They regretting letting the Witches go. They regretting letting the Cabal operate unchallenged for so long. They regretted not acting faster, being more organized, having a better plan. They regretted the choices they made; the choices that lead to the end of the civilization.
…
It started as a rumor, barely a whisper. Sleeping little town in countries no one ever paid attention to just stopped. Nothing went in, nothing went out. No food, no water, no communication with the outside world. Tiny towns with tiny populations scattered around the globe became as silent as a graveyard.
And when people actually went in to look, that's exactly what they found.
Mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, children and grandparents; every single person was dead. Lumps on the ground, half decomposed by the time anyone noticed. Entire towns extinguished. Hundreds of towns and thousands of people were declared deceased by the time any red flags went up.
They didn't know what was happening, or how it was their fault until it arrived on their doorstep.
…
The Cabal wanted control, wanted dominance; regardless of the cost, despite the amount of souls no longer breathing. They saw a means to an end, a tool and a desired outcome. They operated like a business, like a machine; information went in, results came out.
The Morrigan acted on orders, in service to their masters. They extinguished where they were told, no thought for the lives lost. They targeted small areas at first; unsure of their power. Their 'testing the waters' massacred thousands of people; human and abnormal alike. They walked through towns and the population fell around them. They walked through forests, and left bodies to rot in their wake. They tested their power, a little at a time.
Then they grew bold.
…
Nikola had heard the whispers, the stories of entire towns just stopping. Small villages scattered all around the globe went silent and still, but he didn't really pay attention. By the time he did, it was too late
He'd chosen a tiny little village in the French country side to hide and recover. He'd crawled his way out of the catacombs after Druitt had tried to rip out his kidney, with the help of his minions. There was nothing useful they could do out in the open, nothing they could do to help him recover or escape, so he'd left them there. They'd be there when he went back.
He'd made a home there, in the quite little village; somewhere safe to hide while he reassessed his plans and gathered his strength. He found he quite like the sleepiness of the town; how nothing every really happened but everyone was content. He liked how simple things were there.
…
'GLOBAL CRISIS. THOUSANDS DEAD. NO KNOWN CAUSE. ARRIVING TOMORROW.'
James had no way of knowing what was happening in Old City as he wrote that telegram. He had no way of knowing he would arrive to a mansion of dead bodies; the most protected sanctuary in the world destroyed in minutes.
…
Nikola didn't know what it was, what they were. He didn't know who had caused entire towns to run to a standstill. He didn't know what they were, even as they walked through his village. He watched them, as they walked through the town square. He saw the bodies falling around them. Every single person they passed crumbled to the ground; without a sound. He watched dozens of people die in front of him; not know what was happening. He watched them as they massacred his town.
…
The attack took minutes. They breached the perimeter and walked in through the front door. They'd learned to master their powers; they knew the subtleties of their gifts. They knew the range, the strength; they knew how to prolong death, increase the suffering or extinguish quickly and efficiently. They had honed themselves into the most efficient weapon of mass murder in the world.
But they made it quick; they knew the Sanctuary would fight back.
…
He didn't have time to run, time to hide. He didn't have time to think or plan; didn't have time to save himself or even consider the possibility. They were too quick, too efficient. Where ever they walked, people died, and he watched. They smiled as they stopped at his window, and looked at the last member of the tiny village. They stared him in the eye, as the pain started.
His head felt like his head had been sliced open with a sword, and molten lava pour inside. His vision started to blur and the silence deafened him; then the world went dark.
…
She barely had time to breathe, let alone think. Henry had radioed her the second the Morrigan appeared in the sensors. Will had run to find her, and the Big Guy had tried to defend them. The Abnormals that roamed free had followed the Big Guys lead, and the SHU wailed and rattled.
Then the bodies started dropping. The SHU went silent, and the radios went dead. Everyone fell to the floor; crumpled down on themselves. There were no cries for help, no pleas for mercy. There was no time to get help, no time to fight back. The Morrigan walked into her office, and smiled.
Helen's head felt like it was being torn in two, the world went quiet and then everything went black.
…
James and Declan arrived to the remnants of a massacre. Dead bodies littered the floor on every level. Not a thing was out of place, not one item was moved. The Sanctuary had become a tomb; a mass grave, a shrine, a building to house the dead.
…
It had taken the outside world too long to find out what had happened, taken them too long to realize the danger of what the world was facing. By the time they did, the fate of civilization had already been decided.
