They ran out onto the central city highway, a crowd of frightened people burst out of the smoke like a flock of ghosts, almost knocking them down and trampling them, and disappeared. Somewhere very close, a new explosion of colossal power rumbled, the smoke slightly dissipated. Egon, standing in front of his friends, saw several women and old men fall from a strong shock wave, but fortunately, no one was injured and there were men who quickly helped them up.
On the southern side of the highway, an artificially created tornado raged, lifting nails, metal pipes and beams, glass fragments from the road, throwing and scattering everything around. The impenetrable layer of dust raised from the ground further worsened the visibility. Those people who were unlucky enough to be nearby at that moment were sucked into the funnel. The newly formed natural disaster was rapidly rushing along the road. Guillotine felt several fragments cut the skin on his face, he wrapped his cloak around him as soon as he could, but the wind was so strong that even a small stone that crashed into his body felt like a strong punch.
Especially pious residents, having lost all hope, fell to their knees right on the road and called on the Lord God to drive away the horsemen of the apocalypse and save them, for everything is His will. They did not understand why death was approaching right now and why everything was turning to dust and ashes.
They gathered as close to each other as possible, Egon shouted:
"The nearest gate is to the south, but we can't get through the tornado. We need to run to the west through the temple, which should be located about two hundred meters to our left. Run after me and don't stop!"
He ran ahead, jumping over pits and avoiding craters on the road and praying, that this almost suicidal decision was right. Panicked residents of Agernox, like blind animals, ran chaotically in the rays of the daytime sun that filtered through all the black grayness, crashed and knocked each other down. All the beauty of the steam world turned into its original form and the screams covered it with their truth and nothing else worried people, except survival, relying on their Savior, but not on themselves.
A fiery boulder fell next to Ofir and he was thrown two meters to the side and he fell on the destroyed road and a brick smashed in half crashed into his left arm and he groaned and Guillotine noticed it and returned to him. He took his friend, put his right hand on his neck and said, "Hold on, bitch." They went ahead after Egon, who was waiting at the corner of a flaming fence that resembled the gate to the underworld itself.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Another explosion occurred. The golden dome of the church broke off from the tower and fell ten paces from Egon. He shuddered and jumped back and fell, screamed, looked at himself and looked in the direction of his friends. Everyone is alive and well. He realized that there was no time to discuss what he saw, he got up and ran forward.
They rounded the dome to the left, blackened and dilapidated, inside of which black ring rods were visible, and ran through the flames into the temple territory. An unbearable heat seized everyone's body. Sweat broke out on foreheads, their backs drenched in seat. Eyes could not see anything, but their feet carried them forward, as if they knew where to go, and so it turned out. They came to a small garden behind the church shop, of which only the scorched, cracked earth remained.
There were no priests, no prophets, or any other church representatives nearby. Except for those poor fellows who were hiding in the temple with the destroyed roof. They locked the doors and didn't let anyone in. The sun's rays, through a gap in the sky, illuminated the space.
"Apocryphal shit," said Guillotine and saw how people crowded from the opposite side and beat with all their might against the wooden doors, some ran from the end, put ladders and tried to climb inside from above, the second in line, always pushed the first down so that he hurried, after which there was a scream, a sepulchral crunch of bones, and then everything repeated again. Others broke the stained-glass windows and climbed inside. With grief in half, the doors opened from the inside, and the angry crowd was finally able to run in.
They ran forward without looking back, one district was replaced by another. And the further they got away from the center of the city, the quieter it became, until a few blocks of stone crashed at great speed into the eastern wall, which held back the impact, but a crack like a ball lightning formed at the site of the collision. The ground under their feet shuddered again and they all swore as one. Several guards who were on duty on the wall fell to the ground in a deadly hail. Egon turned around at the sound of another explosion and saw how in the north of the city, the bridge railway along with two freight trains collapsed down. Dust, smoke, greyness. In some places, the fire of burning factories has already engulfed several dormitories for workers standing nearby.
They did not wait for the end of the performance and ran off. The street was empty, all the locals hid in their houses, apparently believing that the fragile brick structure would protect them. Several squads of soldiers and policemen ran past, but they did not care about the young guys who gave way to them, standing along the walls of houses.
When they reached the end of the street and turned right, towards the west gate, they saw a metentis finishing off several inquisitors. He raised his head and looked at the young people who were standing very close, waiting for what would happen next. The metentis frowned, clearly sensed something and attacked them, surrounded by spheres of different elements.