The warp gate deposited me onto a rooftop three kilometers from the Imperial Palace, and the first thing that hit me was the smell—acrid smoke mixed with the metallic tang of spilled blood and the ozone scent of massive magical discharge. The second thing was the scope of absolute devastation sprawling across Avalon City like a festering wound.
From my elevated position, I could see the Order of Fallen Flame's assault wasn't just targeting government buildings. Explosions bloomed like deadly flowers throughout the urban landscape, their orange and crimson light painting the afternoon sky in shades of apocalypse. Military hover-vehicles streaked between skyscrapers in aerial dogfights that left contrails of various colored magical energy, while emergency sirens wailed from every direction with the desperate urgency of a civilization under siege.
