Chapter 34: Anew

"The sunsets and sunrises of civilization are inevitably separated by intervals of isolated darkness. The night that followed the Roman sunset was long and uncertain, and the turmoil it brought consumed countless men. But mankind itself did not yield. With its gaze fixed on a distant future, it persevered. Until the first rays of a new dawn at long last penetrated the horizon." Arnold Joseph Toynbee

"An intellectual golden age produces sages. An intellectual dark age produces fools. An intellectual dark age that fancies itself golden produces intellectuals." —Jakub Bożydar Wiśniewski

"The myth sovereign in old age was that everything means everything. The myth sovereign in the news is that nothing means anything." —Thomas Howard, Chance or the Dance? A Critique of Modern Secularism

***

Then everything just suddenly stopped. The ground ceased shaking and the rain dissipated, ridding the sky of the sea of grey clouds, thus revealing a blood-painted yonder. Fear enshrouded their minds as the day turned darker and bright red.

"What's gonna happen now?! It's one after another!"

The Balmackians' numbers greatly decreased after the two destructive and devastating phenomena struck the island. From ranging around 2000 people to only roughly 200, the island sure received a fatal blow thereafter.

"Did the sun just set already?! Are we looking at a blood moon right now?"

Surely, the sun hasn't completely set but the moon did pop up, causing an entirely new phenomenon on the island. Silence fell upon the island, which was later broken when almost every one of the remaining Balmackians was safely hit by a red beacon coming from the moon.

"Uwah! Get me the fuck out of this strange red beacon!"

Although all of them were targeted by the simultaneous rays of red beams from the sky, none of them got hurt or even graze. They were all fine and for some reason...

"My hunger just reached the ceiling of my patience."

The growling of their stomachs intensively worsened as seconds passed by. Inside their body, they could feel their stomach eating away at the other organs. They curled up in hunger, strangely salivating as weird desires for food flooded their minds.

Soon, they began having fucked up images inside their heads of massacring people for blood. Their main source of thirst was that tinted shade of red liquid dripping on the wounded people. As blood trickles from the injured, the throats of the Balmackians excessively swallowed their unquenched avidity.

"W-Why are you looking at me like that, Troy?!"

"I--I feel strange, Dan! I have all sorts of evil thoughts going on in my mind right now! The voices are screaming at me! Any more of it and... And I don't think I'll be able to hold myself back!"

"Agh! Suddenly, I am experiencing the same thing!"

Every Balmackian jumped into each other bearing their intense hunger through their harrowing grip and gritty teeth. Others found their mark on their opposition's body, biting off a chunk of meat, then wildly chewing on the flesh like the food was about to go away.

The Balmackians preyed on each other and on Xenia's way brought back a memory he witnessed before he passed away. Just like the bloody red sky blood flowed everywhere on the ground, shrieking yells of dried throat reverberated on the entire island while the Sulten Tribe triumphed at the downfall of every Balmackian.

"People have gone mad! They are eating each other's flesh!"

To vomit was the only thing both Thaniel and Arlan could do under the scenario that unfolds right before their eyes. They could not get the image of the famished Balmackian with a huge chunk of flesh on his mouth while the other end cursed and screamed, then bit back on the person that tore off a piece of him.

"It's strange occurrences one after another!"

As their eyes were caught by the bright red moon, the luna abruptly began filling itself up with an unidentified surge of murky reddish liquid, thus coloring and fulfilling the moon's desire for blood.

"None of this was stated in history books. But why does this feel like this triggers the start of the dark era? The insurgence of both the "Warriors" and the"Rudge"."

Xenia does not understand any of it, yet it feels so familiar and the amount of ill intent in the atmosphere makes his skin crawl. This means that the earlier hunger of every Balmackian turned into that of a bloodthirsty desire.

"And those red beacons earlier, Dad and I didn't get hit by those. I have no clue what's going on right now. If this is really about the emergence, then all of what I read in history books are all lies."

He could not get his head out of it. None of the phenomena that had happened don't make sense to him. He was baffled and his mind was discombobulated.

"Ugh! L-Look at those bastards keep going at it! They don't even pay us any mind!"

Sniff, sniff, like an alluring scent enticed the growling Balmackian into targeting both Arlan and Thaniel. Their words immediately turned against them and now they had the cannibalistic urge of the Balmackians set upon them.

"I take back my words! They are coming after us, Arlan!"

Volcom instantly snatched both of them away from where they were standing and easily leaped far away from their his son's location.

Glancing back, he said: "Xenia, I'm sure you can take care of yourself. Don't worry. They won't target you. If they do, eat them and that should put an end to their rampaging actions!"

What he meant was Xenia should be moving by now and following him as he increased the gap between the two of them.

"Your pets will guide you in my direction! Just follow them and you shall be safe!"

Xenia felt completely left out. A huge part of what was going on wasn't explained to him. Therefore, he was left there thinking of all the events and the explanations he was coming up with himself. His head felt heavy and it was starting to hurt from the excessive thinking.

"At least fill me in with what is going on. Dad sounds like he knew every answer to my questions."

***

"And the moon was filled with sacrifice and life of the lambs. Amendment of the courageous fallen had been carried out, thus creating a new age for the young ones. These youths shall break past the human limits and bring miracles forth to the next generations."

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