Dark. Smokey. The hallway was dark and filled with smoke and dust. The foreigner was within that neighboring apartment building, not her own.
Indeed, with her own building…she had not the need to really…do as much as she had predicted; most of its inhabitants had been outside when the bombardment had begun, and those that were inside of it had…evacuated and helped whoever had been trapped and in need of help, clearing through any obstacles. Indeed, the denizens had…helped themselves, her contributions having been…minimal; though, she had helped a few who had found themselves underneath rubble and debris, so perhaps not…overly minimal.
Nevertheless, her building had been cleared; thus, now…she made her way through this one…and this wide and girthy apartment building was…certainly a different story. The damage inflicted upon it by less than a handful of straggling shells was enough to leave almost half of it…structurally hanging on by a feather’s thread.
The denizens themselves, although they had stormed this building with hammers and tools to help clear debris and help those who could be trapped, nevertheless, avoided and stayed staunchly clear of one particular section of it—the section that had been hit by the strongest of shells.
Since nobody had ventured down this path, a few unlucky souls could still be trapped in a myriad of ways; thus, such was the path down which the foreigner made way…committed to not leave a single damned soul behind.
As she did so, it was becoming more clear as to why the denizens…well…stayed clear. Segments of two floors above this one, being the heart of the principal impact, had been blown apart and had collapsed onto the floor directly above; only by stupid luck…or as the locals would say, the ‘intervention by Fortune’s luck’, had the collapse not continued…but such was not to imply that it would not continue.
Indeed, holes and cracks in the walls and ceiling above, debris and rubble were starting to break through; the hallway almost seemed…weak and bent, slanting and hanging on just barely. A cascade was not immediate…but it was going to happen inevitably. For indeed, as the locals would say, ‘Fortune’s luck was never without her debts’.
“Hello?! Help! Help me! Please! I-is anyone there?! I hear footsteps! Or-or-or are my…are my ears deceiving me?” thus shouted so many wall-muffled shouts, accompanied by panicked bangs and knocks; “Please! Please! There’s stuff blocking my way! I can’t get out! I need help! Please! I have a child!” the shouts continued.
Hearing these dampened desperate pleas, the foreigner swiftly made way with rather the speed, panting somewhat as she ran. Following the voice’s echoing trail, she arrived and immediately inspected…and quickly saw…
Ah…the whole hallway ahead was so conveniently obstructed and clogged by a towering pile of debris and rubble—stupidly so. This large pile of debris had tumbled down and through the barely stable floor above.
Yet…it was so comedic in its appearance, being so neatly wedged between the two sides of the hall and the unit doors, that it almost seemed as though such had been placed with intent…even though, it was most likely nothing more than a product of random chance; yet for many reasons, however, she could not completely convince herself of that.
At any rate, she looked around…truly…this section was barely hanging on. The ceiling around the breach above from which this large pile of debris had broken through…was riddled with deep cracks that only extended throughout. The walls around, likewise, were cracking and making all sorts of…not-so-pleasant noises.
Indeed, either the shell that had detonated to cause this was…exceptionally potent…or this building was shabby in its construction, emphasizing the wideness and tallness without the actual quality…or maybe—most likely, rather—it was a mix of both, no doubt.
Nevertheless, all signs were pointing to one reality: there was not any the time.
“Hello! Yes! I can hear you…can you hear me? I am here!” the foreigner finally called out, announcing her presence. Although obstructed by the wedged pile of debris, she could see…somewhat…the door in question; he walls around were, thankfully, rather thin and sound traveled through easily.
“HELLO!? Yes! Madam! I can hear you! Please! Are you with any men around?! My door is blocked! I can’t get out! And my room! The ceiling is cracking and things are starting to fall! I-I think it’s going to tumble! P-please, please! HELP ME OUT OF HERE!” thus the panicked denizen shouted out in reply, their obscured voice…audibly feminine.
« … » the foreigner had no initial response, for just by…staring at the obstacle in front, she could tell that no amounts of kicks, bashes, or frantic two-handed removal was going to clear it.
