A disaster happened....
It was the end of World War III.
The world thought it would heal and become better than before.
But one month after the war ended...
A new war began.
This time, the enemy was the unknown.
People woke up to a day where sunlight could not pass through the thick clouds.
The clouds made the sky glow with a deep red color.
Scientists tried to find the reason. Governments spent millions of dollars.
But no one could see through the clouds. Even trying to fly near them failed.
Before anyone realized what was happening, people started to ignore the sky above them...
"Rain! Didn't I tell you to sleep?!"
A middle-aged woman turned on the light. She found her son watching a documentary about the end of the world again.
"I told you not to watch these things!"
Her face was full of worry as she looked at the screen showing the red sky.
She turned it off and grabbed Rain's ear.
"Ouch! Mom, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm seventeen!"
"Stop talking nonsense. You are still a child to me. I won't allow negative energy in this house. You and your sister must live in a peaceful environment!"
Rain saw tears in his mother's eyes. He stayed quiet and let her pull him to his room.
His mother lived through the horrors of World War III. When it ended, she was happy to start a family. But her happiness did not last long before the disaster of the "Bloody Sky" hit.
Doom! Doom! Doom!
Rain and his mother froze. Someone was knocking on the door very hard.
His mother tried to push him toward the stairs, but he refused.
Everything happened quietly. After a short struggle, his mother gave up.
Doom! Doom! Doom!
Rain stood there looking at the door. His mother went to the kitchen and started looking for something.
Rain looked toward the stairs.
He didn't want his sister to wake up.
Suddenly, something touched him from behind. His heart jumped.
It was his mother. She was holding a shotgun. She put her finger on her lips, telling him to be quiet.
Doom! Doom! Doom!
The knocking became stronger.
Rain's mother walked to the door, and Rain followed her.
The door was locked tightly with many locks.
There was a small metal cover over the peephole. Rain's mother moved it slowly.
Suddenly, she stood still.
Rain saw her freeze. He swallowed hard.
"It's your father," she whispered.
"Phew... Damn it. You guys need to find a way to knock so we know it's him. That was terrifying."
Rain breathed a sigh of relief.
"Watch your language!"
His mother pinched his stomach.
"Ugh, sorry."
Rain pretended to be in pain, cursing his tongue.
They started opening the locks. When the door opened, a tall man in a long coat appeared. His face was covered.
"My dear."
Rain's mother hugged and kissed him.
The man hugged his wife back. Then he looked at Rain, who was standing nearby.
"How are you, hero?"
"I-I'm fine, sir."
Rain's father reached behind his back and handed something to Rain. His mother didn't see it because she was still hugging him.
Rain took it quickly.
His father gave him a wink before talking to his wife.
"Where is Elia?"
"She is sleeping. Do you know what time it is? Also, why did you take so many days?"
"A lot happened."
Rain's mother helped her husband take off his coat after they locked the door.
Rain decided to give them some privacy. He went up to his room, hiding the tape his father gave him.
His father always brought him documentary tapes secretly.
Since the sky was blocked, communication was gone. This was not just because of the clouds, but because of strange signals that blocked all signals.
Rain looked at his sister's closed door before entering his room and locking it.
He had a TV, but it was not as big as the one in the living room.
He was excited. He tried to play the tape.
After a few tries, it worked. He wrapped himself in his blanket and watched in silence.
"Welcome to the nine o'clock news. I am Jack Milne, and today we have breaking news."
Rain's eyes widened as the images appeared.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the government is hiding what is happening. The sky looks like a fairy tale to those who saw the sun. But for those born now, the sun is just a myth."
"Today, the effects are hitting our reality. We can no longer ignore it."
"Wow..."
Rain was shocked. He saw images of a Black Sea. It was a vast, dark ocean. It looked like a black hole, but with moving waves.
It was completely different from the pictures of the sea his mother showed him.
"As you can see, these are leaked photos of the sea. Now we know why the government closed the coasts. We are facing a disaster, but the government is still keeping secrets."
"My God..."
Rain opened his mouth in shock as more photos appeared.
"This is the Amazon forest. It has become the Amazon Continent! Look at these photos! The trees are taller than skyscrapers! The flowers are bigger than hotels!"
The forest was so thick you couldn't see the ground.
The news reporter became more angry.
Mountains of ice.
Lava covering the Great Sahara Desert.
A crack splitting a continent into two.
Nothing Rain saw looked like the world his mother described.
"We are prisoners behind walls! They tell us the world is full of radiation from the war! Our children are taken away if they speak! No freedom, only oppression! How long will this continue? People, let's end this joke!"
Suddenly, the tape cut off.
Rain stood there, his heart beating fast.
