Life on Earth had a predictable, comfortable hum that echoed through generations. Carriages rattled along cobblestone streets, their horses producing a clip-clopping sound with their hooves.
Merchants, their voices raspy from endless haggling, bartered over silks and spices in bustling squares. Farmers tiled their fertile fields, trusting the earth to yield it's bounty.
Each country, each city, each village moved to its own gentle cadence, a vast, intricate tapestry of daily routine. Everything was going smoothly on Earth.
The political arguments? Crimes? Yelling at your five-year-old child? These things are normal on Earth.
The weather suddenly changed. Well that wasn't new. The weather changes a lot. Probably just a little rain.
That's how humans think. They never seem to reason beyond, just grabbing the obvious as their last resort. Only few think more than the word 'think' and the world will label them as 'psychos'.
The weather started subtly, a peculiar shift in the very fabric of air itself. The stillness descended heavy and unnatural, not the kind before lightning nor the eerie kind before a blizzard.
People glanced up, frowned, a flicker of unease in their eyes then immediately dismissed it, going back to their tasks.
Just weather right? Perhaps a storm brewing, or just an unseasonal shower.
Nothing to halt the predictable flow of life.
Farmers squinted at the sky, seeing no thunderheads, and resumed their work. Merchants, feeling the oppressive warmth, fanned themselves with their ledgers. A child, flying a kite in a wide-open field, felt the strange lack of wind and wondered if his toy would fall.
Just rain?
It began as a drizzle, faint almost tentative drops at first, pattering softly on tiled roofs and dusty roads.
A single droplet landed on a man's cheek as he haggled over the price of bread in the crowded marketplace of Eldoria. He instinctively raised an hand to wipe it away– a common nuisance– but then he froze.
His fingers brushed against sometimes warm, slick and definitely not water. His expression changed from the usual concentration of a good bargain into a confused look, then widened in raw shock. He looked up, the gaze following the descent of another drop, then another.
What was falling from the sky wasn't the usual salty water. It was a thick, viscous, crimson liquid, like blood raining from the heavens.
A single gasp rippled through the marketplace, then another, spreading like wildfire from stall to stall, from person to person. The initial confusion gave way to terror. All eyes, wide with disbelief and horror, turned to the sky, to the impossible sight that defied every law of nature, every whispered legend.
There, centered high in the skies, eclipsing the bruised sun, hung a massive, pulsating red orb. It wasn't a cloud or star but a monstrous, colossal, crimson orb. Its surface seemed to writhe with an inner light, casting an eerie, sanguine glow upon the terrified faces below.
The crimson drizzle intensified becoming a heavy, relentless downpour. Streets transformed into churning rivers of red, reflecting the ominous orb above. Fear, sharp and primal, pierced through the confusion shattering the veneer of civilization. Pandemonium erupted.
People screamed, shrill and desperate, scattering in every direction like startled birds. They dove into narrow alleyways, clawed at the locked doors of shops and homes, crammed themselves under flimsy awnings – anything, anything at all, to escape the chilling, blood-like torrent and the malevolent orb that watched from above.
Children cried for their mothers, lovers clung to each other and the elderly stumbled, eyes wide with incomprehension and despair. The once bustling streets of each country was now filled with desperate yells, running feets and choked sobs.
The crimson downpour lasted for what seemed like eternity, though in truth in barely lasted mere minutes. Every drop of crimson liquid that touched the exposed skin brought a strange tingling sensation, a faint prickle that was easily ignored amidst the overwhelming terror. When it finally ceased, as abruptly as it began, an unnatural stillness descended.
Like as if humanity was asking for more abnormalities, a sound echoed in each of their ears, not masculine nor feminine.
[Aura has landed on your realm(Earth) of humanity]
[Recognizing and labelling category...]
"What the hell...."
"Huh??"
Then, the screams began anew. Not of fear this time, but of pain – sharp, sudden, excruciating. It started with one, then another, a wave of agony rippling through the huddled masses. Most clutched onto thier right wrists while other clutched to their left wrists.
A searing heat emanated from the limb,a fire beneath the skin that felt as if it would consume them from the inside out. Their wrist began to glow with an unnerving crimson light, pulsing faintly, as if an internal furnace had been ignited. As the glow intensified, then slowly faded, a strange intricate, symbol emerged, burned onto thier flesh. It was a stark, indelible tattoo, shaped exactly like the bloody orb that still hung ominously in the sky. Some had the tattoo in deep red color while others was a plain black tattoo.
Well...the physical pain was actually just beginning, after going through what seemed like burning from the inside, they heard the voice again. It echoed in their ears, this time leaving a different message. The different tattoos meant different messages from the voice.
For those with the red colored tattoo:
[Aura Chosen]
[Category: Ascendant]
Meanwhile, a few of the red-tattooed individuals received an additional directive:
[Aura Chosen]
[Category: Ascendant]
[Work: Vassal]
For those with the black colored tattoo:
[Aura Chosen]
[Category: Dormant]
And similarly for the black tattoos, not all received the same message; a few also got a specific work assignment:
[Aura Chosen]
[Category: Dormant]
[Work: Contractor]
Meanwhile.... somewhere located at the heart of Eldoria, Aira stood at her window, viewing the outside world. She wasn't tall, but her posture carried an almost regal bearing, her frame slender beneath simple, dark robes. Her hair, the color of moonlight on a winter night, cascaded down her back, a stark contrast to the sanguinous light filtering through the glass.
What truly commanded attention were her eyes—a rare, deep violet, currently fixed on the crimson orb hanging in the sky. There was no terror in them, no confusion, only an ancient, calculating patience, a stillness that had a power all its own.
She watched the chaos below, observed the desperate scramble for shelter and then wave of agony that swept through the streets. Her gaze narrowed slightly as her wrist began to glow, then dimmed as the tattoo formed both the vibrant red and stark black.
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched hee lips, a ghost of satisfaction that vanished as quickly as it came.
A soft, almost reverent whisper escaped her lips, barely audible above the fading echoes of human screams.
"Etah... it worked."
****
[Aurafall completed on your realm(Earth) of humanity]
[Categories: Ascendants and Dormants]
What did it mean? What was Aura? Who had chosen them? The voice gave no further explanation. Humanity now marked by the crimson orb, bloody rain and weird tattoos had been fundamentally, violently, reborn.
The Aura Age has begun...