall, without concrete evidence, speculation would remain speculation.
Even so, with countless speculations, it's undeniable that the item's origin remains a mystery to every person's eyes.
Unfortunately, despite the initial popularity, without gaining relevant clues or having an idea how to open the box, the item was bound to be forgotten.
Hence, in the end, after being studied for a year, the box was disregarded in the corner of a research lab, acting as furniture or often being used as a topic to talk about.
Not until...
On the 28th of February 2026, in the middle of the night, a sudden change occurred on the box.
Without anyone noticing, the lid of the box, seemingly being stimulated by an unknown force, began trembling violently, fluctuating with intensity as if something inside was forcing its way out... Replacing the mystery it held with bizarreness that couldn't be fathomed.
Boom!
Then, without prior knowledge, akin to a Pandora's box, the lid of the box ominously opened!
Like a broken dam, dark smoke of unknown origin came out from the box like a gushing river, rapidly filling the laboratory with thick smoke.
At the start, the smoke only expanded within the range of the laboratory; however, after an hour of dormancy, the smoke surged and enveloped the entire town, bringing forth chaos within its area of effect.
Then from the town, the smoke slowly expanded through the entirety of the city, then from the city to the states, until it wholly enveloped the encompassing land swiftly!
Bringing forth total darkness to anyone in the world.
Thus, the great darkness unfolded.
With visibility reduced by 250%, countless accidents occurred in just a short span of time.
In just a day of the great darkness, 5 million lost their lives — still increasing as time passed by — while complications appeared throughout the world in varying degrees.
Expectedly, the first one to take the full brunt of the sudden changes was the ecosystem.
With the absence of sunlight, crops naturally began dying one by one, while livestock also suffered greatly. Due to that, every country experiences food shortages in just a week of the great darkness, making the prices of goods witness an unprecedented growth.
Moreover, without the natural balance brought by the sun, the climate becomes volatile, bringing forth natural disasters to new heights.
Hence, in just two weeks, the death toll increased to a hundred million. Worse, it's only the start of the real problem.
In the days that followed, due to uncertainty, the fragile rules that sustained the morality of humans began to crumble in most places.
Believing that the end of the world was near, some people unleashed their beastly side, fueling the disorder and bringing forth another agony to all living beings.
With lifeless bodies scattered throughout the land becoming a norm sight, 200 million lives regretfully lose their lives fighting for the slightest chance of survival; even worse is that their corpses were being used as sustenance by others.
Soon...
After two months of the great darkness, everything seemed to crumble; looting, hiding, and killing became the standard daily practices for everyone. Humanity and morality seem to vaporize from the world as everything slowly treads toward the inevitable destruction.
Hope is forgotten while the despair spreads like a wildfire.
However, while desperation and hopelessness veiled everything, an unexpected change occurred within the dark smoke enshrouding the encompassing land.
After a hundred days of dormancy, the dark smoke suddenly stirred!
Without foreknowledge, most of the dark smoke surged to the firmament and formed innumerable vortices in varying sizes. Some vortices were as small as a car, while the largest is almost equivalent to that of a mountain.
While unease and despair filled everyone's mind, uncertain what the innumerable vortex entails, the vortices above, upon absorbing most of the dark smoke, suddenly descended from the high firmament toward the earth, instantly transforming from intangible dark smoke into shrines!
Yes, that's right, all the dark vortices that descended from the sky transformed into countless shrines!
Hence, in every location, one can immediately spot a shrine or altar with a distinctive design. However, despite that, all seem to have similar aspects of madness and terror.
Fortunately, other than their unsightly appearance, it didn't bring any troubles around; instead, after the shrines formed, people throughout the world noticed that the dark smoke above, despite still being present, thinned significantly.
With the large chunk of dark smoke missing, the world finally welcomed the longed-for sunlight!
Despite appearing for only 8 hours a day, the appearance of sunlight still brought people hope, reasoning for the order to fix, albeit slowly.
Even so, the absence of sunlight for a hundred days leaves an undeniable scar on everyone.
With the death of more than a billion and scars that couldn't be healed even with time, the absence of sunlight was thus named "The Great Darkness."
Not to remind them of the painful times, but instead, to remind them of the darkness hidden within their hearts.