Yuw became overwhelmed with stress as she ran towards the fountain, and made her way through the crowd, not noticing they were being shoved to the floor. The whole time, she kept her head down in her hands, trying to suppress the voice that was screaming in her mind. She didn’t lift her gaze until she was close to the fountain. 

Looking up, she saw Alex standing knee-deep in the water with a group of people, and quickly made her way towards the doctor. “Alex-” She stumbled forward, so close to the island but not yet there. “Alex, help!” She forced out while still trying to catch her breath. “Please help me! I-” Tears were still streamed down her cheeks while confusion, guilt, and fear were still fueling her panic. It strangled her mind, stopping her from thinking straight. 

The doctor wasted no time answering Yuw’s cry of distress, and ran towards the giant. The others behind her followed, including the pink-eyed lady, but Yuw paid no mind as Alex approached. All she wanted now was for her closest friend in the Realm to help her get rid of all the chaos happening in her head. 

Cracks started to appear in her vision, shattering her perspective into three pieces. With the broken view, came the ear piercing voice, screaming like a banshee, echoing in the giant’s head. 

“Out! Out, out, out!” Yuw screamed, “I confessed! What more do you want, Wyse?!” 

The voice echoed nothing but incoherent gibberish, and when she shut her eyes she found no relief. The barrage continued as she begged for it to stop. She could hear Alex calling out to her, touching her on the shoulder, asking if she was okay, but she was too incapacitated to give any form of response. 

“Please!” Yuw pleaded, “I’m sorry!” 

Suddenly everything snapped back into one and back to normal. Finally, in what felt like forever, the voice was quiet. The giant’s mind was finally silent. Too silent. 

She felt strange, like something started to boil inside of her. It wasn’t long before an explosion-like sound deafened her ears, sending out a shockwave that propelled both Alex, and anyone that was standing near her, flying backwards. 

A low rumble was then felt under their feet as fractures started to form. Yuw was unable to keep her balance, causing another wave of panic and confusion to wash over her. By the time she noticed, it was too late, and the ground started to collapse beneath her. As she began to fall, the giant felt someone grasp her arm, and quickly yanked her back onto the platform. She looked up and saw a canine-like person, the same one she saw at the festival with the silver-haired woman, pulling her away from the edge of the destroyed bridge. Now at the fountain, the giant realized that the fork in the road had collapsed, not just the bridge to the Library, but also to the Healing Temple as well.

She heard cracking and rumbling. The sound echoed throughout the Realm, alerting everyone. In what started as a small boom, was followed by a series of creaking and popping above her, traveling further away along with the tremors. The sky itself began to fracture, like a broken mirror. A large piece of it chipped apart, falling down into the abyss below. 

From the fracture came a black ooze, dripping down onto the surface of the island. Yuw watched as it splashed around her, and saw those who came in contact immediately dropped to the floor, rendered unconscious. 

Next thing she knew, the other islands were covered in some sort of dome structure, isolating themselves from what had just invaded the Realm. Those along the bridge ran to the nearest islands, joining the ones that were already within the safe space. 

The giant, still suspended in shock, watched the chaos happen around her. Not even realizing that Alex was calling out to her, telling her to get away from this unknown dark substance. 

While all this happened, Miao raised the security shield for the Library as well. She saw many people fleeing from the bridge, and summoned the stone guardians that were stationed on the carved wall art, to safely escort them to the building. The guard herself rushed towards the scene of the disaster.

Her colleague, the large ox, cried out to Miao to warn her to not leave the dome. But the smaller woman insisted on going, wanting to see what she could do for those in need. She couldn’t bear to think how helpless or scared the people at the fountain area were, and desperately wanted to aid them in any way possible. 

The guard’s footsteps were forced to a halt when she reached the end of the bridge. She gazed afar, and could see her friends at the fountain, backing away from the mysterious black liquid that was expanding, creeping up on them ever so slowly. 

Turning her focus to the broken bridge once more, she took a deep breath in and focused her energy to summon the fallen pieces back up, hoping to fix the pathway so that people can cross. She was, in no way, familiar with such practices, but in such a dire time she didn’t think too much about it, just what needs to be done. 

As the pieces of the bridge slowly floated back up from the bright abyss below, the guard was too focused to notice a droplet fall on her shoulder. Immediately, her focus was interrupted. The broken structures fell back down, and Miao dropped to the ground, laying there as her strength was slowly drained away. She could hear Alex and the others scream her name, but was completely powerless to do anything. The guard’s vision slowly faded to black.