Warning: the following chapter contains trace amounts of OzGlyn/an unnamed (but rather obvious) ship. Those with allergies should not consume.
"Alexander and James of Atlas versus Poppy and Oren of Shade!"
Alexander shifted his weight and readied Nīlama.
"You finally going to use that thing for real?" James smirked.
"Focus, James," the leader of ARGT chided. "Don't get cocky."
The two panels around the platform lowered, and the randomized biomes began to rise. ARGT's side was filled with dark, shallow water, surface flecked with algae. Tall narrow trees creaked and swayed in a nonexistent breeze, roots deep in the mud.
From the other side, a city emerged, its buildings tall and crumbling. What looked like wheelless cars lay abandoned on the roads, narrow as they were.
The color drained from Alexander's face.
"Uh-oh!" Poppy Birch grinned. She shook her wild red hair out of her face. "Something wrong, old man? I hope you can still fight~"
"Worry about yourself!" James snapped
A small boy wolfed down the last of his chips and threw the bag away. "Overcompensating?" He tugged his gray hood further down his head, yellow eyes gleaming despite being hidden by shadow.
"3, 2, 1, begin!"
Oren sprang backward, whipping out twin guns and firing. James blocked the bullets with the broad of his sword and lunged at him.
Poppy aimed a flurry of knives at Alexander who, recovering his wits just in time, ducked out of the way and disappeared. The redhead grinned. "At least, you're making this interesting." She sprinted into the ruins. "Come and get me, old man!"
Alexander pressed himself against the wall of a building, illusion shielding him from sight. 'Idiot! Of all the places you could have gone, you run straight into the—'
The earth seemed to be shaking from the screams if not the explosion. It wasn't as if bombings weren't common, but something about this one was different— quieter, maybe? — and the screams carried a sense of sheer terror and...wrongness.
He dropped his journal and sprinted outside. People stood in doorways, stuck their heads out windows, pointing, staring at the smoking, crumbling mass that had once been the moon.
Another scream pierced the air. A large black creature with webbed wings and horns like Chaos swooped down from the sky and let out a bloodcurdling screech. Shadows dripped from its body and fell to the earth, forming other, similar creatures with white demonic masks.
The crowd scattered, surging throughout the streets or into homes as the monsters descended and ripped innocents to shreds. Blood ran down the streets, and—
Mikayla. Where was Mikayla?
The people wouldn't stop screaming—
Nononononono! He couldn't lose her! No, please—
Alarms blared as vehicles were overturned, and—
He searched for any sign of teal, any sign that she was okay because he couldn't lose her— not again— but it would be so much easier to look, to think, to breathe if everything would just stop moving and be quiet and if the glass would just stop shattering, shattering, shattering because he was going to go insane or collapse and then get eaten by one of those wolf things, and he needed to find Mikaylanoraluminaclairealyseartemisarenaglynda before—
He awoke to white walls, sheets, and curtains. (And oh, how he loathed white, even after four thousand years. He had half a mind to take a page out of Glynda's book and splash dye all over them.) Moonlight streamed through the windows which was strange because the tournament fight had been in the middle of the afternoon…
"Crap!" Alexander shot up into a sitting position, then groaned and fell back onto the pillows. He blinked blearily, a sudden migraine blurring his vision.
"Alexander!" There was movement beside him, and suddenly Glynda was kneeling at his bedside. "Thank God you're all right."
He released a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "What happened?"
"You tell me. You collapsed in the middle of the match. We lost, by the way."
The silver-haired boy grimaced. "Sorry. It was probably my fault. PTSD trigger. The ruins…" He shook his head. "But you already knew that."
Glynda nodded. "I had an inkling," she said dryly. "Especially after the announcer thanked the Mantle Museum of Natural History," the blonde pitched her voice in imitation of a man's baritone, "'for aiding the biome design team with their wonderful replica of an ancient Atlesian city.'" The corners of her mouth lifted as her partner shook his head in amusement. "Well, now that I know you're okay, I should go tell James and Tatiana you're awake." As she moved to stand, Alexander's hand shot out and grabbed hers.
"Ah." He let go. "Sorry."
The blonde gave him a long look and sat down on the bed. "It was of that day, wasn't it? The day the moon shattered?" She spoke in a hushed tone, careful not to let outside ears hear.
The silver-haired boy nodded slowly, eyes never leaving hers.
Glynda sighed, but smiled and ruffled his hair. "What am I going to do with you?" She stood, taking his hand in hers. "Come on, clingy. Let's go get the others, hm?"
:D I blame Korean dramas for everything.
Well, if I didn't explain something well, shoot me a message through via the review box and tell me how big my plot holes are.