The Morning the Sky Broke
The morning started with the mundane rhythm of city life, the sound of car horns and the smell of expensive coffee.
- 1、The Morning the Sky Broke
- 2、The Descent of the Arbiter
- 3、The Sound of Iron Against God
- 4、The Secret in the Briefcase
- 5、The Price of Divine Intervention
- 6、A City Left in the Dark
Nobody noticed the subtle hum in the air that made the pigeons scatter and the dogs howl in unison.
Sarah Jenkins was standing at the corner of 42nd and Broadway, her hand trembling as she clutched a heavy, metallic briefcase.
She looked like any other office worker, but the way she kept checking her watch suggested she was counting down to something.
Suddenly, the mechanical groan of a city bus changed pitch, shifting from a low idle to a high-pitched scream.
The vehicle lunged forward, ignoring the red light and the dozen pedestrians currently crossing the street.
I watched in horror as the driver’s hands were glued to the wheel, his face a mask of frozen, silent screaming.
It wasn't a mechanical failure; the bus was being pulled forward by an invisible, magnetic force.
The Descent of the Arbiter
Before the first scream could fully escape anyone's lungs, the sky turned a bruised, violent shade of purple.
A single pillar of lightning descended, striking the exact center of the intersection with a deafening crack that shattered every window within three blocks.
The shockwave threw me against a brick wall, the wind knocked out of my lungs and my vision swimming in white spots.
When I could finally see again, a figure stood in the crater of the impact.
He was massive, towering over seven feet tall, wearing armor that seemed to be forged from the heart of a dying star.
In his right hand, he held a hammer that looked ancient and terrifying, inscribed with runes that hurt my eyes to look at.
The bus was less than ten feet from the crowd when he stepped into its path.
He didn't brace himself or take a defensive stance; he simply stood there with the indifference of a mountain.
The Sound of Iron Against God
The impact was a sound I will never forget—the screeching of steel being forced to stop against an immovable object.
The front of the bus hit the man’s chest and immediately crumpled, the engine block shattering and the tires exploding from the sudden friction.
Glass rained down on the pavement like diamonds, and the smell of gasoline filled the air.
But the man, the "hero" as the papers would later call him, didn't even blink.
He reached out one hand, grabbed the distorted remains of the bus's bumper, and tossed the multi-ton vehicle aside as if it were a toy.
The bus skidded across the asphalt, crashing into a row of parked cars and coming to a rest in a cloud of steam and fire.
I looked for the hero to start pulling people out of the wreckage, to show the compassion we expect from the legends.
Instead, he turned his back on the dying and the wounded, walking straight toward Sarah Jenkins.
The Secret in the Briefcase
Sarah hadn't moved since the lightning struck, her eyes fixed on the man with the hammer.
"You're late, Amon," she whispered, her voice carrying through the sudden silence of the street.
The man, Amon, stopped a few feet from her, the lightning still dancing between the plates of his armor.
"The crossing was guarded, little thief," he replied, his voice like the grinding of stones.
I realized then that the bus hadn't been an accident and he hadn't been a savior.
The bus had been a weapon sent by Sarah’s people to kill him, and he had used the crowd as a shield to draw them out.
He didn't care about the people on that bus; he only cared about the briefcase she was holding.
