The night began in silence, a heavy calm that seemed to envelop all of Asterra, a country basking in rare, peaceful times.
In the western region of asterra lay the small town of Olsmere, cradled among rolling plain lands and green hills. The town breathed like a living machine. Copper pipes ran along brick walls, releasing gentle hisses of steam that curled into the cooling evening air, mingling with the pine-scent drifting from the distant forests.
Frogs croaked from nearby swamps, crickets sang from the grass, and fireflies lit the night like scattered fairy dust.
Lanterns and neon signs blinked above family porches, spilling warm light into the narrow alleys where children ran barefoot, clacking together little mechanical gears, pretending to be heroes and villains of old.
Mira, a young seamstress of Olsmere, stood at her open window, gently rocking her baby to sleep. Her voice was soft and tender as she sang softly:
"Hush, my moonbeam, drift through skies of silver glow.
The stars will guard you softly where dream-rivers flow."
She pressed a kiss to her child's forehead, smiling faintly as the last note of the lullaby faded into the night.
Down the lane, merchants closed their stalls with quiet goodnights while men gathered in the streets, laughing and swapping stories. The sound of their voices rose over the distant hum of wagon engines.
"Piss on that!" shouted Oriyn, the town drunk, He raised the beer bottle in his hands, took a long swig, and wiped the foam from his lips before continuing.
"Northern women are as cold as the land they come from!"
His companions howled with laughter, their voices echoing through the streets. Their joy fell silent when the clink of boots and armor sounded nearby. A troop of soldiers marched past, their black-and-brass armor catching the faint glow of the lamps as they moved in perfect formation toward the nearby forest edge.
"The Sovereign's Guard!" Oriyn cried, staggering forward with a drunken smile.
The other men turned, cheering and raising their bottles high.
"Aye! Long live our Sovereign, Lord Eryndor!" they called together.
The soldiers returned the hail with curt nods but did not slow their march.
Mira placed her baby gently in the cradle and lingered by the window, watching them vanish into the trees.
"These are happy times!" Eric, one of Oriyn's drinking companions, bellowed, throwing an arm over Oriyn's shoulder. "Let's drink to that!"
"Aye! Thanks to Lord Eryndor!" Oriyn agreed before grinning mischievously.
"Tell me, Eric — if you could join any noble House as a soldier, which would you choose?"
"Easy," Eric replied without hesitation. "House Veymont."
Oriyn leaned closer, eager. "And why's that?"
"Have you seen their female soldiers? Blonde hair, thick thighs, clad in armor"
The group roared with laughter again, their voices rolling through the night.
From her window, Mira shook her head with a small sigh but couldn't help joining in.
"You speak of southern women as if they're better than us western women," she called out playfully. "Give us some credit, Oriyn!"
Laughter erupted across the street as other commoners joined in the teasing.
"That's right, Mira!" a few women shouted from their porches, and soon the whole street was filled with laughter and voices, alive with the warmth of a shared moment.
In the town's open field, boys and girls gathered under the cool night breeze, some lying on the grass, some sitting close together, whispering and laughing as they watched the stars wheel across the dark sky.
It was, after all, a night like any other, quiet, peaceful, ordinary.
And then…
Birds exploded from the surrounding trees, their wings thrashing as they fled in terror. The wind rose without warning, sweeping down the narrow streets and lifting dead leaves into a whirling frenzy.
A white-blue beam of light ascends into the night sky, spearing upward from the forest with such brilliance, that night was turned briefly into day.
For a heartbeat, the town stood still.
Then the light deacended, unleashing a cataclysmic maelstrom of power that shook the very foundations of Olsmere, sending shockwaves rippling out like the end of the world itself."
The ground trembled violently. Roof tiles shattered, lanterns swung wildly, and beer bottles crashed at Oriyn nd his fellow drunks feet. Mira clutched the window frame as the tremors rolled through her home, her breath caught in her throat until the shaking slowed.
Her baby wailed.
She lunged for the cradle, pulling the child to her chest, rocking him frantically as her wide eyes darted back to the window.
"What was that just now?" she shouted into the night, her voice shaking.
All across the streets, neighbors began peering curiously from windows. Parents called for their children who played outside, pulling them in-doors for safety.
"What was that?" someone muttered.
"Was it a factory explosion?" another asked, their voice thin with fear.
The townsfolk began to move slowly toward the open fields that led to the forest, their countenance filled with unease blended with curiosity. The boys and girls who had been sitting under the stars only moments ago now stood, hearts pounding, their earlier laughter gone, as they all stared at the origin of the light source form the forest edge.
As the world around them shook, Oriyn and his crew sat in blissful ignorance, too hammered to notice, their faces slack with drunken contentment, blinking, belching, and smacking their lips in pure, unadulterated beer bliss.
People closeby had their curiosity blended with silence that lingered for a few seconds, and in an instant, it came.
From the forest edge erupted a rage of fire and cutting wind, a storm that howled like a roaring ball travelling towards the town.
The first wave violently smashes into the youths in the open field like the wrath of a vengeful god. Bodies ripped apart in an instant, limbs violently pulled from joints, flesh peeled and charred from bone, blackening young boys and girls in the inferno horror. Their screams drowning beneath the violent raging flames and cutting winds, with debris lifting into the air mixing with dust and smoke.
