Men and women wept aloud, while lone children cried for this parents. Animals wandered through the street, bleeding and confused. Thick black smoke rose high into air. Buildings had been lit aflame, like great stone candles and those that weren’t on fire had been crushed into rubble. Into so much dust, warped steel and shattered glass.

The City of Forsvik was lost. Forsvik of Lloyd was no more. Lost to the great black whirling windows in the sky. A million lives were gone and all that this signified was...that Summer was here.

*****

A shadow split of from all the rest, growing deeper and darker, taking on substance of its own. It rose and became rectangular. Rippling like pool of inky waters. Then it solidified becoming a door. A N-Door. The door opened through it walked a group of ten. All of them wearing casters mask. Masks bespelled to keep out the dust and soot and the smell of burning flesh.

“Shit…” said Tangent, looking around at the scene of devastation with wide eyes. His look of horror hidden behind his swirled white mask.

“Hey, man...that’s just what Outsiders can do, when their gate happens to open up right inside of a town.” said Jermaine.

Doing a better job of maintaining his composure and feigning a complete, professional detachment. Frowning in annoyance, when some his Ghost made the mistake of lifting their masks and began to wretch. The noise of their vomit splattering across the ground making his stomach feel a few sympathy pains of its own.

“Hey, boss lady. What’s our play here?” said Jermaine. Not really caring which of the two female executives of the Bone Tree Company answered. Only wanting them to answer quickly, hoping that their words distracted him from the sight of the ‘smaller’ bodies, that he’d happened to notice as they were walking along. Making their way through the ruined city.

*****

Fall was for the dragons. Winter for starving demonbeasts. Spring for the restless dead and summer was when the outsiders came to town. ‘Outsider’ was what the people of Monde called the myriad neighbors and enemies that the old empire had happened to make in it heyday.

The countless conquerors that they’d managed to rebuff. The countless creatures of the outer dark that they’d kept their distance from moving worlds cosmological axis in such a way, as to keep their paths from meeting.

The Ancient Sorcerers and Practitioners of the Argus Empire were diligent setting up countless protections to ward off the invaders. Unfortunately there was no warding against time and human nature.  Whether it was curiosity or avarice that lead them to do so, they left holes in the planetary and dimensional defensive network. Holes that could be used when they wanted to do some exploration or plunder of their own.  

Now several thousand years later, while the actual holes could no longer be opened, during the summer months when the stars aligned just right, those holes could be converted into cracks in the world’s armor. Wide weaknesses in Monde’s defensive barriers that the strangers from beyond the stars could take advantage of.

*****

“Just ‘what’ do they think they’re doing?” said one man to another.

The speaker was Lord Victor of Albrecht, who went by the handle of Steelheart Wolf. A famed duelist and a Terrestrial-Ranked warrior of the Second Realm.

He spoke to his acquaintance, a Lady Isobel of Albus, who went by the handle Magnetite Red, who possessed a similar level of cultivation.

“Don’t know...They seem to be setting up some of kind of installations. I’ve never seen any charms like ‘that’ on the market.” said Magnetite Red.

Leaning forwards a little as she watched the Thousand Ghosts step out from the group and use charmed-cards to set a series of construction magics into motion. The rubble and dirt and stone being made to melt into glowing pools. From which rose, crystal towers with colorful spheres within them. The same crystal towers that rumor said, a certain Enzo Maynard was going crazy trying to get his hands on.

“Mhm...Mayhaps they’re something the little Bone Tree Company keeps for their own use?” said a fourth speaker, who’d only introduced himself as Twelfth-Sword.

“Bugger all that. My only concern is whether these upstarts will be able handle this mission on their own and keep the threat from spreading.” said Nine Lives-Dog. A peak, twelfth layer practitioner from Lloyd.

His words got a mixture of shrugs and chuckles. The group of ten support agents, hung in the background, near the edge of the city. Ready to act if it looked like the primary contractees weren’t able to deal with the issue. As was the case for all Calamity-Class threats.

*****

Tangent watched the great crystal tower rise from the ground like bean sprouts. His jaw hanging agape. Jermaine watched a little more reservation, his estimation of the Bone Tree Company’s capability rising.

His shrewd mind scheming whirring away, as it thought of how to add this ability to his own. Of how to use this for the Thousand Ghost’s sake. A quiet thought wondering if perhaps the thousand ghost even truly needed to stay ‘the thousand ghosts’. A rose by any other name was still a rose after all.

