“C'mon, Han, let's go, Hurry up.” Brooke stayed close as Han rushed forward and out of the building. Things had gone well, and far easier than expected. Although there had been armed guards, and a few pracitoninors, none had been a problems to deal with. They were no match for Huuron orcs, and their enchnets had shielded them from msot of the attacks. They practitioners had been half mages, all but Glenn who had attempted to flee rather than fight. Brooke had been the one to put him down.
“Brooke, we have a problem,” Isla called from up ahead
“More hostiles?”
“Maybe…?” Isla’s voice sounded shocked and full of disbelief. Brooke hurried out of the hole they’d made in the warehouse’s front and froze the moment her eyes hit the sky. There was a jagged, giant hole in the sky, leading into a dark void. That was the only thing she could think of to describe it. It was darker than the night and devoid of anything. It looked less like a hole had opened up and more like someone had torn a piece of reality away.
“Chieftess, incoming.”
She looked down and saw half a dozen walking and glowing blurs heading their way. At first, she thought it was her vision, but no, they were naturally blurry and were slowly walking closer and closer. As she looked from one to another, her eyes began to dry rapidly, and she felt a heat blossom in her stomach like she had just drunk something that was too hot.
“Get to the car, now!” She said, deciding it was best to get back to base first, rather than fight this unknown enemy. They quickly moved together, and as they did, Brooke noted the rising noise. Screaming, shouting, and sizzling.
****
Nate hadn't thought his day could get any worse. From the situation with the sorcerer to the sudden disappearance of his partner, and now this. He and dozens of others DOSA agents had rushed out when someone had screamed there was a hole in the sky. He hadn't truly processed that before he was looking up at it.
“What are you all doing, get to work, and move! Simon, call Oliver, and someone get me a phone, Move!”
Screams and shouts began and… “Sizzling?”
****
Adam smiled down at the elf, thrusting as deep as he could when the door burst open and one of his men shouted, “The sky. There's something in the sky?”
Adam held back the urge to fling the man across the room. “What do I always say about it interrupting me, Carl?”
“But it’s important, the sky, boss, it's… You gotta see it for yourself.”
Adam pressed a finger to the elf's forehead and she fell into slumber. He pulled on some clothes and glared at Carl as he walked out. “This better not be some stupid thing.” He moved down and noted others moving towards the entrance. They all parted for him, and with him at the lead, they all exited the building.
Adam didn't know what he’d been exiting, but it certainly wasnt this. “What in the pit and beyond…” A hole tore the sky open, and he could hear faint screams. Rising screams, and shouts of panic. “Is that sizzling?”
“Boss, look.”
Adam looked to his right, and in the attached car park was something. He rubbed his eyes and squinted, but nothing changed. A human blur was walking towards them, a light around its form. As he stared, his eyes began to sting and dry. He felt heat rise in his groin, uncomfortable heat. “Get inside, and put the building on Lockdown.” Nobody moved. “Now!”
His shout was enhanced by magic, and all at once, everyone scrambled inside. Adam shot one last look at the figure before he too moved inside. Best not to find out what it was, and from what he could hear, he’d been staying inside for some time.
At least he had food. The elf had put off some delectable essence and there were others. He would wait whatever this was out.
****
“I always knew you were a bastard, but kidnapping your own stepdaughter like some she was some common whore off the streets!” Zaria glared down at her husband who looked back with a scowl. “Considering that she denies her true heritage, she may as well be a common street—”
Her palm cut him off, and the sound of flesh on flesh was loud. “Don't you dare.”
“I dare?” Azaran shot to his feet. “You dare to strike me?”
“I dare a lot more than that,” Zaria spat, her words venomous.
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Close by, the four guards looked on with dull faces, though their shuffling belied their nervousness. Zaria felt her fury ebb somewhat, and she walked over to a chair. She took a deep breath as she sat. “You will help me find her.”
Her husband shot her a dark look, but he didn't argue. Mainly because he knew just as she did that he’d messed up. He’d kidnapped Zara, then had her taken from him, and now who knew where she was? She could very well have been taken by their enemies and though her husband held no love for his stepdaughter, he did not want his enemies to possess anything that could be used or held against him or his family.
