Beyond the Twilight Eclipse

by newmoonwinter

Prologue

I still can’t believe how far I’ve - err, we’ve come. Life is one big adventure, especially back then. In the ten years since I came to this land, I’ve never known the extent of how much of an influence magic had in this world. Though, it was weird that most stuff I took for granted on Earth-1, wasn’t even an idea here. Don’t get me wrong, they do have trains, and some sort of flying contraption that closely resembles an old zeppelin. What really took me by surprise was the fact there were no modern day weapons. So far most of their weaponry development hasn’t gone past the late medieval period. They mostly relied upon magic to defend their home from intruders, and I’ve never seen so many bright colors, not like the dull washed-out world I came from.

Throughout my life I was always thought this world of mine could do without all the violence and fighting. In the early 2000s there was this show that caught fire gaining an unexpected audience, me included. It was nothing but positive messages of friendship, learning lessons as the show progressed. The vibrant colors of the characters, and the world looked like a utopia compared to this dull colorless violent world. Too bad it was nothing more than a cartoon, right? But oh how I wished there was such a place. Who knew it was in a whole other universe. I admit over the years of being part of the fandom had - Ahem, “acquired” a few items. Nothing more than some collector cards, a few figurines, a T-shirt, but the most prized part of my small collection were my custom plushies. They were the only things keeping me from letting the despair of the world creep into my near empty house.

In my college years I had gotten myself my own place. It wasn’t much, but it at least had the space I needed to continue my work as a Core Systems Administrator for the newly created world computer network company, EDEN Systems. It was the first mega corporation in the world, using quantum computers to store and control the flow of information in the net. I mainly kept the spare room as my “cubicle”, so to speak. The house was nicely furnished thanks to my mother and her fiance, but it still felt empty. I mean the furnishings weren’t fancy, but I had just your run of the mill typical house stuff. Living room had a simple hid-a-bed couch, a TV, and a small entertainment unit. I was lucky to get a place with a separate kitchen with a sliding wooden door. It was filled with the best cookware in the world, w-well in my eyes. Vision-ware had been discontinued for some time, but while in my local thrift shop, I found a pristine complete set of pots and pans, what luck. Anyways, my bedroom kept in tune with my minimalist decor, only sporting a queen sized bed, a nightstand, and a display case to show off my somewhat small collection.

During the days, I’d head off to school passing the local animal shelter, often wondering if I should get a little furry animal companion for my house. I would shake my head and continue to my performing arts courses. Once classes were done, I would travel back home, log into my remote terminal, and start combing through the source code, removing the odd bug from the system. The whole routine started getting pretty tedious after a couple of years, and EDEN Systems had been hiring new coders that had a more up-to-date approach to eradicating errors. I had saved quite a bit of my earnings to the point I could almost live off. So, after logging off my remote terminal, I sent in my resignation to EDEN Systems, and turned off my computer.

The next day when I headed back towards home from my classes, I turned into the animal shelter. I looked at several potential pets, including a black long haired cat and a springer spaniel collie that reminded me of a pet mom had when I was a kid. I don’t know why or how, but that cat called out to me. So after my selection, I brought him home with me. Kero’s personality was what I needed at this point, always batting my face whenever I started feeling down about myself or my current situation. I guess it was his way of trying to cheer me up. Soon after I walked in the door, something odd started happening.

‘So master, why did you name me Kero? It’s not a typical pet name you humans would call your companion.’ Said Kero as he started licking his hind leg after hopping onto the couch.

I couldn’t really believe my ears. I put my finger in one ear to see if it needed cleaning. Nope, it was perfectly clean. “Did you just talk? Great, now I’m going crazy. I spent too many years alone and this is the result. My imagination has started to run out the door.”

‘No master, you’re not going crazy.’ Kero said. I could’ve sworn that he had an English accent. Whilst deep in thought I hadn’t noticed him standing up on his hind legs, holding out his forepaw. *Whack* ‘Please snap out of it, and go grab me some mowk. I had a stressful day and I need to relax.’

