The day arrived. A gray, unassuming Tuesday.
At school, the atmosphere was still buzzing about Jax's transformation. He, however, felt a cold knot of dread in his stomach.
He spent the day watching the clock, every tick a countdown to Armageddon.
The first tremor hit during fourth period. It was a gentle sway, the kind that was common enough in the region.
The teacher calmly initiated the standard earthquake drill.
"Everyone, under your desks!"
Jax complied, but his eyes were glued to the window.
He watched as the sky began to change. The pale blue bled into a sickly orange, then a deep, apocalyptic crimson.
A second moon, pale and scarred, materialized in the sky next to the blood-red sun.
Then, the sky tore open. A jagged, black rift, like a crack in the very firmament of reality, spread across the heavens.
From it, absolute horror began to pour forth. Creatures of nightmare—chittering insectoids with scythe-like limbs, leathery-winged abominations with too many eyes, and colossal, lumbering beasts that defied anatomy—crawled and flew out, their shrieks and roars piercing the sudden silence of the city.
Panic erupted in the classroom. Screams replaced the teacher's calm instructions. Some students passed out. Others wet themselves.
This was The Eclipse.
And down they came. Small, shimmering golden lights, raining from the sky like divine tears amidst the demonic invasion.
The Seeds.
While everyone else was frozen in terror, Jax moved.
"The building is going to collapse! Get out!" he roared, his voice cutting through the hysteria.
He kicked open the jammed classroom door and bolted into the hallway.
He wasn't staying to be a hero. He had a mission.
He navigated the panicking crowds, his trained body weaving through the chaos.
He burst out of the school's main entrance and into a world of slaughter.
A winged creature swooped down and snatched a screaming student from the courtyard.
The city's air was filled with sirens, explosions, and the screams of the dying.
Jax didn't look back. He ran, his destination clear in his mind: the Gwanak Mountain forest.