Work Text:
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, and the earth was desolate and empty, and darkness covered the abyss. And God said: 'Let there be light'; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. Then God said: 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the cattle, all the earth, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.'
Thus humanity grew, expanded, and claimed dominion over Nature, taking its place in the world as the supreme ruler, as it had been written. The words of God, though partially understood, were distorted by the heart of man. The face of God, hidden and distant, became a symbol of hope and salvation, an entity that was to come and free His people, as promised. Man, in his works, sought to understand the will of God and, over the centuries, imagined Him as a loving, merciful, just father. Many painted the image of His son, His disciples, His works, but no one ever dared to depict the true image of the Lord. Many imagined Him, but few were those who truly saw Him. Yet, as clearly described in His words:
'You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.'
Unfortunately, along with His value, the greed of men also grew. Man had prayed, invoked, hoped. The most shameless believers began to ask for a sign, the most reckless for a revelation, and God, good and just father, decided to respond.
The prayers of humanity had been heard.
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The world continued unaware in its journey. The sun rose, as it did every day, following its path in the sky. Humanity awoke, and threw itself into its duties, immersed in its routines, unaware of the secrets hidden in the shadows. Nothing seemed different, yet something in the air had changed. No one, at first, noticed His arrival.
Visions began. They were not dreams, nor were they reality. The believers went to the priests, seeking answers they did not have, while the atheists absorbed their nightmares with a cynicism that masked their terror. Yet, everyone feared the coming of the Lord. Many, despite invoking Him, no longer knew what to hope for, while the shadow of fear clouded their minds. Hope and fear intertwined in a silence that, more than ever, seemed to hang over them.
Then came the signs. Earthquakes shook the earth with an unknown fury, hurricanes swept away entire cities, fires devoured centuries-old forests. Humanity, for the first time, looked with fear at the world it had built, searching for an explanation. Scientists blamed the unchecked consumption of resources, the greed of men, as the cause of the impending catastrophe. The Church, on the other hand, spoke of "a divine punishment," but they were farther from the truth than ever. And then, the sky itself seemed to respond.
The sun darkened, turning black like a sack of bristles, and the moon turned a sickly red, like spilled blood. The stars, one by one, fell from the sky like ripe fruits from a tree shaken by a fierce wind. The world could no longer look to the sky without fearing that darkness had taken its place. Man began to go mad. Churches filled, schools emptied. Demands for answers came from politicians, intellectuals, and servants of the Lord. But no one dared to speak. Too many were groping in the dark, and the few who were conscious feared to do so. The most powerful did something that had long been accepted: they sought advice from the Church. Days passed without response. The Pope himself refused to speak, the signs were clear, but the words were too strong to be uttered. The Vatican, a place that for centuries had been the spiritual refuge and answer to the anxieties of the faithful, was now silent. No message came from the Pope, no word of reassurance. It was as if even the highest authority of the Church was powerless in the face of what was happening. The cardinals and bishops met in secret, discussing among themselves with growing concern. But their meetings bore no fruit. Some of them had lost faith in the scriptures, too scared to admit the now undeniable signs, written clearly in what they had always thought to be His word. The Church, once a beacon of hope, had now become a shadow trying to hold together the shards of a falsehood, a world they tried to preserve to avoid succumbing to madness.
The people, increasingly desperate, began to lose faith in the institutions. The streets became deserted, eyes turned to the sky seeking a sign, but every answer seemed to slip away, dissolved in uncertainty. Every word that was spoken seemed empty, incapable of quelling the growing fear that slithered in the hearts of humanity. The question that echoed everywhere was the same: Why? And meanwhile, the sky grew darker, the light of day no longer enough to drive away the rising shadow.
And in that silence, amid the chaos and despair, a voice was heard. A voice that no one had ever imagined hearing, yet now it rang out powerfully, like thunder before the storm. Its strength was preceded by the sound of a trumpet, an echo that penetrated the minds of all, deafening and horrifying. Every heart beat faster, every breath seemed held, as if the world itself was suspended in anticipation. Then the voice spoke, in an ancient tongue, but its words came clear and understandable to all:
" I AM COMING."
No one could ignore it any longer. No one dared hope it was just a dream. He was coming.
