The door groaned open, and the Emperor stepped out shoulders square, eyes dark. He didn't spare a glance for the waiting crowd in the hall. They might as well have been statues. Irrelevant. His foul mood rolled off him like smoke, heavy and sour, pressing down on the people like it belonged to them. Like they'd always carried it.
Malachi turned on his heel and started after the Matriarch, who was already storming down the opposite corridor.
"We need to keep this under control," the Matriarch said, voice sharp and tense a rare thing from him. Too rare. "Malachi, shut down all the exits. Now. And find Pedro. I need to know if those monsters have touched our realm."
"Yes, my lord—"
"Your Majesty!"
The shout snapped through the air like a whip. An Elite guard came stumbling into the hall, his uniform streaked in blood not all of it his. His eyes were wide, glassy, like they'd seen too much and hadn't come back with him.
Malachi rushed to meet him halfway, catching him by the arms.
"What's going on?"
"The... c-city... gate...monsters... We're....we're being wiped out. They're... it's reached the heart of the city. Those things....nothing stops them," the Elite gasped, voice crumbling with panic, the words falling out of him too fast, too raw.
"What?!" Lady Maevera moved forward like she'd been slapped. Her commander followed close behind. Camilla pushed off the wall, alert now, silent but coiled like a blade.
"What do you mean they've reached the heart of the city?" Lord Raith was yelling now, voice shaking with anger that was just fear in better clothes. "Weren't the portals all shut down?! How did they get through?!"
"They're not... not coming through the portals..." the guard stammered. "I—I don't know, my lord. But half our troupe... they're gone."
Jexa stepped forward, a tremor already creeping up her spine. "Where's Antonio?"
The guard froze. His mouth moved, but no sound came. His knees buckled slightly.
"Speak to me, Jake!!" She grabbed him by the collar and shook him. He stumbled backward like her hands had drained the last of his strength.
"He... he's gone," Jake whispered, voice so small it barely made it past his lips.
Jexa's face broke. She turned quickly, one arm rising as if to shield herself from the world, or maybe from the grief that wanted to claw its way out.
"No... no," she muttered, eyes brimming.
There was a pause a short one, but it was heavy enough to drown in.
"Send more men to the city gate," the Matriarch snapped, regaining control even as the tremble in his hands betrayed him. "Reinforce them. Do not let those things past the threshold."
The hall erupted into motion, but nothing no order, no rush of boots, no shouting could drown out the scream still echoing behind Jexa's eyes.
" Leo!" lady Jade called her son who wanted to rush forward into chaos, "you are not going" she snapped seeing as he was about to argue.
"I will go inform the emperor about what happening, Jexa said besides them leaving the hall behind it was her job to keep him safe.
Outside the city gate, the sky was the color of bruised ash. Screams tore through the air, people running in all directions while tripping, shoving, falling. Some didn't get back up or run away.
It wasn't real smoke. It moved like a thing alive, curling and twisting through the streets, thick and black but not thick enough to hide the way it ate them. The moment it touches body skin, clothes, soul it clung and sank in, and pulled. Faces turned pale then grey, and then nothing. Eyes turned hollow before the body dropped like an empty shell.
"Get back! Get back now!" a soldier yelled, voice cracking as he held out his gun to keep the crowd from stampeding the gate. His uniform scratched, blood on the edges.
Another guard beside him pulled a crying child from the arms of a mother already half-consumed, her fingers still twitching even as her eyes turned to glass. He didn't have time to grieve her. None of them did.
"Hold the line!" Captain Morgan shouted from up the ridge by the broken wall. She looked down at her men like she was watching the sea try to drown them. "Do not let them break through!"
The smoke thickened. It drifted and slithered low to the ground, stretching like fingers. People screamed not just from fear but from the feel of it, that cold prickling sensation just before it touched them, like their soul flinched first.
A woman clutched her child close to her chest, her shawl pulled tight over both their heads, she had lost sight of her husband amidst the chaos. She tried to run, but the crowd shoved her the wrong way, She stumbled and fell, and the child slipped from her arms into the chaos.
