It was 00:01 in the year 2129. Stanley Smith was contemplating the night sky from his armchair, facing a sky observation window. He gazed at the sky for a few minutes and then stood up, still with his back to the group
— We are nine now, right? So be it… We shall be the Fellowship of The Blood Moon, for the Moon bleeds today.
— What do you mean by "the Moon bleeds"? — asked Hirah Kelser V, a.k.a. H.K.
Still with his back turned, he replied, visibly irritated:
— It means this is not an eclipse; it's the Moon bathed in blood. The lunar territory has been taken, and the colonists have fallen into disgrace without even a chance to fight back!
— How do you know it was a surprise attac... — the young and impatient Kelser asked again.
But before he could even finish his sentence, Smith turned to them with a severely terrifying expression, so much so that the group instinctively recoiled for a moment, fearing his fury.
Smith, who was already struggling not to fall into hysteria, gasped, suffering internally. His daughter was on the Moon. Immediately, the young H.K. remembered why silence had reigned for the past few minutes and withdrew among the tallest members of the group.
Pa!
The group felt as if they had been struck on the head all at once; their vision began to blur, and they slowly lost control of their bodies.
Whoosh!
Whispers and dazzling dreams. The whole group felt as if they were dreaming at the same time.
Suddenly, they were standing on a platform. Instinctively, they looked up and, terrified, saw the Moon—tiny, close to their heads. They were gigantic.
It was almost as if they could touch the Moon, but they were motionless, frozen... It was a dream; it was the presence of a celestial being. Without a single word spoken, they all understood what it meant.
Whoosh!
Pa!
Immediately, they returned to themselves. Surprised by the sensation of, in just a blink of an eye, being back in the same place as before. It was like a vision or a messy collective dream. But they had never actually left.
When they returned, they were wearing an overcoat over their clothes. It extended down to their calves, but above all, it had a terrifying design. It was completely black and had a crest on the back, with the image of a full blood red moon oozing blood in strands.