Humanity lived in a period of peace that lasted a short three and a half years. Countries that had previously been in decline, suffering from inflation and poverty, began to emerge in glory; cures for incurable diseases were being developed and were becoming effective.
Wars did not exist, nor did conflicts and disagreements between nations.
Everything was moving towards the long-awaited global peace… But what was the price of this peace?
The United States Army was activated for the first time in forty-two months.
[Report: First Coming of Aziroth]
Packard Automotive Plant, Detroit, Michigan.
There was no forecast of rain that night, but a storm formed and covered the city within a few hours. Starting during the day, consuming the sun and turning it into night, at 11 pm the storm cloud expanded beyond the municipal territory.
Military helicopters flew over the abandoned skeleton of the Packard Automotive Plant, illuminating the inaccessible corners of the structure.
"Colonel Condwell… I'm trying to contact the headquarters, but I can't…" reported a soldier.
Condwell sighed in disappointment.
"AND…"
The colonel took a device in his hand. Noticing that the signal was causing interference, he said:
"Indeed, radio signals are being affected. And this location is the root of the problem."
Hospitals, fire departments, police stations, home networks and internet, television channels… Everything was down in Detroit.
An electromagnetic field was preventing communication in every way.
"By some miracle, the car and helicopter systems are still working…" Condwell muttered, looking out a broken window on the second floor of one of the Packard Automotive Plant buildings.
Equipped with the best weapons, the soldiers continued to search the area.
Scanning some benches, Corporal Andrew approached with his gun pointed and his guard up. A soldier covered his back, following the Corporal's steps as he continued his review.
A blue glow drew his attention to a curtain in the corner of the floor. A small room…
'Was that curtain put up by a homeless person?' Andrew wondered, remembering the history of the place.
"Come with me. Cover me," he ordered the soldier.
They both walked towards the curtain.
Ready to fire, Andrew pushed the curtain with the barrel of his gun. In the same second, the curtain returned to its position. Before his field of vision was taken over again, the Corporal finally glimpsed an intense blue light.
The closer they got, the more a high-pitched, imperceptible noise came. Pointing the gun at the curtain, both Andrew and the soldier froze in silence as they tried to make out the sound.
"That's…" The soldier muttered.
They both stared at each other.
"Like a weak discharge of energy…" Andrew swallowed. "Let's enter by pointing right."
They prepared for the invasion.
"3… 2… 1…"
Andrew slipped under the curtain, pointing his gun in the suggested direction. The soldier, however, entered by pushing the curtain aside, which gave him a brief delay.
An awkward silence fell over the two of them the moment they walked in. As he moved, the soldier knocked over an exposed brick, which caught the attention of the entire group.
However, the silence was given by the emission of that blue light…
"Hey, Andrew! What was that?" Condwell asked.
They both fell silent. That worried the Colonel.
Until, moments later, the soldier returned without coming out from behind the curtain.
"Come!" he called, waving his hand.
"That… no…" Andrew said in bewilderment, his eyes wide and his skin pale.
Walking towards the source of light, he swallowed hard.
In front of him, a sphere the size of that room reflected an intense blue light, coordinated by explosive energy beams.
The sphere reflected as if it were the bottom of the sea.
"Corporal Andrew… This is…" the soldier asked, as Colonel Condwell appeared alongside other soldiers.
"Andrew!" Condwell called. But before he could be reprimanded for his subordinate's amateurish silence, the Colonel also froze.
"Yes… A wormhole…" he commented appropriately. "At least, that's the most rational model…"
The Corporal stared at her enchanted, as if she were the most beautiful woman his eyes had ever dared to look at.
The emanated energy was manifested in almost palpable electromagnetic waves. However, it lost strength with every centimeter.
Dropping the gun on the lanyard that hung it around his neck, Condwell approached in a cold sweat.
"Were we looking for this?" the Colonel asked.
"That , Colonel, is an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Of course, it's absurd… But do you still have some of that fertile mind from your childhood?"
Andrew threw his gun behind his back and removed the glove from his left hand.
"Hey! Hey!" Condwell alarmed.
"Calm down…" Andrew said.
With his hand shaking with nervousness and anxiety, Andrew reached his fingers toward the sphere. A thin layer of gravity slowly drew him in…
Unsure but determined, Andrew put his hand inside the wormhole.
Suddenly, he put out almost his entire arm, reaching up to the elbow.
"It's water," he said, smiling. "It's definitely water… It looks like… Salt water?"
Staring at him in bewilderment and confusion, Colonel Condwell was amazed at his soldier's excitement.
"This Einstein bridge… Must be the cause of the events we are witnessing?"
"The communication outage? Yes. That strange, unnamed storm? It's unlikely…"
Before Andrew could explain his points, a sharp pain shot through his arms.
Pulling himself away from the wormhole, he fell to the ground, a warm liquid bathing his body: it was Andrew's own blood, running down his left arm.
The Corporal's arm, from the elbow down, was completely torn off.
He screamed in pain, throwing himself to the ground and completely agonizing.
The soldiers pointed their weapons at the Einstein-Rosen Bridge, while two allies rushed to pull Andrew away.
Tense and still thinking about what had happened, one of the soldiers near the entrance said:
"What the hell is going on here?!"
Suddenly, a huge hand emerged from the wormhole. Between the fingers were fins on blue skin, and the first to meet this unfortunate fate was Colonel Condwell.
Claws dragged the Colonel along the wall until he was thrown off. Another arm appeared on the other side, tearing through the wall like melted butter.
Without thinking, the soldiers started a shooting session against the wormhole, even without knowing for sure if it would work.