"Fall back to the second wall!" Morgan bellowed, her voice hoarse, sharp. She hacked her ammo into the air, signaling the retreat. "Shield units hold position! Do not let that filth inside!"
The front line what was left of it tightened near the gate. Shields overlapped, one soldier, tall and stocky he stepped forward, shooting through the smoky tendril trying to creep over the stones. It vanished with a shriek that wasn't air or beast but something worse.
But the smoke didn't flinch it retreated like it was reconsidering, but no it wasn't It came back, thicker, faster. From above something fell from the sky.
No—someone. A guard.
His body hit the cobblestone with a sickening thud, his limbs bent wrong and his eyes wide open but empty.
A scream followed, one horrified by the sight.
The smoke had gotten over the wall and a boy near the back of the crowd screamed when he saw it. "They're already inside!" he cried, pointing with shaking fingers.
"Shut that boy up!" someone yelled, panic breaking through the ranks.
A sudden slam echoed, there shouldn't even be a sounds, this thing were shapeless and formless but the city gate rattled in its frame. The hinges groaned. The force hadn't come from behind it... but beneath.
"Oh no..." Morgan whispered. "It's burrowing."
One of the lieutenants turned to her. "What do we do?"
"Buy them time," she said, eyes fixed on the gate.
The ground beneath them began to tremble. From the edges of the crowd, more of the creatures spilled in, dragging behind it shapes figures that used to be people, now twisted things with hollow chests and wide, open mouths full of shadow.
Jasmine could hear shouting and harsh voices bouncing off the stone walls like angry echoes. Boots slammed against the floor in hurried patterns, back and forth, chaotic and sharp She leaned forward, pressing her face against the bars, squinting down the hallway to catch a glimpse of what the hell was going on.
A man in uniform stormed in face tight and jaw locked. He barked orders at the two guards outside the cell there was no explanation and no hesitation from them, and just like that they were gone, their boots pounding as they followed him down the corridor.
"What's going on?" Jasmine asked, mostly to herself, her voice cracked a little.
Micah stepped up beside her, his brow furrowed. "Not sure... but that's not normal."
Then they both heard it a familiar and frantic voice.
"Micah?!"
"Jasmine?!"
It was Mrs Morrigan's voice, high-pitched, breathless and full of fear. She came bursting through the door like a gust of wind, nearly tripping over her own feet. Her hair was loose and wild. Her eyes locked onto Micah and Jasmine, and she rushed toward the cell.
Behind her came Mr. Grey, his face all storm clouds and tension. He didn't speak right away he didn't have to. Something was very wrong.
"Mom?" Micah stepped forward, his voice thin.
She didn't answer, just scrambled for the keys hanging on the wall like hands didn't belong to her anymore she fumbling every time she got close.
"What's going o—?" Jasmine started to ask, her voice catching in her throat.
"We have to leave. Now," Mr Grey cut in, grabbing the keys from his wife trembling fingers. His voice was low and steady, but his hands moved fast too fast for someone calm. He unlock the cell with a metallic clunk that sounded loud.
Micah stepped out first, tense trying to look brave. Jasmine followed right behind him, glancing back like the room might vanish if she didn't.
"What's going on?" Micah asked again, sharper this time. No one answered.
"Aunt?" Jasmine called out, her voice trembling now.
BOOM
The sound echoed so loud it hit like thunder under the floor, followed by a deep bone-shaking rumble. The walls shivered. The ceiling creaked like it was about to give way or split open.
The floor jolted beneath them, almost knocking Jasmine off her feet.
"An earthquake?" she gasped, grabbing Micah's arm.
"No," Mr Grey said grimly. "Worse."
"Come on!" he shouted, grabbing both of them and pulling them forward and they ran.
The hallway was madness soldiers yelling, people screaming, some crying, some just standing frozen in place, as if their brains hadn't caught up to their bodies yet. There was no order, no command just noise and panic and bodies all moving in different directions.
Suits and gowns mingled with combat boots and rifles. The whole place reeked of fear and smoke and something metallic Jasmine couldn't place. Her heart pounded like it was trying to escape her chest. She clung to Micah's sleeve without realizing it.
"Where are we going?" Jasmine shouted over the noise, but no one had an answer they just ran.