Though, besides…she inspected…this comedically dense and tall debris pile still seemed to be connected to the floor above, implying that this pile was an extension of a greater composite above—clearing it could perhaps cause debris to fall down. Likewise, there was a chance that its weight and presence was, paradoxically, adding support to the stability of the crumbling ceiling and floor above—like a ‘pillar’, almost.
However, such affairs involving buildings—of all things—were not her domain…not at all. She did not know, but that was still a risk she did not want to take. However…she had other ways, for there were other risks she was willing to take.
“Alrightly! Just…uhm…just stay longer! I will be there soon!” the foreigner finally shouted in reply.
Quickly, she approached the door to a unit next and near; with a single decisive kick, she broke into it and made way straight for a window in the living area. Smashing it open in kind, she swiftly climbed out…gripping onto the building’s sides and edges. The air outside…was worse than it had been before. Truly, her lungs felt violated with each breath; she resisted the impulse to cough…to limited effect.
She carefully, yet decisively, made her way to the trapped denizen’s window. Her grip…was weak; she was weak; her body felt sluggish and unresponsive; it did not help that the damage was…just as bad on the outside as it was on the inside. Yet she persisted, nevertheless.
Reaching the window, she climbed up somewhat…positioning herself…before, in a lunging lance, she kicked straight through and into their unit, the shattered glass…spraying itself around. This maneuver surprised and spooked the denizen, who clung shieldingly to her…oddly calm child of sorts…held in arms with both hands. The denizen quickly snapped out of it, however, and immediately approached in a hurry.
“OH GLORY TO THE GODS! Gave me a scare there but…you certainly are something!” the denizen shouted in relief…approaching…panting away in exhausted panic.
Yet quickly and abruptly…the denizen took one look at the foreigner…and began to stare with such a widened glare, freezing in place. The child, barely awake and largely indifferent seemingly, also began to stare with such…interested eyes.
The foreigner, paying no mind, inspected the immediate environment…her ignited eyes needed only but a single look at the space around to…immediately deduce just how…close this unit…and this entire section of this building…was to being crushed by the crumbling weight above. The ceiling was bulging almost, not simply cracking away—and not at all making any welcoming noises, suffice it to say.
The foreigner quickly returned her eyes’ attention to the denizen and child, both of whom were still staring dead at her…bewildered in absolute.
“…pretty…” the child remarked out.
Yet the foreigner, inferring many things, tilted her head…staring, her baggy cyanic eyes…clearly unamused. “Heh? Y-yes, I am only in the undergarments; I could not change, but now is not the time for staring! We need to leave, now! I can climb!” she said with urgency in voice…perhaps brushing off the true fixation of their staring glares, for she was not completely naive to the fact that her face felt so…oddly empty, even if full realization has yet to set in.
The denizen shook her head, snapping out of it; “R-right! Right! O-of course…sorry! It’s just…clearly, you were sent by the Gods…I should’ve never doubted” her exhausted breaths uttered out.
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The denizen, however, promptly handed the foreigner…her child; “Take her, please…take her first…you can hold her on your back and shoulders, right? I’m too tall for both…so please, her first” she implored
The foreigner sighed; « De corsad…ģe semper hoc » she muttered out; of course, always this. Regardless, she acknowledged and took the child into both hands, who immediately made these…strange…whimpering sounds of sorts, reaching out for her mother.
The foreigner swiftly placed the child onto her back, who instinctively grasped onto her chest and shoulders…holding on tightly. “I will return soon” she said to the denizen, who simply smiled and warmly replied “Thank you”.
Without any delay, the foreigner climbed back out and began to…cautiously and diligently…scale her way down the building’s face.
Yet passing her by down below…were denizens, buckets and pots of water in hand, who immediately noticed. A few paused in place, seeing the hooded and cloaked foreigner climbing down with a child dangling on back.
“Hey…hey! Look! That one’s gotta kid on his back! Shit!” one shouted, immediately dropping their bucket.
“Oh Fertility’s fucked mouth! Look at that! That whole face is about to tumble, ain’t it?! There’s more trapped inside there?!” another shouted in remark.
