The Sect of Deliverance's Resurrection Festival was lively and fraught with incidents.
On the other side of the island, however, the Law Enforcement Office of Dusk Island was exceptionally quiet.
The office was tucked away in an unremarkable alley. Though called an office, it was actually just a few single-story houses cobbled together into a workspace.
The paint on the exterior walls was peeling, revealing the mottled grey bricks beneath. Even the sign hanging over the door was rusted, barely distinguishing the place from an ordinary residence.
At this moment, the office was filled with swirling smoke.
Captain Xie Ajin sat behind his desk with his legs crossed, a hand-rolled cigarette between his fingers, squinting out the window.
A young man leaned in and lowered his voice. “Captain, things have gone sideways at the Sect of Deliverance. Shouldn't we step in?”
Xie Ajin exhaled a cloud of smoke. “No need to bother.”
The young man blinked. “But...”
“It’s just a case of dog eat dog,” Xie Ajin interrupted, flicking his ash into a tin can lid on the desk. The lid was already more than half-filled with ash.
The young man opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it and swallowed his words.
Xie Ajin glanced at him, crushed his cigarette butt into the lid, and leaned back in his chair.
“Kid, don't go looking for trouble.”
“Dusk Island is a chaotic place. For small-timers like us, the first priority is to protect ourselves.”
“There are seven sects on this island keeping each other in check. The Law Enforcement Office mostly just deals with civilians. If something big happens, there are more powerful people to handle the fallout.”
The young man lowered his head and stopped speaking.
Silence hung in the office for a few seconds.
Another voice rang out casually from the corner. “Captain, I just got word that a few lunatics have appeared on the streets talking nonsense. They seem to be outsiders.”
Xie Ajin didn't seem to care. “So what if there are a few outsiders?”
“If they're wealthy or influential, pretend we didn't see them. If they're nobodies, just round them up and fine them. Why do you sound like they’re a hassle?”
The man nodded, his expression a bit strange.
“Yeah, these outsiders are a bit different. They’re all acting completely insane and spreading rumors everywhere. It’s causing quite a panic.”
“Spreading rumors? Causing a panic?” Xie Ajin chuckled. He stood up, walked to the window, and pushed it open to let some fresh air in.
“This is Dusk Island!”
In a place like Dusk Island, there were far too many rumors about various gods and deities.
The local populace was long accustomed to all sorts of myths and legends. Ordinary rumors usually failed to make any waves in this environment.
Another officer nearby grew interested and leaned in. “What kind of rumors are so powerful? Let’s hear it.”
The reporting officer scratched his head. “Something about a calamity being imminent. I can't remember the details. I only heard someone say it once; I couldn't memorize the whole thing.”
“Anyway, it’s just the usual alarmist talk. If you use your brain for a second, you'd know those apocalyptic calamities are impossible.”
Xie Ajin nodded, dismissing the matter.
Right then.
“Officer, the calamity is no rumor. It is quite real.” An elderly voice drifted in from the doorway.
Everyone in the office froze.
They turned to look.
A man had appeared at the door at some unknown point.
It was an old man dressed in a dusty grey long-sleeved robe. His hair was white, and the wrinkles on his face were deep.
He stood there with his hands tucked into his sleeves, a faint, enigmatic smile playing on his lips.
The problem was, the door was closed.
No one had heard it open. No one had seen how he had entered.
The officers' bodies stiffened.
Xie Ajin’s pupils contracted slightly, though his expression remained unchanged.
He quickly exchanged looks with the others. They nodded subtly and began to shift their positions, closing in on the man as if by accident.
“Oh? Let’s hear it then,” Xie Ajin said with a smile, though his lips were thin.
The old man remained where he was, completely ignoring the officers closing in.
He spoke calmly, as if narrating something destined to happen. “Calamity approaches; all things shall cease.”
The air in the office seemed to solidify for an instant. The officers had already silently surrounded him.
“What exactly is this calamity?” Xie Ajin asked.
The old man looked up, staring out the window. “The calamity naturally comes from above.”
“The sky is falling.”
The men looked at each other.
“Huh?” someone couldn't help but let out a confused cry.
The sky is falling?
What kind of crazy talk was this?
Xie Ajin frowned and was about to speak.
Then, the old man moved. He pulled a talisman from his sleeve.
It was yellow paper with twisted runes drawn in cinnabar. The style was somewhat similar to the sects on Dusk Island, yet distinct.
He held the talisman to his chest, right over his heart.
Then, his right hand pulled out another object.
It was a short sword.
The blade wasn't long, but it was clearly sharp enough.
“You—” The officer closest to him turned pale and reached out to stop him.
It was too late.
With a flick of his right wrist, the old man plunged the short sword directly into his own chest.
The blade pierced through the talisman, the paper tearing down the middle with a faint rasping sound.
Then, a sickening squelch followed.
The blade buried itself in his heart.
Blood gushed out, dripping down the hilt and staining a small patch of the floor red.
The old man’s body swayed, but he did not fall.
He looked at the dumbfounded officers, his smile widening. Something seemed to glow within his clouded, elderly eyes.
“Calamity approaches.”
After those final words, he collapsed.
He hit the floor with a heavy thud.
Dead silence filled the office.
Everyone stared blankly at the corpse on the floor. It took a long time before someone managed a difficult swallow.
“Captain...”
Xie Ajin stood still, his focus entirely on the blood-soaked talisman.
The twisted runes on the paper seemed to move as the blood soaked into them.
It was only for a flash, so fast it seemed like a hallucination.
...
The Resurrection Festival had just concluded.
The crowd poured out from the direction of the Sect of Deliverance church. Some were wiping away tears while holding newly resurrected loved ones, some were muttering prayers of thanks to the gods, and others simply walked in silence.
Suddenly, someone looked up.
“What is that?” A young tourist stopped in his tracks, squinting at the sky.
His camera was still on, the lens habitually aimed in that direction.
Click.
He pressed the shutter, glanced down at the screen, and froze.
On the screen, the photo of the sky showed several massive cracks, like wounds torn open by something.
He looked up.
It wasn't a hallucination, nor was there a problem with the camera. Those cracks were real.
Directly above Dusk Island, in the sky that should have been a clear blue, those fissures seemed alive, slowly crawling and expanding.
Behind the cracks was a deep, bottomless darkness.
“What kind of weather phenomenon is this?” someone nearby muttered.
“I don't know. I've never seen anything like it.”
More and more people looked up.
Click, click. The young tourist snapped a few more photos. When he looked at the screen again, his brow furrowed.
Through the lens, it looked like something was moving at the edges of those cracks.
Something was crawling out from behind the fissures.
Rate on N.U.