The entire world came to a stop. An eerie stillness, filled with fear and disbelief, enveloped every corner of the Earth. The voices that had just recently tried to explain, reassure, hide the truth, now fell silent, powerless in the face of something no one had ever imagined they would live through. People looked into each other's eyes, seeking comfort that did not come, seeking answers that no one had the courage to give. It was as if the very heart of religion, which had once given hope and strength, was now torn apart by fear in the face of the vastness of the mystery that was coming. The people, who had always sought refuge in faith, now found themselves facing a reality bigger and darker than any spiritual concept they had ever known. The promise of a coming had been made, but now that promise was taking a form no one could have foreseen.
The world seemed to hold its breath. The wind that had once blown through the trees died down, and the sound of nature vanished, leaving a deadly silence. The dogs that wandered in the village suddenly stopped, staring at the horizon as if they saw something that humans could not perceive. The birds stopped singing, flying in disoriented circles, without a destination. And then, suddenly, every creature on earth began to speak, human words, understood by all, screeching and grunting in a single echo: "GOD IS COMING." They repeated, uninterrupted, like a desperate choir. The earth trembled under the weight of those words, and the air became suffocating, as if the entire world was about to be consumed.
In the chaos that followed, people began to react in different ways. The most devout prostrated themselves in prayer, seeking shelter under the wing of a deity that now seemed distant and mute. Others, less faithful, slid into madness; some, unable to bear the situation, attempted suicide, but no one could die. The path to the Afterlife had been blocked, no one could escape divine judgment.
Suddenly, finally, the sky split open. A blinding light, so intense that it made the day seem brighter than the night, penetrated every corner of the world now wrapped in darkness. People looked up, unable to take their eyes off the majestic revelation.
"DO NOT FEAR," the voice echoed in the air, now more concrete, more alive, as if every word had been forged by the very beat of the universe. No one dared ignore its presence, no one could doubt its power. The earth trembled beneath their feet, and the air became thick, pregnant with a force that suffocated every breath. People looked up, unable to take their eyes off the manifestation that invaded the sky, an apparition that seemed as infinite as it was unbearable. The most devout knelt, but did not pray. There was no hope left in them, only a hidden madness, a desperate attempt to find a refuge that did not exist. The unbelievers collapsed to the ground, consumed by fear, unable to conceive how reality itself could bend to that will.
"I AM THE BEGINNING AND THE END, THE FIRST AND THE LAST." The voice echoed again, but this time it only brought horror. That phrase, which once should have brought comfort, now sounded like a sentence.
And so He appeared.
And a cry of terror filled the world.
It was not the God that the faithful had prayed to for centuries, nor the one they imagined in their hearts. The believers, kneeling, no longer dared to call Him God. Not that deformed, strange creature, whose mere presence made hope collapse in every heart. Its eyes burned like two black flames, incapable of illuminating but able to dissolve every rational thought, seeming to hold within them all the suffering of time. The believers refused to believe what they saw. Their hearts had been darkened by fear, rotted by betrayal, this could not be their Savior. Not like this. Not possible. There was no hope left in them. There was no faith.
The crying and screams of men filled the air, but there was no salvation. There was no one to pray to. The voices overlapped, intersected in a chaos that had no end, while despair grew, flooding every corner of the world. Until the creature smiled, and humanity froze in that instant. It was not a smile of benevolence, but of inhuman cruelty, from one who knows that the fate of men is now doomed, and nothing can save them. A smile that seemed to stretch for miles, sinking into infinity, yet impossible to ignore. It spread through the sky, insinuating itself into the hearts of those who watched, growing terror with every passing second. The eyes fixed, the smile stayed there, unhurried, as if the pain of men was a wonder waiting to be consumed.
Every word was a sentence, and in that sentence, every breath seemed to become heavier, more unbearable. The creature looked at the world with eyes that held no mercy, only a wrath that devoured everything it encountered. People collapsed, powerless, unable to resist a force they could not even hope to understand.
With a flash of rage, its voice was heard again, a growl that swept across the world like an electric shock.
"YOU HAVE DARED TO DISTURB ME, AND NOW YOU WILL PAY THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR SINS."
And the world collapsed into chaos.