The Third Cataclysm [1]
[Earth]
The blue sky above seemed to shimmer and vibrate. The clouds parted, and then suddenly the sky began to crack, like a fragile pane of glass that was subjected to too much stress.
C... crack―!
The first fracture appeared, jagged and rough-edged, and then another, and another, until the sky was a spiderweb of broken blue glass.
From within the cracks, shapes began to emerge, strange and distorted, like figures from another dimension breaking through into this one.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Figures materialized into the sky, one after another. Their faces were pallid and drawn, their eyes sunken and haunted. They stumbled out of the cracks, their bodies haggard and trembling.
"We're here!"
One of them cried out, a note of relief in his voice.
"We've made it."
Another echoed, sounding more exhausted than triumphant.