Chapter 86: Start of another crisis
The world below me is a nightmare painted in black.
Everything feels like it’s distorting.
From the top of the tower, standing on the high balcony, I watch as the flames move like a dark mist, swirling and spreading with a life of their own. They devour everything in their path, all the trees, the birds, the animals, the buildings, even the people, leaving nothing but blackened remnants in their wake. The sky is a tumultuous sea of gray and black, the sun a dim, struggling orb obscured by the smothering darkness.
The mist like fire, if that can even be called that, does not flicker like the usual fires; they glide and twist, more like tendrils of smoke than tongues of flame. It seems almost sentient, creeping and consuming with a deliberate, malevolent intent. I can see them licking at the edges of buildings, turning everything into corrupted bodies.
Screams pierce the air, sharp and desperate, mingling with the low, constant hum of terror that underlies the chaos. The cries for help, the wails of confusion and pain—they rise up to me, each one a dagger of guilt and helplessness. I grip the edge of the railing, my knuckles white, my heart a frantic drum in my chest.
Down below, people run in all directions, their movements frantic and disoriented. They stumble over each other, some falling and being swallowed by the approaching misty flames, their final screams echoing up to where I stand. The black mist rolls over them, silencing their cries in an instant, leaving nothing but a hollow silence in their place.
The air is thick with an acrid scent, the taste of miasma bitter on my tongue. The once familiar cityscape is now an alien landscape of shadows and destruction. I feel a chill that has nothing to do with the temperature, a bone-deep cold that seeps into my very being.
I am alone up here, a solitary witness to the end. The tower trembles beneath me, the structure groaning as if it too is aware of the inevitable. I wonder how long it will stand, how long before the miasma even reaches this high place.
My eyes sting with unshed tears,
***
>>Amber