Blood & Power [Book One of The City of Eternity Series] [✔]

1.23: Culmination

I had cautiously approached the gate that had once offered a safe passage between Eastern Zone and the haven that was the Central Zone. My previous visit with Adrienne had filled me with a nauseating fear; the knowing glares from the guards were almost enough to scare us off, and now, with everything that was happening, I had to think this time would be far worse.

I needn't have worried about making my way inside, however. The gate had a unique scent of death long before I had even stepped inside, the doorway having been forcibly removed for ease of access.

I put the pieces together quickly, as the bodies in front of me filled any gaps in my knowledge. The senior guard within the gate was hanging limp, completely null of life. I hadn't spent time getting to know this man, and wouldn't be able to identify the species he originated from - he'd been working in this gate since Eternity had been created, and now, as it was nearing its implosion, his life had ended. All I could tell at this moment was that he was physically pulled through the thick glass pane that separated the two areas and had his throat ripped open - the gushing blood from that wound had long dried up, but the mass of red below him was enough of an indication of its severity.

I swallowed hard as I narrowed my gaze into the room behind him; the other guards had received the same hollow treatment, each species guard ripped to shreds and thrown against the walls. There was no hope of survival for any of these souls - they were well and truly disposed of.

Even the room had received a thorough bashing, the chairs broken apart, the desk cracked in the centre, and paperwork ripped and strewn across the carpeted floor; someone or a group of people with a glorified vendetta had certainly gotten to work here, leaving blood splatters over each wall, and stains deep in the carpet - when this was over, it'd be a nightmare to clean up.

I was forced to jump through the gap created in the glass, easing past the body carefully and edging myself over the blood pooling off of the desk on the other side. I had to contain my anger as I pushed the silver button, this was already too much for me to mentally compartmentalise, and I hadn't gotten to the actual violence and bloodshed yet. The violence and bloodshed that was just beyond the door that was only a push of a button away.

As the doorway inched away from the metal floor beneath it, the noise erupted through what I had now realised was a soundproof room; it had never occurred to me - Central was usually a relatively peaceful zone only briefly filled with commuters. It had eased me into the chaos that I was about to view within Central, a sight I could only sourly behold.

Most of the outer buildings were currently on fire, pillars of smoke rising into the sky from broken windows, and large chunks had been ripped into the sides of buildings, the dust still raining down onto the ground below.

Even now, explosive devices were still being thrown towards those large towers, some only reaching the sky directly above from where they'd been thrown before exploding. They'd clearly been made in a hurry, but the kind of hurry that someone who was expecting this outcome would have; mildly prepared but not quite enough time.