As far as the eye could see, fire. Smoke. A cacophony of screams and explosions.
The ground littered with charred corpses and flailing, burning men and women soon to join them. The sound of groaning, twisting steel and the blaring of fire alarms, distorting as those too were burned up, their batteries bursting like acidic party poppers. The faint smell of jet fuel buried underneath the horrendous stench of death, along with that of burning organic mass.
Is this Hell? Avīci? The banks of the river Phlegethon?
But it was not. This was New York City. It could just as easily be Tokyo, or Seoul, or London. Any city in any country. Devoid of flesh, knowing only pain, their eyes melted like wax candles, the legions of the dying crawled up in a horrendous and pleading mass, begging for an end to their needless and arbitrary suffering. Even without skin or muscles, the look of agonised terror etched into each of their faces was unmistakable.
Minami awoke in cold sweat, too afraid to scream and unable to process the imagery her brain had concocted for her in slumber. She didn't know what it meant, or if it could even mean anything. All she saw was pain, cruelty, horror for which she knew no words to describe.
Her mother gripped her tight in her arms, likely suspecting that the traumatic imagery on the screen was giving her nightmares. Minami may not have been the most expressive or outgoing girl, but she was far from emotionless and in times like this, her great empathy would cause her terrible distress.
Minami's father had by this point been given instruction by his employer to return to Tokyo as soon as it was possible and safe to do so with the documentation he had recovered. Conveniently, this would also enable him to see his family again; a much-needed if cold comfort given what had just transpired. Honoka knew Minami would be happy to see her father again sooner than anticipated, if not with the circumstances by which it came about.
Eventually, the sun would rise, and Honoka would begin the process of setting her daughter up for her day at elementary school. She did not have high hopes for Minami's emotional health today. She could only hope that the teachers and other students would be understanding.