The shots hit and pierced the skin of the monstrous arms, but they regenerated at the same speed.
Suddenly, a creature stepped out of the interdimensional sphere. A square, pointed face revealed itself with intense green eyes, fangs escaping through the jaw as a disgusting growl escaped.
The soldiers began to evacuate, still firing at the creature that continued to reveal itself. Its serpentine body took hold, crawling across the room.
With a simple movement, the monster broke the walls, tearing them like paper. As they were the last to leave the place, some soldiers were unable to escape the collapse.
Sweeping outward, the creature ignored the soldiers and stormed out of the building. Collapsing a portion of the second floor, the creature crawled through the structure, laying waste to everything that had been created by humans.
Military vehicles positioned in the courtyard were alarmed by the consistent tremors and the collapse of the building.
Alarmed, they prepared for conflict.
Tearing through another building, the creature crawled towards the soldiers.
Pointing their guns, they began another shooting session.
"Where's Colonel Condwell?!" exclaimed Lieutenant Smith, firing at the monster.
"It was up there!"
The Lieutenant looked at the building, where a cloud of dust hid the destruction caused.
"The helicopter!" he ordered, reloading his weapon.
The creature was not stopped at that point; it continued to crawl as it sought more destruction before attacking the soldiers. Mistaking them for a cloud of dust, the monster advanced on the military.
Sinking its claws into a soldier's chest, the creature dragged him across the ground, crushing and tearing him against the floor, leaving a bloodstain.
Grabbing another soldier and throwing him on top of the others, the monster tore everyone apart in the courtyard, leaving a pile of blood and flesh in its wake.
"Where's the helicopter?!"
"They're coming!"
'Damn…' Smith thought.
Throwing his unloaded weapon to the ground, Lieutenant Smith retrieved a smaller pistol from its holster and turned.
"Run!" he ordered, evacuating behind a vehicle.
Turning again to try to fire, the Lieutenant froze for a moment before pulling the trigger.
Grabbing the soldier who was following Smith, the monster was holding him by the body, covering him completely with a single hand. Sinking its fangs into the soldier's throat, the creature ripped off the target's head, bringing parts of the spine with it.
The soldier's spinal bones hung from the monster's mouth as the monster rolled its eyes and growled.
Taking a step back, Smith fired a single shot and fell to the ground from imbalance.
The helicopter's blades appeared close by.
"Are you ready?" asked the pilot.
"Target in sight…" reported the shooter at the door gun.
"Shoot!"
The shots created a trail of flames until they found the creature at the end. In a matter of seconds, the monster was obliterated.
Its entire body had been shot, with difficulty even regenerating. Although some movements could still be seen, the monster was unconscious.
When the shooting stopped, other groups of soldiers, who were in other buildings of the Packard Automotive Plant, gathered at the point of disturbance.
With his guard up, Smith approached the corpse of the creature that was standing upright even in that state.
"Lieutenant Smith!"
"Foxtrot, are you listening? " The radio on Smith's chest blared.
"Central! Foxtrot on the wire!" Smith replied, desperate and relieved that communication had been restored.
"Give us information about Alpha… "
"Send firefighters, ambulances, and Special Forces here now!" the Lieutenant yelled. "Squads have been wiped out in moments by an unknown creature! I repeat, send all possible reinforcements!"
" Yes yes! "
"What the fuck…" muttered Lieutenant Romer, looking the creature up and down.
***
In the wormhole room, although collapsed, the sparkling blue light continues to illuminate the place.
Suddenly, the Einstein-Rosen bridge began to distort in the very space it occupied. The blue light quickly turned into a white glow.
"Corporal! Please stay alive!"
Coughing dryly, Andrew couldn't croak properly.
A sonic vibration ran down his spine.
Negativity… Sin… Death…
To kill…
Amidst the rubble, the soldiers who rescued Andrew hid so they wouldn't be caught by the creature. However, something worse had come out of that "portal".
Elegant footsteps echoed across the destroyed floor.
However, with every echoing step, a wave of negative energy expanded…
It was like being watched by everything and everyone at the same time.
A white countenance illuminated the dark night.
Walking with his arms crossed behind his back, a man with white hair while a silver suit covered a red dress shirt.
Humming, the man walked to the edge of the building, standing above the rubble.
"Oh…" he muttered, then whistled.
His cobalt blue eyes stared at the destruction caused by his subordinate. The trail of blood… The sin in life…
"Very well, my devil…" he said, smiling happily.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the hidden soldiers.
It was like being stabbed from infinite directions…
The sadistic smile that man wore was, to say the least, diabolical.
"Watch your Earth burn."
Taking a step beyond the boundary of the building, he stood firm in the wind.
Step by step, he walked through the air towards the sky.
"What… Is this possible?!" a soldier grumbled.
Andrew, his eyes locked in disbelief, was paralyzed by that presence.
A humming sound filled the sky; taking on the proportions of thunder, yet resembling an angelic clap.
"Where is this coming from?" Smith asked, searching the sky for the reason.
The intense, pale glow radiating from that man stood out in the storm.
Gradually, rays of light drove away the storm clouds. Second by second, the lightning proved to be artificial.
A hole in the atmosphere lit up the night like the noonday sun…
"Smith… I… Just to make sure…" Romer said, looking at the light. "What time is it again?"
Smith swallowed hard before answering.
"Eleven thirty at night…"
All the soldiers stopped to look at that scene.
A single man in white, stepping on air and ignoring all its laws, emanating a disgusting demonic persistence, had advanced against the light.
Suddenly, there were only a few storm clouds left.
"So… Why did night turn into day?"