Pleiades Saints

Chapter One: The Nightmare Begins

Chapter One: The Nightmare Begins

We called. We screamed. And at last, one fateful day...they answered. For decades, scientists and astronomers built monolithic telescopes and satellite dish arrays, all for a singular purpose- to make contact with life beyond the stars. For all those years, aside from a few rare blips, the universe was silent. Or, at least that was what we were told to believe.

But only about a month ago, that all changed with one simple message. At Arecibo Observatory, nestled deep in the jungles of Puerto Rico, their gargantuan bowl-like dish caught a transmission that made the world fall silent. It was a short, simple message, in Aramaic, translated: 'GOD'S CHILDREN HAVE ARRIVED.'

And indeed they did. We had no warning, no time. By the time a black dot appeared on the sun, it was already too late. The world became awash in a bizarre cocktail of excitement, wonder, concern, and sheer terror. Some believed it was the dawn of a new age. Others convinced themselves it was the end of the world. But to 19 year-old Shizuka Hikage, none of that mattered. Or, at least that was what she wanted to believe.

December 24th, 2023-

My mind was a scrambled, broken mess of disjointed and fragmented memories. Everything that happened on that Christmas Eve was a blur to me. Just a few days ago, I moved to Los Angeles, which had probably seen more chaos in one night alone than the entire 90's race riots combined.

I only recalled bits and pieces, really. My friends invited me to this 'end of the world party,' as they put it. Basically, it was just one big excuse for college students to drink, get high, and have sex as we waited in nail-biting anticipation for the aliens' arrival. I somehow found myself slurping down cocktails with a bunch of drunk girls dressed in slutty skin-tight silver dresses with little alien antennas on their headbands. The whole thing was such an orgy of partying that I could barely keep track of anything that was happening, never mind the supposedly incoming aliens, and pretty soon I was too fucked up to even care.

The last thing I remembered was throwing up in a toilet, and then...blank.

I peeled open my eyes and discovered myself flopped face-down on a bed in my bra and panties. I was greeted by a pounding headache that drilled into my skull and a dryness in my throat that choked me. The little Christmas tree in my hotel room was toppled over. But at the moment, my hangover was the least of my worries. Something was very, very wrong.

A piercing tone echoed from the TV. They said something about some kind of warning from the government. Some sort of civil danger alert. Even then, I was still too discombobulated to comprehend anything. I sat up, brushing my long, sugar-pink twintails over my shoulders. My ruby-red eyes flashed.

Across the room, the shudders of the balcony were open, and a lurid, whitish-blue light emanated through. A loud humming noise rattled in my ears. I rolled off the bed and staggered upright to investigate. The gossamer light swallowed my vision, blinding me. The hum in my ears grew deafening, and I crashed to my knees, my senses overloaded by the otherworldly display in front of me.

I couldn't run. I couldn't move. I couldn't even think. All I could do was lay there on the carpet, writhing, as every cell in my body felt as though it were on fire. Once I began to ponder what was going on, my brain completely unplugged.

Darkness.

I tore open my eyes, holding them open wide as I peered through a thick pane of glass. The outside looked like a dark room, the walls covered in black steel and the floor made of metal grates. It was dimly illuminated by strips of green glowing material running along the ceiling. An oxygen mask was clamped over my mouth, and thick wires were stabbed into my back, rooted in my spine.