In Silas town, the site where Mory's school once stood had been replaced by a vast, dark red shape. The crimson form pulsed like living fire, slowly creeping outward from the school grounds, devouring everything it touched.
But the moment it crossed the boundary of the school fence, the shape simply vanished. The dark red fire dissolved into nothing, leaving behind only a massive, perfectly circular hole in the earth.
The crater measured twelve meters deep, its walls scorched black and glowing faintly with residual heat. The ground at the bottom radiated such intense temperature that no living thing could survive even a second there—air shimmered and distorted above it like a mirage.
The child at the center of the inferno had disappeared too. No body, no trace, no sign he had ever existed. Only scorched, barren land remained.
People outside the school grounds stood frozen in terror. They had watched the dark red wave surge toward them, swallowing the school in seconds. They would have been consumed if the fire hadn't stopped abruptly at the edge.
The entire spread had lasted just five seconds. Seconds that felt like an eternity to every witness.
And now panic erupted. Phones were yanked out, voices overlapping in frantic calls to the government, firefighters, police, military—anyone who might explain it. "It was fire, but not fire!" one woman screamed into her phone. "It ate everything—then just stopped! Vanished!"
No one knew what it was. No one knew if it would return. No one knew what had caused it. They only knew the silence that followed felt heavier than the flames ever had. It was unknown they are fearing.
People began whispering and shouting in the crowd—questions tumbling over one another. Who was inside the school? How did the fire start? Was it really fire at all? Some clutched phones, scrolling desperately for answers that didn't exist yet.
Family members collapsed to their knees when they remembered their own who worked there—teachers, cleaners, office staff. Their wails rose loud and raw into the air, echoing across the scorched ground. They knew, deep in their bones, that no one could have survived that dark red inferno.
A few parents exhaled shaky breaths of relief. "It's good the children attended classes in Eternal Ascendancy today…" they murmured to each other. The thought of their own kids caught in that blaze made their hands tremble. They hugged their children closer, grateful for the game that had kept them safe.
Slowly, names of the missing began circulating— teachers, the principal, staff members. There weren't many people inside at that hour. No one particularly mentioned Gorak; to most, he was just another teacher.
Then a single, desperate cry cut through the noise: "No!!!!"
The man who shouted it realized too late how loud he had been. He ducked his head and slipped away into the crowd, heart pounding. No one paid him much attention—others were mourning far louder, their grief drowning his out.
He ran blindly in one direction, mind screaming. *How can the whole school just vanish? I was only gone few minutes to buy food! How? How?!* This was one of Gorak's men—the cafeteria had been closed, so he had stepped outside for snacks. Now he returned to nothing but a glowing crater, heat so fierce that nearby trees had ignited from the radiant warmth alone. The school grounds were a blackened void.
He kept running, fear driving his legs. He didn't know who—or what—had caused this destruction. He didn't know if it would come for him next. Survival was all that mattered.
But mid-stride, he simply vanished. One moment running, the next gone—erased from the world without a sound.
The first responders arrived moments later: firefighters unloading hoses, spraying water toward the crater. The heat was so intense that water vaporized instantly within five meters, turning to steam before it could touch the ground. No effect at all.
They called for more tanks, then helicopters dumping massive loads from above. Still, the heat barely diminished—only a faint haze of cooling at the edges.
Government officials and military units rolled in soon after, sealing the entire area with barricades and checkpoints. They funneled every available water source toward the crater, desperate to lower the temperature even slightly.
When local supplies ran low, the government ordered ocean water piped in directly. It would take hours, maybe days, to arrive. In the meantime, they issued an immediate evacuation order for Silas town. No one could enter. The area was restricted—off-limits to civilians, media, everyone.
News of the school's sudden disappearance—and the eerie aftermath—spread like wildfire across the Eternal Ascendancy network. Forums exploded with threads: endless speculation, raw fear, shaky eyewitness videos uploaded from the crowd.
"What was that dark red fire?"
"How did it appear and vanish in seconds?"
"Where did it come from—experiment gone wrong? Accident? Coincidence? Natural disaster?"