Dimensional Descent

While everyone was distracted, Leonel had already moved, making it to Conrad and James in a few steps and grabbing a side of the latter's collar himself. Another person might have chosen to fight off Conrad first, but Leonel was well aware how foolish such a choice was.

No matter what just happened, securing James' safety came first. No matter what happened between them, James was still his best friend. And, luckily, he had the now darkened lights on his side.

As expected, Conrad wasn't able to react. Seeing that Leonel now had a firm grip on James himself, he could only let go, allowing Leonel to pull James up.

"Leo…?" James' words slurred.

It was only now that Leonel realized James had actually been unconscious. It was likely his head that had smashed the window apart, it wouldn't be surprising if he was diagnosed with a concussion. Coupling that with the fact he was drunk and it was a recipe for disaster.

"Heeey, maaan. You're late, my sister-in-law was waiting on yoouu…"

Leonel sucked in a cold breath through his teeth when James heavily leaned on him. He was really in no shape to be taking on such a burden, but he still carried him out, letting him sit on the couch.

"Chef, do you have any gas burners back there? We need some light." Leonel called out.

The Four-Star Chef who had not said a word even when James' life was on the line finally looked a bit shaken. He didn't seem to know what was going on.

"… Yes… We use a blow torch for the finishing touches of certain dishes…"

He absentmindedly fumbled through the dark, pulling out the draw of a hidden compartment to take the torch he was speaking of. But, before he could think to hand it to Leonel, it happened.

In that few minutes, it felt that the planet would collapse. A cacophony of booms so loud Leonel had no choice but to cover his ears sounded. The earth beneath their feet trembled fiercer, the building swaying wildly from left to right.

It was then that Leonel froze. He didn't need to think to know what was causing this…

The Paradise Islands!

'Dad…'

A bout of worry seized Leonel's chest. No Paradise Islands were allowed to have routes that crossed over important landmarks. The top ten Academies, government buildings, and historical landmarks all fit this description. So, they were safe, for better or worse.

However, Leonel didn't care about his own safety. He was worried about his father.

Higher class Paradise Islands like the ones him and his father lived on had several safety features in case an event just like this one happened, however they weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. This was especially so considering the scope of this power outage.

father lived on a Paradise Island very close to the surface — the closest they could get, in fact. If their island crashed into some of the high rise skyscrapers first, it could slow its descent enough to save his father's life. These skyscrapers were exactly the very last line of defense for these disasters. They were built with this potential cataclysm

could only

it was a normal power outage caused by some sort of system-wide failure, he would immediately run out of here, even leaving Aina behind. However, before everything happened, their wrist watches had warned

was lucky that their

the Paradise Islands above their heads. They would occasionally obscure the sun,

they became more and more aware that each represented the

smell filled the fourth floor lobby along with mute sobs

of had yet to even begin, yet billions had already died. What

his eyes and clenched his jaw, keeping his visage expressionless as he

of them were able to have a home

the booms finally stopped, the earth still swaying beneath their feet. Maybe it was only now that they had become aware of just how many of those

to work as though nothing had happened. He carefully took James' shirt off, being mindful to support

concussion, but the remnant shards of glass on the bottom ledge

candles from a resident of the dorm and lit them,

on standby for the game were still here, or if they had left to

best he could, he slowly removed pieces of glass stuck in his flesh.

"Love you, man…"

he was the luckiest one of them all. Even if they tried to sleep now, they had no doubt

his head, his gaze turning empty for a

the best answer was to stay put. Everyone else knew as well. As

more, but he had to admit to himself that he had no real evidence for this being the case. It was

outage actively. It wasn't a mistake,

that we have room and board. The academy also stockpiles several years worth of food

bad is that the campus is current above its usual carrying capacity due to the game and the after party. Also, without

The food here is enough to last

unless people

of this. He only wanted to go

I can't

mess of vomit would be cleaned easily with their high-tech. But, this

Conrad from walking away, and why

seemed that Conrad wasn't destined to

For a moment, Leonel thought that the foundation was too shaken by the previous earthquakes and that the

to know that if there ever was a spatial tear, it would look exactly like this. Maybe the only thing that deviated from his fanciful image was the

was the same. The abrupt cognitive dissonance, its black, starry innards, the way it seemed