Azaran took a deep breath and was about to speak when the door burst open. The servant hurriedly bowed, his eyes wide, and chest heaving. “Your highness, my lady, hurry, something happened, the sky, it’s… torn.”
Zaria met her husband's gaze and in that look, they decided to finish this fight for now. They followed the servant and moved to the room across their own and out onto the balcony. Her children were there, all of them, save for Kasanir.
They were all looking up, their eyes wide. Even the usually stoic and expressionless Ianthe had her mouth open and eyes wide. Zaria and Azaran both looked up and saw the tear in the sky. “By the old gods and new,” Azaran muttered. “What is that?”
“We don't know,” Ianthe said. “Do you hear the screams?”
Zaria could now that she was looking for them. Screams, shouts, and the sound of burning meat. A slow sizzling. “Lock the grounds down, nobody leaves or comes in, save for family.”
The servant looked to Azaran who nodded. “Do as she says.”
“Look.” Her youngest Kai pointed down to the nearby street. Just behind their fence was a figure that looked like a walking blur. Like the rising heat in Egypt. Except this was in the form of a man, and around it was a glow.
“Don’t look,” Ianthe said, and Zaria understood why as her eyes began to water, and even the tears turned to steam. She felt a heat rise in her throat and coughed. “Water, get me some water.”
The servant rushed off, and Zaria quickly moved everyone back inside.
****
Vix tapped a finger against the table, and for the first in a whole, really regretted her decisions. Maybe putting out an open bounty for all had been a bad idea, but at the time she had been so eager to be the one to get her hands on the boy, on a lead to the prize. But now, it was causing far too much trouble. She didn’t need an enforcer or gods forbid, the ender coming to pay her a visit.
She glanced at her phone and moved to pick it up and make a call when one of the satyr guards rushed into her office. “Mistress, hurry you need to come.” Vix frowned, sensing his fear, his overwhelming fear, and concern. She was immediately on high alert, her mind jumping to thoughts of an enforcer, or the ender.
“What is it?”
“The sky, mistress, you need to see it.” She allied herself to be led outside, and what she saw baffled her. A hole had been torn in the sky, jagged and leding to… nothing. Just a pit of darkness, which felt wrong to her. It wasn’t just her. Many of the workers and the clubgoers had rushed outside and were all looking at it.
Then came a scream in the distance, and another, and another.
“Look! What the fuck is that?”
Everyone began turning this way and that, until someone shouted, “There, near the end of the line.” Everyone turned and saw a walking blur headed straight toward them. Vix’s eyes began to dry as she looked at the figure, and she quickly turned away. “Everybody inside or out!” She turned to her guard. “Get this palace locked down, and activate all the wards.”
People began rushing. Some to cars, others inside, while one idiotic pulled ot a phone and began walking closer to the thing. Vix shook her head as she walked back inside. The sound of screaming had grown louder, not accompanied by shouts, and sizzling.
****
The demon was used to many strange sights, having lived his whole life in the pit, and his time on the Prime in the city of sin, but this was beyond any of that. He’d been thinking of what to do, and how to get the city underground to calm the hell down before the ender came knocking when there had been an odd, stretching of sorts. He didn't know how to describe it but it had been like everything had just blurred. It had been so quick, then most people with lesser senses probably didn't even notice, but he had.
He had also immediately felt his instincts howl, and they had only grown louder as he stared up at the hole in the sky. A literal hole, a jagger rip into an abyss, a void in space. In truth, it looked more like someone had torn away a piece of reality as he was high up, and could see it from the side, or at least it should have a side, but it didn’t. Not like a normal portal. There was no edge, just a rip. It hurt to look at so he wasn’t too sure.
The screaming wasn’t so odd to him. He was a being of hell. Even the shouting wasn't too bad, but the sizzling was off. He was familiar with the sound of burning, but this was something else. A deep sound that seemed to cover everything. Like a backdrop. It had started off soft but was growing louder and louder.
On his perch, he could also see the figures moving about, and what they did to anything they touched, human or not. He was glad he wasn’t down there, as he didn’t want to test his natural fire resistance against them.
There was one good thing though. The ender was probably not going to be coming for him with this going on. He settled down and kept alert. If one of those blurring things came close, he would be gone in a flash.