My Three Vampire Queens In The Apocalypse-Chapter 38: Cosmic Horror [1]

Juli was right. The swarm that had just passed over us was only the beginning. And I, the dashing prince of apocalypse, couldn’t agree more.

The sky had not turned starless because the stars had disappeared. It looked empty because something had covered my beautiful starry sky!

A thick, writhing layer of bats stretched across the entire sky, packed so tightly that not even a sliver of light could break through. There were millions of them, maybe more, moving together like a living ceiling that pressed down on the city.

A faint tingle ran down my spine. Even the thought of such a scene in mind felt creepy. But here it was.

And then, slowly, my lips curved into a mad grin. Yes, I was coping! Trying to make it seem like it was no big deal.

[The constellation "Spokeswoman of Justice" feels creeped out, too.]

Kek, woman! Couldn’t even handle some bats. But... wasn’t I the same? Well who cares!

"The first sign..." I murmured to myself.

It had begun - The third scenario.

The rules of this scenario were simple if you ignored how insane they actually were. Every major capital in the world had been assigned a cosmic horror entity. Each one came with its own condition for descent, and unless that condition was stopped or slowed, the entity would fully manifest.

And once that happened... Well, you could guess how that would end.

The fun part was that these conditions were not rare or difficult to trigger. In fact, they were things humans were already very good at producing in large quantities.

Take Washington, for example. The King in Yellow was the being trying to enter here.

It was like that one neighbourhood aunty who always thought she was part of your family. She gave opinion in every matter in Your family matters. And guess what? Your own biological mom who washed ur ass for years believed her words more than yours or your tired father for that matter!

The king in yellow was the aunty here.

His condition was madness. The more people lost their sanity, the closer he came to descending. Panic, riots, paranoia, people turning on each other over nothing, all of it pushed things forward. You did not even need monsters at first. Humans did the job just fine on their own.

Then there was London.

They had drawn something called The Weeping Choir.

Its condition was grief.

The more people mourned, the stronger it became. And it had a very efficient way of encouraging that. People started seeing their loved ones in reflections. Not as they were, but as something slightly... off. Close enough to hurt, wrong enough to break you.

Some followed those reflections. Most did not come back.

Paris had it no easier. They were dealing with The Velvet Marionette.

Its condition was obsession.

The more people fixated on something, anything, the stronger it became. Love turned into possession. Passion turned into compulsion.

Artists would paint the same thing over and over until their hands bled. People would follow strangers for no reason other than a feeling they could not explain.

Free will slowly became optional.

Rome... Rome was dealing with something poetic - The Ashen Oracle.

Its condition was regret.

The more people dwelled on their past mistakes, the more it manifested. It showed visions of "what could have been" so vividly that people stopped living in the present entirely.

They would stand in the middle of streets, completely still, trapped in lives that never happened.

Meanwhile, reality moved on without them.

Tokyo had drawn The Thousand-Eyed Watcher.

Its condition was attention.

The more people thought about being watched, the stronger it became. Cameras, screens, even mirrors turned into tools for it. People tried to avoid looking at anything, which only made them more aware of being watched.

It was a loop. A very uncomfortable loop.

Beijing had something called The Silent Feast.

Its condition was hunger.

Not just physical hunger, but desire in general. The more people wanted something they could not have, the stronger it grew. Food shortages started appearing out of nowhere, but even those who ate their fill still felt empty.

People began to take more than they needed. Then more than they should. Then more than they could control.

Moscow was dealing with The Iron Hunger, which was not any better.

Its condition was consumption.

The more people hoarded, fought over resources, or indulged without restraint, the stronger it became. It twisted survival into something ugly. People stopped sharing. Then they stopped trusting. Then they stopped caring.

Civilization started cracking from the inside. And here we were.

Standing under a sky that was not a sky.

A city that felt like it was being wrapped in something slow and deliberate.

I exhaled softly, my eyes still fixed upward as the swarm shifted again, the bats moving in waves that felt almost... intentional.

Every capital was burning in its own way right now. Different horrors and different rules. But same ending if they failed.

Beside me, Juli’s grip tightened slightly on my sleeve. Through her insects, she was seeing more than I was, feeling more than I was, and judging by the way her expression had gone stiff, none of it was good.

"Big brother..." she whispered, her voice small but steady, "it’s not just here, right?"

"No," I said simply.

"It’s everywhere."

The eerie tune drifted through the air again, a little louder this time, curling around the buildings like it had all the time in the world.

Dudududu...

I glanced around the empty parking lot, which no longer felt empty at all.

Every shadow felt deeper. Every corner felt like it was hiding something just out of sight.

And above it all, the swarm continued to move, endless and patient, like it was waiting for something.

"Well," I muttered, mostly to myself this time, "looks like the whole world decided to have a bad night together."

I paused, then added under my breath,

"And somehow... I don’t think we got the easiest one."