"S-shit its a goddamn Zone! Somebody call the guild!" the man who had pushed Liam against the wall stammered. He stumbled and fell, landing on his ass. His face was so pale you would have thought it was drained of all blood.
The man was terrified, rightfully so after all Zones were the root cause of the current state of the world. Zones were mysterious portals that cut through space and time, leading to areas that existed nowhere else on Earth.
They were one of the major reasons why the human race had been pushed to the brink as the world currently was. The first Zone to appear was 80 years ago and from within came monsters of varying strength. Beasts that attacked in hordes and wrought destruction and death.
It was said that before the Descent of the Zones there were a total of 50 states with flourishing cities as well as a human population that exceed over 10 billion worldwide. The Old America.
Now?
The world counted less than 50 million people worldwide and the 50 states are nothing more than urban legend.
Now Old American was called The American Federation and it was made up of six main cities located in places where the old states had managed to hold out against the invasion of beasts. Bright City of today stood where the New York City of old lay buried in history.
Since then extensive research had been put into looking into the Zones and measures were used to detect them.
'So how the hell is there an unguarded Zone here?' Liam thought absentmindedly for a moment before an ominous feeling settled in the pits of his stomach. 'Let's get out of here first...'
The air suddenly changed. The Aether density rose to such high levels that breathing became difficult.
'What's going on?'
Gravity seemed to have increased as Liam sluggishly peaked through the hole to take another look at the Zone and see if anything had changed.
And indeed it had.
Before it had looked like a smooth wound torn into the fabric of reality. It was ovoid in shape, with a smooth surface that shimmered with a blue light. Almost like a mirror...alas a strange one.
Now the surface of that mirror was riddled with cracks and wisps of blue ribbon shaped energy was constantly seeping out.
Liam recognized it at once. 'So that's why...'
Indeed. Aether was a miraculous energy that affected several facets of reality. It was one of the reasons why the creatures that came from the Zones were able to almost overthrow most of the human as the lords of Earth. It was also the reason why humans could awaken abilities in the first place.
And now it seemed it could affect the environment too.
Liam watched, pale faced as the cracks intensified, the Aether thickening in the air. Then a forceful explosion rang out, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass. A wave so powerful, so destructive, spread out causing the entire structure of the warehouse to explode.
The steel door slammed into Liam with so much force his ribs shattered and his chest slightly caved. The pain that coursed through him was so intense he couldn't comprehend anything else that happened around him.
His vision darkened and his world spun. His body felt weightless for a moment then his shoulder crashed into raw tarmac before he bounced off. His body spun once more and he hit the ground before his inertia was halted by a parked car's door.
The metal folded and glass rained on him. His vision was a haze of red, a result of having the blood leaking from his head clouding them.
Through the haze he saw chaos. Absolute chaos.
Large boulder sized pieces of rocks spread about. Some with pieces of flesh and blood smudged beneath them. In another area an electric pole had fallen into a building, the electric lines must have sparked because that very building was now a shroud of flames and heat.
Then darkness took him.
...
In the chaos that exploded the sounds of people screaming could be heard. The area was covered in a layer of dust and smoke from some of the buildings that were now aflame.
The stench of blood hung in the air. And somewhere in the midst of all this was the wailing of a little girl. She cried while holding onto a hand...at least what remained of it. The rest was buried under a large fragment of the wall that was no different from a boulder, only the arm had managed to escape being crushed in the aftermath of the explosion.
Not too far away from that position. The Zone's surface rippled with movement.
Something passed through. It was small barely half a meter tall. Its skin was pale, dry and green like that of a toad. It was humanoid, its mouth spread in a bone chilling grin revealing pointed rotted teeth. It wore nothing but a waist cloth long soiled by blood, same with the short sword in its hand- long, rusted and unclean, a weapon neglected.
The immediate area around the Zone was desolate. A barren land of solid dirt. The little creature spotted the wailing girl, its yellow slit eyes glinting with malevolence. It took fast steps towards her.
Within a few seconds it loomed over the wailing girl who finally looked up. Terror written all over her face.
"Ki ki ki" it let out a shrill laugh and raised its rusted weapon above its head.
Before it could swing down though.
BANG!
The little creature's head flung to the side so violently that it was lifted off the ground for a few seconds. With a thud it hit the ground, leaking blood from the side of its head.
The girl froze. Still terrified but now confused too. Then she looked to the left, where the loud sound had come from and saw a man jogging her way. The noise of his dark boots were muted under the chaos, his jeans, t-shirt and coat were covered in dirt. The man's gaze was hard as he stepped beside the little girl.
A trail of smoke still rose from the barrel of the gun in his hand.
The man lingered for a moment. His gaze falling on the strange creature before turning towards the little girl still holding onto the remains of the arm.
"Come. Its not safe here" the man, fell to one knee and picked her up. Then putting the gun away he reached into his pocket and retrieved a radio. Bringing the radio to his mouth he said:
"Office Norse requesting a 10-18 do you copy?"
Static was all he got in response.
Officer Norse cursed under his breath as he looked towards the Zone.
'There must be some interference' he had to get away from the Zone immediately. Only then could a call for help pass through.
Just then the Zone rippled once again. More creatures were passing through.