Part 1: Shadows of the Past

Shadows stretched across the long fields of grass as the sun dipped down towards the horizon, letting the reds, pinks, oranges, and ambers of twilight spread like finger paint across the sky. Far above the large estate, which sat austerely in the middle of the twilight invaded field, massive explosions and screams could be heard. It soon became evident to the residents of the Umbra Estate that the red filling the sky was more than just the evening light. It was the blood of their race, as they lost the small battle of the impossible war.

The screams that scathed the sky made tears well up in the bright scarlet eyes of Cysgodol Umbra. Cysgodol was a tall woman with extraordinarily long legs. Her skin was white and brought out the vivid redness in her eyes. Her hair, usually a white gold, had turned a dull gray in the insurmountable stress of the past few years. To Cysgodol, though, it had felt like centuries. The stress was slowly eating away at her, and tears began to stream down her face.

"Mommy!" A small, innocent voice floated into the large room.

A young girl, barely a toddler, ran into the room. Her head was covered in a mop of white hair and her eyes burnt a deep crimson. The girl stopped and gazed up at her mother, her head tilted. "Mommy, you are sad."

Before Cysgodol could respond, a monumental explosion caused the whole house to shake. The young girl screamed in shock as the tremors of the explosion knocked her off her feet.

That scream changed Cysgodol's face. It turned from depressed to agony. The clear, crystalline tears became dark red. Cysgodol's family was the most important thing in her life. And her daughter was the most precious thing in the universe to her. And whenever her was in danger, the pure agony within Cysgodol made her cry blood.

"Don't be sad anymore, Mommy!" The young girl said, scrambling up to her feet. She then grinned and ran out of the room.

"Cyssy, there you are!" Schatten Umbra said, appearing in the doorway. Schatten was a small, short man. His head was bald and his eyes were such a light red that they were almost pink. "I was looking all over for you."

"Well you found me," Cysgodol breathed through her sobs of blood. "Well?" She implored of her husband, urging him to tell her what he had came there to tell her.

A grin appeared on Schatten's face, only this grin was grim and hopeless, worse than the saddest of frowns. "I just spoke to the Council. Those Demons have found the core detonator. It's not very far away from our estate, only a couple of miles, so we'll be able to hear them when they come." A single tear clung to Schatten's cheek. "It'll all be over soon."

Cysgodol stopped crying and her face became stolid and impassive. "Did you make the call, the Last Resort."

Schatten nodded.

Then a tall adolescent boy appeared in the room. His silver hair fell in long bangs, obscuring most of his face. Through the metallic strands dark ruby eyes were visible.

"Come be with us, my son!" Schatten beckoned his son to come in and the boy did so, and embraced his mother and father.

"I love you, Scáth!" Cysgodol said, kissing the boy's forehead.

"Yeah, I know," Scáth Umbra nodded.

Then the little girl reappeared.

"Come here my little princess. Mommy loves you more than the world, Zillah!" Cysgodol beamed. To this remark, Scáth rolled his eyes.

Zillah Umbra ran up to her mother. "And what do you have there, my princess?" Cysgodol asked.

Clutched in Zillah's small fingers was a necklace made of long, delicate, gossamer noodles. "I made a necklace!"

"Oh, how thoughtful, my love! You made another necklace out of our Ete Rice from the pantry. But you already made me one. See, I have mine on now" Cysgodol gestured at the noodle necklace she wore around her pale neck at that moment.

"I'm wearing mine too!" Schatten said, gesturing at his identical necklace that was laced around his own neck. "You are such a crafty girl, making things for the whole family."

Even Scáth wore one around his neck, although he only did so because he liked the way it felt against his skin, but hated the actual look of the jewelry.

"Yes but this ones different, I added my stone!" Zillah exclaimed.

On closer inspection, Cysgodol saw that attached to the noodles was a large, delicate stone that glimmered in the evening light. "How thoughtful, my love!" Cysgodol said again. "But this is you're favorite stone from your collection!"

"Yes!" Zillah nodded. "So you won't be sad anymore."

Tears of blood welled once again in Cysgodol's eyes, because at that moment, the invading demons were close enough to be heard, approaching the core reactor. Cries of "Exterminate" echoed across the field.

"You stupid bitch." Scáth wrenched up the necklace and ripped it apart. Then he chucked the stone at the ground and it shattered in a myriad of glimmering pieces. "This is not the time for stupid crafts."

Zillah began to cry. The sound made Scáth smile, just like it had when the jealous older brother saw the newborn baby girl.

Before anyone could react, a loud engine was heard. Then the front door exploded inward and monstrous black figures stormed into the room. One of the one's whose helmet was off appeared like a gigantic rhinoceros and spoke in a low growl.

"The Last Resort ship is full. There is only room for one from this planet." The monster growled.

Cysgodol and Schatten exchanged a grave look, and nodded. At that point, Scáth sprang forward.

"Take me, save ME!" Scáth screamed as he lunged forward, but with one hand he was brushed aside.

Cysgodol pushed Zillah forward. The gigantic rhinoceros picked the small girl up into his arms. A masked rhinoceros approached with a syringe and injected her. Before she fell asleep, Zillah heard a far away voice say "Mommy loves you!"

The Judoon ship was far away when a gigantic explosion jolted Zillah awake. She was strapped in a chair surrounded by a massive amount of children in surrounding chairs. In front of her, Zillah saw a monitor with a picture of the star formations that usually appeared in her planet Phantasma's night sky. Only where Phantasma should have been, there was only the fading light of a great explosion.

And with that, her whole world was devoured by darkness.