The morning, though smeared with the unnerving crimson drizzle, had been deceptively calm.
Sasha stood by the window in the manor's drawing room, holding a folded towel in her hands as she absentmindedly watched the children setting the table under Luis's instructions. The thick red rain had slowed to a gentle mist now, and though it coated the world in streaks of scarlet, the silence had become unnerving.
Too quiet.
Alex Loid sat nearby, sharpening a blade out of habit. Because his wife didn't make him the regular coffee so he just did the old things he knew.
Daniel, seated at the far end of the lounge with a stack of weather maps and radio schematics, suddenly looked up from his notes. His glasses caught a strange glint of light that had flickered across the window.
He turned his head slowly.
The sky beyond the eastern horizon, once dim and blood-tinted, now flared with sudden gold.
Luis, standing near the terrace doors, gasped.
"What in the hell is that?"
Everyone's heads turned.
Just in the morning a meteroite fell. Everyone couldn't catch the sight except a few of them. But now after just 15 to 20 minutes, another scene happened right before their eyes.
Jex, who had just entered the hallway from the kitchen carrying a box of canned food, dropped it with a loud crash, the cans rolling out and clattering across the floor. His dark eyes were wide, focused on the impossible sight forming in the distance.
Even the children stopped. Plates and forks clinked gently as they paused, wide-eyed.
A blazing sphere tore across the sky.
It was massive—larger than any plane, larger than the moon when full and close—and it burned through the heavens with screaming speed. Its tail scorched a bright white arc that cut across the blood-colored clouds like a wound in the sky.
And then—
Impact.
The first meteorite struck somewhere far across the horizon—likely miles away, but it might as well have landed in their backyard.
The earth shook. The windows rattled violently. Dust fell from the chandeliers. One of the children—Yiso, the smallest—screamed and clutched her ears.
Mina burst into tears.
Sasha dropped the towel.
"Alex—!"
"I see it," Alex said, rising swiftly to his feet. His tone was calm, but his face was pale. He moved quickly to the children and crouched, shielding them instinctively as another, distant rumble filled the air.
And then came the second.
This one was closer—much closer. It struck with a blinding flash, and this time the manor's floors shuddered beneath their feet. A low, unnatural howl seemed to follow in its wake—a sound none of them could place, like metal screaming or the world itself groaning in protest.
Daniel bolted to the window, scanning the landscape.
"It fell near the valley! The first one went east—this one's just north!"
Luis stumbled backward from the terrace, his normally steady face tight with panic. "I saw it—I swear I saw it split—! There was something inside it! That wasn't just a rock!"
Jex rushed forward, grabbing his arm. "What do you mean split?"
"Like a—like a shell cracking open! I think—I think it had something alive inside!"
And then came the third.
Not as large as the others, but it fell so fast and so close that everyone flinched and ducked. The shockwave rolled over the manor in a crashing roar—books fell from shelves, a vase shattered, and Diana clung to Ash, burying her face in his shoulder.
A light pulse trembled through the fog, red and violet, as if the rain had fused with the energy of the fall.
Sasha stood frozen in the middle of the room, trembling, staring at the horizon with her hand clasped tightly over her mouth.
"Three," she whispered. "That was three…"
Alex moved to her side immediately, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"We're okay. We're safe in the manor."
"But what are they?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "I've seen missiles. I've seen strikes. This isn't natural. This isn't anything we've seen before."
"It's not just debris," Daniel said quickly, flipping through the documents scattered across the table. "There was no seismic activity prior to this. No warning. These things came out of nowhere."
Luis clenched his jaw. "You think they were sent?"
Jex nodded, eyes sharp. "Or summoned."
What else can have something alive in them...
In the chaos, the children had retreated to the far end of the lounge, clinging to each other in a tight cluster.
Leo, trying to act braver than he felt, stood in front of the group, hands balled into fists. Lily held Mina, whose tiny face was blotched with tears. Yiso refused to let go of Alice, whose blind eyes were turned calmly in the direction of the noise.
But Alice's lips trembled.
Because she could feel it—not just hear it.
Back in the main hall, Daniel suddenly turned toward the upper floor, his mind racing.
"Where are Alvin and Xavier?"
"They're in their room!" Luis said. "They… uh… they said they were busy."
Sasha turned her glare toward the ceiling as if her voice could pierce through walls.
"They better be done being busy."
After the third strike, a strange silence fell.
The ground no longer shook, but the air was heavy—unnaturally so. Like the sky had sucked in all the sound, all the energy, and was just waiting.
Waiting for something to begin.
Luis slowly moved to the console Alvin had built into the library wall. It was an arcane array linked to external magical sensors, now repurposed with technology.
The glowing symbols on the screen flickered.