Chapter 53 Promo · 5:02am Dec 22nd, 2021
A small teaser for the simultaneous release of Chapter 53 and Act 2 of New Era
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The storm sirens were still blaring.
After seeing what they had across town, it was the closest thing the city of Canterlot had to sound the alarm. And when a multi-story tall monster taller than any building in town roars out something that sounded an awful lot like “GO AWAY”, pretty much everybody had unanimously decided “OKAY!” and started high-tailing it out with the type of evacuation usually reserved for particularly bad storms. The retreat was reasonably orderly, much as one could hope such to be. Thankfully cooler heads and survival instincts motivated the pull-back from the city even after the giant monster disappeared as abruptly as it had appeared. Sheer presence coupled with the unusually cold weather and coming stormfront was more than enough motive to get out of the way until a semblance of normality could be maintained.
For a green-hued, dark-haired young man by the name of Warhawk, it was a strange sense of deja vu. Big monster aside, this was beginning to remind him of his youth. He’d lived out of town at the time, technically not even in Canterlot proper even if it was a similar area code and that’s what the mailing address said. When that big blizzard billowed through, freezing over much of Canterlot, his family and neighbors had put up lodging for those fleeing the worst of the storm with nowhere else to go.
That sense of odd remembrance only got stronger as he inched his car along on the packed, but still mobile street. He’d been the last one in the line and he might not have noticed otherwise. Eyes widened in recognition at what he was looking at slumped on the ground on the edge of an alleyway. Jamming the brakes on the car, he opened his door and almost jolted out of his skin at feeling just how frigid the air was even with minimal snow. With a Southern wind howling, it was like having the heat torn from his skin.
Still, selfless goodness was not easily snuffed out. And not just for him. Shaking off the shock after a moment to collect himself, the Good Samaritan scrambled out and flagged down a traffic cop directing evacuation efforts. The unconscious was gently picked up and carried out of the cold air. Thankfully the car in front of Warhawk also stopped. It was a large, white delivery truck with a cake symbol.
A tall, orange-haired man in a woolen jacket scrambled out waving his arms at Warhawk and the traffic officer, “Hey hey! Bring her here!”
As he rushed over to help carry the unconscious rescued, opening the back of the van to welcome them, the passenger side door nudged open to a similarly covered up blue-skinned woman hastily carrying a large number of extra covers and blankets.
“Oh! Oh the poor dear! They must be ice-cold! We’ll get her warmed up soon as can-be!” Mrs. Cake cooed as the motionless was loaded into the van.
“I’ll check and make sure no one else was with her, can you all handle her?” Officer Sentry grunted with a nod back towards the alley.
“Y-Yeah we got this!” Warhawk assured whilst helping Mr. Cake get the still form’s legs over the edge of the door to get them inside.
Human goodness, on full display for a complete stranger even with the wisps of southern winds gnawing at any warmth. The onlooker, hidden from sight as Officer Sentry ran right past them without seeing their form, watched on even as the Cake delivery van door closed. The interior had ample space for another to be swaddled with blankets and secured. In the panic to save someone they thought lost and possibly freezing to death, nobody thought to wonder why her footprints in the snow were leading away from the evacuating caravan before Wallflower Blush had collapsed.
The observer saw all of this. They'd taken note of it even before emerging here. Unseen, they turned and walked off into the snowstorm, not leaving a single track or sight. Stepping right into the snowstorm, they only paused when a pair of eyes beyond the norm were set upon their unseen form.
The pause was prolonged, communicative to a presence unknown to most. The western wind howled and billowed down the roads, but stopped the moment it touched the traveler. There was no contest between them. A howling wind bouncing off a standing mountain. Zephyrus stayed in the shadows and leered. They'd hope to bear witness to what was planned for Notus' spawn. But this... This presence was one they'd felt before. And it was... unnerving.
It was an exceeding rare event that Zephyrus felt fear rather than create it, and not before from something other than Harmony. The shadowed windigo slipped away and retreated, heeding the cue given by a rise of southerly and northerly winds billowing back and forth from the direction of Camp Everfree, and following them.
Alone again, the deity ignored the demon's departure and continued on, heading right for where the kaiju had emerged and disappeared, heedless of anything else.
I'm rubbing my hands with glee! Can't wait for the next chapter.
Nice!
Bagan's influence, i'll wager
If it’s Bagan than it just got interesting because since he can not leave zenith, meaning his corporeal form is in zenith while he ethereal form is free to go and do whatever it wants
Well that's f
cking ominous.
Good to see Warhawk in action. It's actually kind of funny; when I about 3, my hometown was hit with an ice storm that knocked out our power and forced us to camp in our basement. Now my character is dealing with another ice storm.