Late on a full mooned Sunday night, a chilling presence passed through the skies of the small Bulwark City. The atmosphere had a spine freezing feel. The smell of sulphur was permeating the city as if it sat upon a dormant volcano. The sounds of the night were ringing out in the distance, faint yet distinct. The howls of the wind and jackals and dogs and wolves accompanied by the screeching of birds and rustling of trees, all of these sounds came together like a haunted orchestra playing in the background of the magnificent night. Off-white moon, surrounded by black clouds in a pale yellow sky... This was the night of the lunar eclipse.
A man looking to be in his forties stood in a building looking out onto the city with a worried expression. He began to pace by the window, trying to keep his emotions in check. 'Why did it have to be today?' he thought.
This man was Lieut. Jeremiah Cryztl. He just got the news of his wife being in labour some days before, while he was on a mission. It was indeed a bad time. But it wasn't because of the mission, he had applied for a leave of absence from his superiors before coming back. The mission could wait. The real issue was that it was already so close to the day of the eclipse when he received the news, and his wife was still in labour.
It had been almost three days since his wife entered labour. Things were looking bleaker and bleaker every minute. But there was nothing they could do, especially with the eclipse getting closer. There was barely an hour before the eclipse was predicted to begin.
The lunar eclipse only happened once every decade. It was said that the eclipse occurred when the moon was obstructed or covered by the planet. The shadow of the planet would be cast unto the moon causing the moon and sky to appear black. The sudden spike in levels of darkness and dark energy in the atmosphere eventually trigger the planet, causing it to draw the dark energy towards it's center. For some reason, the dark energy that is gathered in the core of the planet attracts and establishes a link to the Underworld. This is what made Jeremiah to feel agitated, the Underworld was said to be the realm of demons.
A lot of people believed that evil energy was leaked into the world on the day of the eclipse. This belief stemmed from the fact that the moon became blood red anytime the link to the Underworld was created. The blood moon had this ominous aura which would spread over the dark side of the planet, painting the entire sky in the same colour. The aura made animals to rampage as if they were insane. The same could be said for weak willed humans or people that had psychotic tendencies.
Even as Jeremiah paced by the window, he could hear the barking of the dogs go from sporadic to manic as midnight drew closer. He silently prayed to all the gods and goddesses he knew to let the eclipse pass faster. He was getting more and more agitated as the clock approached midnight.
The barks and howls were getting louder and more frequent. The wind was blowing more violently causing leaves and branches to fly about. Dust and sand rose with the wind, moving so fast that the particles could tear through fabric.
Jeremiah looked on while biting his nails, "Here it comes" he muttered to himself.
Suddenly, all the sounds ceased. The wind slowed to a crawl, the branches and leaves within dropped to the ground. Eerie silence pervaded the city as the moon transitioned from off-white to black.
The skies began to darken and it looked as if the black clouds that were in the sky started to float downwards. The streets grew dark, even with the streetlights arranged at the side of the road. It looked like a black fog was passing. The light from the lamps couldn't even brighten up more than a few inches around the lamps.
Jeremiah couldn't see the outside the window anymore regardless of how he tried. The inside of the building was slightly better though. At least he could see ahead of him for a few meters and even make out people's faces. But when he tried to look outside, it was like trying to look through an ink screen.
After what felt like forever, the perpetual darkness of the outside world was broken as streaks of lights emerged from the ground. They escaped from cracks in the street. It looked as if magma was trying to escape from below the city. The cracks glowed an ominous red and the glow kept getting brighter as the black clouds descended into the cracks. The smell of sulphur became stronger as more and more of the street cracked.
Jeremiah stopped pacing and looked out the window once more. This time he didn't see utter darkness. Instead, he saw the red glow rise. The darkness was receding and the glow kept climbing up into the skies. And before Jeremiah's eyes, the black moon gradually changed colour. The red glow, which had reached the skies now, spread out covering the sky from horizon to horizon. And for the first time that day, Jeremiah felt fear. It was not a logical fear, he didn't even understand what he was afraid of. But the fear was there, a bone chilling pervasive fear. Goosebumps riddled his skin and the hairs all over his body stood on end as the blood moon was completed, bathing the city in it's glow. And just then all hell broke loose.
Jeremiah hadn't noticed how quiet everywhere had become because of his agitation. But as the blood moon completed, the silence of the night was broken by a loud blood curling howl. The howl sounded across the entire city. You couldn't even be sure if it was just one animal or an entire pack. Maybe it was even multiple packs, one could not tell. But one thing was sure, there was so much bloodlust in that howl.
Jeremiah couldn't help but gulp as he felt his throat run dry, the fear in his heart escalating. He gritted his teeth and began pacing again. It was all he could do to stop himself from peeing. It was a howl of a crazed beast about to go on rampage. Of a beast that would kill until there was nothing left to kill. It was the herald of carnage.
As the howl sounded out, the ground started to rumble and the wind picked up again, this time more violently than before. The wind was so strong that entire trees were ripped out of the ground and sent flying, smashing into buildings and shattering.
The weaker houses were destroyed with the people inside dying. The stronger houses didn't fare much better as the wind blew vegetation into the windows, shattering them and ravaging the households within the buildings. This was what devastation looked like.
At this point, most of the black clouds had disappeared through the cracks on the streets. Anyone looking at the street now only had one thought, 'so much blood'.
The wind eventually passed but that did not bring any reprieve. Animals of all shapes and sizes stormed through the streets destroying whatever the wind didn't. Some of them even tried to break through the doors into houses. Gunshots and screams rang out all over the city.
Several minutes passed like this before the blood moon began to fade. Shouts of joy could be heard all over the city. But Jeremiah couldn't rejoice, not yet. His wife was still in labour, he was still very worried.
He continued to wait as the blood moon continued to fade. And after a few more minutes he heaved a sigh of relief as the last signs began to ebb.
But just as he sighed, a sound came from the ER. The cry of a new born.