'The weather's changing' an elderly woman slowly walked through a dark alleyway, leaning heavily on her large walking stick. Watching as hail the size of basketballs dropped from the heavens in Denver, Colorado. Everywhere around her trash cans flew, roofs cracked, telephone poles split, electricity crackled, and she turned to watch as a transformer blew a few hundred yards behind her. Sighing, she shook her head slightly, turning to resume her slow walk deeper into the darkening alleyway. Hail rushed towards her from the heavens at incredible speed, about to smash her to pieces. Her slow advance stopped as she gazed into the heavens at her impending doom. Suddenly, the hail exploded into several tiny shards, missing her completely. If you looked closely, the air seemed to shimmer around her, her walking stick glowing a poisonous green. A thorough observer could notice that despite the incredible wind, rain, and hail she remained dry. "Another sign" she spoke softly to herself, sighing again as she resumed her slow journey into the growing darkness.
About 15 miles way, a young man left his taxi and walked slowly up a long, unkempt, gravel driveway. The hail here was slowly intensifying, somehow elongating as it fell turning from basketball sized chunks to 5 foot long, razor sharp needles of ice plummeting at ever increasing speed. Slowly walking, the needles of ice pierced his form, exploding on impact with incredible force. Yet, the young man continues walking as if nothing had happened. Looking closely, his form seems to flicker in and out of focus, and the only wet part of him is the bottom of his boots. As the young man reached his destination, a blackness overtook the world and he disappeared from sight.
In D.C., the president watched as the Washington Monument slowly toppled, a massive tree growing at a rate of several inches per minute destroying it's foundation. Listening to the wail of sirens in the distance and the screams of civilians on the street, he could wait no longer. Slowly, he walked towards the 5 inch thick bulletproof glass windows around the oval office. As he approached, they rippled, slowly at first, then faster, and faster. Finally, he stepped through the glass, disappearing into thin air.
Off Japan, the world quaked, a massive underwater volcano erupting setting off an underwater earthquake that reached 9.9 on the Richter Scale. A massive tsunami, several hundred feet high thundered towards the main island.
In a temple on Mt. Fuji, a group of tourists exclaimed as an ancient statue suddenly moved, unsheathing its blade it struck suddenly. An invisible wind rushed forth, gaining strength as it went, eventually widening it struck the tsunami 20 miles off the coast of Japan. The wave split apart, missing the main island entirely.
In Britain, an old castle came to life as ghostly apparitions wandered the halls. Armor began walking on its own, cracked floors healed, a sword stuck in stone began to vibrate. An apparition of an old man dressed in armor with a crown slowly came into focus. The sword leapt from the stone, and in a flash the man and the sword disappeared.
Back on Mt. Fuji, the statue shook, pieces of rock and soil flying off it. Finally, an old man was standing in place of the statue. With a second slash, the very fabric of the universe was ripped. The old man stepped through the rip, which quickly closed behind him.
(Undisclosed Location)
A massive mahogany table stood in the middle of the room with 25 executive chairs arranged around it. In the center of the table, a hologram shone. Images of various natural disasters, the massive hailstorm in Denver, the Hollywood sign burning to the ground, Air Force One smoking on the side of Mt. Rushmore, a massive wave splitting before rushing past Japan, the Washington Monument on its side as a massive oak continues to grow several feet a second, etc… An old, feeble, yet somehow timeless voice echoed around the boardroom with incredible force, "A new era is upon us... The world wakes... They are coming..."
Silence…
Several minutes of contemplation later, a young man who seems to flicker in and out of existence coughed several times. Every time he coughed, he came more and more into focus. Until finally, his corporeal body had reformed completely. He smiled shyly, before saying, "I may have a solution…"