As for the subordinate members of The Thousand Ghosts, who were responsible for the set up and were the ones actually creating the towers. They watched it all with naked awe. Able to feel it, as the constructs hummed to life, drawing aether from the air.

The eye-like orbs within the towers watching the world around them with rapt attention of a newborn child.

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“Okay, Queen, what’s your play in this? It’s your show, we’re just along for the ride. But I can feel something coming and it makes me nervous.” said Jermaine.

The gold masked Tyrant Queen said nothing at first. She simply stared at the sky and the two black puckers that hung in the middle of it. Suspended above the city.

She stretched out her hand and up from the shadows rose her halberd. She fed it aether and willed the pole-arm to grow three times longer, till it was twice the length of one of the crumpled street fixtures. The blade growing sharper as it fed on her aether. Then she wound her tail around the handle.

The Cold-Mercury Angel with her silver and white domino mask said little as well. Calling up her AWs. Calling up more than she’d ever called before a vast array of them. At least thirty in number. All of them arranging themselves around her like planets around a star.

“For now we’re just waiting.” said Edna.

“Waiting for what?” said Tangent.

“You’ll see.” said Elena. A bit of feral mischief adding a rough depth to her voice. The smile she wore evident, despite the mask that hid her face.

*****

From the two holes in the sky came a deep pulsing thrum, it depleted the aether in the air and made the world shiver. It happened once, twice, thrice and then the two dark holes became two white holes. Spigots that hemorrhaged light and energy, spilling particles from the outer dark out onto the lands below.

“Shit!” said Tangent, startled by the spectacle. His shadows drawing close to him in reflex.

“Easy...we’re not moving yet.” said Elena.

“What!?” said Tangent.

The two white gates roared and out from the gates came bodies, from one gate came figures possessing feather and bodies made entirely of light. From the other gate came bodies of yellow and black, striped chitinous hide and fast flapping diaphanous wings. Both entity types filled with a heavy and foreboding aether. Exuding aura that bespoke a cultivation that was at the very least of the second realm.

“Eh!”

“Ei!?”

The Thousand Ghosts’ people made frightened noises, flinching as they watched the creatures flying overhead. A few like Tangent almost attacked on impulse but Jermaine and Elena held them back.

“Hold on guys.” said Elena.

“Keep it tight.” said Jermaine.

“It’s not time yet.” said Edna.

“Not time? If it’s not time yet then when will it be time? When they’re on top of us?” said a panicked Gizmo Kiss.

Edna just shook her head, her eyes kept trained on the sky.

“Just watch.” said Elena. Her tone so calm that it was just a little bit infectious. Spreading to Jermaine, Tangent and the rest.

Jermaine looked up and after moments time he realized something. They, and their little group of practitioners were being ignored. Instead the flying juggernauts were assaulting each other. The feathered ones and shelled ones attacking each other with heat and hate in abundance.

Slamming into each other like angry mountains. Sending orbs of heat and force streaking through the air. Filling the sky with fire and lightning. Scorching the earth only as a consequence of the few times they missed, or the times that one of them fell before dying, in a spectacular blaze.

There was a small feeling muted horror as he looked around and realized that the city that they were standing hadn’t been a target. It had been a casualty. Still he maintained his calm. Pretending not to notice the cool sweat on his back and brow and the way the little hairs of his body were all standing at attention.

“I’m not sure if you noticed it, but we can’t fight all those on our own.” said Jermaine.

Edna smiled, a rare genuine smile, brighter than all the others, in the same way the sun was brighter than a sun-lamp.

She tossed up a cube that was completely covered in spellscript and from the cube came a bubble. She shot through the bubble with her AWs and the whole world seemed to scream. Filled with a dreadful screeching like nails being pulled down a million chalk boards, a thousand trains braking and failing to stop.

There was an explosion of light and everyone who was there witness it was awed as they watched the sky fold in on itself and the windows and the majority of the winged ones who’d been flying through it, get sucked away.

The Tyrant Queen grinned.

“What do you think, Jerry? Think we can handle clean up the rest?” said Elena.

Jermaine looked around as the winged ones fell, those who came to try and retaliate against the surprise assault, getting shot down by the crystal sentry towers. A sly smile curled the corners of his laps.

“Heh...Yo, you know what I think we can manage.”

*****

Elsewhere on the edge of the ruin that was once known as Forsvik, a group of practitioners stood in stone silence. Stunned, mute. One by one they flitted away. Aware that what they’d just seen was something that absolutely ‘had’ to be reported.