POV - Monache/ Grace
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The evening air caressed the Monarch's skin in something equating cold. Since her rebirth sensations like heat and frost didn’t bother her in the slightest. The gentle lapping waves crashed up against the frozen platform she’d created. From here she could see the entire city line of Lower New York. Its walls buttressed up against the water as though to keep her out.
A many-toothed smile spread across her face, it hadn’t so far, but then again moving through the shadows had always been her favorite method of approach.
Things were different now though, just like she’d expected, the crest had retreated behind the walls less than an hour ago. Now was not the time for subtly, now was the time to break this egg wide open and scoop out the delicious core.
The Monache’s children waited excitedly at the edges of her awareness, begging to be let loose. All it took was a gentle swat of her power to get them to behave.
‘Hold now little ones, wait until I’m ready’
Thoughts stilled throughout the connection, falling silent as they froze in place.
With a satisfied release of breath, the Monache moved to the edge of her vessel and touched a hand to her chest. Forcing the claim of dominion from her core. She slowly and painfully extracted the coin from her flesh. It was floating above her palm calmly as it resonated with power. Grabbing hold of it, the Monache sunk her hand into the water below and called out into the depths.
By the right of her claim, she let all the energy the coin had stored until now loose.
The power that had slumbered below since its arrival into this world, began to stir. When the ichor had fallen, Grace had noted how neither land nor sea was left unscathed. It was only when she became the Monache that she felt the power moving beneath her feet. Left to mature in the dark depths of the oceans, even she wasn’t fully aware of what would answer her call.
What she did know from Grace’s knowledge was that traveling down the Hudson River into the Upper New York Bay, was enormous amounts of power, free for the taking.
The power answered her call, as was her right, reaching up from the bay floor toward her vessel like twisting tendrils of seaweed.
Gingerly, it wrapped around her fingers and the coin. The moment it did she released the object and let it sink below the surface.
Power rushed up from the waves and coiled around her mind, seeking connection. As the large consciousness came into being, she felt it gladly fall under her rein.
The bay began to vibrate, and the waters became choppy as a presence began to coalesce beneath the waves.
Distantly, a third presence rose from below the cityscape, screaming its childish battle cry, and slamming into their growing bond. It was lonely and wanted the child for itself, but it was too weak right now, and otherwise occupied. The Monache battered aside its claim with her own, causing it to scream in pain, though it was not dissuaded.
Joy and pleasure sparked behind the Monache’s eyes as the developing consciousness moved toward her, in favor of the interloper.
Then, near the furthest corner of the city, a plumb of fire and destruction climbed through the air. Blackened smoke stretched upward with streaks of lighting arcing through the cloud. As it reached further and further into the sky, winds took it, distorting the top.
Grace's memories offered up what she was seeing, and amusement threatened to tear a laugh from the Monarch's chest. They were fighting themselves.
The invasive presence had all but disappeared with the arrival of the explosion.
With that, the final bit of resistance she’d been met with faded and the bond solidified. Her newest subject still needed some time to build its body, so in the meantime, the Monache called out to all her children.
‘Alright little ones, you can head to the dinner table, but remember, just like we practiced. Firstborn, do not fail me, find what is mine, I will be there shortly.’
The Monache felt the numerous excited expressions as she cut their leashes and their charge began.
Firstborn was quick to respond, but he and his team advanced at a measured pace. This was his chance to make up for his earlier failure. Speaking of which, she could no longer feel that waste of space within the city, so he had to have died.
When her newest child sent worry down the connection she went to comfort it. Thrashing waves turned still as its numerous appendages calmed. The level of the bay fluctuated, her icy vessel beginning to lift out of the water from the growing child beneath her.
There was movement on the walls, but the Monache ignored them in favor of taking in the charcoal-gray skies. Grace's last wishes were so close to completion. It was time to meet some old friends.
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POV - Lisa Moore
Lisa ran down the tunnels, leading her people toward the surface. If Jonathan could not take of Oscar then she wanted to be as close to the surface as possible. Her plan had been going so well, and of course, she knew he would be a problem, but stopping an operation this big because of one man had seemed foolish. Now she was thoroughly regretting her pride. Putting that aside, Lisa remained stoic, it would do no good for her people to see her panicking.
They just needed to keep moving. Jonathan and his team had just left so there was still time.
As she was moving Mr. Gob broke off from the Order’s people and moved to intercept her path.
“Ms. Lisa, I believe in the situation, you will forgive me for ignoring pleasantries. But if we want to survive we need a plan. I’m not sure what you have cooking but I’ll lend my assistance if at all possible.”
Lisa frowned, the rumors going around were that this man was an incredible fighter but an even better tactician. There was a reason he had gone into the information game before throwing his chips in with the Order.
“Fine, your thoughts?”
