Chapter Text
In January of 2010, what was supposed to be a New Year’s Eve to celebrate a new era quickly turned into a nightmare with supernatural creatures attacking anyone they saw, demons and angels reluctantly teaming up, and people being driven to madness at the sight of eldritch monsters. All of this was a part of Prospero’s plan to break the masquerade down and have humanity pay for their past sins.
Nations all over the world were devastated by the widespread attacks that Prospero and his allies launched, as horrors and fantasies of all types began to ravage Earth. Humanity tried to fight back as much as they could against them while their planet began to drown in their nightmares.
In North America, the various regions of the United States of America began to suffer the attacks of various monsters alike. The New England region slowly transformed into an eldritch nightmare as alien reef-like structures rose from the ocean’s waters, singing in subsonic tones that make sailors on the New England coast lose track of time. The Western Coast states were under attack not only by vengeful bigfoots that wished to get their revenge on humanity for their atrocities against their kind but from supernatural entities that seemed to originate from otherworldly places. The Bible Belt became an unholy spot for demons and monsters to kill and torture helpless citizens with several Gill-men rising from the swampy waters in Florida to attack any human they see on sight.
Meanwhile with Canada, Wendigos and similar beings began to roam around the wilderness of Canada, willing to possess anyone unfortunate enough to encounter them and battling each other over who gets the victim first. In Mexico, the Mexican government and drug cartels made a temporary truce with each other to deal with the swarms of restless spirits and chupacabras.
South America didn’t fare any better as it was attacked not only by mischievous and evil spirits but from those that guarded nature throughout their life with Brazil being the most affected during the Invasion. In the other South American nations the Boraro and all other sorts of creatures lurked around Colombia, seeking out potential victims. Tau and his seven children toppled Paraguay’s government as he began a reign of terror over the nation. Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia suffered a mass invasion from Supay and his demonic forces, leaving a trail of devastation in the ruler’s wake.
In Europe, a thick fog began to shroud the United Kingdom as all sorts of monsters and bogeymen prowled about in the streets of London. Scotland became a battleground between mythical creatures and those infected with the Reaver virus before the wall came crumbling down with the battle spilling over to England. The Fomorians ransacked Ireland as they laid waste to nearby towns and killed any human in sight with the monstrous Swine-Things joining in. France became terrorized by re-awakened gargoyles that were meant to protect and watch over humans, but had turned against them. Eastern Europe became flooded with vampires, both malevolent and vengeful, with Romania especially becoming a hotspot for vampires as the city of Selene in the Transylvania country became active once more. The Scandinavian region suffered a massive attack from the combined forces of Toyland from the North Pole and the re-emerging Trolls.
Africa found itself being under attack not only by animal spirits but other types of the supernatural as well. Egypt’s long-forgotten dynasties began to rise up from the dead and wage war against each other over who got to rule the nation while abandoned cities like Hamunaptra become active once more with mummies roaming about. The Kishis wrought havoc across Angola as well as massacring nearby towns and villages. Aigamuxa prowled about in the forests of South Africa, and the Kamappa rampaged across Cape Town. Yateveos began to pop up more and more in Madagascar before appearing in other nations of the continent, devouring any human they see in their sight. Adze plagued both Togo and Ghana, usually by possessing unsuspecting victims upon capturing one or sucking the blood of their victims when in their firefly form, thankfully a man by the name of Mr. Nancy helped as many as he could in Ghana and protected the helpless from the malicious spirits themselves while getting the citizens to fight back against them.
Asia was attacked by a wide variety of creatures during the Blazing Invasion. Tamama-no-Mae and her army of Yokai began an invasion of Japan with the help of various Kaiju, who’re either resurrected or brainwashed, that attacked the nation before. In China, a variety of ghosts and spirits have begun to terrorize and attack humans in the nation. The combined forces of Koschei the Deathless and Baba Yaga devastated Russia. Both North and South Korea received an infestation of various Kumiho that began to eat up any human they see by taking either their liver or their heart. A large swarm of Aswang besieged the Philippines with those trying to escape by swimming, ending up being devoured by the Bakunawa. Half of the population of Indonesia transformed into Leyaks with the other half being forced to fight back their friends, loved ones, or others that had transformed into these monstrous creatures. In the Middle East, a variety of creatures that range from giants to jinns to even demons began a large attack on the humans living in the region, forcing the Military and the Taliban to make a truce to each other to fight back against them.
