For a moment, not a single sound was uttered.
No one moved.
Not a single wing beat could be heard.
Not a single bullet was fired.
Not even the eerie shrieks of The Rift could be heard.
The wind seemed to halt its howling.
Silence filled the Quarter.
The seconds ticked by before a lone voice rose up in the front cohorts.
“For Aurelia!” The shout sounded, ricocheting off the metal and limestone slabs of The Wall.
More voices joined, a chorus of shouts lifting to the heavens as angel by angel joined in.
“For Aurelia! For the City of Gold! For Aeternus!”
The shouts rose as the soldiers from Aurum joined in. Their words blended together in a chorus that consumed the space. The shouts grew louder and louder.
We prepared to take flight, ready to siege Solis Quarter, when a large rumbling began to spread over the ground. Every muscle in me tensed as I looked around, my eyes scanning the area.
The rumble started softly across the ground, then it grew louder, the ground shaking beneath our feet. Looks of confusion spread across our ranks, shouts now rising from The Wall as the guards atop the surface began to frantically run across the barricade. Shouts sounded from the perimeter along The Wall, and the ground was rumbling with even more force, the tremors shaking the foundations of the cement slabs. Even the ledge of The Rift began to rumble, slabs of rock breaking off and falling into the darkness, swallowed by the abyss.
The tremors grew more violent, the ground shaking with an unnatural force.
Then, just as suddenly as the rumbling appeared, it halted.
Silence stretched across the open expanse of the desert.
Seconds stretched on, the ground settling from the tremors.
A large cracking noise resounded—a sharp crack that cut through the air, loud enough to be heard across everyinchof Solis Quarter. A piercing, sharp sound that seemed to be emanating from The Wall itself as all eyes whirled in that direction.
And right there, it could be spotted.
In the center of the towering cement and metal structure, a wall created by darkness, a large split was forming in the center of The Wall.
The cracking began to spread out from the center, the lines forming as more groans sounded from the compromised structure. The crack began to grow rapidly, the shattering spiderwebbing out from where it started. Several more loud cracking sounds resounded across the Quarter, the cement slabs splitting over and over again.
It continued to fracture. Large crevices carved themselves into the towering cement structure as the wall’s integrity broke into pieces.
Shattering and splitting at an unstoppable speed.
The ground beneath us began to rumble, the tremors growing in intensity as the earth itself shook.
Shouts began to break out amongst the troops, every single angel taking to the skies in uniform ranks as we processed the sight before us. Overhead, we heard screams and shouts falling from The Wall. The citizens of Solis could be seen shouting commands, running from the cracking sections, black wings taking flight as they leapt off The Wall, retreating into Solis.
Before our eyes, the entire wall began to crack at once, the ground shaking and trembling with a fierce roar.
Then, all at once . . .
The Wall surrounding Solis Quarter began to fall.
Crumbling into fractured pieces before our eyes, as we stayed motionless.
