"The Sun Is Shining in the Sky"
A hot dry wind whistled across the sandy plains. As the wind brushed against the stalks of the bone sprouts, they collided with each other and produced the rattling that gave the plants their name.
A particularly strong gust dislodged an insecurely fastened fruit from one of the plants. It fell to the ground, bouncing off the sharp spins come out of the main stalk. Coming to a halt with a soft "pssh" in the dark sand below, the fruit joined many others that had been unceremoniously detached in a similar manner.
Half-buried in the pitch-black sand of a planet whose closest star had burnt out before anything had evolved far enough to see it.
Small colored lizards with jewel bright scales, bulbous glowing eyes, and more legs than really necessary skittered across, under, and around the dunes. Huge swarms of pale translucent insects floated haphazardly in giant clouds through the dark midday sky. Despite their best efforts, not all of them could dodge the hungry mouths of the dive-bombing birds that swooped from one plant to the next.
They shot between the gaps, the glowing iridescent patches on their long tails and wings giving them the appearance of shooting stars. A pack of fox-like creatures were nosing around the sand in search of more of the glowing fruits hidden there. One stretched its legs out in front of it and yawned, sweeping its long bushy tails to clear a spot to lie on the warmer sand beneath the surface.
Just as it was settling on the ground, its large pointed ears caught distant sound twitched in that direction. The fox leaped to its feet and stared in the direction of the noise, its multiple eyes widening and sending light cascading onto its dark fur.
Others around it were stopping in their hunt for food, tufted ears perking up and swiveling to detect any threat they could. The birds overhead had ceased their frenzied flying and were now settled on the branches of the cacti, hopping from foot to foot. Their anxious twittering joined the rising whine of distress coming from the pack of foxes.
Lizards still skittered to and fro, pausing momentarily every few steps to taste the air with their forked tongues. The gently glowing clouds of insects dissipated and conjoined, as if unsure about where they should go or what they should do. Even the wind seemed to come to a halt as everything in the immediate area held its breath.
They didn't have any time to react. If the any of the animals had the ability to form conscious thought, some of them undoubtedly would have wondered how something so large was able to move so quickly and so silently.
The beasts fell on the unsuspecting populace, swiping at the creatures with huge dark paws that seemed to be made out of knives. Chaos reigned as an earsplitting cacophony of terrified yelping and alarmed squawks rent the air.
The creatures scattered, weaving through the cacti that grew like black skeletal hands from the dark sand. The Red-Eyed Ones gave chase. Much less refined than their prey, the beasts charged through the grove, batting away the towering plants like they were no more than paper and leaving a swath of destruction behind them.
Spines bristled on their backs through their shaggy fur. Lines of luminous liquid traced up the spines and down to the tips of the protruding tusks, where it oozed and dripped as the beasts gored any creature unlucky enough to be caught.
In a whirlwind of claws and gnashing teeth the beasts rampaged until all of their prey had either escaped or had been cut into bloody ribbons. The sheer amount of blood soaking into the sand was astounding. It pooled in a garish rainbow of colors, swirling together in fluorescent psychedelic madness with a rainbow sheen like gasoline on water.
Only the blood was left. Anything edible from the corpses had already been consumed.
With no prey remaining, the beasts charged off into the darkness. Their primitive minds were almost proud of the utter devastation they'd left in their wake. They charged across the desert, killing as they went and tearing deep rents into the sand with their claws.
Slowly the moons and the stars crossed the sky, painting bright arcs of light across the dark sky. An energy was in the air. Something was sending subtle and erratic pulses of energy out in waves/ The beasts changed their course slightly so that they were making a beeline towards the strongest of these energy sources.
A metallic wall carved with strange angular runes slowly rose over the horizon. Just as the wall rose, the moons finally sunk past the line where the ground met the sky. With that last little bit of light snuffed out, the desert was abruptly thrown into a deep impenetrable darkness.
The only light now was coming from the soft light issuing from the fruit being crushed underfoot by the beasts with the crimson eyes.
A deep clang like a gong, a sharp skreech of pain, and light rippling out in waves accompanied the beasts' impact with the barrier. The scrabbled and snarled at the wall, their sharp claws seeking out any purchase on the frictionless surface. Waves of purple light spread from the impact sites, flowing vertically up the wall like ripples across the surface of a pond. Other similar assaults combined with their efforts and revealed that a field of energy covered the fortified city like a dome.
The beasts couldn't get in. The guards posted atop the walls reassured themselves. Nothing could get through the walls.
All the same...those eyes…
One particularly strong strike had the barrier ringing like a bell. The sound echoed through the sleeping streets. It dipped under airborne walkways, swerved past dimly lit multi-tiered streetlamps, and swept under the spindly boughs of trees.
It also brushed lightly against the sensitive ears of a young boy who was sleeping curled up in an empty doorway. His bright blue eyes blinked open slightly, casting his angled features and ill-fitting clothing into sharp relief. Pointed ears twitched in confusion and he glared blearily in the general direction of the noise.
Stretching slightly, he adjusted to a more comfortable sleeping position and was immediately out like a light. Dreams of monsters with knives for hands haunted his mind, as they did many others who had been woken that night.
While the Red-Eyed Ones did feature prominently in his dreams as they always did, they were never alone. They were always accompanied by a tall man with kind blue eyes and a woman with long curled brown hair.
They always laughed. The man always swept him up into the air, and the woman always held him close to her like she was scared he would disappear if she let him go. Every time. The same routine. He always wished that part lasted longer.
Because next, he had to sit and watch as those monsters tore them apart in front of his eyes
It was always the same, but he never got used to it. Every time they were laughing. Every time they got attacked and the man screamed at him to run, which he never did. Every time he failed to save them, and he was left behind wondering when the beasts would kill him too and he wouldn't have to be so alone.
They never killed him, though, and he was always left with the couple's blue and gold blood soaking into his clothes and staining his hands. Left behind with their once bright eyes staring directly and accusingly at him. It was at this point that he would usually wake with a scream scrambling at the back of his throat and with shivers wracking his body.
Tonight was only different from the usual because he'd been woken preemptively by the distant attack of the bery demons that stalked his nightmares.
So the boy gave a low sigh of relief and rolled back into the land of sleep. He stretched out slightly, his bare feet brushing against the rough cobblestones of the alley. Wary of the monsters he knew were waiting in his subconscious, he finally found a comfortable position to sleep. Or as comfortable as he could get while slumped in a doorway.
The monsters continued their assault of the impenetrable shields, but for once the boy slept through it all. Maybe this was the beginning of a wave of good luck that Xephos sorely needed.
But then again...maybe not.