Moments after the sky violently turned dark a wave pressure crashed down on the street. The sound of wood cracking tore through the village as the buildings warped and buckled inwards under their own weight.

The force sent Mareus chin first into the ground like a foot on the back of his neck. The impact sent his mind spinning while his face scraped against the dirt and rocks. Up became down, back became left, and the street smelled of the color blue. He couldn’t hold back his stomach anymore letting it empty out in front of him.

Mareus collected his senses just enough to see the blurred twisting world before him, which didn’t help his dizzying head. He quickly shut them, blinking over and over, in an attempt to adjust his eyes and clear out the dust that settle in them.

His eyes darted to everything he could see without being able to turn his head. Even the warriors in the watchtower at the end of the street had collapsed at their post. One was barely visible against the tower wall and the other had the railing digging into his waist as he hung over the edge. Before the wood snapped under the added weight and the man crashed to the ground like a meteor.

Quiet moans drifting along the ground were his only sign the warrior was still alive. He didn’t need to worry about that though, a fall like that would barely knock the wind out of the average warrior, the pressure was different. It wasn’t just an added weight like when he would swim to the bottom of the lake, there was an otherworldly power behind it.

His chest tightened as it pressed into the packed earth, his lungs and ribs threatening to cave in any second. A coppery taste made its way up from the back of his throat and flooded his mouth. Mareus burned against the cool muck of the street as the pressure kept coming down on his bruised body.

Mareus’ vision throbbed in rhythm with his heart. Now that his vertigo had passed his ears were violated from within by the sound of tearing muscles and cracking bones. His own scream could barely be heard over his body tearing itself apart.

One after another, screams joined his: children, adults, warriors, even some elders cried out in pain and terror. As if their pleas could reach some omnipotent parent that would save them from this unknown energy.

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What’s happening? Did an idiot anger some kind of all powerful force? Mareus pondered through the pain. No, no mortal could be this powerful.

His thoughts paralyzed him just as much as the pressure. Memories of children’s stories flashed in his mind, people walking on clouds and splitting mountains. Fear overcame his doubt, what if they were true? Did some mythical being step out of legends to demonstrate the truth of how far above they stood above pathetic mortals?

Thunder sent a shock wave through his body. Not even half a breath later the door on Grandpa Gin’s tavern bent in before exploding out into the street. The new force sent him flying into a random stall.

It could have been because of the pain, but he felt like the pressure had lessened. If only by the smallest degree. Laying there in a crumpled heap covered in his own vomit and blood he finally saw the source of the chaos.

A burning smile scarred across his face, one good eye piercing the sky, and crimson hair flowing around him like a war god's halo. In what used to be the entrance, stood a man best described as a walking inferno. A burning storm that didn't even notice the village beneath him.

How could something have so much power? In this isolated village the warriors were powerful, most of the elders were even stronger. But they still used a combination of tactics and drawn out battles to take down a single Shou.

This man, this force of nature, gave off the feeling that he could wipe away both the valley and the surrounding mountains with the wave of a hand.

The air ignited under his boot as he brought his foot down, one more step and he was a meter closer to the sky. Mareus thought he must have hit his head harder than he realized because the man was walking on the air. He took his time climbing an invisible staircase until Grandpa Gin’s two story home cowered beneath his feet. The burning man threw his head back and held his arms out to the sky.

Cackling rolled like thunder across the valley.

“You damn fox woman! I’ve been looking for you, is today the one you choose as your last?!” His voice burned with excitement.

With a deep squat the monster jumped off the blazing air and disappeared into the clouds.

The force of his effortless motion flattened every building immediately beneath him. His shock wave spread out in every direction upturning the everything. The once solid ground became rocky waves that were on a tidal path of destruction, quickly crashing into the already beaten Mareus.

The first wave launched him into the air, the second following with the perfect timing to smack him into the side of a pile of rubble. With each wave, he was beaten back into a wall and though they grew weaker, the pain went beyond what his mind could handle.

He fought to hold on, slipping in and out of consciousness. His arm took the brunt of the fifth wave and he felt it break in at least two more places as he was blown back and wedged into the space where two mountains met.

Finally the world went quiet, then faded to black.