I stagger to my feet, feeling a pull; I need to see what’s going on. I need to see what’s outside. The closest place was the helipad. Even with X’s hovering and everyone protesting behind me, I struggle for the far side of the hallway which I haven’t seen since the last time I was forced onto the Hollow Kite and the hellscape it lead me to.

I manage to force the heavy, reinforced door open and the wind immediate picks up, sucking out the cool, controlled air and replacing it with the sticky, chocking smog that I forget exists outside of the prison Siem had going on.

At first nothing looks different, almost as if what just happened fifty seconds ago was all just a hallucination but then another odd pulse resonates out like a forceful wall of air, almost pushing us back like a wave but then a crash of opposing air rushes from behind, knocking us forward. But my eyes fixate on the lake. Even though it was mostly obscured by the buildings, I could still clearly see the freakishly calm water and something massive was about to breach its surface.

Another rumble of that deep alien roar sounds out as I cover my ears and something stands up in the water. The shrilling noise gets louder as these misshaped rock chunks that are plonked on top of one another in a general shape of a play-doh man (but stone edition) just stands up like they just got out of bed.

Sprite.

Ok, what part of ‘colossal rock giant’ looks anything like a fairy? But I figured since they’re basically a raw element infused with Miasma, it’s basically a pissed off elemental spirit. Water cascades down in body as it rises so high up that it was eye lined with most of the skyscrapers, even while standing in the lake that basically looked like a slightly off-coloured ankle-deep pond. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s head scrapes the fence’s orb. It didn’t but you get my point.

A low whistle beside me, makes me jump, “Don’t see that every day,” Of course it was Seth. “How the hell did it get in?”

“The same way the Queens have risen in Bolin, lately. Someone is opening up the back door.” Siem responds back.

I take in a breath as the giant rock snowman (boulder edition), starts moving its head and peers at the Tower. “That’s…not good,” I say as it seems to be focusing on the unreflective black crystal.

“It hears the song.” X’s voices as the thing opens its mouth, letting out a screech that was so fucking unnatural that I wanted to cut my ears off. I also expected to see glass breaking but instead everything shatters and every single alarm goes off in the city. Along with every fucking dog.

Ok, now that my curiosity is sated and “Dream Eater” has already done it’s weird thing…. I can go back inside now, right? Go back to bed? That slab of steel seems very comfortable right now…

I hear something like jet engines rocketing across the sky and a Seth going, “Oh fuck, here comes bad news,”

“Yue’s intervening too quickly,” Seth growls.

“Everyone’s panicking, what do you expect? She can’t sit back and watch as her city go up in flames,” the retort comes from Hanna, who was moving to go back inside.

“Squished by a rock, more like it,” Seth clicks his tongue.

“Potato, Po-tah-to.”

“No mist…” I observe, it’s rare to have something this large appear…

It appeared from under the water. The storms eye is under the lake? It’s inside the City, behind the fence… I really don’t like this train of thought.

…Someone is messing around with Miasma storms…and they’re able to open them inside a city-

My thoughts cut off as a missile collides with rock boy. An eruption of smoke billows out from it’s side. The giant lets out an annoyed roar before moving forward at a leisurely pace, like it was just bitten by a mosquito.

The giant walks towards the more solid land and notices that the buildings and streets were blocking its path and just knocks a fist through the side of one of the many skyscrapers and using it like a handle to pull it’s incorrectly proportioned body up and onto the narrow streets, colliding with a few flying cars but hardly noticing them as they get destroyed on its thick body.

Am I on the set of King Kong, right now?

And as if on cue, some other of the familiar demonic beasts that follow the Miasma storm seem to suddenly riddle the streets, not caring what they attack and infiltrate every door or broken window they could find and cut down anything or anyone that was in their way.

‘Need Melody. Hungry. Scared.’ Lady huffs. ‘No understand of this place. No big bright light in sky. Only dark is comforting but big light is also curious. Life here is curious…’

But soon different screams are heard from below us.

Looking straight down, though I hate to do it, I could see a lot of these fast and familiar things darting after the many people that look like ants from this height. But I couldn’t mistake the gleaming, misshapen black skeletal structures chasing after them and tearing them apart into bloody rags. Hexers.

As if to drive home that point, massive vine like tentacles erupt from a building and snatched onto a person, pulling them in with a blood curdling scream cutting off as the body is forced unnaturally through the hole it created, a limb even snapping off and left behind like it was just fed through a woodchipper.

They clash with anything in their way, including the Miasmic beasts. Only the Queen and her brood are their allies…everything else must become her brood or be destroyed...

A Miasma obelisk shoots out of the water like a spear before a few follow in the rock boys wake but it will take a while before these odd structures take form…but the longer a Miasma Storm is allowed to form, the more they will appear and they will get bigger and faster without any preference on what they skewer through.

“This is bullshit!” Siem snarls, marching back inside, probably going to do Secret Siem things with his Secret Siem stuff. “Seth, X. It’s full emergency. Get moving and get into gear now!”

I was staring at pure chaos. Someone or something didn’t care about what they’ve started in here. They not only caused a Storm, but they also planted a Queen…maybe more…they don’t care about anything…they want Bolin destroyed.

I stare in the same direction the rock boy and the miasma were heading toward. The Tower.

They want the Tower. Nothing else matters. Just chaos.

And it was happening right before my eyes.

Realising that I was left up here, I look back inside…just what can we expect from this? No one was prepared for this to happen. Where could anyone run and this mouse trap that the city represented? They couldn’t go outside, there was nothing for them…They couldn’t go to another city. They don’t exactly have allied City States that would take anyone in…worse it was probably a City State that did this. Just like Bellasera.

I turn around and head back in, seeing that the atmosphere inside had changed in a matter of seconds. It normally felt like I was walking on eggshells whenever I had to be around anyone in here. Now those eggshells had glass, knives, explosives, and angry old ladies with wooden spoons, attached to them. Anxiety level over nine thousand, kinda deal.

Put people were moving and they didn’t look like the sneering rabble I’ve gotten used to. They looked like soldiers and they were primed to kill.

Siem was barking out orders left and right while Hanna was coordinating something else… On closer inspection, she was getting a medical group together and rescue squads to lure the civilians into the subway tunnels while they are being checked and cleared of any breaches if there were any, regardless if it were Miasma or Hexer...

Well there goes my quiet room plan…

I feel extremely detached from the entire situation, like I was staring at a wall painting. It’s too surreal. I thought I was getting my moment of peace. I thought that I was getting a chance to find my brother and sister.

But I can feel it disintegrating between my fingers. My chance was slipping away and there was nothing that I could do to distract from that fear.

Just as I was feeling myself shake, something warm wraps me up in their arms. I look up and see X but he had changed completely. He was weird this weird futuristic stealth armour that you’d see in video games and was similar to the bodysuit he wore when I first met him, except without the weird snake insignia and unnecessary coat. A single sword was secured across his back with a gun lining his hip.

Two things occur simultaneously in my head. One; holy fuck does formfitting sleek black armour look good on him…and the less sexy thought number two; that reality was literally crashing down around us. Hellfire and all. He takes a step back as I here Siem snapping out orders at him and he gives me one look with a, “Wait.” Before he disappears back out towards the helipad. Either to jump off it or wait for Oz to take him somewhere. …Either choice was plausible.

I feel the emptiness creeping up again. I bit my lip as I lock eyes with Hanna, she nods towards the elevator. They want me to hide away. Amidst that purgatory, no one would be paying much attention to the weird boy and his pet tiger if I hid away deeply enough in the tunnels.

I head for the elevators with Lady and press for the ground floor.

Like hell I’ll sit back and “wait”.