by Florina » Wed Apr 01, 2009 3:39 pm
Episode II: City
The scene before the group was stunning, to say the absolute least. Smoke rose from the once-grand skyscrapers of New York City, and bodies littered the streets. Where once stood street lights, subway entrances, and other such typical New York sightings now existed only piles of assorted rubble and debris. Blood coated the ground in several places, wounded and confused victims of the transformative smoke wandering half-conscious on the empty roads and sidewalks of the world's largest city.
Perhaps the strangest sight of all was the Empire State Building; it alone stood completely untouched amongst its shorter, debris-cluttered brethren. Even stranger, a softly-pulsating blue barrier surrounded it, magical runes swirling around the bizarre protective orb. To make matters stranger, the top of the building was now home to what appeared to be a patchwork coliseum, its circular structure crafted from assorted spare parts and rubble taken from the city. This frankenstein's monster of a structure resembled something from ancient Rome, but with far less attention to artistic detail.
"Oh, Gods... In so little time..." Kratos shook his head, sheathing his blade and bowing his head in respect for the fallen. "I bet that sick bastard saw this coming... Or instigated it himself... This is horrible." After a long moment of silence that seemed to drag on for an eternity, he turned to his peers, a new look of resolve in his eyes. "This changes things... Whatever is going on in Japan, we need to figure out what happened here first. From the looks of things, the Dictator does indeed have allies, and my guess is that one of them has taken this city over and left it to rot while he watches from that... That thing on top of the Empire State Building.
It will most likely be dangerous... And if any of you aren't willing to risk your lives to figure this out, then that's fine. However, I have a feeling we'll be needing each and every one of you."