The few denizens gestured to each other as they began to congregate underneath, many volunteers storming into the building proper in order to search for any more people inside before the inevitable tumbling befell.
“Hey! You!” a denizen from down below called out.
The foreigner ughed immediately, still in the process of making her…rather dangerous climb down. She paused, somewhat, dangling fixed in place almost, as her head turned and stared down as much as she feasibly could. “What? I have to hurry!” she replied loudly, annoyed in affect.
The denizen’s head tilted; “…a…a girl?” he mumbled in remark…indeed, now noticing the obvious differentiating details, before shaking his head; “Whatever—ahem—you! Drop the kid! We’ll catch her! We can see! That’s the mom watching from the window, right? Go fetch her if you can! Quickly, don’t know how long this place’ll hold!” the denizen shouted, gesturing with his hands.
“Heh?” the foreigner blurted out…“that is a very…” she began to reply, but then…she realized…hmm…the distance below was safe enough, actually, and there were enough denizens below to catch.
“Fine…” she replied with a sigh, her head turning to the child on her back; “Drop. You will be fine” she said to the child, who immediately nodded a big, fat, and decisive “No!” the child declared, “Too high! I’m scared, I’m scared!”
« Ģe de corsad… » the foreigner muttered in a sighing breath; of course, young denizen offspring. She scaled down somewhat more; “Now?” she inquired to the child, who looked down at the gathering others below, all gesturing for her to jump.
This child…the foreigner could feel her trembling fear. She let out a soft exhale; “Trust your others, you will be fine; I must get your…ehm…mother” she said with a rather…warmish voice.
The child, nodding away, took a deep breath, in and out, in and out; “Alrightly” she said, before closing her eyes and…finally letting go, falling down to the ground, before immediately…
“Caught her!” a denizen announced in rejoice, child caught in hands, the others also rejoicing in kind. The mother, observing with a sunken heart, exhaled in absolute relief; her child will survive this, even if she herself could not.
“Good” the foreigner, now scaling back up the building, began to sternly say, “now the rest disperse and start helping with the fires! This standing is a waste of your time! There is no need for so many to wait!” she chastised authoritatively. Indeed, it was an inefficient usage of personnel to have such a congregation of free hands when only…two or three were necessary.
She quickly climbed her way back up to the mother’s window. « Oké » she announced as she climbed back in, turning and presenting her back; “Now, you…hold onto me, quickly” she instructed, gesturing with her hands.
The mother, however, stared…“Will this…even work? I mean…I am—and I mean not say that you are small—but certainly more so than me…and I’m a bit heavy so—” she was saying, but “Grab. On. Now! I can you carry down! There is no time!” the foreigner interjected, commandingly so.
The mother snapped herself straight, aheming; “Right right right…of course, sorry for doubting you…” she replied before grabbing hold…tightly, the weight difference becoming immediately…apparent.
Yet swiftly, the foreigner climbed out and began to scale her way back down…with the somewhat taller denizen now dangling on back.
Compared to the child…the weight was far more…pronounced…than the foreigner had expected, atypically so. She could carry a full sack of glow-crystals…but not a denizen…apparently—or rather her nerves…her figure, her body…they were not as cooperative as such were supposed to be…as if they were missing something—something her essence’s automated doings could not easily supplant.
This task was certainly not an easy one, but, nevertheless, she made her way down, slowly but surely; once at a safe height…she let go and jumped down to the ground…landing safely and fine…largely. The mother, regardless of possible injury, immediately lanced herself back up and headed straight for her child, still held in the hands of that denizen…who quickly put her down.
Now, the oddly indifferent child…began to show affect, her eyes tearing up; “Mommy!” so shouted the child in relief, running to her mother who swiftly embraced her into arms.
“Yes! Mommy is safe! Mommy is safe…” the mother warmly said.
The foreigner stared…largely flat affect, her mind too preoccupied with the situation at hand, but…admittedly…this was certainly not a disagreeable sight.
