A Light in the Dark

Chapter One - The Sky Cracks

Day 1 - 06:37

The silence of the slowly waking inner city shattered in sync with the glass of the apartment's windows as the the beam tore the sky in two. It's electric blue light bathed the narrow alleys and winding streets of Vaporidum, gleaming eerily off the dew- covered rooftop gardens and damp cobbled pavements. Jacob Cartwell woke from his slumber with a start, his eyes wide with fear and surprise, his hair matted and sticking up at various and precarious angles. Slivers of glass rained down upon his scarlet Damask bed sheets, skittering across the stained wooden planks and covering the floor with tiny, invisible and potentially agonizing traps. Sitting up straighter, Jacob scanned his situation, squinting through the cyan light which emanated from beyond his curtains. Spotting a pair of his worn leather boots at the foot of his bed, Cartwell leaned forward and, reaching through the wrought iron bedstead, grabbed his shoes. He pulled them on and heaved himself from his bed, the glass crunching beneath his soles as he cautiously stepped towards the now empty window frame and pulled back the heavy curtains. The sight which met his eyes was not one which he had expected to see; the rabbit-warren of passages and alleys, the warm glow of the many inns and taverns, the arcing sparks from the Tekker's workshops and the hustle and bustle of morning life, were, in truth, all there, but overshadowed by a darker presence which hung in the sky, gradually sliding from the crack in the clouds. He didn't know its origin, or it's intent, but what he did recognise was the sickening, gut - wrenching feeling which signalled just one thing - the inevitability of death, destruction and deprivation.

Jacob scanned the scene below his apartment window as the citizens of his city began to stop in their tracks and look to the sky, their jaws, arms and shopping dropping in surprise. Incredulous, Cartwell tore himself from his window and prepared to leave his modest apartment when a monotonous and booming voice froze his foot in mid air, causing him to slowly turn on his heel. In it's drone, the voice stated it's sinister intent, "Citizens of the Light Sector, do not be alarmed, for their is nothing you can do to change your current predicament, which is this. For decades, on the far side of your planet, we have been left to cower in the dark," Although it had no expression at all, the voice seemed to take on a touch of bitterness at this point, "And now, after years of developing our technology and converting our youth into soldiers, we have become tired of of the way we are being treated, and have decided to rebel against you, the ones who condemned us to the living hell we now live in. And, as a punishment for the things you have done to us, we will do the same to you; you will now be damned to the Dark Sector, and we shall rule this Kingdom of Shining Sun!" With this the dark shadow sank towards the planet's surface, and formed as a shining grey disc, with no orifices or crevices, just a flat, emotionless, almost draining presence suspended in the clouds.

But the calm lake of molten silver did not remain motionless for long, for as the last echoes of the droning voice faded into nothing, it rippled and tore apart, releasing shimmering silver orbs spiralling towards the streets and citizens below. Cartwell's gaze fixed upon a single ball as it buzzed closer and closer, whirring levelly as if calm and content with the action it was about to take against this innocent and unknowing young man. It whizzed past his shoulder and tore into his room, stopping suddenly and spinning on it's axis to face him. Just a metre from his face, the spheres untarnished surface began to undulate, spreading outwards into a floating disk of what seemed like the same molten metal texture as the ship. Crackling with visible electricity, it then began to stretch downwards towards the floorboards, forming stumps to its sides and below its main body. The stumps flowed further, into limbs clearly distinguishable as humanoid arms and legs. The metallic being now finalised its form, and, with visible, crackling blue electricity dancing across it, it's body solidified. It cocked it's head to the side, and grinned menacingly at Jacob, who looked back with terror into it's eyes. But not back into the iris of an alien figure, or the shining beam of robotic pupils. No, the eyes into which he stared, aghast, were cold, emotionless and wicked versions of his own.