Chapter 4: That bullet

In a place called Etherwind's capital by some, and Washington DC by others, but now neither of those places, yet also both of them...

Within a bunker beneath the Whitehouse, the president's security detail oriented themselves after the earth had stopped shaking.

The senior advisors and the Chief of Staff had also made it to the bunker in time, along with mostly everyone who worked at the Whitehouse.

"Mr. President, are you okay?" Head of the security detail, Alan Walker, asked as he and his subordinates surrounded the President who was getting up after fighting off his dizziness.

"What happened?" The President asked.

"We are currently confirming that sir. Online communications were cut and only our in-house communications are functional - wait - we now have sight confirmation. Would you like to see a projection?" Alan dutifully reported all of the gathered findings of the last few minutes, listening in his earpiece for any other news.

"Yes. Put it up" the President asked as he dusted himself off and readjusted his collar.

One of the Whitehouse's backup generators was fully functional and managed to work as a source of electricity for the time being, and quickly, a projector displayed the CCTV footage of the outside.

They also connected to drones which captured birds-eye footage to get a better sense of the scale of the catastrophe.

Everyone in the bunker had very little idea of what had happened, assuming that it should have been an unexpected earthquake or a large-scale military offensive. What they didn't expect to see, however, was...

"Holy shit"

"What..."

One of the projections displayed a majestic castle, beyond which was a tall tower-like structure, unlike anyone there had seen. It was glowing visibly with hues of blue. Other than that, however, the other screens displayed a scene of a mass catastrophe. Burning buildings, broken roads and vehicles, all amidst other unfamiliar architecture. There were roads that clearly did not belong to Washington, and people that clearly did not belong to Washington, and buildings that clearly did not belong to Washington.

In fact, to the people in the room, there was barely any of Washington remaining amidst the chaos and rubble displayed on the screens they were watching.

After a few moments of silence, the President asked a very pointed question.

"So where's the real footage?"

At any other time, the people there would be inwardly groaning at their president again, but no one had anything better to say. In fact, from the absolute absurdity of the situation, it would be reasonable to assume that the footage was indeed fake.

Alan Walker, the head of the personal security detail of the president, shook off his stupor and ordered a few of his subordinates to confirm the situation by going outside.

Once that was done, the room fell into a strange and uncomfortable silence.

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The civilians of both worlds who were still alive and managed to emerge unscathed from the whole event began to adjust themselves and take in what had happened.

Some had lost their family members under the rubble, and others were barely hanging on to the thread of life.

Some doctors who were relatively okay immediately began to check on whoever was nearby, even before registering the changes that had been made in their surroundings. There was no doubt that for these people, they had entered the medical profession solely to help their patients.

Civilians of the empire, too, began to take similar actions. Some benevolent mages cast heals on whoever they could find, and some medical specialists also began to do the same.

Most people however, simply looked around in confusion and despair.

One middle-aged man, who had taken leave from the army that day to go out with his daughter to celebrate her birthday, was now looking at her mangled corpse beneath a broken carriage.

"H-hey, are you okay?" A hesitant commoner girl approached from behind and asked the man in the language of the Empire.

In a panic, fueled by his rage, despair, and incomprehension, he withdrew his firearm, swiftly turning to face the foreign voice, and without thinking, fired.

The bullet struck the girl's head, killing her.

The others nearby had witnessed the scene.

The citizens of the empire were horrified and scared. They had no idea how the girl had gotten killed in an instant.

The warriors among them drew their swords, and the magicians present quickly began casting spells.

On the side of the US citizens, those who carried firearms quickly drew them, and began shouting at each other in English.

A magician saw the threat, and quickly released a fireball.

Burning the army man to ashes.

From that moment on, all hell broke loose.

Bullets were fired, spells were cast, swords were drawn and raised, and bloodshed marred the streets even more heavily than the cataclysm. The conflict spread quickly, and soon the whole capital was embroiled in a bloody and brutal conflict, without really knowing the reason why.

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Ether's Castle,

The robust enchantments had allowed the entire castle grounds to remain untouched by the disaster, and in the throne room, the officials had already gathered.

Wester Ether Siegfried I, the emperor of Etherwind paced evenly towards his throne. Once he sat, he turned to his right minister and asked.

"Miles, what happened?"

A young man wearing purple robes made his way to the center of the chamber and bowed.

"Your majesty, the court magician's scrying tools have allowed us to gain a rudimentary understanding of the situation, and have also concluded what most likely occurred just now"

"Speak"

"Yes, it seems that we have crossed dimensions with another civilization, or world, and the collision between us has resulted in the disaster..."

"Continue" Emperor Siegfried raised his eyebrows upon hearing what his minister had to say.

"Yes. The existence of alternate dimensions or realities was something hypothesized by many magicians in our long history who mastered space and time, but until now, none of those were confirmed. I have already had some of the court magicians peruse old texts to give us any further insight on the matter, but for now we will focus on the matter at hand" The minister, Miles Walter, gave his explanation with fluidity and composure, seemingly not realizing the storm he was kicking up in the hearts of everyone present.

"And what's the result? What are the damages?" The Emperor asked as he leaned forward from his throne.

"That, well, it's best to take a look yourself, your majesty" Miles turned to a court magician who had an eagle perched on his shoulder, and signaled at him to begin displaying the situation outside.

'Creature Control', 'Share Vision', 'Display Sight' The mind magician quickly cast three spells simultaneously, and gestured towards his eagle.

The bird flew away through a small gap in the window and began flying in the sky, glancing around at the once prosperous Ether, the once glorious capital of the Etherwind Empire.

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