Chapter 5: Quake
The first wave of tremors hit, sending the floors rocking up and down, and Lune could sense the towers shake outside through his spiritual radar.
The fact that he had experienced far worse up in the immortal's realm and down in the underworld was the reason why he could steadily hold his ground on his two feet. However, it was soon clear to him that a simple quake like this was far worse than anything many humans have experienced.
No matter how simple it was to him, an earthquake was an earthquake, and it was beyond his powers to stop. Fighting demons and monsters may be easy, but fighting nature was past his knowledge and experience.
He couldn't believe it. It was only the second day in the mortal realm, and he was already troubled with a natural disaster.
For once, he felt lost. Nothing was the same here in the mortal realm, and nothing came to mind as he panicked, sensing the spiritual energy flicker and fade around him. What should he do? He couldn't just let them all die like sitting ducks.
And it was then, that it clicked.
It was impossible to save everyone right now.
That was the gut-wrenching fact that Lune had to face.
If only Sage was here, he'd know what to do...
The sharp screams for help snapped him out of his whirling thoughts, and he was reminded why he entered this building in the first place. There were at least a couple of hundred persons in this building, and he needed to get them out, if not everyone else in the city.
"I think everyone's still stuck in the ballroom!" Jae shouted somewhere behind him.
Lune made out the human-shaped qi crouched on the ground behind him to be Jae Young, and the one pressed against the wall to be Channing Yue. "Are you alright?" he quickly asked.
"I think I'm good," Jae answered, his voice wobbling unsteadily due to the quake. "Hey, Chan, are you okay?"
A groan escaped the president's mouth and his hand went up to rub his head where he hit the wall. "I'm fine..."
A quick scan of their qi for any irregularities was all Lune needed to check their conditions. Seeing that they were both okay, he rushed towards the clustered images of spiritual energy towards his left where the majority of the building's occupants were located.
Unexpectedly, Jae and Channing had already run to catch up to him, blocking his way.
"We got this!" Jae shouted at him over the thunderous rumbles. Screams and bangs of items crashing to the floor rang nonstop in their ears. Jae pulled on the handles to the ballroom, but to his shock, they remained unbudging, and his strength could only do so much.
Lune frowned at their unwillingness to listen to him, not understanding why they were constantly pushing themselves between him and what he needed to do. He stressed, "Please, let me-"
He was interrupted as Channing joined Jae in the endeavor to pull open the jammed doors. Channing turned to Lune, concerned to see that he still stood there unmoving, seemingly vulnerable to the damage around them.
He opened his mouth to speak, but his words ceased to exist as an impatient sigh escaped Lune's parted lips.
Lune raised and brushed his hand to the side, and Channing and Jae gave a startled cry as a foreign, invisible force suddenly pushed them away and made them topple to the ground.
.
.
"Get off me!" Channing hissed. The building was in danger of collapse, and if they didn't get the people out of there, many would die.
But as he and Jae hastily struggled to get back onto their feet, he glanced up to see Lune standing with his hands outstretched towards the door. And before he could process thought in his mind, the doors were suddenly burst in. The hinges were torn, the heavy glass and wood were completely pulverized, and light smoke was released into the air; it was as if a compressed little bomb was set off right there and then.
What the hell did he just see?
Another violent shake threw Jae off balance as he attempted to untangle his limbs with Channing's, making his palms slip and fall, landing mercilessly on his friend's chest and hitting his forehead on the ground. "Argh, what the f*ck, man!" they grumbled at the same time.
Jae rolled off Channing's body onto the ground next to him, pressing his palms against his throbbing forehead in pain.
As the two friends stumbled to solve their little chaotic mess, guests trapped inside the ballroom were flooding out and scrambling for the main exits. Quite a few have managed to escape before Channing finally pulled Jae up to his feet; both were relieved when they notice the tremors significantly lessen, mistaking it to be the end of the phase.
Once they stepped out of the complex into the open along with the other guests, light dust clouded their vision, and sirens blared loudly in their ears. However when Channing looked up, what he saw didn't match what he was experiencing.
The world around him continued to shake, still going strong, rocking side to side in terrifying angles. But the ground they stood on only held slight quivers, barely moving. Perplexed, he glanced up at his hotel to see the hotel, along with the structures nearby, standing steadier than the ones about a mile radius away.
Though the glass panels were shattered and cracks swirled greatly up the structure, threatening collapse, the foundation was held firm.
Was he dreaming?
It was too real to be a dream, and Channing felt at least grateful to be in a considerably safer zone, especially the moment he noticed a tower in the distance wane and crumbled to the ground.
But Jae wasn't paying attention to any of that. "My cousin!" he shouted frantically, whirling around in all directions. "Do you see her anywhere?"
Channing frowned, turning and turning around in search of a woman with a shimmering blue dress and pitch-black hair. Many rushed past them, but he could not sight Jenna Young anywhere. "I...don't see her," he answered gravely.
Jae cursed, running his hands through his silver locks anxiously. "No...," he strained, his voice cracking. "Where is she?" His cousin was someone he cared deeply for, and it didn't sit well with him that she was nowhere to be seen in a time like this.
"F*ck!" Jae cried helplessly. "Jenna!"
Channing watched, frozen to his spot as his friend hollered for his cousin. He didn't want to seem like a heartless person, but nothing came to mine as he tried to find a way to reassure him of Jenna's safety.
