Chapter 1

"Tell me what's your gift?" this was the most invasive question Dr. Angeli Roberts frequently asked her clients who were having crises about being gifted. That question were even followed by more that were as penetrative. This may have caused someone to wince and think twice, but Dr. Roberts was equipped with the ability to calm someone down. At first, she thought it was the skill she got from many years of practice until she discovered that her gift to lull is rooted from her capacity to stabilize the neurotransmitters responsible for mood.

She was just 31 years old when the light-succumbing-event happened.Busy practicing her profession as a psychologist, she always grabbed the opportunity to spend time with her husband for three years whenever there was. She was on a vacation with her other half Orlando Roberts in Bali, Indonesia. The weather was hot, and the sun was high. They were enjoying the heat, the waves, the moment. They were so in love just as much as when they first met. And with their shades on, they were captured by the light... and so was their love.

Both of them were febrile when they decided to go back to New York City, three days after the incident happened. Somehow they responded to paracetamol. They returned their lives back to normal when they were able to recover. And as when they thought that everything's okay, a terrible thing happened.

Angeli noticed excessive vaginal bleeding when she decided to pee during her vacant time. She tried to call her husband but his phone was out of reach. She was desperate and scared. She was shaking when she dialed her husband's number for the second time. But then again she failed. She went out of the comfort room while starting to feel some cramps. It got stronger as more and more blood leaked out of her vagina. Just when she was about to faint, her brother Kevin entered the room. Though still in shock, he immediately carried his sister and brought her to the nearest hospital.

"Are you the husband?" the doctor asked Kevin.

"No, I'm his brother. I already called her husband, and he'll be here in no time." Kevin answered with his hands in his pocket.

A minute after, Orly arrived, sweating and panting. Kevin told him to see the doctor, and he hurried himself there. He asked the physician about what had happened. He, very nervous, sat as the doctor said. He couldn't stop his tears from falling after he heard that his wife was eight weeks pregnant... and that she had a miscarriage. It was hard for him but he had no choice but to tell his wife about what's the real problem. She mourned then moved on.

Months later, the news about people with blue stools were all over. Everybody was afraid, and so were the couple. Especially that just a week ago, Orly developed some pin point rashes on his both legs. What made things worse was the fact that those rashes developed into bruises. Though Angeli was perfectly fine, she couldn't stop her fears that her husband may have the disease. Two weeks after the clinical manifestations started to appear, Orly had a tonic-clonic seizure. He was rushed to the hospital, and was intubated because of apnea. He was confined at medical intensive care unit for close monitoring. Three days after his confinement, he had some blue fecal discharges that made the doctors diagnose him of having alien-light-syndrome - the series of signs and symptoms that was associated to the effect of the light that had eaten the earth.

For weeks, Angeli had to live her life going back and forth to the hospital. Everyday, as she visited inside the ICU, she would touch her husband while whispering at his right ear about what had happened to her the whole day. It had been a routine to her. Tiring. Exhausting. But that's the only thing she could do to keep him loved... and to keep her sane.

On the the third week of his hospitalization, Orly was still in deep coma. All the hope that Angeli had for her husband started to vanish. The intoxicating despair made her hold on to the memories she had with him. While on her way to the hospital, Angeli received a call from a nurse, telling her that her husband was being resuscitated. Her anxiety escalated; it made her drive faster. As she was about to enter the Intensive Care Unit, she saw the flat line on the telemeter. She knew that very moment that her husband was already dead. It was then confirmed by the resident physician

On the last day of her husband's wake, Angeli delivered a speech. She tried to prepare for it, but there was nothing that came out of her mind. The day came when she had to speak about her husband. Though unprepared, she was sure she could make it. She just closed her eyes and allowed the memories to envelope her and to speak on her behalf.

"We are not a perfect couple. We were not. We used to fight a lot. We used to spend a little time for each other. We were not a perfect couple. Period. But despite all the things that made us very different from each other, I know that our love was much stronger. And now... I couldn't say 'we' anymore. I couldn't say 'us'. Letting go of him is like giving up a piece of me. It's so painful. I usually counsel people about moving on... about letting go of pain. But then I realized something. Getting rid of the pain is impossible... maybe as of the moment. Getting used to it is much more realistic. Dear, wherever you are, I will always love you."

Tears fell from everybody's eyes. Angeli saw everybody's reaction, and tried to conceal the pain she was bearing at the moment. She composed herself, and responded to people who said condolence. That same day, Orly was buried. There was no tears she could shed anymore. Her eyes were puffy and red. People noticed the wind to be getting stronger. An impending storm may be coming.

Later that night, after she took a shower., she rested her tired body on the bed. Her skin was touching the velvet cloth, reminding her of their moments together. She closed her eyes and tried to relive the memories. It was then that she realized that there's no way she could be with her husband again but in her dreams.

It had been three months after his husband's death, but she was still overwhelmed with the pain. Drowned in loneliness, she decided to take a vacation. She went to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia to unwind. She stayed there for eight months, living like one of the locals. When she noticed that she was ready to return back to her previous life, she took the flight back to New York. Three months after that, she started counselling again. Even though there are times that her husband's memories came to pass her mind, she could no longer associate it with torment but with happiness.

Prologue

On the third night of March 2010, the environment was calm. The moon was illuminating the place as the wind carried the scent of everything it had touched. The people in North Dakota were sleeping - only few were awake for different reasons. It was a peaceful night like most of the nights if not all.

But around 2:45 a.m., a powerful light swallowed the whole place of North Dakota... of the whole United States... of the whole earth. The light was blinding. Even to those places where the sun is up, the light was able to overpower.

It was peculiar. In fact, it was scary. The event was all over the news, fueling the fears and anxiety of the crowd. The leaders of different countries tried to meet up to come up with an explanation of what had really happened. There were also researches conducted on the effects of the light, and so as to whether it had high radiation level. Months later, the result were evident. The light contained high amount of radiation stronger than that of an X-ray. But that was all they got. The effects on humans and on others were still being observed since nothing unusual had really occurred. Maybe, as of the moment.

Six months after that event, 10 percent of the world's population manifested symptoms like epistaxis, gastrointestinal bleeding, jaundice, headache, hyperpyrexia, myalgia, and defecating blue feces, its pathognomonic sign. More and more cases had been reported making people more anxious about what was really happening. The incidence rate skyrocketed to 30 percent, three months after the first case had been reported. The mortality rate increased just as much.

The government of different countries tried to conduct different researches on know how to resolve the problem. But there were no results that could directly address the dilemma. More people resorted to taking multivitamins and other food supplements high in antioxidants, believing it would lessen their risk. It was somehow supported by many studies and had been the only known intervention promoted by health experts.

Two years after, the situation became quiet. There were no longer cases of people defecating blue stools. But as they thought that everything was okay, another conflict arose. To many it was a problem; to others it wasn't. According to news circulating around, that thing that devoured the earth may have caused mutation to some degree. Whether or not this was true, only time could tell.