The sun didn’t set over Grants, New Mexico, instead it was smothered at noon by thick clouds that smelled of sulfur.
Gad clutched his head as a sharp pressure bloomed behind his eyes. Shattering glass echoed down the block, followed by screaming and hysterical laughing. Gad watched as his neighbors cheered and joined in the violence. An intrusive thought slid into his brain: This is right.
“No,” Gad whispered, stumbling backward. The pressure in his skull screamed at him to join the chaos. He watched as everyone’s morals shattered, his own mind twisting.
Suddenly, the floorboards began to vibrate. The air outside grew thick and suffocating as an unnatural army turned around the corner, their sharp arrows and ready bows glinting in the twilight. From somewhere nearby, a chilling sound echoed, their roar like a lion’s. Outside, the people lined the streets cheering. They looked at the approaching monsters and saw light.
Gad squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to remember what was real. Before long they would be coming for him. Then the streetlights shattered. Gad bolted. He sprinted through the sulfur, desperate for anyone who was sane. He didn’t stop until he slammed against the doors of the church.
The sanctuary was full of hushed whispers. Standing among them was Yisai, a weathered Bible resting at his side. His face was pale, but his eyes were clear.
“Yisai,” Gad gasped. “Something is wrong. I need help. Everyone… they’ve gone mad.”
Yisai looked at him, nodding towards the door. “Those without deep roots… they are being inverted. The darkness is rewriting them.”
“I don’t want it to rewrite me,” Gad said desperately. Outside, a low, collective roar vibrated through the church.
“This inversion wants you to mistake dark for light,” Yisai said as the doors shuddered. “God is the only true light. Knowing He is the one truth will keep you grounded.”
A heavy thud struck the outside walls. Yisei raised his voice to drown out the sounds from outside: 'Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!' Isaiah 5:20
The doors burst inward, and light blinded them. Gad froze, terrified to find out if the heavens had broken through to save them, or if the enemy had just brought their false light inside.