The mother turned and looked at the foreigner; “Thank you! Seriously, thank you! Glory to which ever God you serve, lovely!” she said solemnly and graciously, but then…turned her focus to…the streets around…trying to ignore the corpses and bodies still scattered about; “Now…I need to head straight for the outer-gates…I can make it” she remarked to herself, panting somewhat…before coughing from the putrid air; “This smell…and that fire, I saw it from up there, that’s all demon-fire and it’s spreading! This city…it’s gone already! Oh Hero’s shield ward us…” she remarked in lament, coughing still.
The mother, child in arms, quickly began to run off down the street, making way for a path that would lead out of this burning city. “Thanks again!” she shouted afar, the child waving in kind; “Bye bye underwear wizard-lady!”
The foreigner…stared; “…be…safe now…” her quiet breaths murmured in reply, words…solemn and sincere. Though…she too was beginning to cough; truly…this air, this stench, the sky was worse than the worst it had been before…and it was only becoming even worse.
The denizen who had caught the child was still lingering, even though the rest had dispersed…to a point; his eyes peered at the foreigner whose own eyes inspected around, her mind cogitating and planning.
Noticing his glare, the foreigner shifted her ignited eyes’ attention and stared in turn…tilting her head, slightly confused.
The denizen’s own head tilted in kind, if not more so, as he silently stared; “What the fuck…?” he finally blurted out; “Are you one of those…no no, those aren’t regular casting…huh…different somehow…” his breaths mumbled out; “…you’re…rather the lady alright…”
« … » the foreigner’s bagged eyes were not amused at all; “It is unbecoming of a man to stare at an exposed lady, no? Is there not more important things to stare at?” she remarked, bluntly.
The denizen immediately flustered aback, having not even realized just how…exposed the foreigner was underneath that full-cloak of hers…a grand blush invaded his cheeks as his head snapped down and averted away; “O-o-of course! I meant that in a completely different sense! Not at all that…and I mean, not to imply that you aren’t as fine as the Goddess of Knowledge and Strategy herself but—ugh Demon-King rape my father’s asshole—but that’s not what I meant!!” he flusteringly…attempted to…clarify.
Pfft…denizens and their denizenness. “Do you not have fires needing to be contained? I certainly need to return to that building and continue to search” she stated bluntly, before turning to make way for departing.
The denizen snapped his attention back to the foreigner, overcoming his fluster; “Right, about that!” he called out before she could depart, the foreigner halting and shifting her attention back to him with a glaring stare.
The denizen still found it difficult to look her in the face and eyes, but still tried; “You seem to have a Raven gal’s dexterity, climbing up and down a building like that…braver than even the men running about…but listen, we’ve got a whole bunch of people trapped in burning buildings…they don’t have a lot of time…and I think you could more helpful there than here” he remarked, somewhat timidly.
The foreigner tilted her head, eyes clearly contemplating.
“Look…there’s now more people than in you in that building searching through it…sure, that chunk’s gonna come tumbling down soon…but the rest of it will stand…but the buildings on fire though…they’ve got even less time and the people there…we can’t just in-storm and fetch them” he remarked further.
The foreigner…looked at him…new details being taken in. This denizen had clearly been in the inferno once or twice, limbs and hands burned…yet he still stood strong, nevertheless. She then looked at the building…that section still barely hanging on structurally, the noises emanating from it…even less pleasant than before.
Yet indeed, his assessment was…correct. Her skillset would be far better utilized for search and rescue in more…immediate and desperate environments. She had already done her own thorough search through most of that building along the way. Not many should be left in there; but those who had…just stormed into it were at quite the risk of being caught…should the most damaged parts of the building complete the tumble.
Ugh…no use in being concerned with such hypotheticals; they went in there with intent…and hopefully with an understanding of the risks.
She sighed, looking straight back at denizen; “Fine…you lead, I will follow” she replied.
The denizen smiled, nudging his head; “Thanks! Come on now!” he said as began to make way with haste; “I can’t say nothing for the inner-wall districts…but judging from the smoke and glowing fires…they must’ve received the brunt…but at least we can try to save the outskirts from this shitstorm” he remarked to the foreigner as she trailed closely behind…both trying not to trip over the debris and…corpses.