Before The Fall (origins)

Cracked

"Well, that was pathetic.  What kind of idiot throws stalactites at an Ignis mage?"

"You told me to!!"

"Hey, I didn't know about the damn mage."

"There are at least 50 people there and you tell me this now?  I thought you said you could read the color thingies."

"Miscalculation, kid, sorry.  Now fire again.  This time at the mage."

"And if he shoots back?"

"Dodge and shoot again."

"You make it sound so easy."

Magrathea stayed in the dark shade of an overhanging rock when a cry slammed into his ears with the force of a charging boar.

"Krista!"

"You can't go out there, you'll get yourself killed!"

"Come out, come out, you pesky rat.  Last time you were lucky.  This time we have something extra nice for you.  Shock her again."

"Stop!!!"

"There you are.  Now this is going to be fun, isn't it?  Fifty against one."

"Why the cane?  Can't stand your stench?"

"Vile words won't work today.  Men, tie him up.  And don't wriggle, or Cale will electrocute this young lady here."

"Tch..."

"Hey, buddy.  We need to get out of this cave.  Now.  They've seen us."

"How?"

"Here's a last resort.  So we..."

"You're joking."

"Stop mumbling and put that stone down.  Don't need to lose another man."

"Fine.  Whatever you say."

Magrathea kneeled on one knee and placed the stone on the dirt in front of him.  And the whole cavern split apart.

White cracks fragmented the hallway as they formed from the spot where Magrathea had placed the stone.  Ribbons of white split the cavern into a tangle of instances and moments, as the walls started to bleed away and splinter into even smaller shards of reality.

"What is this?"

"Hang on, buddy.  I'm gonna try one last trick."

The fragment Magrathea was kneeling on blinked out of the way of a stray fireball and reappeared next to a fragment with Krista and Cale.

"Go, kid!"

Cale, caught off guard by the sudden rendering of the hallway, was not in the mood for the elbow that caught his jaw, but was caught in that zone that adults go to when they have a job to do, and lashed out with one hand to swipe at Magrathea's leg.  Tendrils of electricity darted off of Cale's hand and seared Magrathea's ankle as he grabbed Krista's wrist and leapt back to his little island of Reality.

"Now what?"

"Now we hang on, buddy."

The fragment jerked into motion again, darting away from the torrent of lightning that came from Cane's hands.  And away it went, right into the inky darkness where the cracks led to.