“Let's make like mole a burrow,” he said without hesitation.
Lisa wanted to shout at the man for wasting her time with riddles but then thought it over again. If he meant to dig out horizontally and dive deeper into the surrounding dungeons. Then he was both mad and on to something. If they moved deeper into the tunnels they could get out of the path of the explosion. They’d still had to survive the tremors that would no doubt rip the surrounding tunnels to pieces, but at least they would have a chance. The other downside to this was that they would be trapped underground with the unknown around every corner.
Lisa looked at Mr. Gob and her leads surrounding her and then raised her voice.
“Spread the word that we're moving deeper in. Take any side tunnel that looks like it can accommodate enough people. Casters make openings if you can’t find any!”
With a direction, Lisa traveled upward spreading the word but there were so many people that their advantage was swiftly becoming a hindrance, and all too soon Mark got through on the radio, asking for the deactivation sequence. Lisa immediately called Lieutenant Nole and waited, but he didn’t come back with the required confirmation. Meaning the bomb was still armed.
Taking a step back into the empty tunnel Lisa glanced at her nearest caster to close the gap. Tempered glass began to seal the opening and Lisa stood at the ready. Then the radio clicked once more.
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Mark’s heartbeat thundered in his head, each beat sending a spike of pain up his vertebrae and stoking the growing nausea. He and Sam were interlocking the spells together, and while they were sharing the burden, it was still putting a major strain on his mind, but stopping now was impossible. The explosion was coming.
Daphe snatched his radio from his belt and he heard her talk directly into it.
“Lisa, we’re sorry, but we couldn’t stop it. Get somewhere safe. Hold on, please just hold on-”
Chloe moved in and grabbed Sam and Mark by their shoulders.
“Everyone, grab hold of each other! We just need to survive! Mark activate your amulet!”
Mark wanted to tell her there was no time but decided to do it anyway. Her eyes glowed with power as probabilities flashed past her sight.
At that moment, the bomb went off, had Chloe not warned them before, they would never have even known how they died. Mark felt the exact moment the resulting energy hit them because all at once the world was bathed in blazing daylight. It became so bright, so quickly, that Mark could see every crack and seem in the surrounding rock. It pushed through the gaps and illuminated the space. If Sam had not surrounded them in a thick veil of darkness, they would have instantly gone blind even through closed eyelids.
The next thing to hit was the sound.
Jonathan had stepped back to get hold of Sam, and he now grunted as the concussive wave of force warped his Aura to the breaking point.
The sound pushed through the gaps in the stone unimpeded and was only momentarily slowed by the construct, before hitting the small bubble of air magic. which popped almost instantly, but took with it the worst of the damage.
It was the last wave that swept their layered defense.
The heat.
It vaporized the surrounding air and seared through Jonathan’s Aura.
Past that, the stone held firmly in Mark and Sam’s combined grip but instantly began to liquefy into molten rock.
The construct sapped another portion of the heat before it entered their space, and when it did, the only thing that saved them from breathing in the superheated air was the ice Sam had summoned.
However, it didn't last long. The ice melted and vaporized in less than a second, filling the space with steam. The super-heated steam felt like it was cooking them alive and yet it was probably the only thing stopping the temperature from rising any further.
At that point, Mark only had his Resistance to rely on to keep himself stable and working to hold the spells together.
Daphne had grabbed onto Mark while still holding onto Lieutenant Bix, allowing her Aura to share in their pain, but the hostile environment made it nearly impossible to block out all of it.
The spells shook and both Mark's and Sam’s wills trembled under the strain. Their combined power was strong, but neither of them had been anywhere near peak condition and Mark was still hurting greatly from his overuse and injury.
This caused power to leak for their spells, and like a drop of water hitting a sizzling pan, their resources dried up in seconds.
Jonathan's Aura melted away, and the layer of stone was next to go, causing light to pour in until of felt like they were floating in the center of the sun. Heat baked their bodies and Mark felt his foot bump up against Nathan.
The walls and surrounding channel floors had already melted away by the time Mark realized they were a single layer away from burning annihilation.
All three waves came within a fraction of a second of one another, and though it felt like a lifetime, no more than two seconds could have passed. And yet what they had endured was a taster compared to what was coming.
Mark wanted so badly to push more power into the pyramid, but they almost nothing left. Sam was completely out and so was he, only had his ring remained, with a small trickle of power.
They were just drawing the last of it out, when Mark felt the space fluctuate and Cara’s small figure appeared with her hand pressed to Mark's armor, directly above where the amulet rested. Then the world flashed silver as they were pulled from the consuming inferno.
The white fire changed to a wide expanse of the city below them; the view was that of hundreds of meters in the air. Mark hardly had the energy for relief, but he could easily make out the blackened column of clouds next to them as they began their free fall through the sky.