4/4/2019

  12 AM

  As the midnight rose, the quiet peace was interrupted.

  Loud screeches beyond the volume of an emergency siren roamed the night. Daniel got off the couch in the living room and headed out to the backyard. He looked up in the clear night sky only to be terrorized by gigantic flying beings. The sword was summoned out of his clenched right fist, pouring out loads of energy. His aura attracted the attention above.

  Empress Cai and Lady Bian ran right out of the residence.

  "Shit! The Adlers are here!” the former yelled. A series of high-pitched whistles echoed across the entire district. The Adlers resembled an eagle with long beaks and talons. However, underneath the candor-like wings, there were humanoid arms and hands. It was at least triple in size compared to humans. Two of them landed in the backyard, revealing the fibrous humanoid legs with each foot having three toes. Each spread their humongous wings wide enough to cuddle two trucks.

  Caw caw!

  The ample noise and flapping sounds reached Daniel's ears before a powerful breeze swarmed past him and Empress Cai.

  Daniel unleashed his aura further, causing the Alder's eyes to flash evil red. The latter went for the first attack, and he dodged its claws. In response, he attacked back by inflicting a slash of qi. A wave-like shape poured out of the blade and struck at the Adler's torso, leaving a massive cut. A red waterfall poured onto the lawn.

  Lady Bian, who was still in her white suit, took off her blazer and jumped into the sky. She grabbed one of them by the head with ease and decapitated it with one elbow to the neck.

  Daniel went for the one he just cut and pierced his blade right into its abdomen. Using one of Lian's qi generation methods, he jumped up high in the air with shockwave propulsions through his feet. As he was about to finish the Adler off, it used its last traces of energy and shanked right into Daniel's stomach. The latter felt the jolt and forcefully ignored it.

  "You're in the way!" Daniel yelled and cut off its wings. He grabbed its head with his left hand. Not perfect as Lady Bian because he felt the rough texture like sandpaper grinding his palm. And it wasn't pleasant. One swiping gesture, and the blade tore off its head. Daniel raised his right leg, preventing the rest of his body from dropping.

  Not that far away, Lady Bian was beating the stampede of Adlers midair with a decapitated head. Daniel wanted to try the same, so his sword was unsummoned from his right grip. He switched the head to his right and grabbed the body with his left. With both hands on deck, Daniel flew right to a horde and thrust his right arm upward. Bloody downpour splashed his face. He unlocked the first stage of suppression, leaking his body aura out. It cleaned all the dirt off his body. And because the first stage was unlocked, his body outline illuminated like a light bulb.

  No time to waste, as there were too many Adlers in the sky. Unlike Lady Bian, who was using the same weapon for a decent minute, Daniel got bored with the decapitated head, so he aimed at one of the Adlers.

  "Hold on!" Lian exclaimed.

  But she was late by a second as he threw the head right at it.

  Some of the qi was transferred from the hand, generating a massive power boost. A trail of qi like flames was exerted as it grew farther away from Daniel. The head struck at the Adler's chest, creating a fatal shockwave. It was so loud, and he could hear the ribs fracture. Not a pleasant sound to end with.

  "Shit!" Lian exclaimed again.

  The same Adler, now soulless, was sped away by the decapitated head, taking a dozen more along. Daniel, Empress Cai, and Lian looked up. Other Adlers did too.

  Kaboom! Bang!

  Daniel thought of how he was going to have to explain this event as the explosion high above the clouds spread. All the unexpected power from a trace of qi he involuntarily transferred was horrifying. A stack of halo rings burst out of control, dispersing every cloud within a large mile radius.

  The Adlers screamed in an unrecognizable language. Hilde teleported right next to Daniel and took him back inside the residence. Everyone was back inside.

  Daniel pointed outside. "That was not all me, was it?"

  Lian breathed a few times in shock. "I thought it would be a little presentable and move on, but this…Oh, no. This is too much."

  Screech!

  Daniel grimaced and turned around. A large scrape on the wall.

  "Why didn't anyone tell him?" Mother Elaine asked everyone present. She pointed at Daniel. "Dan, look at your torso!"

  When he glared down at his chest, his mind went on a tangent. Daniel snapped out of it, focusing on getting it out of his body. One grip at the polearm to find his eyes wasn't deceiving him. It was a huge weapon. Mother Elaine went for a mirror nearby and displayed it. The realization was immediate. There were no blood puddles in the house. The blood was mostly at the polearm and the site where the damn Adler impaled him.

  Another look at the mirror confirmed it was a humongous spear. No urge to spit out blood and no lightheadedness. Daniel could tell his abdomen was in a state of desire to be removed from the intrusion. So, he took the grip of the polearm, finding it to be as tough as one of those large oak trees. With his new immense strength, he thrust it out, pouring a pint of blood. The splurt was painted over the floor in blue.

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  Steam was generated from his wound. It was like a drooling mouth, leaking and spitting out blue blood. At an angle, some who were in front of him would see portions of his ribs and lungs. By now, everyone in the residence was used to seeing his blood blue. Vil, one of his former classmates, hated looking at blood. Ironically, the blue colored blood made it less of an issue.

  Dr. Annia came closer for a better viewing as the large gape began to heal. She didn't care if the steam was smoking hot. “What is that?”

  “What?” Daniel wondered, then followed her attention. “Oh, this? In the Raal Art of Magic book, magic users get a new organ within the stomach area. It just helps us be more stable as we learn to adapt more qi…that's all.”

  “Incredible. I haven't got to that part in the book yet.”

