As the family ate breakfast, the television in the living room was playing the news. It showed a reporter sitting at a large table. She was presenting the most relevant events of the month.
It was this news in particular that caught Marcus's attention, as he turned his head to listen properly and looked at the screen.
"In more recent news, the major political powers of the world seemed to have been gathering at the council's headquarters this past month to try to come up with a solution for the crisis that's been ravaging the new settlements in East Asia," the news anchor stated while looking directly ahead.
In the left corner of the screen, a video was playing, showing multiple mandataries representing their countries in the world council.
Entering a grand building that served as its headquarters. All of them were dressed in formal wear; some of them were wearing standard suits of different colors, while others were proudly wearing clothes that represented their culture.
Many countries had not survived the aftermath of the war.
Many lost their leaders in direct attacks from the enemy. Some were betrayed by their so-called allies.
Others lost the race for resources while the war was at its summit, making it difficult for them to sustain the lives of their soldiers and their citizens. In others, the population simply lost faith in how their government was being led and decided to migrate into neighboring countries, bringing a whole set of new problems to the countries they were escaping to.
There were many reasons as to why the war lasted for as long as it did, and many have come to different conclusions about why the consequences were so severe for the world. After all, these were seasoned politicians and high-ranking generals; surely they should have been able to see and understand the consequences of waging war for that long.
The only thing that everyone agrees on is that the world started to live on a countdown once the use of atomic weaponry had been sanctioned.
The devastation that such weapons brought to the world was immeasurable. Billions of people lost their lives, and many natural sites were lost. Even after many years have passed, those striking zones and their surroundings were incapable of sustaining life.
There had been cases where human skin literally melted, killing anyone who dared approach these sites.
Needless to say, these zones were forbidden to everyone. Well…not all.
"East Asia has been trying to expand and gain back the territory lost to the abominations. The help of the awakened of the old and new generations alike has been of great importance in these expeditions." the news anchor continued.
"Unfortunately, it seems that the expedition has been struggling with the abominations that have passed through the veil. It seems the veil structure has been weakening over time by the influence of a strange creature." The news anchor continued, a tone of apprehension clearly showing as she showed the creature in question on the screen.
"Be advised, the video we are about to show may be disturbing to some," she warned.
As the news anchor finished her sentence, an image of a strange creature appeared on the screen.
The creature looked humanoid, wrapped in a fearsome black armor that looked as dark as an abyss. Its hair was as white as the finest silk one could imagine, moving with the wind; spikes protruded from its pauldrons, making it seem as if they were incorporated into the armor to produce as much fear as possible.
A dark armor sash was wrapped around the being's waist, making it look regal and authoritative. Its helmet looked fearsome, with no features visible on it, just three vertical lines that ran from its forehead to where the mouth's location should be found.
It looked human; the only reason experts were able to differentiate it from humans was its unnaturally long limbs and the long claws protruding from its fingers.
It gave a feeling of dread that affected both the mundane and the awakened.
The creature seemed to have been sitting down on a dune, devoid of any life around it, looking up at the night sky. It suddenly turned to look in the direction of the camera; the video feed started to fail; it started to look weird, static started appearing, distorting the image, and the voice from the reporter and those around him started to sound muffled.
In the blink of an eye, the creature suddenly disappeared, and an agonizing scream resounded on the video footage.
The reporter holding the camera turned it to the side, in the direction of the scream. Once he fully turned, the only thing visible was how the creature had impaled an unfortunate man with its claws, using them to raise his body to its face. The man screamed in agony with a visible expression of horror and agony.
The creature, still holding the man in its claws, turned its head slowly to the camera. As soon as its gaze landed on it, the screen went completely static, not just lines, but complete static interference coming in and out as it went completely dark.
The last thing heard was the horrifying scream of the reporter who had been holding the camera.
The news anchor had gone silent; the whole studio seemed to have gone quiet.