THE MOMENT
After half an hour, it was safe to assume all eyes were on the eclipse. Studies were being conducted, and even the minority that initially had no interest in the celestial event had time to scrounge up some safety glasses and marvel at the extended fuss. Everyone on the wrong side of the planet was glued to their TVs and phones watching others talk about the darkness. The world was focused on a single point for the first time ever. And that was when the countdown started.
A digital timer appeared in the eclipse, easily visible, counting down from 5:00 minutes. The nanoseconds sped by as fear and panic took root. Everyone had been watching the sun; now, everyone was afraid of what the next 4 and a half minutes would bring. Riots started almost instantly. Many assumed the world was about to end; and, they wanted to ensure their last few minutes were spent making everyone else as miserable as they were. People hoping to find an excuse for violence their whole lives found it with the unknown event.
The world was going to end in 4 minutes, it had to. None of the scientists working to study the eclipse could conceive of a reason for the countdown other than destruction. Although, they didn't try to think about it too hard, most of them were trying to reach their families. The fact that they were given so little time to prepare meant that nothing could be done. They reasoned it had to be intentional. Any civilization advanced enough to extend the eclipse and display a timer was capable of great and terrible things. Had they unknowingly slighted an advanced peoples?
Three minutes wasn't a lot of time; it was just enough to give a thoughtful and sincere prayer. Hopes floated on the breeze for every god they could name. The end was inevitable; no one begged to survive the trial, instead, everyone hoped to be welcomed to paradise after their life. They asked the heavens to reunite them with their families on the other side, even as they held them close.
Two minutes was child's play. Hiding tears in their eyes, parents took it upon themselves to distract their youngsters for two minutes. No one knew how quickly the end would arrive once the timer reached 0:00; but, everyone hoped it would be over in an instant. For the sake of the children. All across the world families played 'peekaboo' and took turns covering each other's eyes. Many of them couldn't imagine a better way to spend their last minutes than hearing the laughter of their children.
The world would change in one minute. Everyone understood that, even those who didn't believe it was the end. The world was changing right before their eyes and so few had realized that. It was easy to jump to the worst conclusions; but, what if that wasn't what happened? The world was different as soon as the eclipse endured longer than 5 minutes. It changed again when the timer appeared; and, it would change at least one more time when the timer ended. No matter what happened, the world could not go back to what it was like 4 and a half minutes ago. A few people in the world smiled as the last few seconds counted down. They were ready to adapt to the new opportunities that might present themselves. If death was the only thing that waited at the end, they were ready for that too; but, it wasn't their only plan.
[0:00:00]
"This is Sunstream Jubilee making your day brighter!" A teenage girl with green eyes and a distinctive golden streak in her brown hair appeared in the eclipse. "Got a special stream for you today, an interview with the dragon sun god herself, Chroma! She's the owner of Chroma Corp. and she's the one putting on the most important wedding in the multiverse for her daughter, Minerva. We got a lot to cover today; and, by the way, Chat is disabled for this stream. They asked me to pre-record it; I guess they're going to push it out everywhere they can. So let's get that interview started!"
After half an hour, it was safe to assume everyone on Earth knew about Minerva and Ruin's wedding. They'd also learned they were part of a greater multiverse. Hundreds, maybe thousands of alternate Earths existed; along with powerful beings that could shape universes to their whims. The stream revealed so many secrets about the nature of the universe; and, that was when the riots resumed.
