- It was the 22nd of February, 2020 AD.
On that memorable day, at the height of noon eastern seaboard time, the world changed forever.
The most common example cited was one of a man in the city - known then as New York - who'd been walking his dog out.
As he crossed the intersection of Bell Boulevard and 48th Avenue in the Queens district of the city, he received a text message from his ex and felt a twinge of intense annoyance at her boasting of her new boyfriend.
After sending her some less-than-wishful replies, he crossed the street and froze in shock as the glass of a thrift store next to him broke.
Alongside with the glass shards, however, what sprawled on the sidewalk in front of him was unmistakably a demon. Not some kind of allegory or metaphor, but a rather literal beast from Hell, with blood-red scales, phosphorescent volcanic eyes, and black curled horns.
It hissed at him then stepped forward menacingly. His dog shied away, running and taking its owner with it.
Soon enough, other windows and glass surfaces across the street began to break as well, spilling other demons in a rainbow of colors, shapes, sizes, and degrees of malice. None of them pursued or were interested in him, although some did observe him with mild affront or curiosity. They started to pop up from other places; teleporting in the middle of the street with a sudden distortion of space, swimming from the shore of the nearby Oakland Lake, swooping in from the clouds on a pair of batlike membranes, feathered wings, or through no visible means of propulsion. Some of them were almost human in appearance, while some others were more like humanoid dragons that hunched over and were given an additional level of ominous character.
In less than five minutes, by all means this man could use to determine it, the entire district of the city had at least a hundred of these demons. Most of which, to his confusion - as overshadowed as it was by his fear - appeared to be surprised and disoriented.
He was quick to go home and inform the police, but he was too late: the police already knew.
In that exact minute, in hotspots across New York, demons started appearing, with a strong focus on initial locations where some kind of negative emotion or particular brand of sin had been displayed, although it quickly spread to other places as well. Most of these demonic incidents were locked into the area of New York, with a handful in Connecticut, Long Island, and New Jersey.
In less than two hours, fourteen percent of the civilian population was dead, and thirty-nine had evacuated the greater area spanning New York. At least ten percent had been captured by the enemy, and would later be enslaved.
This was by no means, however, the only place this was happening.
Fifteen minutes after the demonic attacks began, a skeleton in tattered black cloth robes teleported into the Kreml. Speaking in fluent Russian, he declared himself the new ruler of the Russian Federation on live television. Without much ado, he raised an onyx-wood scepter tipped with a spectral violet gem, which shot out with dozens upon dozens of dark purple cords. These cords connected to the necks of the president, Prime Minister, deputy ministers, federal ministers, and other governmental authorities in the building. They became his slaves, and the population of Moscow would become his army.
Eight minutes before that, the Heavens above Rome began to rumble, as the Earth shook. The white tapestry of clouds split apart as a host of angelic creatures rushed down into the Vatican. Some of them were recognizably humanoid, while others resembled winged lionmen, or beings that weren't humanoid or even animal in appearance. There were spirits of air, water, earth, and fire with them, as well as other entities. One of them, introducing itself as Michael, promptly thanked the pope for his devotion then stepped into him and fused with him, becoming the All-Holy Prince.
In other places, various other events took place, with reports that would have sounded truly insane for someone living back then.
King Arthur rose from Avalon, brandishing Excalibur, and immediately repelled a fairy invasion of London, before reclaiming the throne. Every animal in the Chinese zodiac became manifest as a pack of traveling spirits, each one as large as a high-rise building was tall, and started to migrate across Asia. There were reports of a group of men in chrome-colored armor with reflective blue faceplates, who kidnapped the German president and claimed they were there in order to "stabilize the timeline."
But that was the 22nd of February, 2020 AD.
The current date is the 1st of March, 21XX.