It was gradual, and that made it worse. There was no precise moment when everything changed, there was only the slow, inevitable realization that those shapes were not smoke, were not energy, were not anything a human being could classify with any sense of comfort. They were beings. Creatures. Things that did not belong to this world and made no effort to hide it.
Some crashed down onto the rubble and didn't get back up, or at least not immediately. Others recovered almost instantly, straightening with movements that didn't follow the logic of a normal body. Others never touched the ground at all, remaining suspended in the sky with a presence that could be felt even from a distance, heavy, ancient, completely indifferent to everything around them.
A chill ran down the spine of every adventurer still standing.
