The mountains exploded. There was no other word for it. One moment they stood solid against the horizon, a permanent fixture of the western landscape; the next, an entire section of the mountain range simply vanished. Stone, ancient forests, and high cliffs disappeared in an instant, replaced by a massive pillar of black light that erupted into the heavens. The sky itself seemed to crack around the energy beam, rippling with dark static that bled into the clouds.
Every person in the academy saw it. Every student trailing behind the evacuation lines, every instructor occupying the strategic high points, and every citizen in the surrounding capital city paused. The world had just changed, and everyone knew it.
No one spoke. The scale of the destruction was too large, too sudden, and too impossible for words. The ambient sounds of the city died down, replaced by a hollow, ringing void.
