Chapter 3
The city buzzed with its usual noon rhythm. Crowds flowed along sidewalks, their footsteps creating a steady tap-tap on the pavement.
Car horns blared in the gridlocked streets, engines idling with a low grumble that vibrated in the warm air. The sharp scent of exhaust mixed with greasy food drifted from a nearby hot dog cart.
The sunlight reflected off towering glass buildings, almost too bright to look at directly. Everything felt ordinary. Nothing out of the ordinary, but the peaceful day was short-lived. A disaster is coming.
Then a shrill, electronic ringing erupted everywhere at once – from pockets, purses, and hands. The harsh sound echoed off the buildings, drowning out the city noise.
*bzzzt*
*bzzzt*
*bzzzt*
Every phone screen flashed with the same stark emergency alert, bathing faces in an eerie blue light. A wave of confused murmurs rose from the crowd.
"What the hell is going on?"
"It says there's a huge earthquake coming."
"An earthquake? How strong?"
Before anyone could react, the pavement beneath their feet gave a sudden, violent lurch. A deep, groaning roar rose from the earth itself, vibrating up through shoes and into bones.
The tremor intensified rapidly, shaking storefront windows until they rattled like teeth. People stumbled, grabbing lampposts or each other for balance as loose gravel skittered across the sidewalk.
The taste of dust filled the air. Chaos erupted instantly.
"AAAAHHH!"
"Help me!"
"Waaah!!! Mama, where are you?"
"Jiji, I'm right here."
Terrified screams pierced the rumble of the quake as people shoved and scrambled in all directions, unsure where safety lay.
The earth cracked open with a sound like tearing fabric across streets and sidewalks.
From these gashes, an immense dome of dark, rocky spikes erupted violently, scraping the sky. Multiple of them started growing underneath the city at the same time.
They rose with a grinding screech that set teeth on edge, taller than the tallest buildings. The air filled with the choking smell of shattered concrete and raw earth.
Skyscrapers groaned like dying giants. With a series of thunderous crashes, they began to collapse inward, sending avalanches of glass, steel, and concrete crashing down.
Dust clouds billowed out in choking gray plumes, stinging eyes, and coating throats.
People ran desperately from the growing forest of spikes, many vanishing under falling debris or into the widening chasms. Cries of pain and terror were swallowed.
The immense spiky structure, easily a thousand meters high, dominated the ruined skyline. Some clusters of spikes leaned precariously, while large gaps yawned between others within the jagged dome.
The one's beautiful city was now fully engulfed in chaos. It was like the apocalypse was starting.
As if the destruction wasn't enough, the sky itself darkened abruptly.
Thick, unnatural clouds rolled in with unnatural speed, smothering the remaining sunlight and casting the devastated city into a cold, ominous twilight.