This was a crime of heresy. Any talk against the government could send you to a political prison forever.
Rain liked the secret tapes, but this one crossed the line. He wanted to talk to his father, but first, he had to hide it.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps on the stairs.
He pulled the tape out and threw it under his bed. He covered himself with the blanket and pretended to sleep.
'Damn it, why am I acting like this? I'm an adult!'
But the thought disappeared when his mother opened the door.
Luckily, she didn't notice anything.
She organized his room a bit, covered him well, and left.
Rain breathed a sigh of relief.
"What did you do, Dad?"
"Whatever... I will throw this thing away tomorrow."
***
The Next Day.
Rain opened his eyes and saw his ceiling.
His head felt dizzy. He heard the sound of things breaking downstairs.
He tried to ignore it, but then he heard screaming.
He jumped out of bed.
What he saw at the bottom of the stairs made his hair stand up.
Soldiers wearing black masks and armor were there. They had weapons in their hands.
His father's face was bloody. His mother was kneeling in the corner, crying.
"Rain! Go back to your room!" she screamed.
But it was too late.
"Hello, Rain. Can you come down so we can talk for a bit?"
A man in a long black coat pointed at him. He wore a mask with tubes around the neck.
"Hey, Rain. Don't just stand there. You don't want to wake up your little sister, right?"
Rain swallowed hard and walked down the stairs slowly.
The house was silent.
"I think breakfast will get cold. Can we join you? Sorry for being rude, but I am really hungry."
"What do you want?" Rain interrupted him, clenching his fists.
"Relax, boy."
The masked man ignored him. He took a piece of toast with peanut butter. He lifted his mask and took a bite.
"Hmm. The toast is good. It's a shame it's cold."
"Leave my family alone! Take me instead! They did nothing!"
Rain looked at his father. His chest felt tight. His father was always strong, but now he looked so weak. Rain tried not to cry, but he failed.
"Relax, man. You made the boy cry! You're making me look like the bad guy."
"Now!"
He clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.
"Do you know what your father did, Rain? And Miss Maria, do you know what your husband Adam did?"
No one spoke. The silence was heavy. Rain's father kept his head down.
"Fine, let me tell you. This man who acts like a good father and a loving husband is actually a liar!"
"Search the house!"
The soldiers moved through the house and destroyed everything.
Minutes later, one of them came back holding a tape.
During the search, no one touched Elia's room. That was the only relief for the family.
"Here it is! Do you know how hard it was to get rid of this tape 7 years ago?"
Rain's mother looked at Adam in shock.
"Did you really do this? After all these years? How could you betray your family? How could you betray the government?! Didn't they take care of us?"
Maria screamed at Adam's face, crying and breathing hard.
"Wait, wait, wait. Please don't start this drama. Nobody actually likes the government, right?"
The masked leader looked at his soldiers, and they nodded.
"Trying to blame the husband to save the children is a classic story. I've seen it many times. We don't care about the government. We just care that no one sees this tape. So, try to make your husband's last moments good."
Maria became silent. Tears ran down her face.
"I think our job here is done. Take him."
Rain and his mother stood there, unable to speak. Rain felt a huge wave of regret. It was his fault. His curiosity led to this. Now his father was facing an unknown fate.
As they opened the door to take his father, the man in the black coat stopped and looked back.
"Oh, I forgot to ask. Don't tell anyone what you saw on the tape, okay?"
Rain jumped and nodded quickly.
"O-Okay."
The man stood quietly, staring at Rain.
"Did you watch the tape?"
"W-What?"
"Rain!"
His mother screamed. Before Rain could react, the man grabbed him by the collar and dragged him outside.
His mother screamed and tried to pull his legs. Rain was choking as he was being dragged.
The sky appeared before him as he was pulled out of the house.
He saw a terrifying, bloody sky. It felt like it would fall on him at any moment.
"Get away from my son!"
Rain's mother attacked the masked man, but he was stronger. He pushed her to the ground.
"Mom!"
"Damn you! Don't you have a little girl? Go to her, or we will take you too and leave her to die alone."
Suddenly...
DOOOOOOOM!
Everything froze.
All sounds disappeared.
DOOOOOOOM!
The sound of a horn shook everything.
DOOOOOOOM!
The lights in the red sky began to glow with every sound of the horn.
The masked man let go of Rain's collar. He stared at the sky.
"The time has come..."
Rain heard his words, but he was looking at what was happening above him.
The sky began to crack. A vertical line appeared as far as the eye could see.
Then...
A shockwave came out with the sound of the horn.
There was no sound anymore.
And there was no one left.
In front of Rain's house, the broken door was shaking in the wind.
But Rain, his mother, and the soldiers were all gone.
They disappeared as if they were never there....