The world was sound before everyone's eyes could adjust.
Columns cracked, as banners fell.
It was...chaos.
"Protect Their Majesties!" The command cracked like thunder.
Instructors leapt down from the higher platforms, their auras blazing, as steel rung through the room.
Shields of light and force snapped into place around the Royal assembly, as the family was immediately swept into a knot of armoured guards.
"RUUNN!!" someone screamed.
The hall had fractured into madness.
A nightmare for all....
Some froze, their bodies refusing to obey as their wide eyes stared around them.
Others bolted for the doors, their shoes slapping violently against the trembling floor, a stampede of anxiety and terror.
TAP! TAP! TAP!
A few of the Elite stood rooted, eyes wide; not in fear, but disbelief.
'...How could such a thing happen here'
They immediately tensed, eyes growing sharp as they drew on their mediums....
"Is this an attack?!" one instructor shouted, voice drowned in chaos.
Another bellowed, "Hold the perimeter! Contain the exits!"
On the second floor balcony, the Royals were protected to the utmost degree.
"Your Majesty, stay close!"
The King's face remained stern, unreadable even as rubble cracked to the sides.
His voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
"Hold the line! Protect the Crown!"
The Prince's jaw was clenched tight, the idea of retreat irked him.
"Someone dare strike here?!" His disgust rang louder than the fear, as his eyes swept the hall, attempting to find the enemy.
The Princess was silent, but no less sharp. Her crimson eyes scanning through the carnage.
"Where are they?!" echoes from different sides emerged, but no enemies appeared.
The silence after the first boom was too heavy.
Too sharp.
Every breath.
Every shuffle of a boot sounded loud.
Guards strained their eyes at the shadows above the pillars....the arches...everywhere, as they expected assassins to leap out from the rising smoke.
But....
Nothing came.
Just the echo of shifting stone and shouts...
Everyone was on high alert whilst Jacob had remained in his position, staring up above.
Instructors had reached the first floor, their main goal being to protect the youth, leaving the Royals into the protection of their trusted guards.
WHIRR!
The sounds of reverberating Ki and Magic sounded through the air, floating around personas.
The silence didn't last.
BOOOOOOM!!
This time, the eastern wall erupted inward....a blast of force splashing stone and collapsing pillars like brittle branches.
DOOM! THUD!
Another wave of dust poured thick, filling the air with a second wave of helplessness.
Streaks of students toppled under the shock...reinvigorated screams filling the room.
"AHHH!!!"
"Run--RUUNN!!"
"My leg!!"
"GET OUT THE WAY!"
The sound tangled with the caving wall, panic bouncing off like rubber.
"Cover them!" an instructor bellowed, aura flaring.
Nobles lost their composure, shouting for guards who weren't near enough to reach.
A boy's voice broke as he wailed for his sibling, the sound cut short as the stampede of students dragged him under.
"THIS WAY!" Instructors roared, trying to funnel the situation to some order, magic flashing to shield falling debris.
Not missing a beat, the royal guards followed suit, their armour glinting through the haze as they forced open a corridor of protection.
Their formation shifted swiftly, practised and precise....but not united.
Orders barked low, urgency carried between: "Separate them! Multiple paths!"
And so they did.
The royals were split like the flow of a river, ushered through different exits, each group flanked by steel.
The Prince was dragged behind a wall of armoured bodies, his complaints and fiery gaze drowned by the chaos.
The King was enveloped by even more, his protection held upmost.
And the princess?
She moved with her own escort, crimson eyes flicking across the smoke-filled hall.
Among the guards at her side....one pair of eyes glinted...oddly.
The gaze lingering too long....too sharp, before it disappeared as quick as it came.
Amid the chaos, a lone figure cut his own path.
Riven darted towards a corridor on his left.
His steps measured even as students darted past in frantic waves.
The main exit was choked with bodies, instructors shouting as they filled the air with orders and the smell of spells.
Shoving.
Screaming.
The deafening sounds made the air unbearable.
He didn't decide to follow the waves of panic.
When others stumbled towards the door, he slipped further in the fractured palace, trying to find solace in its darkness.
---------------
The clash of noise dulled as the corridor walls swallowed it.
Her breath misted in the cooler air, crimson eyes shifting between the armoured sets before her.
"Where have they taken my father?"
Her tone was sharp, not panicked or distressed.
The demand of someone expecting answers.
"And my brother, where is he?"
The guards didn't falter in their path.
THUD THUD!
The clashing of their steel boots hit the floor with unwavering rhythm.
They didn't respond....
'..Why?'
Her gaze narrowed, as her blonde hair swayed.
"Why are we moving this way? Where are the attackers?"
No reply again.
Only the fading chaos could be heard from behind, mixing in with the thudding echoes.
For the first time, she felt isolation pressing in.
The corridor stretching long and dim, as their armour glinted in the torchlight above....
Formations tighter than prior.