💎A Collision of Fates💎 (Straight to Gay) (MxM) (18+)

105 - Nick

When Nick emerged from The Palace, Sesstria was a world of smoke, fire, and ash. Plumes of night-black, choking smoke billowed into the air from the center of the city, dissipating over the houses and streets. In the distance, a giant fireball tore through the sky, casting a red glow on the town below. It seared downwards, falling towards the city. With a horrifying crunch, an explosion of embers, it disappeared into Sesstria, no doubt destroying a building, or several, adding to a red, blazing inferno that was engulfing a large part of The Commerce.

Nick froze. He stared at the sight before him, his mind swirling with questions. Were they being attacked? Had The Golden Spire breached the walls of the city? Why wasn't the triptych stopping this? It was a scene from a nightmare, from a disaster movie, something he had never thought he would witness.

Another fireball flew across the southern wall and descended into the city. Once again, it exploded, blowing a buildings to bits, adding to the inferno. The sound, the rumble, the smoke, it knocked Nick out of his stasis. He sprinted forwards, running towards the disaster.

Throughout the tidy, ash-darkened streets of Hilltown, panic had taken over, people were sprinting away from the destruction, eyes wide, faces wet with sweat. A seething chaos had gripped the town, an incredibly effective contagion of terror.

Near the middle of the main thoroughfare, the one that weaved through Hilltown, Nick spied Kullver and Timot running towards the destruction. But a person shoved Nick to the side in their desperation to get away, sending him sprawling to the ground. It took a moment to right himself, and then Kullver and Timot were gone, lost in the mess.

Eventually, he reached The Square, his breath coming in terrible, deep gulps that pained his lungs. Another ball of fire exploded to his left, leaving behind a ghastly column of black smoke. He couldn't see the destruction behind the line of buildings that bordered The Square, but he could imagine what it looked like: Charred bodies, endless infernos, and raging, roiling fire.

The fountain trickled quietly in the center of the plaza, as though nothing was happening, as though the world wasn't falling apart around them. But what was happening?  Most of the smoke was coming from the eastern district of the city. Even from The Square, Nick could feel the growing heat, it sizzled on his skin, triggering an animal instinct to run.

He didn't listen to it. He steeled himself and began to head towards the line of buildings that bordered the eastern side of the town.

Around him, defenders were running into The Commerce, swords in their hands. Nick tried to stop a few of them, just to ask them what was happening, to see if they could calm him. But he wasn't able to get any of their attention. It seemed that they were set on running into the danger.

It didn't make any sense.

Nick stopped at the edge of The Square and took a step back. Why were their swords drawn? Had The Golden Spire gained entry into the city? Where were the defenders going? Nick couldn't hear any fighting. The familiar sound of clashing steel wasn't pinging through the air. He didn't see any robed cultists. The crackling of burning fire, the cries of the distressed, and the general hum of a city in chaos was all he could hear.

He looked around, trying to think of something to do. He considered running back to The Paxtan Estate, getting Breck. But he didn't want to put the man in danger, and, besides, he had probably already found his way to the chaos. He had probably come running when he had heard.

Wait. What had Breck told him about today? Hadn't he said something?

With a horrible, sickening realization, Nick remembered. It flashed into his mind, piercing his thoughts like a knife. His soulmate had been planning to go to the flare tree with Vinton, the flare tree in The Commerce.