The Majors, Cold Fury (Book 2)

Chapter 80: The Fall of the Ocean Queen

~Joel~

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

And said measure meant riding a horse. I know, crazy. Me, on a horse? Who woulda thought.

The clopping of the horse's hooves against the dirt path were as loud and jolting as lightning as we rocketed down the makeshift road leading to Mezalea.

In hours the thick forests that made up the unowned woods between the empires shifted to the rocky and dry landscape of the mesa desert.

Now that night had fallen it was bitterly cold, the wind like shards of glass piercing my face and stinging my ears. But I gripped the reigns tighter, pressing myself farther down towards the horse's neck and continuing further and faster.

My vision was limited from the darkness cast over the mesa, the occasional hanging lamp swinging in the breeze lighting the pathway. But other than that, it was nearly pitch black. 

It was a good thing I had memorized the way to Celadon. 

Although, the closer I got, the more unsettling it was that the sound of the ocean smashing against the cliffside was missing. 

The first noise that met my ears besides the wind hurtling past me, was screams.

My head snapped up, the smell of burning becoming stronger the closer me and my steed got to the city. Curls of smoke reached into the sky where the city lay, fire ablaze along the streets, lighting up the colorful buildings and domed rooves. 

I urged the horse faster, the sight panic inducing as citizens bolted through the streets to avoid getting caught in the flames. 

Crashing echoed as houses and buildings began to implode from both the quakes and the fires, collapsing inwards on themselves, dust rising from the wreckage. 

I yanked backwards on the reigns, throwing me and the horse to a skidding halt as I looked in every direction. The entire city was set in an orange glow from the blaze, the image of chaos overwhelming, my breath catching in my throat. The thick fog of smoke made it even harder to breathe within the capital limits, casting a haze over it like a glass encasing. 

Why does Fwhip always ruin everything!?

Leaping from the saddle, I hit the ground in a run, giving the horse a glare that said 'STAY'. I needed to help where I could.

People and authorities were already responding to the emergency, attempting to herd the crowds away from the danger. No moment was silent in the swirl of panic, overwhelming my feelings of sight, hearing and touch. My eyes and nose burned from the smoke and scent of sweat and ash. Screaming and crying and the crashing of trees and creak of supports ripped through the air, piercing like weapons getting flung into the sky. Never had I experienced so much stimulation or craze. 

I was nearly caught in the hoard of people getting herded out of the city, before I managed to break out into the open. I didn't look back as I sprinted for the center, searching for stragglers or those who couldn't keep up. As far as I was concerned, I wouldn't be leaving anyone behind.

That goal, was thrown out of my mind a moment later when an earthquake stronger even than the one that had startled me mere hours ago, before the meeting at the forest, shook the terrain.

With a violent surge, the ground began to open up as if a sword was being dragged straight through the street, tearing the land up as it went. It began to split the city in two, moving quickly from where it had started, by the cliff sides, inland. With a deafening crash, louder than the largest crack of thunder, it drove through the land right beneath the Mezalean Matrel Palace. The grand building instantly began to collapse inwards, the dome splitting in half, and even from this distance I watched as the glass shattered into millions of pieces, exploding like arrows from underneath the rest of the debris. Dust raised in huge plumes hundreds of feet into the air as even more floors and hallways fell into each other, decimating the site as it went.