  “It's in the health section, you are two units away.”

  The steam’s intensity grew, and Daniel's regeneration rate amped up, closing the wound in less than a minute. All of the mess on the floor evaporated too, leaving nothing behind. Attention was turned back to the backyard. The darkness of night was overtaken by the bloody red. Despite it being past midnight, the city's nightlife was well known, so Daniel knew many saw that explosion in the sky. "I did all of this?"

  Hilde wrote a note in her journal. "You created an explosion on a large scale sooner than I would've expected."

  "But I wasn't aware that I gave some energy to the head until after I threw it."

  Lian told him the observations she noticed while dealing with a few Adlers of her own. It was only a trace of qi, so it should not have resulted in a devastating explosion that rocked the city. Evident by the fires near Downtown Colemond and the news on TV. Kross, who had no reaction from outside at all, was watching the TV the entire time in a trance. When he broke out of it by a blurt, he pointed out the breaking news to others.

  On the big screen in the living room were original high-quality photos, revealing the scary and mighty demonstration of Daniel's power. A complete mushroom cloud like from a nuclear explosion. The complete terror from the ragged stem shaped by multitudes of electricity. Forked lightning bolts shot out of the caps, which were the top area of the mushroom cloud. The news anchors were bamboozled and tried to maintain their composure as the live footage from the city showed mass chaos in a few districts.

  "They're definitely going to call me soon, fuck," Daniel muttered. "I need a quick drink." He walked into the kitchen, grabbing a new bottle of Coke from the fridge. "Are y'all's phones ringing yet?"

  Rebecca gave three fingers in the air, prompting Daniel to walk to her. She opened her recent texts and showed them to him. "A few want to contact you, but they can't because the mayor's phone number is not being received."

  “Did they forget to update their contact information?” Daniel mentioned. “Well, if they have something more specific than usual, show me.”

  Rebecca looked through and clicked on one that had a long paragraph. “Found one.”

  University of Colemond has its own broadcasting station and a twenty-four-seven news media department. Many of its staff worked graveyard shifts. One of them contacted Rebecca's phone out of concern and safety. Daniel read the entire message and decided to give them a call. He got the phone number, and for the next half an hour, many exchanges occurred through the call.

  4/4/2019

  5 AM

  The damage report was costly and devastating. Daniel hasn't made a public speech or message yet. And because Daniel's residence was in Northeast Colemond, the explosion's radius turned out to be at least ten miles, reaching out to I-45.

  What a chaotic time to end the first week as mayor. Daniel had just formed a new committee based on everyone who was invited to the lecture hall last week. The Mayor Burman's assassination cover-up story was in fruition as well. Now, with the midnight explosion and parts of the city wrecked into oblivion, the chances of the story not going through rose. One relief was that the city councilors were safe. They were asleep in their homes. By luck, their place wasn't decimated, and they called Daniel about half an hour ago.

  Obviously, no radiation, but the temperatures have risen by two degrees since the blast. The entirety of Colemond was feeling its effects, and firefighters had been working on the ground for five hours to stop the blazing flames. Multiple computers were set up in the living room and dining room. All active on maps and live updates. Rebecca and Simon were in their own spaces, handling some of the administrative duties.

  Daniel looked at the live map of the city. Most of the East was painted either orange or red. The West was safe. Downtown took a beating, but all the towers and buildings survived. All their lights went on under his command as proof and testing. It was to stay on twenty-four seven unless stated otherwise.

  A meeting with the police chief and fire chief was tense, but all differences were settled through an agreement of extra funding to keep the emergency overdrive operations as smooth as possible.

  Outside was a little warm amid the gust. Daniel stood outside and viewed downtown. It was like a fortified palace standing in the center of all the chaos surrounding it. Lian joined him outside.

  "The Adlers… Does that mean Raal nature comes to Earth too?" Daniel asked Lian with a little pessimistic tone.

  "Yes, and it can't be stopped through the Middle Ground. Everything comes," replied Lian. “Just like those dungeons and runes in the past. More will come.”

  “Right…” Daniel grimaced. It has been more than a week since he was exposed to the Raal Art of Magic. And so far, the status of anonymity was now contested. Daniel turned to Lian, whose attention was on the fires.

  “In the back of my mind, I don't think they can handle this alone. What do you think?"

  As the gusts settled, Lian activated her body aura and unleashed some of her qi into the air, absorbing some air activity. She sighed deeply. "When we were having a few meetings in the city in the last few days, I talked with a few restaurant owners and their customers…You're right…They're happy, but they wish they could do something more. But this world is blocking them from going for their dream. Most are stuck, unless they're wealthy.

  "You guys are obsessed with money aren't you?"

  There was no shame in admitting at all. "Yeah, most of them are. I'm more lenient. If they don't, they struggle. Some parts of Earth are community-oriented, so money isn't always a concern. Family is more important. But here in Colemond, it's all about being an individual and building wealth to be 'happy'."

  "That's very depressing."

  "It doesn't have to be…Now that we exist, Earth can go back on track."

  "We should help them?" Lian asked, crossing her arms.

  "Yeah, we do…We need a foundation, and this city will be it," Daniel said with confidence. "Listen, I've been in on this since the beginning. I'm already committed to the path and accepted the proposal to bring the refugees to this planet. Whatever the price will be in the future, I've made my decision. Can you say the same?"

  Lian took another deep breath. Lady Bian came out to the lawn, who had heard everything behind the windows. She gave her the approval.

  "Alright, we can start, then."

  A new era for planet Earth was about to take shape.