“You know, that really hurt.” I said rubbing my cheek. “And what’s wrong with the name Keroberos? It was my favorite character of an anime I used to watch as a teen. He was a guardian beast, and well.” I rubbed my cheek once more. “You certainly are being that, I suppose.” I switched on the TV, before entering the kitchen. “Let me know what’s going on whilst I fix us a snack.” I let out a sigh, saying under my breath, “I can’t believe I’m talking to a cat.”

‘I heard that, master.’ Kero said, as he laid back down facing the TV, letting out a yawn.

I came back a few moments later with a saucer of milk for him and a salad for myself. The news had just come on, and the title of the breaking news nearly caused me to drop everything, “Nations of the World Reformed into Three World Factions”. I shook my head. They had finally done it, what my classmates feared came to pass. As for me, I could care less about politics, it was an unnecessary stress I could do without. I placed the saucer onto the coffee table. Kero hopped off the couch and onto the table to lap up his milk.

Over the course of a few weeks, my town went from thriving to desolate and dying. Most of the folk had moved away, or sought the protection of one of the three newly formed factions, including most of my fellow classmates and faculty. I think there were all of three classmates in my performing arts course. What teachers and faculty were left, all decided to give the remaining students degrees in their fields of studies. Yay? I hadn’t really figured out what would happen to me next, but who could blame them for shoving what little students out into the real world. The world went all to shit, and people were seeking protection in other places. Getting back to the three Factions, there were the North American Human Alliance, the International Reformation Legion, and the United Factions. Through the following weeks of sitting at home researching, I found out quite a bit about these new factions. What I found out, I didn’t like, not one bit.

The North American Human Alliance (NAHA) were nothing but bureaucracy, selfish desires, and mainly comprised of many of the powerful countries in the world. The US, Japan, China, and Russia became this faction’s infrastructure. All they wanted was to be in control, under their rules. I heard that they had spy cameras everywhere at every block, and often hacked into civilian computers to see what the populace were doing.

The International Reformation Legion (IRL) was the reformed ‘New Commonwealth’. The Royalty of Great Britain used that small little clause in the declarations that basically allowed them to take back whatever country that used to be under Britain’s rule.

Unlike most of the new commonwealth, my country somehow slipped from their sights. Whether it was because we were neighbors with the US, or the fact that we were always the peacekeepers in the first two world wars. Who knows. It wasn’t like I cared or anything like that.

The United Factions (UF), which used to be called the United Nations, was the neutral power that took countries that didn’t fight, under their wing. They say that, but I heard otherwise. Rumors went around saying that they had a larger army than the other two factions, and was influenced by those who had money.

This world had changed quite a bit, and soon the factions began to have disagreements. Then the inevitable happened. Many thought the third World War would happen in some far off future. Yeah, maybe in some other version of this earth, or in fantasy movies, but this was reality. No futuristic weapons, just fighter jets, ICBM missiles, and a lot of destruction. Ever since the prime minister declined the factions offers, our country was always in the middle of the crossfire. My town got hit by a few “stray missiles”, but I don’t buy that one bit. The once tornado warning siren became an air raid signal, so the remaining town folk could go to nearby makeshift bomb shelters.

Three years of this passed, and in that time I had acquired another companion, Braith, the springer spaniel collie I had my eye on for a while. She was always a mush-melon, that’s one of the reasons why I “rescued” her from the animal shelter. They were shutting it down to make it into another bomb shelter, and were going to euthanize the remaining animals that couldn’t find homes. Though it was tough to see such a great place get shut down, I knew in my heart something had to be done. You could say I did the right thing? I broke into the shelter, and, well, I guess you could call it a jailbreak. I set every one of those animals free. I was caught not long after with Braith leashed beside me. I spent that night in a cell with my new dog, but at least my heart was in the right place, and I had the company of such a lovable pup.

After coming back home, I witness something that could only seen in a movie. On the news, a breaking story had just started airing. The news helicopter was flying over what looked like Stonehenge in the UK, only there was a beam of white light shooting skyward from the center. The ground shook beneath before the beam of light started spreading, soon engulfing the helicopter cutting out the live feed. I couldn’t figure out what had occurred, despite watching it first hand. Before the camera cut out, I thought I saw someone, or something emerge from the light, but it could’ve been my imagination.