Alban sighed as he opened his eyes. The light of the orange dawn sun stung with unrelenting bitterness. The bustle of the street below encroached like a marching army. He swung his legs over the bed's edge, the various bottles adorning the floor clattered as he went.
He placed his head in his hands. Then pulled them away as he felt the cool flow of blood on his chin. He had a mix of shock and concern flow through his every nerve...
Then the realisation train made him it's next target.
Alban sprung to his feet, cradling his aching head as he heard the sudden sound of shouting from the world below. He scrambled over his father's still boxed belongings, shoving the stained and rotten curtain out the way.
People. The street was full of them. They came out of the buildings, they stepped out of their cars, they looked at the sky, some ran, some cradled each other. Others watched their phones, filming something up in the sky.
Glancing at the sky, Alban scrambled over everything once again at full speed. He barged through his father's front door and hurriedly jumped the last steps on the stairs.
He wheezed as he reached the outer world, and looked on in absolute shock.
The slowly growing prism was muted blue through the earth's skies. Clouds might cover it, constructs of man may obscure it. Yet above it all, it materialised without force or effect.
Slowly, in the space above the Earth, the City became unveiled to the light of a new sun.
Above the sky, unbound by the taint of the atmosphere, a wall of fog emanated outwards from the City's heart, its edge ran like fire, but its form was more of water, flowing like an unfaltering wave over the City. The spires immediately outshone any other mortal creation, appearing one after another above the planet's surface. They blotted out the stars, they hid the moon, and hung like a roof of crystal and stone across the waking world.
The spires reached down from the City toward the Earth that birthed it, the many boulevards and causeways cast patterns across its surface akin to artwork as the fog withdrew to reveal more of humanity's masterpiece. For each eye that fell on the City its colour returned. As it was born into our world, it became whole again. The spires shod their patina and brought forth the great fascias and murals that defined them each. It smiled on its new world, whole in form and function once again.
On the remains of the bridge's great span the scorching wave approached them, it was fear inducing. A force of nature rushing their way that claimed the City from its world. The two dreamers were barely at their feet when it hit them to the ground once again. They were all it truly harmed. Pain laid on top of pain, the wave of fire scorched their hair and clothes, debris in its wake lashed their skin like a thousand razors. They were left gasping, burned and bloodied, staring up at the pure orb of the Earth. Their breaths were sharp, yet true. Their reward for their actions was mortal peril.
Gale began to laugh painfully. The pain in his chest was escalating, combined with the agony of every muscle and bone. He saw an arm point to the world above them.
"There's home." Carola choked, tears in her eyes at the tranquil world turning below. Gale patted the stone floor he'd landed on, he watched the mosaics and patterns rewrite themselves.
"Here's mine." He croaked. He glanced back up the bridge's span, its end, the ShardShip, its arches. They were all left behind, to remain as silent vigil to that world for all time. The remains it brought with it drifted upwards slowly, casting themselves into space under the power of an unseen force.
YOU ARE READING
The Fallen City
General FictionDo you remember it? There was a time we all did... We once loved it, we were once nurtured by it. A City, so grand, so beautiful. So enthralling, we promised we would always believe. We promised it we'd never let go But you did. You all did. And now...
