"God is dead."
In 2030, the skies shook with disbelief as the world stood still.
For millennia humans fought and died for their beliefs, many uncertain about whether or not they were truly in the right. Was God real? Did prayers get answered, and was there a bigger meaning to all this?
An answer was delivered to them.
There was, but not anymore.
“God is dead.”
The shimmering beings hung above towering skylines, but their melodic voices chimed like great bell tolls through the ears of stunned citizens that filled city streets.
Tokyo.
Delhi.
Shanghai.
Sao Paulo.
Mexico City. Cairo. New York.
All across the world the same sight could be seen, whether in the dead of night or under the midday sun - and pandemonium ensued.
Many thought it must be some elaborate prank; some kind of sophisticated drone system designed to fool the hapless public that laid eyes on it…
But the reports came rolling in. Breaking news from stations across the globe - this wasn’t just some localised event, it was happening everywhere.
“God is dead.”
If only those poor souls knew then what would be coming next. Perhaps they could have run, hid, or at least clawed at every precious last second of fleeting life that remained for so many.
“They are coming.”
Screams and cries of confusion fell into deathly silence.
“... and may God’s memory give you strength.”
Just as suddenly as the starlike figures appeared, they were gone, and the world stood still once more… for only a moment.
A creaking echoed through the frozen streets; a rough, screaming sound that pierced the mind and made hairs stand up on end, like the wailing of an old and tarnished trumpet.
Then crack.
A shattering.
A wild flurry of chaos - ghostly tears ripping right through thin air as the very atmosphere seemed to bend under an unseen force; growls howls and shrieks surrounding as they rang out from every direction, all ghoulish, all unnatural.
Through the purplish gashes in space, a horde of glowing eyes burst forth, donned by warped monsters of writhing flesh and jagged bone.
…On that day, the demons showed humanity no mercy.
This was a two-minute read. Now personally, I usually just skip prologues. They're just not necessary and are usually terrible in my experience. Just cut right into the action and condense everything great about your book into one 15-30 minute chapter I say. I've rarely seen a good prologue, but a two-minute one is just certainly too short, no?
Anyway, at first, I was honestly turned off by the religious stuff. I'm not religious but that just means you get sensitive to the old let's make our religion's deity real fantasy. Not that this is the case here from what I can tell and you didn't specify which deity either. Even though I will admit to enjoying that trope sometimes. Bruce Almighty, Futurama where Bender becomes a god and meets the big G imparting his wisdom on him, and to a lesser extent God Friended Me. But most of those were written by scientists or atheists, to begin with. They're satirical. I digress.
I will keep reading of course. For those others like me, I checked the average word count. It's at 1,667. About 9 min read time average. Kinda short still honestly, but not as bad as this one.
Cheers and good luck.
Thanks for the feedback! I found it difficult to decide whether or not to combine the prologue with Chapter 1 for the reasons you gave - in the end I decided to split them for a punchy intro that sets a better tone for the overall story than the initial character introductions might. I'll definitely keep this in mind for any future stories though!