The studio had indeed gone silent. The news anchor was looking at the camera with a shocked expression. She then started looking around the studio for directions on what to do next.
"Uuuhh…we would like to apologize to our audience; it seems the video feed we received was a bit more…shocking than anticipated," she finally said in a meek and apologetic tone of voice after nodding her head in a random direction. Clearly being told what to say.
Unfortunately, the damage had been done, and no amount of apologies would work after showing that video to the masses.
How could they really? After all, even though it's been almost a century since the first invasion, the common folk rarely got to see the true appearance of an abomination from beyond the veil. More commonly known as a Veil Ones.
After the war ended, humanity struggled not only to survive, but also to rebuild what was lost. After all, what was the point of living if everything you love was destroyed and abandoned?
Many had lost their loved ones; they had lost their homes; they had lost their land, and many more had lost their lives.
All for the greed and ambition of those at the top of the ladder. Nevertheless, humanity continued moving forward.
Maps had to be redrawn, people had to find new homes, and cities had to be rebuilt. From the ashes of war, humans found the will to live, even if the world had become almost inhospitable for them.
After five years of struggle, new powers rose above the old ones; having learned from their predecessors what not to do and what practices still needed to be maintained, the human council had been formed.
Not as a tyrannical organization that sought to control the world through military power or political manipulation, but as a neutral organization that sought to prevent the same events that had almost destroyed the world and wiped out humanity.
The surviving countries still maintained their individuality and independence. No country would be oppressed by the council or another country.
All nations were left to their own devices, given the opportunity to grow and rebuild their infrastructure and population. Only when the threat of any conflict involving two different nations or major organizations throughout the world would the council intervene.
Not through military power, which it certainly had, but through dialogue and a series of debates and hearings to find the best solution for both parties involved. Well, at least that was the main idea.
If one wanted to join the council, they would have to be vetted through a rigorous process. This process consisted of investigating the applicant's information since birth, and even a minor discrepancy from the list of qualifications would result in failure for the applicant. Needless to say, only major politicians from established countries would even be considered as actual candidates.
Now, not everything went exactly as envisioned. Greed has always been a plague to humanity.
Even after witnessing the consequences of what greed can do, some individuals still pursue their twisted ambitions. Many applicants had tried to join the council in order to gain power and more control over major decisions that affected the new world. Many were simply manipulated and used by old powers that still clung to the idea of strength they once had, and since they weren't able to join themselves, why not use fools from the new and inexperienced generation?
All of these situations caused major outrage throughout the political sphere of the old and new world. It was thanks to the council chairman's swift decisions and countermeasures that a major crisis was prevented.
All of those corrupt individuals who were found to have a misguided idea of what the council represented were apprehended, or in extreme and rare cases, where no other option was left, they were disposed of.
Thus, preventing corrupt individuals from holding any form of major power…or so they thought.
The reality was that as long as humans existed, the ideology of greed and corruption would never really be destroyed. At least that's what scholars and philosophers believed.
Ten years after the council was created, fifteen years after the war, disaster struck again.
Just when humanity had finally found a semblance of peace and had grown accustomed to the ways of the new world.
The veil opened, bringing with it hellish creatures that sought only chaos and destruction.
Even to this day, no one really knows when or even where it first happened. All humanity knows is that it all happened too fast.
People were going through their lives, trying to live life to its fullest every day; after all, everyone knew that tomorrow was never promised… and how right they had been.
One moment, they were at work, enjoying life, traveling, eating dinner at home, and building their dreams; the next, horrific creatures were running rampant through their cities, ending lives where they stood, destroying homes, and snuffing out those same dreams people had dared to have.
It was hell on earth; millions of lives were lost in the initial wave of the invasion.
Nations fought back, or at least tried to. Military forces were deployed to major cities and towns throughout nations in an attempt to push back these creatures. Needless to say, very few accomplished it. Those that were able to fight back started believing that they may actually have a chance against the unknown creatures.
If only they knew…that it was only the beginning.