Board Thread:Roleplay/@comment-28358106-20160820182648/@comment-28358106-20160901154657

Lucida looks at Haia, uncertain of what to say. Ibrahim grabs her hand and continues running, shouting to Haia. "I swear to you, Jeiel won't die! We're almost there!  I'm going to stop this..."

Armata turns to mist and dashes through first. Praetor, shouldering Rhun, is next. Hound follows, then Ibrahim and Lucida, Cire, the Paths, and then Xena, changing from her primal form at the last moment. Hellhounds snap at them as they dive through, the black energy raking their bodies...

...Xena bumps into the Paths, almost knocking them down.

Ibrahim coughs and stands up. "Did...everyone...make it through?"

Lucida stands slowly, and looks up. Her eyes widen and she claps her hands over her mouth.

"My...my gods..."

They are on a hill overlooking what used to be the center of Oz. A sea of fire rages below, whirlwinds of flame raking through the city. Black columns of smoke tower into the air...

And they see the Crucible.

It is only a few miles away, but even now, it is almost half the size of the city it hangs above. The sky is opened above it, its spire piercing the tortured clouds, ringed with lightning. The wretched light from the sky illuminates it from above. It casts a black circle on the city, the hundreds of fires below little candlelights in the darkness.

And it is at war.

The vile forces of the enemy are in what's left of the city. Visible here and there are the enormous Lieutenants, mere ants on the landscape. Slow arcs of flaming death are launched from engines unseen, raining down on the Emerald Palace. They look closer. The last of the Oblations still hold the Palace grounds. The Crucible hangs directly above it, as Dragons, specks against its sides, attack it relentlessly.

The ground shakes. Then again. Then again.

To their right, emerging from the smoke, a shape appears. 

Hundreds of feet high, it walks with the deceptive slowness of size. Stooping, it picks up a piece of the city. It rears back and hurls it, the boulder flying through the air for several seconds before crashing against the side of the Crucible, a tiny stone.

They look in the distance. Theough the smoke they count at least two others, laying siege to the Crucible in the same way...

Conrads forces are fighting both the Crucible and the Palace. It is utter chaos, the sound of the mayhem a dull roar in the distance. Explosions shake the ground. The Stone Giants rampage...

Everyone stares...