Caelum superius, regnum deorum,
Locum sacrum divinitatis,
Ubi terra est pedisequus tuus, et caeli sunt dorsum tuum.
Te humiliter precamur,
Da nobis auxilium in hoc tempore perturbationis,
Libera terras nostras ab immanitate violentiae,
Ereptum fac iuventutem nostram ab vinculis vanitatis,
Duce nos a umbra insaniae,
Et restitue aequilibrium in fractis mundis.
Lumen divinum tuum nobis fulgeat,
Ut in gratia tua floreamus,
Et sursum ab peccatis, quae nos devoraverunt, surgamus.
Amen
[Heaven above, the realm of the gods,
The sacred place of divinity,
Where the world is thy footstool, and the heavens thy backrest.
We humbly pray unto thee,
Grant us aid in this time of turmoil,
Free our lands from the depravity,
Deliver our youth from the chains of vanity,
Guide us from the shadow of madness,
And restore balance to the broken worlds.
Let thy divine light shine upon us,
That we may bloom in thy grace,
And rise above the sins that have consumed us.
Amen..]
As the twelve o'clock prayer ended, a youth draped in black from the crown of his hair to the hem of his garment kneeled in the cathedral as the sermon ended. He wore a woolen linen suit that complemented his hair—an ashen bullet gray tone—packed in a bun, and his golden brown eyes lit as they faced forward to the pulpit.
He looked upon the oil-stained glasses of the cathedral's backdrop, of which a wooden hex was placed upon the center top. His eyes were filled with tears as he kept praying in silence while the congregation left; his tears flowed from his tan cheeks as the members of the congregation looked at him in piety. They whispered in silent gasp various words while they stepped out of the cathedral, including words like
"He's the one...uh."
"The one whose parents are dead and his siblings are hollow."
"I pray for their recovery."
He paid no attention to their whispers as tears continued to fall and drip as memories kept pouring into his mind. Seven years ago, during the winter solstice holiday, a mass casualty event occurred suddenly. Individuals ranging from the age of 19 to 38 years old began collapsing—whether in their homes, on the street, or in places where no one wished such a tragedy would occur. All slumped down wherever they stood.
From this moment on, anarchy erupted worldwide as several individuals in this various age bracket piloted aircraft that crash-landed in the mountains, resulting in the deaths of thousands. This chaos also involved the operating units of heavy machinery, causing widespread destruction and damage to large firms. The most tragic consequence was the loss of millions of lives during this turmoil, after which life would never be the same again.
Over three-sixteenths (3/16) of the world's population died in that tragedy, and the following days were hell on earth. Civil unrest grew greater day by day as individuals from better-off areas were rushed to hospitals' ICUs and were being observed worldwide for any developments. Food, water, and resources became scarcer than usual as the workforce dwindled. Water sources, farms, and amenities had either been destroyed, polluted, or made unusable for investigation, caused by massive landslides, erosions, and explosions of waste products.
Tensions escalated further when the government mandated burial and cremation for the bodies they had been monitoring, leading to widespread riots caused by the decay, which ultimately sparked a large-scale conflict both civilly and internationally. But after this event, around six months ago, something out of touch with reality occurred that defied science and all known analogies: each of the individuals rose from the dead except those who were victims of the aftermath.
It was a strange occurrence that, despite the years since their bodies were lost, those who were cremated and had their ashes either buried, kept in a jar, or scattered to the wind and sea—along with those whose bodies were buried or even eaten by wild animals—returned. This was not a lie but was further confirmed by what people witnessed and reported happening right before them.
They were neither spirits nor illusions, but real flesh. Although people doubted it repeatedly, it was clear that their bodies reformed and renewed from several of their pieces coming together. However, after their resurrection, no one—professionals included—could explain what had happened. From the moment they were revived to when they were sent to the ICUs again, they were asked questions over and over. It became evident that they were not the same people they once were.
Their minds were not the same; they all had the same look—the look of emptiness and pure blank expressions vivid in the void of their eyes. From the youngest known victim to the oldest one, no one had an expression; none could speak, walk, talk, or even feed themselves.
Numerous attempts, including medication and surgeries, were made to extract any form of information from them, even involving the government with unpublished and untested technologies. However, nothing could be seen, transmitted, or transcribed, not even the memories of the past. No one knew if they were the same as before or not, and it's been six months since this all occurred; thus, people began hoping and praying for a miracle to happen, even those who were irreligious.
As Marx once said, religion serves as the opiate of the masses, a comfort during hardship, but in times of peace, its power wanes and its relevance diminishes.
— — —
Back at the cathedral, an hour had passed, and Kieran stood at the hospital door, dressed in his black suit. He stared up at the infirmary's upper-floor windows, where his sibling lay in stasis. About two months ago, after Kieran's siblings had been cremated and their ashes spread across the water, they, like several others, had returned—naked, washed ashore where their ashes had been scattered. They wore the same vacant expressions on their faces as the hollow husks of their bodies were taken home. Why were they at the cathedral hospital?
Since individuals began washing ashore and rising from the dead, government offices and amenities like hospitals and clinics have been filled to capacity. Other institutions in the country, such as cathedrals, religious institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), have also emerged to take care of these individuals, nicknamed "the hollows," especially for those who couldn't afford the costs to sustain their lives like him.
For before this event happened about 2 years prior to the sleep [rather than calling it the "day of death," individuals and media began to call it the seven years of sleep], Kieran had lost both his parents to a particular unnatural seismic activity that had occurred at where they both worked overseas, killing them both and several others in the event and leaving him and his siblings orphans with a large inheritance, but ultimately before both his siblings could get a job to sustain the wealth left behind the sleep happened.