EQUINOX || The Catalysts Series, #3

XXXI

Lena has never seen a dimensional rift up close. And perhaps it's been a pleasant blessing that she has never, up until this moment, witnessed it.

Like a lunar eclipse, everything is basked in a momentary darkness.

And then the portal to the other world—a dark mass of orbit that is overtaking the sky—rips open, dark matter and energy overflowing.

There is silence before chaos; for a moment all everyone can do is stare, before the initial gasps proceed to screams.

At the breaking footage of the panelists, Arcana is already standing up, while Azrael moves too fast for the camera to catch. Arcana makes use of the microphone and calls, "Caelus."

Lena turns from the forming threat to where she had last think she seen Caelus, not too far away along the circumference of the audience stand. And there he is—so she didn't imagine him looking over here after all—appearing from a parting crowd and reaching the railing. He appears as stunned as the others for a brief moment, but then Lena realises he probably doesn't look any different than his usual demeanour: calm in the face of chaos, an individual blatantly drifting through life with soulless eyes.

Then he reacts. The atmosphere shifts and pulls at his command, and everything is put under a temporarily airtight suspension. The rift tears at the atmospheric barrier's edges, the dark energy forcing out a sort of static as they collide. The edges threaten to blow, but Caelus holds firm, and his conjured atmosphere is powerful enough to keep things under control. If it strains him to keep an atmosphere of this expanse, he doesn't show it. He just stands there, a wide berth given to him, one hand on the railing as if ready to jump into action at any given time or at any command.

Azrael is also already on the race course within seconds, his arrival leaving a crater impression on the obstacle course. He trades eye contact with Caelus before he tries to clear the field with the remaining students. The airspace tightens, and Lena feels another barrier forming against the railings, protectively cushioning the students from the main arena.

"Students, please clear the race course," Arcana commands calmly, and the students oblige, following Azrael's instructions.

It is only when they think they have everything under control that suddenly, another threat that is not related to demons reveals itself.

And it goes directly after Caelus' obvious position—Caelus, who's the one keeping the rift from developing any further whilst they are waiting for the professional Catalysts. It is intended.

A dark, black mass even darker than the reddish dark colour of the rift shoots straight at the Ace, swallowing him whole. It's not long before the vortex of a building dark void encases Caelus, expanding into an abyssal black hole that reaches the railings and few metres back. When its intensity finally settles, it dissipates into nothing, but Caelus is nowhere to be seen.

He is gone. Disappeared, like a section of the audience stand—a crater is freshly formed, and part of the railing is destroyed, as if eaten up.

The students were lucky enough to have been giving Caelus space, otherwise they may as well be swept alongside him, victims of this strange entity.

With the Ace's absence, their surroundings become chaotic almost instantly: first from the immediately students who were around him reacting to his sudden disappearance, then the entire setting around the stadium falling apart, everyone's safety once again threatened without a leash—the rift breaks through the no longer existent atmospheric barrier, expanding, ripping open. Lena's immediate protection from the arena—the soft cushion shielding her—is gone, and she feels the hot, aggressive energy of the dimensional rift as if she's near a power source. She takes a step back.