Of course, this wasn’t limited to the human nations, as Prospero and his coven used every method to gain the upper hand to spread their ‘invasion’ far and wide. Across the continents, cracks started to open on the Earth’s surface that revealed themselves to be openings to the Hollow Earth, and with them came a variety of creatures from different kingdoms that started to rampage across the Earth. Even the oceans weren’t safe from the invasion as sea creatures of all types started to re-awaken themselves and devour any sailor that had the misfortune to encounter one. Time and space also started to feel…different. Passages began to feel much longer and days began to turn into months before turning into years. Ripples across history were felt and began to slowly transform the timeline into a radically different one. Just what was going on? As it turns out however this was due to the sorcerer and his coven trying to gain control over time and space to extend his invasion even further. Various time-keeping agencies started to take action over this but with each ripple they took care of a new one began to pop up every second.
In space, the solar system received itself a nasty surprise when the Prospero-supported Lamarr the First and his Lunite army launched an invasion by using a massive fleet they acquired after massacring the human colonies on the Moon. While doing this, the ‘blazing worlds’ on each and every planet revealed themselves to the humans and inhabitants living there as the planets suffered the same fate as Earth.The multiverse wasn't safe from the Blazing Invasion either, with the many Earths suffering the same fate as the main one, thanks to the efforts of Prospero’s agents who managed to hide themselves in plain sight.
Back on Earth, many of the world’s superheroes and military responded with action alongside criminal groups, supervillains, and even civilians but it wasn’t enough to beat them back as Prospero’s forces began to overwhelm them with most of them either ending up dead or driven to madness. Things were starting to look grim for the human race and Earth as well as the non-humans who shared their fate.
But all of that would change when a large glowing white light engulfed the Earth, blinding everyone for a second, until it all cleared up to reveal a woman in golden armor and a large army behind her. The woman in question was Sophie Bangs, the latest vessel of Promethea, whose task was to not only bring about the apocalypse, albeit a metaphorical one, but to also make sure that Prospero and his allies don’t succeed with their version of the apocalypse. Her army on the other hand consisted of those who were very much against the tyrannical rule over the Blazing World & desired freedom from the regime itself.
Prospero and his allies were unprepared for this; they didn’t expect someone to show up with the intent to stop his plans from coming to fruition. What also didn’t help was the mostly shaky alliance between Prospero, his coven, and the sorcerer’s allies as some of them either betrayed him to plan out their own apocalypse or turned out to be double agents for Promethea’s resistance group. What followed then was a war between two factions that fought for the fate of not only Earth, but the universe as well. During this, most of those that allied themselves with Prospero and his Coven began to doubt their allegiance as they fought with some of the resistance members and doubled the member count.
Of course however, there would be others that managed to take advantage of the situation; enter Oliver Haddo Trelawney (a.k.a ‘Karswell Trelawney’), the founder of Thelema and Academy City, who saw the raging battle as an opportunity to wipe out not only the two warring sides against each other but magic as well. With the help of SAPPHIRE and other similar groups he managed to acquire not only a huge fleet of his own that was decked out with weaponry from the militant atheist group but the so-called “Four Horsemen of the Atheist Apocalypse”, a creation of SAPPHIRE that serves as the extremist group’s weapon of mass destruction.
