Paige wiped the sweat off her brow. The summer heat was brutal in Brisbane. The salt formed sharp crystals on one’s skin, making it glimmer in the scorching sun. The only relief to be found was in the shining sea that lay spread out before them, glittering and beautiful as a polished sapphire.

She watched her daughter play in the surf, splashing and stomping at the point where the mild waves met the sand. Claire was old enough now to stand just higher than the crests. Still, every now and again, a swell would come and sweep her off her feet, soaking her completely, and reducing her to shrieks and giggles.

Paige smiled. She was glad they’d moved back home. She was happy to have put London behind her. Being out here, in the sun and surf, it took her mind off of everything. Everything going on in the world right now. All the madness and fighting. All the death. She’d heard worrying reports about Japan recently, though news from Asia was scarce after the fall of the CUI.

But here, they were far away from all the conflict. Here, she could look around and see families like hers laughing and relaxing under the midday rays. Safe and at peace, under the pale blue sky. She closed her eyes.

A faint tremor ran through her beach chair.

She sat bolt upright in an instant, looking around. Nothing seemed amiss. People chattered and cavorted around her, just as they had a moment ago. Claire was sitting a bit up from the sea now, making a lumpy castle out of the still-wet sand. Her daughter caught her eye and waved at her, a broad grin on her sun-kissed face.

It must have been her imagination. She was fixating too much on morbid things. Slowly, cautiously, she reclined in her seat once more, eyes still on her child.

The world trembled again, but there was nothing faint about it this time.

The tremor started in her feet and shook her bones, rumbling in her chest so hard it made her ribs ache and raising goosebumps on her flesh. Claire was crying, her newly made castle collapsed into sand, but Paige was already on the move.

She sprinted to her daughter as fast as her legs would carry her, her strides leaving deep pitfalls in the sand. All around people were speaking, almost shouting, phones out and recording, raised voices just on the edge of panic but not quite there yet.

She reached her daughter right in time for the third quake to hit, this one shaking the ground so hard it almost toppled her. Great swathes of white foam were raised in the surf and the sand itself vibrated about her feet. People were shouting now, running back and forth, looking around desperately for the seism’s source, a full-on hysteria descending upon the once tranquil seaside.

She grabbed Claire’s tiny hand and pulled her child to her feet. They had to move, to get to shelter, now. She was just about to start running when her daughter pointed upwards, to the sky behind her.

“Mummy, what’s that? What’s all that stuff up there?”

Paige turned. Her eyes widened in terror. They should have never come back here. Her voice was hoarse, barely a quiver in her throat when she replied.

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“Ash.”

Then came the screaming.

-The Holocaust of Brisbane, 2 A.C.

~~~

Title: Balmut, The Wandering Calamity

Also known as: Bahamut, Blessedbane, and the Death Titan.

Activity: Frequent.

Area: The Green Hell and the Scorch.

Bio: The 1st Titan, Balmut is nearly 50 feet tall. It has no skin, and is more akin to a mountain of obsidian than an actual living creature. Despite this, its overall shape is humanoid, with long claws, thick limbs, an orange mouth dripping with magma, and a single red, glowing, eye.

Balmut’s power is Dynakinesis, the ability to control any and all types of energy. The Titan most often uses this to create and Shape fire, plasma, and lighting. Balmut can create storms of lighting centered around its being, or send incredible streams of concentrated electricity and plasma in a beam-like attack across great distances. Balmut’s lightning follows the laws of physics, allowing skilled Blessed to redirect its attacks. However, Balmut can ultimately still control its lightning after it leaves its body, so efforts to usurp the Titan’s control in this manner are often futile. Balmut can create massive conflagrations using its mind, emit magma and flame from its hands, and even reactivate volcanoes if given sufficient time.

One of Balmut’s most notorious abilities is the one that earned it the name “Blessedbane.” Within a certain radius, Balmut is capable of manifesting and controlling energy inside a target’s body. The Titan typically chooses to create an incredibly potent flame, burning combatants from the inside out. The limit to this range was originally thought to be less than 50 feet, but Balmut demonstrated the ability to raise the circle’s diameter to over a mile during the Horror, effectively making fighting it at close range impossible. Balmut is even able to saturate this area with radiation, poisoning and usually killing all those near him not struck down by flame.

Finally, by manipulating energy, Balmut can unleash a sonic roar that grows more powerful over time, eventually becoming potent enough to collapse buildings, liquify organs, and turn fortifications into dust. Exceptional care should be employed when engaging the Titan with energy attacks, as it is capable of redirecting them, often to devastating effect.

Personality: Balmut is perhaps the simplest of the Titans, both in philosophy and intellectual capability. It is a brute, a being that cares only for destruction and devastation. Balmut is the walking personification of a natural disaster, a true act of God or the Warrior sent to test humanity. Balmut desires to burn flesh, to blow up buildings, and to leave nothing behind it other than a wasteland. It is large, strong, powerful, vicious, and must be engaged with caution.

Unlike many of the other Titans who keep to their own devices, Balmut will likely never stop attacking humanity. The Titan strikes religiously and regularly and, if not stymied by the lives of Blessed, efforts must be made to evacuate his intended target. That said, Balmut is not particularly intelligent. It is a slow moving creature, incapable of mentally or physically responding to complex battle maneuvers, and can be moderately easily avoided.

Though deadly without doubt, Balmut is perhaps one of the easiest Titans to effectively deal with; just stay out of its range and attack from afar. But whatever you do, do not give it time. No one wants another Brisbane.

-Excerpt from A Treatise on the Nature and Manner of Titans for Internal Circulation by Chief Chronicler Axio.