Events. Started. Happening.
Chiaki held her head in her hands. Qingqing had started a god damn war! Qingqing and Rosa and the Ape King... and apparently Parkers family and Winstons family... poor Winston. Rosa was hounding him to no end to join in on the... Chiaki growled as she tugged on her hair, before Curtis untangled her fingers from her long dark brown locks. "Why?!" She wined.
All around the city was a mess, the whole place was divided and fires raged in the inner circle of it all. The castle of the Tiger King was aflame, the castle of the Wolf King was aflame, the castle of the Leopard King was ablaze. "We need to get back to the outer ring." Curtis urged.
It had started simply enough, Qingqing had tried to revolutionize rice growing. Then she had told them how good the wild grains were. Both on their own fairly simple steps forward in advancement, things Chiaki herself knew would be good for the city. The rice was, to her, a waste of time when compared to other grains, but the people already knew and like rice. Then there was the new cooking, the new use of herbs, fishing techniques... and on and on and on... without a pause. So much, so fast and all pouring forth from the mouth of a single loud and highly desirable young female. She had been in several fights with Rosa, and the two family groups were always at odds. The Ape King was involved almost from day one, because of Rosa and of course, how much Qingqing stood out.
It had been just before dusk when it all started. She and Curtis were in the market of the next to innermost ring of the city, the district that had the biggest most wealthy families living there. The inner circle was dominated by the four Queens, the castles of the city leaders and their mates. Four females who typically kept to themselves while their favorite mate ran the day to day city. The four Kings, typically the strongest males of the city were the faces the population turned to.
This evening had started the same as several others, with one of the Kings arriving with a few personal seconds guards. They gathered the attention from everyone of the ring, likely the other Kings were at the other main markets of the other rings. The Ape King was at this one today.
"People of the greatest of the beast Cities! People of the Highcliff City of Beasts!" He started dramatically. "There have been several upsetting events in the city in the past weeks, no! Months! The sudden flooding, the drought that followed so soon! Who seemed to always have a ready answer? Too quickly even? Yes! I see it in your eyes. The answer easy in coming to your minds. One female!" He thrust a hand in the air and a tied up, but struggling Bai Qingqing was dragged on scene. Parker, Bluepool, and Muir joined her, heavy thick chains binding them. They must have been drugged, because Chiaki knew such binding wouldn't hold a beast male for more than a few minutes at most. "Bai Qingqing is no female! She is a monster!" The Ape King yelled over the crowd who were now loudly talking about what was happening in-front of them.
"Oh no." Chiaki groaned. Qingqing had done it. She'd still lied even here in the City of Beasts, how much the girl had said could be debated, but in every case it wasn't good.
"I meditated on her odd ways, on her strange habits, on her advanced knowledge. I saw in my Minds Eye another place, filled with terrible things, unthinkable and even to me... yes, frightening." He nodded. The whispers around the crowd turned to how even the great Ape King looked shaken by what he had seen. "I learned little of this place other than it's evil! Behold!"
With raised arms a swirling miasma of color began to form, growing larger and larger over the crowd, who had to look up to see the image forming in its inky depths. A red-orange sky of early dusk loomed over the towering buildings of an alien city. People dressed in unknown forms of clothing scurried about like ants, packed together. Sounds, loud and unknown, from monstrous moving beasts that ran through the streets of people. Black smoke billowed from distant buildings. To the gathered people it was a mad landscape of people and things they could never understand. It was terrifying.
"This! This is the place the monster called Bai Qingqing comes from!" The Ape King continued, and Qingqing struggled harder, her eyes wide at seeing the large city of Earth in the air above her.
The ground below their feet rumbled, surprising everyone. Even the Ape King was startled. Had the sound from the other place caused even the ground to vibrate in fear?is hold on the magic wavered and the image shook shrinking in on itself a bit. He tried to pull the miasma down closer tot he place he stood, where he could spend less energy keeping the image clear. The sounds grew louder, he could almost feel the heat- no he could feel the hot air billowing from the image! No! The connection, it wasn't just an image! He'd connected to that place too strongly, it was not just a look into the other place, but a portal! He needed to close it down! Why was it still drawing closer to him! NO! NO! "NO!" He shouted, putting a hand up to shield himself from the ever nearing portal.
It engulfed him.
Qingqing struggled forward. Home! Earth! Hands tied, mouth gagged, but feet free... she ran. Ran right at the miasma, nebulous and the image of the small park and the city streets and the factory and the people! Home! The ground below their feet shook harder this time and a crack opened up in the market, swallowing a dozen males and releasing hot steam and black smoke.
People screamed. "Look! The evil has taken the Ape King and the black smoke has come here!" Some unknown female yelled hysterically.
The world became pandemonium. The center of the Beast City heaved. The castle of the Ape King swallowed by a giant sinkhole that opened up below it, directly into the now visible molten rock. Plumes of black smoke and debris arose into the sky, fire- chunks of burning rock hit the other three remaining castles.
By now only a shocked Chiaki noticed Bai Qingqing tumble into the portal to that other world, if it was their Earth or not, she didn't know. But Parker was next, unsteady on his feet as he was, chains around him snapping as adrenaline flooded the males body, flushing the drugs from his system. Chiaki couldn't see more as the crown surged away from the portal and the crack in the ground, pushing her and Curtis back from the scene.
"It's her fault!" Yelled one person. "Bai Qingqing has doomed us all!"
"No! The evil was too much even for the Ape King! We have to get rid of all of the Ape beasts in the city, so none of them can ever do this again!" Another cried.
"The Tiger King will help us!"
"No! No! The Wolf King!"
"Surely the Leopard King will have a plan!"
Somehow the people turned on each other. Curtis grabbed Chiaki, holding her to him. She looked blankly at the Hellscape the city had quickly became. Panic. Heart racing, she could only fist her hands into her hair. Why? WHy? WHY? "Why?!" She cried out as she began to panic.
Rosa had said something to Winston, trying to get him to join the Tiger King. Had she known the Ape King was going to expose Qingqing? It had been a scant few weeks from the time Chiaki had seen Rosa and the Ape King on Bai Qingqings doorstep, how had it gone so badly so quickly?!
"Why?!" She whined.
"We need to get back to the outer ring." Curtis urged.
