Murdering Shadows

Original

In the year 2025, the apocalypse occurred.

Well, at least that's what we've called it. There's certainly nothing else that came to mind. For thousands of years humans have assumed that they were the only creatures smart enough to do what we do. We were foolish. Oh October 20th, 2025, all across the world giant chasms opened up in the ground. These large cuts led into underground caves, the kind that we had only started to explore. Inside these caves were creatures that we could only have imagined in our worst nightmares.

They called themselves the Khral. It was a strange and harsh word, too much for human tongues to roll over. We took to calling them goblins. These creatures never had seen the sun before, and it certainly gave us the advantage at first. These large and rough creatures attacked without warning, taking over cities within hours. They were tall, much larger than the normal human being. They varied in the way that they looked. Most were a dark grayish colors, but that was where the similarities would change. Some had fur, others wings, horns, scales, all these were not something to be shocked about.

It is said, that they all have one mother. She is a large creature, one that no one has ever seen other than these "goblins". She spawns all of them. Every hundred years, a creature is brought to her. It doesn't matter what kind of creature, insect, amphibian, mammal, all of these are acceptable. And somehow, she manages to breed with them. The offspring from this unholy matrimony will create creatures unlike any other.

The humans have attempted to fight back. What else could we do? These beings had decided to take over the world, and there was nothing that we could seemingly do to stop them. What was Africa is no more. The largest amount of animals and unexplored land wasted after atomic bombs destroyed it. What else were we supposed to do? The Americas are a wasteland now, though it houses the largest amount of survivors still fighting against the creatures. The largest city is called New Haven. It's the only place where humans can go and be safe for a while. It's also considered the front line of the battle which could soon end in flames.

For unknown reasons, these creatures take humans as slaves. They don't explain why they kill some, and others they take home with them. But these humans are never seen again, taken deep into the earth where the creatures live. They usually only come out at night now, choosing to fight their battles during times when their sensitives eyes are at their strongest. Whatever they do with the humans is considered a mystery. However, it is known that some of them are slaves. Working in the houses of the goblins which have taken them. Others, we fear are to be used for breeding purposes.