3 Turbulent Waves

All of the scientist, engineers, technicians, even the janitor, stared at the live-feed from big screens in mission control. It wasn't really a top-secret mission or anything. On the contrary, mission control wanted to release their findings to the world. The world wasn't the same as it was yesterday, and their mission today was to find out what exactly happened yesterday to lose contact with every single satellite and space station.

But everything was different. The Earth wasn't the same old Earth they were used to living in. Compasses did not point North. They now point down. Telescopes would not show anything. A dense fog seemed to cover 200 km above sea level and there was no way to see beyond it. The Earth didn't seem to be rotating around the sun, but rather the sun seemed to be rotating around the Earth now while observing from the ground in the US.

Mission control quickly modified a sounding rocket and sent it as high as it possibly could. according to previous Earth calculations, the rocket should have been able to reach about 150 km above sea level. However, it seemed to be breaking apart by 100 km. However, this was not the most surprising or interesting thing. Rather, the now mostly static live-feed from cameras on the sounding rocket returned something both mystifying and horrifying to the scientists in mission control. This was definite proof of something horrifying.

The Earth was now flat.

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A large fishing boat was lost at sea on the Atlantic Ocean only hours after leaving a harbor in the US due to the unforecasted storm. For half a day, the ship was stuck out at sea, helpless to its crazy waves. GPS, compasses, and other navigation devices were rendered useless while many communication lines were cut. It was all very odd to the seasoned sailors on the ship. The way the storm progressed, the inability to access and use navigation or communication devices, and now, the seemingly odd path of the Sun pointed to something very strange...

Thisshig rreerrk Bzz bzzzt. Rreerrk. "Help..."

"Captain! I have received a radio distress signal from a ship for help!" the sailor currently on duty in the communications room quickly informed the entire crew through the loudspeaker.

Bzzzzt. "Don't-" Bzzt rreerk. "Dead-" Bzzz. "Black s-" Bzzzzzzzzzzt.

"Hey, wait! can you hear me?"

The communication suddenly stopped there no additional words could be clearly heard over the static.

"What did you get?" the Captain asked as he walked into the communications room.

"Not much, there was too much static during communication. I was able to only get a few words: 'dead', 'black s'...something 's', and 'don't'" The sailor responded.

"Hmmm... Okay. We should just continue of course and look out for another stranded ship."

The fishing boat continued to move forward. A strange fog slowly permeated around the ship. Eventually, visibility became so low that the Captain decided to slow down and possibly stop altogether for now.

FOOOOMP.

Just as the crew went to slow the ship down, the entire boat shook. It seemed to have crashed onto a shore.

"Oh well," the Captain sighed. "At least we made land."

Visibility was as low as it could be at the moment. The fog suddenly became so much thicker when they landed shore. No one could see 10 meters in front of them.

"I want 4 people to join me as I walk down to survey some of the land," The Captain yelled to his crew.

"Aye!"

The 5 men hauled over the rope ladder. They started to slowly climb down the ship with caution, fearful of losing their grip in such a dense fog. As they climbed further and further down, every one of their heartbeats beats faster and faster, almost to the point where It would be considered abnormal to have such a heartbeat, even while exercising hard. Every one of them felt an ominous feeling well up inside their chests.

Upon almost reaching the bottom, the Captain was able to see the shore. It was not a normal beach shore. Instead, the Captain could see black sand swirling around from a mysterious wind on the surface of the land. The black sand seemed to absorb anything it was in contact with, including light. Curious, the Captain reached out his right hand to touch it...

""AAGGGHH!!!"

Searing pain assaulted the Captain's right arm. Some sort of energy was pumped into the arm, destroying most parts of his arm. Only a short stub was left in the energy's wake.

"GO GO! HELP ME UP! DON'T GO DOWN!" the Captain screamed. The strange fog seemed to disperse a little after the Captain got injured.

The two sailors at the top hurriedly climbed up the rope ladder to pull it up along with the Captain, while the other remained next to the Captain, preventing him from falling.

"Pull! Pull!" Shouts of encouragement could be heard above on the deck. Finally, the sailors were able to get their Captain back up safely.

"...mmmph!" The Captain bit on the ripped shirt given by the sailor to try to alleviate some pain. However, silence started to pervade the entire deck. Only the Captain's struggling could be heard.

"Captain... your arm..."

Black bubbles of flesh expanded and contracted on the stubble left of the Captain's arm. No sign of real burn marks or cuts could be seen on the stubble. A living creature seemed to struggle within the Captain's stubble arm.

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In a large clearing of a lush green forest, 6 young comrades faced off against a hundred-strong army. The 6 companions each wore light leather armor over a dirty white tunic and held makeshift spears and swords. In contrast, the hundred-strong army each had a majestic aura around them that commanded attention. Their uniformity added to the strength of their image. Every soldier wore a golden armor set engraved with weird symbols of a pitch black color with red faulds attached below the breastplate, and carried matching spears and shields. A large crest design was also inscribed onto the shield.

Two people, however, stood out from the army of 100. They both carried dignified and scholarly mannerisms and did not wear armor. Instead, they wore exquisite robes to match their delicate features. They looked like a pair of harmonious siblings, a brother, and a sister.

The brother wore a Tyrian Purple robe with intricate gold patterns women while the sister had a slightly longer white robe lined with black as well as similar golden patterns to the brother's woven in. A long golden ribbon created 2 circular rings above the sister's shoulders.

However, the most important feature of the two siblings had to be their headdress-like crest floating behind their heads. They both featured 2 golden curved blades almost in the shape of "U" weaving their own stylized border for a symbol drawn in a pitch black substance that seemed to absorb any semblance of light that also floated freely, centered between the 2 golden blades.

The symbol gave off a divine aura--something that could not be touched by lowly ants like a human. All beings under the bare symbol could only bow to its divinity. The golden blades restrained some of that divine aura, but the 6 facing directly against the two siblings carrying the divine symbol were threatened by it. The 6 comrades faced the siblings warily and looked for any opportunity to run.

After a brief period of faceoff, the brother finally walked forward and began to speak. A language no human living on Earth a day early could have even perceived flowed through the boy's mouth.

Then, the sister walked forward next to the brother and gently announced something. The bodies of the 6 companions visibly relaxed after hearing what she had to say. Just as one of the young companions stepped forward to speak, he seemed to have remembered something very important and began to tremble uncontrollably. He instantly got down on his knees and started to kowtow towards the two siblings.

Confused, the other companions looked closer at the two siblings and slowly began to realize something. The faces of the 5 instantly became horrifying and they got on their knees to kowtow. A good 10 minutes passed before the sister once again stepped forward to say something. The 6 companions continued to kowtow as she was talking.

Then, the brother gave a signal and they all started to march past the kowtowing companions. The brother dropped a tablet and 6 swords in front of the kowtowing companions as he passed. The 6 companions continued to kowtow until they could not hear a single new step taken by the army.

Exhausted and beaten, the 6 companions looked up from the ground to look upon the instructions of the tablet. All their faces turned ugly when they say what was written on it, but they had to comply. They gathered all of their belongings, including the 6 swords and headed forward past the clearing, and into the pitch-black fog.