The storm crashes into the streets. Houses buckled and collapsed under its fury. Doors, and rooftops are violently ripped apart as if by invisible claws. Screams of men and women rose in agony and are immediately drowned beneath the roaring inferno and swirling wind. People within the town crouched into corners for safety, their lips trembling with fear and horror
Mira's house imploded with a thunderous crack, walls folding inward like a beast devouring itself. Metal shrieked, wood shattered into flying spears, and before she could draw her next breath the blast hurled her through the window. She crashed to the street, rolling across stone and ash, her lungs torn with smoke. Her baby was ripped from her arms in the chaos, flung into the blaze, tumbling helplessly into the burning street, while people kept screaming in horror.
"No!" Mira cried, hurling herself after her child.
Through the choking smoke and blistering air, she saw her child, small, screaming, writhing, as the fire licked at his clothes. She threw herself forward, snatching him up and curling her body around him.
"It's okay, Terrin! Mummy's here!" she sobbed, retreating into the nearest corner, shielding him from the burning wind.
Her tears sizzled as they struck the scorched ground. She clutched the boy close as her gaze flicked back to the street where oriyn and his friends sat.
"Oh gods…" she whispered in horror.
Oriyn and his friends werealready blackened husks, their bodies crackling as fire devoured them, with their teeth clenched in frozen pain. Heat and dust swallowing everything in its wake.
Another shockwave tore through the town. Rings of fire rolled outward, shredding more houses, leaving nothing but scorched ruin in their wake.
Screams rose from every direction, from the streets, from distant farms, from neighboring villages.
"Mommy?!" a child's voice cried faintly from under the rubble of a caved-in house.
Parents screamed back for their children, voices hoarse with terror. Some prayed loudly, others simply wailed, but their words were lost beneath the relentless roar of wind and flame as Olsmere was consumed.
Mira stumbled into a narrow alley, choking on smoke. Her baby was strapped tightly to her chest, his small head pressed to her heart. She crawled, fell, dragged herself forward again, refusing to stop, as she kept moving with the hope of the nights terror coming to an end.
Around her, panicked figures sprinted blindly, screaming the names of loved ones, their voices breaking in terror.
High above, the temple's bricks cracked and split apart. The bell tolled once. Twice.
Then, with a final groan, the entire spire collapsed. It crashed into the street below, shattering in an explosion of sparks and stone. The sacred bell rolled, glowing red from the heat, before vanishing in the swirl of fire and ash.
Another blast struck a village called nareth far in the southeast of Asterra.
No warning came this time.
The horizon flared white, then roared. The firestorm swept over the fields before anyone could scream. People were lifted from their feet, shredded by invisible blades of wind, and scorched alive before their bodies even struck the earth. Horses reared and shrieked, their flesh seared away from the inferno in seconds, leaving smoking bones that collapsed to the ground.
Blood ran through the streets like water. The earth itself groaned under the weight of the destruction.
Amid the carnage, a few men hastily dragged heavy hoses toward the blaze, tripping over rubble and choking on smoke as they fought to reach it.
Behind them, machines thundered, sucking water from the stream and forcing it out under crushing pressure. The hoses jolted in their grip, as torrents of water burst forth, arching high through the smoke before crashing down against the fire.
Each strike sent a violent hiss roaring skyward, steam rolling over the street and scalding their skin. Still they pressed on, half-blinded, half-burned, driven only by the need to push the inferno back.
"These flames will devour us all!" roared Jori the bricklayer, his arms straining as he held the hose steady.
"We need to act fast! Time is all we have!" he shouted to the panicking survivors while pointing towards some buildings with less flames. "These houses have underground exits, sewage tunnels! Find who you can, drag them out, and get them through! Go, go!"
Joris command immediately jolted courage into them, forcing them into action. Some boys and men abandoned the hoses spilling water and disappeared into the choking smoke, digging frantically through the wreckage, searching for survivors.
Far off on the southern coast, fishermen and traders had seen the black plumes rising.
"Bloody hell…" muttered Groggin, a brown beard and broad-shouldered sea captain with a voice rough as gravel. "What in asterras hell is that?"
He snapped open his mechanical binoculars. Gears turned inside with a steady clatter, and a sharp hiss of steam puffed from the sides as the lenses slid forward and locked into place. The view leapt into focus, carrying the chaos far inland straight to his eyes. Behind him, his crew leaned in close, their voices low, murmuring in shock as they caught glimpses of the burning land through the shifting smoke.
Through the binoculars, Groggin saw the horror up close, children carried from the flames, women screaming over blackened bodies, men dragging their neighbors out of the inferno.
He clicked his tongue, pulled a pen from his coat, and scribbled a frantic note on a piece of paper. With practiced speed, he tied it to the leg of a raven and released it skyward.
"Get word to Master Yeru, quick, you bloody bird!" he growled.
Then he spun toward his men. "Start the ship! We're pulling anchor!"
Steam hissed as the crew scrambled to obey.
Back in Olsmere, Mira clutched her baby tighter.
"My child…" she whispered, voice ragged. "Stay with me."
The child no longer wailed.
She staggered through the choking smoke, stumbling forward until another wall of fire roared up and sealed her path. With no choice, she threw herself into a side alley, curling her body around her son as if her body alone could hold back the inferno.
The heat struck sudden, crushing, merciless. Her left hand blistered and split open, skin peeling in raw strips.
She screamed, the sound breaking into sobs, before her strength gave way. Her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground, clinging to her child with the desperation of a drowning soul.
All around her, the town was gone, reduced to burning heaps and scattered limbs. People lay where they had fallen, faces frozen in horror. Mothers still reached for children who were no longer there. Men lay sprawled in the dust, hands clutching tools that had not saved them. The dead and the dying filled the streets, their silence heavier than the roar of the flames.
The night felt endless.
And then the third blast struck the northwest region of asterra, a detonation so vast it shook the north west region of Asterra to its bones, as though the world itself had torn open.