Trelawney’s faction would then make themselves known through the arrival of their horsemen with the occultist and his army following behind as they laid waste to the two warring factions, also assaulting various magical sites that served as either the bases for Prospero and his Coven or Promethea and her resistance, only adding more bodies to their kill count. The war continued to drag on with the arrival of Trelawney’s faction as overtime it became less of an epic war between factions and more of a devastating tragedy with bodies of both civilians and faction members alike beginning to pile up. Prospero’s messing with time and space didn’t help either as it caused people to experience much longer passages of time; Sometimes up to years, even. As such, in that single day, numerous important events took place across the globe and beyond. Such notable events that occurred are…
Battle of Tokyo: The Capital of Japan has always been a center of activity politically, economically and supernaturally, so it was clear it would be one of Prospero’s targets. Originally the mission of attacking Tokyo was supposed to fall for Yasunori Kato, an onmyōji who had been the sworn enemy of Japan for decades. But with Kato’s supposed death five years prior, Prospero had to look for a new coven member to handle Tokyo, eventually finding one in Tamano-no-Mae, a fox spirit with her own reasons for joining the Invasion. Luckily Taira no Masakado, the guardian spirit of Tokyo, had sensed the Invasion in advance and sent a call to battle. The Battle of Tokyo was one of the first to involve the use of Mysterious Beings, and saw the rise of future legends such as King. Many Veteran heroes also reappeared, most notably Takeshi Hongo, who led the Kamen Riders, who had survived the Rider War a few months ago. Many Super Sentai also took part in the battle. Ultramen and Kaijus friendly to humans, however, were kept busy by the Great Old Ones on the other side of the planet.
Battle of the Academy City: This sovereign state founded and built upon study of subjects both regular and esoteric housed many secrets, including the Horsemen of the Atheist Apocalypse, four esper-capable artificial humans created by SAPPHIRE for the purposes of erasing everything the organization deemed unfit for its vision of society and the universe. The Blazing Invasion forced the militant atheist group to unleash the Horsemen early, though their master, Karswell Trelawney, found them sufficiently powerful for his purposes. He was proven right, as the Horsemen quickly eliminated the invaders. However, the loyalty of the Four to Trelawney wasn’t guaranteed. Ironically, SAPPHIRE itself would prove small-minded for the Horsemen, seeing in them the same fanaticism as in the religions they opposed, and thus unfit to the utopia they were supposed to create. In the end the four chose to protect humanity in general, aiding Judgment and Anti-Skill in beating back the invaders and personally neutralizing Sapphire’s Academy City headquarters.
The British Fog: The League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen had been a thorn at Prospero’s side as long as he could remember. To deal with them, he decided to play it safe and sent both Maleficent and Sauron to handle the League and any other threats from British soil. The two mages opened a series of portals on the Isles straight to the Blazing World and through them came various kinds of monsters and humanoids from their respective realms. In the end, however, the League, allied with other British heroes (and even some villains) managed to beat the invaders and their forces back.
The Disappearance of France and North Korea: One minute they were being terrorized by invaders from their respective realms of the Blazing World and then the next? Both nations would be suddenly gone from the face of the Earth as if they never existed in the first place and what came after were a series of earthquakes that lead to massive cracks that act as a passageway to either the Hollow Earth or Hell. North Korea and France would later re-appear as the invasion came to a close with the passageways being sealed shut, but the effects of the disasters that the disappearances wrought about would still be felt to this day.
The Siege of Muncie: The town itself was transformed into a hellish nightmare as the residents would be endlessly tormented by the orange tabby cat which also included that of Jon Arbuckle, who used to be the owner of Garfield and was a constant target during this event. During this, he would transform into various forms each more terrifying than the last. All hope would be seemingly lost for the town were it not for the miraculous arrival of Lyman and an angelic Jon Arbuckle who not only helped out the citizens of Muncie to fight back against the eldritch cat but also fought against it where it ended with the cat perishing and Jon seemingly vanished. Lyman and the rest of the surviving citizens would be the only ones that came out of the battle alive.
The Southern California Earthquake of 2010 (a.k.a ‘The Big One’): With the San Andreas fault rupturing once more, the region itself received another earthquake only this time it would be much more devastating than the others that had occurred in the 20th century as it would claim many lives during that day with the infrastructure being destroyed. Southern California ouldn't see any more earthquakes after this until later in 2015.
