The world fell silent in a split second.

As if the world inhaled with bated breath.

One second. Two seconds…

The debris explodes in all directions as if flung apart carelessly like ash to the wind.

In the centre, of metal, glass and concrete was something to be described as a demon.

The expected mangled body of a late teenaged boy was instead a fully standing amalgamation of human and monster. As if someone had taken a dragon skeleton and fused segments of it onto his body…or rather it had emerged and melded within flesh.

Two horns emerged from the mess of hair at the top of his skull. The jet-black twin spiral horns had two gentle twists each and gleamed like crystal even in the overcast sun. Some of the exoskeleton could be seen running down and mixing with vine like marking down his neck and along his shoulders, stopping at the elbow where elongated demon arms emerge. The long slender pointed fingers look like they could shred through metal like paper.

From the base of his skull a long spine-like structure made form the same black crystal stuck out along his own spine, all the way down the middle of his back and ending in a whip like tail that was longer than his own body. His legs were also transformed completely. Even with the fragments of cloth just barely holding onto his hips couldn’t hide the spines and demonic appearance that was once human skin. The bones had elongated and stretched, ending in dragon feet.

And the deep golden eyes stare blankly up to the sky, the familiar black sclera making the striking contrast, as if his irises were glowing.

His attention refocuses on the Sprite that had now stopped its pursuit so completely to look back down at him, hunching over to get a better look. As if it had eyes.

Kae reaches out one hand, as if to touch the Sprite’s head and the undercurrent of raw fear and rage quells instantly. So unnaturally and unnervingly so. Like hearing the forgotten song of ice deep within the tundra’s husk.

But this moment wouldn’t last. As it was but bittersweet ephemeral.

“Move, Kae!” X calls out desperately.

As the Dream Eater’s outstretched fingers almost brush the face of the giant that had crouched to the tiny figure, the shrieking whistle of a fast approaching projectile cuts through and hits into the side of the Sprite with a thud on a hammer hitting stone. The Sprite partially jerks to the side, it’s head awkwardly moves with the force. As the dust clears, The Dream Eater sees that something was now embedded in the joint of the neck and shoulder rocks, that was held together by the visible ethereal blue miasma.

But the clear blue soul-like magic turned a painful and sickening red. The Sprite screams out in agony then primordial rage. It was infected and unreachable now. It immediate stands, unable to hear or see the Dream Eater and moves to attack everything around it.

That putrid light and smell was like the twisted things that humans called Hexers, the Dream Eater observes with a click of his tongue. The soldiers watch him in stunned silence as he stares up at the Sprite that was charging and attacking everything blindly. A series of buildings shatter and break apart with billowing smoke and debris. Crumpling under the shear force the giant left in its wake.

But as soon as one of the soldiers blink, the demon was gone. As if it was a figment of their imagination, just as Subject Ten was also missing.

Dream Eater emerges instantly in front of the giant rock, standing in the middle of a major five lane street as if the block its path. The Giant roars at him and makes a charge, pulling a massive arm back to squash his tiny frame into the asphalt. But all the demon did was reach a hand out again and as soon as the talon fingertips touch the stone, the Giant froze in place.

Like that, its reddish, blemished pink glow disappeared from it. As if someone had turned off a switch and the rock falls apart like someone had stopped holding onto the strings of the puppet.

As the boulders came tumbling down, Seth runs up into the seen. His gaze switches between the massive pile of masonry and the kid now staring at his hand.

“Wha-what?” was all Seth could muster as his mind blanks in confusion.

The noise was enough to gain the Dream Eater’s attention. His golden gaze flicks over to him. “Death was its only peace.”

“What about Kae?”

A bitter chuckle falls from his mouth. “Thought this is what you wanted?”

“Where is he?”

“Always the stupid questions. We are the same. But if you’re after that child. He is asleep.”

Seth lets out a breath.

“So odd. You lot have been begging for me out. Now I’m here, dealing with the mess you humans are causing, you look less than pleased with my appearance.”

“Kae!” X appears between Seth and Kae.

“Hmm?” the Dream Eater looks over at him lazily before a half smile appears across his features. He then thought on what to do next. Hexers and a Miasmic storm were running rampant and the army wasn’t exactly helping. But it’s not like any of it was directly his problem, he muses to himself. But one thing is digging at his need for action.

He refocuses on the mar that has been bugging him for the last decade. The Tower. The entire city was in ruins. How strange that it too one strike against the centre and the utopian bubble is literally crashing down around them. Now was as a good a time as any for him to slake that curiosity. World ending or otherwise.

“Kae…” X could sense his intentions and tries to warn him against it.

But Kae simply shrugs before taking off like a bullet down the street. He knew that he could go faster if he ran on all fours, but skyscraper hopping seems more fun. As if the wreckage of the world picks up on his intensions; shipping containers and car bodies pile up in front of him, creating a pathway for him to climb and use as he jumps and runs up to the height of a twenty-story building and hops over to another building below, leaving them in the dust. He hadn’t felt so…free before. The wind pulling at him as he glides down and up and the view was more than breathtaking. Even if most of it was being destroyed, at war and on fire.

“Kae!” X calls after him, running after him without hesitation. Height and gravity didn’t mean much to him to start with, but he wasn’t used to chasing someone that was on par, if not faster than him. Worse, able to manipulate everything around them like water slipping through a mould. Nothing was truly inaccessible.

X could feel himself straining to contain himself. He cannot lose control now. He would lose sight of Kae. He didn’t want anything bad happening to him and could feel that the power contained within Kae was exhausting him already. He had to hold on.

X watches in almost awe as Kae was taking a risky jump from the top of a transmission tower, down towards the almost central top chamber of the Tower. He follows his path exactly. He watched as Kae curls up just before impact with the Tower’s surface and breaks into the opaque crystal like it were glass and lands awkwardly on his side, rolling to a stop in front of what could be described as a blocky obsidian throne.

X sticks a more graceful landing and quickly goes over to help the Dream Eater up.

But his eyes couldn’t look away from the throne. Completely on high alert, his pupils were thin slights of alarm. The Dream Eater was also distracted by what was slumped in the uncomfortable chair. A partial figure of a kid, who could have only been about Anna’s age.

Under the mop of hair, his eyes were glassily staring forward as if he wasn’t attached to this reality. The only thing that was grounding this child’s body was the strange tubes running from just behind each ear that was implanted into his small head and connected into the throne.

But one was severed, the cut wires bare and small crystal shards spike along the edges like ice swallowing life in a hoarfrost.

Kae takes a step closer, seeing if there was anything in the dull eyes of this child that looked like a doll at this point. Half his face was hidden in the dark but the Dream Eater could tell; someone had infected the Tower’s battery. The Tower’s God.

As if to confirm his thoughts, the child suddenly leapt to life. His teeth gnashing as feral noises spew from his mouth and takes a full-on front attack at Kae. This forces Kae onto his back, but his tail shoots out in time to stop the child from biting his face off.

Taking a closer look, he could see where the tubing was hanging loose from his head and underneath was turning that familiar shade of rotting grey. They infected him. He was a Queen.

Biting his lip, the Dream Eater could barely contain the harsh melody assaulting his very senses that he’s been feeling since he entered Bolin all those months ago. Being affronted with the raw power that fed this city, mixing in with the twisted miasma so closely was enough to make him nauseous. But he knew he couldn’t leave him be.

…He couldn’t let Bolin be.