And it was at that moment, that he too, realized a missing presence.
Where's...where's Lune?
He spun on his heel, searching his surroundings expectantly for the familiar pale face and blindfolded eyes, for the bold gray trenchcoat and flowy black hair. But he too was nowhere to be found.
He began to feel the same itching nervousness and dread his friend was feeling, and it instantly struck him that both Jenna and Lune might still be inside the hotel.
His jaw clenched with uneasiness, his brow furrowed with distress. These emotions gradually emerged for a foreign stranger he'd only met yesterday, strangely, emotions that usually only came up when he was stressed with work.
And he could not stand staying still any longer. He wasn't going to let the person who warned them of disaster to become the victim of it. He quickly grabbed Jae's arm and rushed back towards the hotel, telling him of the possibility of others still within the building.
As they arrived back at the entrance, the last of the stragglers and workers were just exiting through the ruptured doorframe. Tiles were cracked, loose items and unsecured furniture and decor were spilled and knocked over.
It was a complete mess.
"Hurry! Check inside!"
And inside the ballroom, past the shattered entrance Lune had created, were just the people they were hoping to look for. In the midst of the damage were three figures at the foot of the collapsed stage.
Stuck under the wreckage of the stage was Sam Liu, the initial host of today's events, his hands gripping tightly onto Jenna's wrists as she tried to pull him out. Her heels were thrown off and she was standing barefoot in the debris, a huge slit ripped up the side of her dress for more leg movement.
"NOONA!" Jae called out in relief, the worry on his face dying over. "You're okay!"
Jenna turned her head sharply, her dark hair flinging across her fierce expression. "A little help?" she hissed through clenched teeth.
"Coming, we're coming!" Jae heartily called in response. He hesitated for a moment when he glanced down at the destruction that blocked his path.
"Hmph." Channing stepped forward and kicked aside the wood, metal, and glass chunks, beginning to clear a path for both of them. He could not deny that he was glad, his tensions settled the moment he knew they were well.
As he hopped over the overturned items with Jae, his mind began to fill with the mysteries he had witnessed today of Lune. It didn't make sense. Just thinking about his name made him more curious.
Lune was definitely blind, for he had seen his eyes for himself. Yet he required no guide nor help to move around as if he was never lacking sight in the first place. And the doors to the ballroom...he managed to somehow blow them open with such a force even when he or Jae couldn't even get them to budge in the slightest.
Did Lune possess some foreign technology that Channing had never heard of yet? Was it that countries abroad had advanced so far in secret? As the founder and president of his own renowned, technology company, these were the first conclusions that popped into his mind that could answer these peculiarities.
Not to mention how bizarre it was to encounter a stillness within the midst of an earthquake... It just wasn't natural.
He would be out of his mind if he were to connect that phenomenon with Lune as well...
"Hang on, Mr. Liu, just a bit more." Jenna continued to reassure the elder man, who gripped on tightly to Jenna's wrists as she fought to pull him out. A coat of sweat covered his forehead, and blood dripped out of a small gash on his cheek. "My...my leg is stuck," he rasped, wincing sharply. His voice was dry and coated with pain, and panicked short breaths went in and out of his mouth.
Finally, Jae and Channing made it through the mess, and they quickly came to CEO Liu's aid. The two went to stand on either side of where he was trapped underneath and grabbed onto the splintered wood.
On the count of three, they lifted up with all their might, and Jenna successfully pulled Liu away, a trail of blood following his left leg.
The older man exhaled gratefully, though his face remained twisted in agony.
Channing and the two Young's immediately dropped down beside him, scrambling to find something to treat his open wound until help came.
"...the earthquake...has it passed?"
Channing stopped and looked up at the sound of a drained voice, lacking its usual, graceful flow. "Lune...?"
"...has it...or has it not?"
Lune was still standing where he was before, a few steps behind them, his head facing straightforward as if he were looking above their heads. Though the cloth around his eyes covered most of his face, his ghastly white complexion and creased, sweat-dotted brows did not go unnoticed before Channing's eyes.
He stood up abruptly and turned to face the exits, overall, confused and concerned. Had Lune not noticed that the grounds had stopped shaking long ago?
Yet as he squinted into the distance, he found that the chaos was...subdued.
Not a building shook in his sight, not even the ones far away. Not even the slightest rumbling.
It was really over.
He glanced over at Lune. "It is...it's over," he told him.
And they were all safe.
Channing found himself with the enthusiasm to describe the odd phenomenon of calm grounds in the midst of a violent quake to Lune, who he'd somehow thought might be interested; but before he could even mention it, Lune staggered back, taking the president by surprise.
Subconsciously, he reached out, grabbing Lune by the arm to steady him as he tried to regain his footing.
This time, Lune didn't avoid contact with him...or maybe he couldn't. His head was turned away as his free hand was up to press against his temple agonizingly, wrinkling the cloth around his eyes. His jaw was clenched so tightly that Channing could see his veins popping out from under his skin, his breathing labored.
The remaining functional lights flickered above their heads, and Channing glanced up and down back at Lune, alarmed. He seemed to be barely hanging on, his arm trembling in Channing's hands.
The lights continued to blink on and off...on and off, irregularly.
What's going on?
Weekly Power Status
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