02. When the Sky Fell
Tick. Tock. Tick-
Maki's eyes shot open to the sight of inky darkness. Fumbling towards the switch on the closest lamp, the woman couldn't help but feel a strange buzz in her temples and the base of her skull. She must woke up at a bad part of her sleep cycle-
-the light wasn't turning on. Her groggy mind jumped to the next possibility, the lamp was unplugged. As she tried to find the cord at the base of the lamp, she let out a light curse when she bumped her toe on the table next to her futon. After more groping, she found her prize. Giving it a light tug, she felt the resistance of the plug in the socket. So much for that theory.
She blinked several times. What time was it? She scanned to where her clock was, or rather, where it should have been in the darkness. The sight that met her was the vague outline of the device; her eyes were starting to adjust.
"Great," she hissed to herself. A power outage.
Nearly tripping on some dirty laundry as she made her way to the window, she cursed the disheveled state of her room. Usually she didn't let it get this bad, but between working and taking classes, she hadn't had the time to organize recently. She made a mental note to take care of that before-
Thick clouds blotted out the sky and the world glowed with a sickly green. Blood seeped out between cracks in the pavement several stories below. A coffin stood upright on the sidewalk. A dark figure oozed by. The sight before her was something out of her twisted imagination, more fit for a painting than for real life.
Maki gasped, previous thought process cast aside. This had to be some kind of nightmare. Her knuckles turned white as her hand gripped the curtain. Not again…
Hadn't they won? Not only had Kandori been thwarted twice, but Nyarlathotep had even been defeated on his own home field! Pinpricks of tears welled in Maki's eyes; these tragedies would never end.
As despair crept over her body like a cold chill, something caught her eye. A glittering butterfly approached her window and alighted on the screen. Its brilliant azure wings slowly opened and closed, edges tattered. Maki stared in awe, despite its ragged appearance. A small smile crept to her lips.
Whatever this was, humanity would overcome it. Of that, she was certain. A warm feeling budded in her chest.
They would survive.