A Moment of Stars | PJO Chaos

Eleven

And that's when they saw the smoke.

Percy knew something was wrong the moment they stepped off the spacecraft.

In a not too far distance, a cloud of rising smoke in broad daylight is the only thing to be seen in the clear orange sky of Zibara.

They landed on what seems to be a pasture(minus the animals). The grass was an odd color of neon yellow, and the occasional tree in a distance sported red and orange leaves. Though as much ac Percy would love to examine the odd agriculture, there were more pressing matters at hand. "What's going on over there? Is that where the town is?"

"It appears to be so, yes." Elara says. "There may be commotion once we get there, so stay alert." He nods; they shut the hatch to the RA25-8, and start on their short journey towards the small town.

Within minutes, the smell of smoke engulfs them as they continue in the direction of the smoke cloud. Alarms start going off in Percy's head. Turn away. Danger.

Right after the thought, Percy feels a gust of wind and turns towards the commander. The feathers of her wings are slightly puffed, like a startled bird. Her expression is grim and reluctant. "Stay sharp, who knows what we'll see once we get there."

"Got it."

As the view becomes more clear, Percy notices how it looks as if someone had purposefully burned the town down. Everything is dead silent except for the crackling fires in the distance.

The smell of blood suddenly mixes with the smoke as they reach the edge of the small, destroyed town, making his body react out of alarm. Despite Elara's demand to wait, Percy lets his feet rush him through the main street, searching for any form of life or distress.

But there was nothing.

The homes and shops were barely standing. Some occupied with white birds pecking at the woods and ashes(he assumes they are the pigeons of Zibara). He sees clothes and food and children's toys strewn across the town aimlessly, as if a tornado had come through, though her knows that this is far from natural.

His expression hardens like glass. Sharp and fragile at the sight of what was once a town with families and innocent people. Thoughts of someone doing such a thing like this made his blood boil in disgust.

"Percy." Percy looks up from the devastated area to find Elara coming from behind a destroyed wall. She holds a cold expression as she kicks a few broken glass bottles aside. "We need to work quickly." Percy silently agrees. Whatever has come through is far more destructive than anyone would have anticipated. He pulls the tracker from his pocket as she does the same. There were three dots on the screen, one seemingly faded. All of them were relatively close—less than a mile range of each other.

With that, Elara begins walking in a direction. "It's says Northwest, so we'll head down the main street and then adjust our direction afterwards."

"But it doesn't seem close to where we are." Percy frowns at the marked areas on his tracker. "If we need to work quickly, shouldn't we get a vehicle or something?"

"Don't you think it would make too much noise?" She asks. "I don't think it's a good idea to go about that plan."

Percy sighs, slightly frustrated. In all honesty, he didn't want to be there any longer than they had to. Despite the smell of blood, he couldn't find any bodies or injured civilians, which gave him an even worse feeling about the place. "But—"