Prologue

 Rain wept upon a field of gray, thick smoke choked the sky, a metal monstrosity had fallen from the heavens. Its presence tore a hole in the delicate fabric of reality.

There’s someone picking through the wreckage, they smile, but then a shadow looms overhead. There’s a sound, a horrible, sickening sound accompanied by a flash and the smell of burning meat. Silence. Then, a piercing scream shatters the landscape, rending the survivor from their comfortable reality.

Rain replaced by a puddle of red on pristine metal. A crumpled mass lays in a heap on the floor, their vital life essence sapped away. What’s in the hand?

The color drains from the world like running paint on a canvas, sounds smothered as if by an assassin’s hands. Footsteps. An orchestra of sounds behind a pair of double doors.

Open it.

The doors swing open as a chaotic chorus of sounds scream at them, flashing lights and a shadowy figure silhouetted.

Fear, mind racing, regret, anger. Then, water.

It’s raining again, did it ever stop raining?

Everything goes black, a calmness settles.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A brief sound cuts through the peace, and then, finally stillness. The rain continues to pour upon them.

Is it over?

No. It’s not over yet. Deep within their bones. They feel something.

Hatred.