Zensuon: Crystal Age

Break City, We Hardly Knew Thee

Where our duo finds themselves chased by an impossible situation that just won't give up.

Buildings collapse around them from the earthquake, dust like a plume surrounding the lower part of the city, and a bizarre silhouette of darkness blocking out the sun.

Mica got up to his feet again, and glanced around.

I must be dreaming, right? Didn't we just get to safety? Am I imagining things from the sewer fumes?

Mica put a hand over his closed eyes to quiet his headache and stop the ringing in his ears, like a tide of wails stuck in his head. This was the longest two days of his life. Barely any sleep, food or water, and too much running- too much!

Is it you Styllia? Are you laughing at me up there? When I open my eyes everything will be alright, right? It's probably just a headache from all the fresh air. Too much time down in the sewer, that's it.

He felt a cool breeze, and that soothing feeling as less light hit his closed eyes.

Ahhh... better. Mica thought as he opened his eyes, and immediately a heavy dread fell on him. Is that giant shadow coming towards u-

The now familiar pull of the orc was felt as Mica was carried like luggage over Nuraka's shoulder. The orc fleeing from what Mica could only assume was some kind of encroaching dark cloud or sudden eclipse- at this point anything was possible.

It wasn't until he saw people fleeing in terror around them, once they hit the main mercantile street, that he realized what he'd been hearing. The ringing in his ears wasn't ringing, it was the screams of, well, everyone in the city.

Something dark is coming, and I wish I meant this figuratively.

The rumble of buildings being crushed into rubble far behind them (but not far enough) filled him with fear. So much so that for the first time he did not struggle out of Nuraka's carry-hold, instead, he held tighter.

He dared not look up at the impending doom. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that if he looked at it, it would become real.

He tried to turn to his head. Logic, that's what he needs now. The problem was, once he peered into his thoughts the output they gave him was something like this:

Holy shit I'm going to die fuck fuck fuck Fuck what do I do?! Daddy help me! Mommy pleasssse!

Or

Why me? What did I do to deserve this!? Gaaaah! I can't die! I can't! I haven't found dad's killer! Fuck. FUCK!

Both were not very helpful. So he decided to at least focus to see where they're heading, and immediately regretted it.

The open plaza they arrived at, which stood by the entry gates to the east of the city, was filled with a massive crowd of people- screaming, running, shoving people. And try as the orc might to force them aside, he was nothing against the tides of a panicked mob trying to break through the bottleneck that was the two large gates. Unfortunately not large enough for an entire districtful of people at once.

Where can we go from here? Mica considered as he glanced right, then left, trying to ignore the overwhelming screams of the people behind him being smashed under buildings and blackness.

No good, the natural defences that are Break City cliffs from the north and south of the gates also mean that escaping out of the city is a problem.

I guess they didn't expect an attack from within the city. They probably expected the worst to hit them from the inside would be fire, and they were literally next to a major water source.