The Jefferson Civil War: The state itself would be split into two sides as the vengeful ‘bigfoots’ lay waste onto the Western Coast states. One side consisted of the mostly peaceful and benevolent Sasquatches while the other side represented the more revenge-seeking Sasquatches that wanted mankind to pay for their atrocities against their kind. The former would be backed by the Lodge while the latter received help from the Fae. In the end, the benevolent side won the civil war and gained control of Jefferson.
War for the Oceans: Long-buried cities and continents waged war against each other as they rose up from the depths. Atlantis itself was in a civil war between several factions that vied for control of the continent with some of them even having Deep Ones helping them out as they were backed by Prospero and his coven. Meanwhile in Bikini Bottom, Plankton and his huge army of robots and mind-controlled jellies laid siege onto the underwater city. Luckily the extremist factions would be defeated by a coalition between Aquaman’s and Namor’s factions with Plankton and his massive army being repelled back.
Release of the Great Old Ones: Rasputin, an expert in cosmic divinities and member of Prospero’s Coven, used the distortions in time to awaken Great Old Ones sleeping on Earth ahead of schedule. While technically beyond Prospero’s control, they worked perfectly as unofficial shock troops, causing destruction and mind alteration wherever they moved. They fell back to sleep again, when time returned to normal.
The Containment Breach: Prospero didn’t rely solely on his Coven for the Invasion. Dr George Maynard, a scientist claiming to be a double agent for both SCP Foundation and Chaos Insurgency, was in fact on Prospero’s payroll. For months he looked through SCPs for potential allies and tools, and then, on the day of the Blazing Invasion, sabotaged the holding facilities, sending the Foundation into chaos. Ironically these actions would lead to Maynard’s own doom, when SCP-106 took him to his realm.
Battle of the Solar System: Outside of the Earth, Prospero had made an alliance with Lamarr the First, a Human-Lunite hybrid warlord to help each other in their mutual quest to conquer the Solar System. Lamarr’s Empire, consisting of numerous aliens with a grudge against the Earth, would take over the planets with Human bases or alliances, while the Coven focused most of its efforts on Earth. The hope was that both allies would keep the other side busy, dividing them while their mutual effort would triumph. As a cautionary measure, Prospero sent Queen Beryl as a liaison to Lamarr. The humans in space would however receive help from an unexpected source. Santa Claus, the latest scion in a long legacy of Winter Shamans and Christmas Gift-Givers, took to himself to protect the planets. With the help of an army of elven helpers and a magi-tech vessel S-1, Santa acted as the main uniter of the anti-Lamarr resistance. The true turning point, however, came from within the invaders. Beryl had grown tired of playing the puppet to other powers, and in a secret meeting with Santa, turned against the rest of the Coven. Santa introduced Beryl to Promethea, who she helped eagerly. Meanwhile, Santa’s son, Steve, would prove his skills as a commander and a strategist, when he led a counter-assault on Lamarr’s base on the Moon. Beryl, however, would not see the end of the war, sacrificing herself to save her once mortal enemy, Sailor Moon.
The Battle at the Island: One of the more notable battles in this event and one of the last. It is notable due to how it was a showdown between the three leaders of each faction and nobody else alongside it taking place in Prospero’s former island. The leaders battled each other through a wide variety of spells and even a few weapons as well. The battle would end with Promethea decapitating Trelawney by using a sword she held on to before throwing it away and landed the final blow onto Prospero with her Caduceus, securing a victory for her and ending the battle.
With the final defeat of the two wizards at the island, it was clear that the resistance group had won the battle through sheer persistence despite the losses of their comrades. The main timeline and the multiverse have been restored with Lamarr’s plans of conquest over the Solar System thwarted.
While it technically lasted only a single day, as the world begins to recover from the Blazing Invasion the effects of it will be felt in the coming years…