For a moment, I was utterly flabbergasted. Discombobulated. There were so many wonderful words floating around in my brain, I just couldn’t find the right one. My mind was an utter mess, not accepting the reality before me, if that was even reality and not some incredibly weird hallucination.

Before I could make a determination in regard to that question, I felt as if a hammer had hit me, right between the eyes. Pain flared, first in my head, then rapidly spreading across my entire body, before surging deeper as the world around me lit up with streamers of sound. Somewhere, at the edge of my understanding, I thought I could hear colours talking, a gold-yellow cursing me, while a deep, calming purple wanted to soothe my pain, neither able to reach me and I certainly couldn’t understand them. But what I could do, was hold on, trying to keep my will together as a deep, soul-searing pain coursed through me, tearing at my consciousness and flaring through my very essence.

There was a moment when I considered giving up, simply laying down and letting myself die, but if I did, I would never meet Sigmir again. That thought allowed me to hold on and deep within my being, I felt as if something connected. Some wires that had always been cut, suddenly welded together, completing me. I had no idea what was going on there, but the odd sensation helped me hold on, despite the tempest that I was engulfed in.

At the edge of my perception, I felt something and when I focused, a new blue box appeared, asking for confirmation.

Welcome to the G414-T34 System. The Gods have bestowed a legacy upon you, for good or ill. Do you wish to accept the Legacy of Morgana?

Just seeing the name I had used, I immediately wanted it. I had no idea what it would do to me, but in this strange world of streaming sounds and talking colours, that name was something I could hang on to. For good or ill, I had been Morgana for almost two years and if I could follow that path again, I would most certainly do so.

Pushing my mind, I accepted and for a moment, power flared around me and the pain surging through my body lessened. Things became bearable, to the point that I could push myself up from where I had crumbled in pain, trying to keep my head from bursting. There was something weird at the edge of my vision but before I could focus on the blurry weirdness, I became aware of the world again. And what I saw, made my eyes widen in fear and banished all other thoughts from my mind.

Looking around, there were blue flames, the same blue flames I had seen wash across the city. They hadn’t just washed past, they were lingering, licking at nearly everything I could see. The concrete the building was made of, the metal railing around the terrace, even the ground far below. When I looked down, I realised not only the building, but even my clothes were the same and for a second, I was just staring in disbelief. It didn’t feel hot, it felt as if there was nothing there and yet, my eyes told me that there was.

I wanted to drop and roll, but the flames were everywhere and when I looked around, I realised that the other buildings I could see didn’t seem to fare much better. And yet, I wasn’t getting burned - Yet.

As I was staring in stunned disbelief, the flames on a nearby satellite dish flared up and suddenly, the thing started to combust, not with the blue flames that didn’t seem to emit heat, but with orange-red flames that were most certainly hot. Within seconds, far faster than I would have thought, the satellite dish was starting to tilt, before crashing down from its position, some sparks shooting from the freshly disconnected cables. It might have been my imagination, but those sparks had the same, blue hue as the flames I was seeing everywhere.

Before I could investigate further, an explosion rattled the neighbourhood and when I looked down, I saw a car sliding along the street, only that it wasn’t rolling on its wheels, it was sliding on burning rubber, the entire thing engulfed in flames. I had always thought cars only exploded that way in movies, but it looked very much like the result of one such explosion to me - if not for the visible, flailing human at the wheel, until the human stopped moving, still on fire.

And the car wasn’t the only thing that was suddenly destroyed, it looked like everything was going to hell and without the need for a handbasket. Streetlights, apartments, everything that was lit up remained lit, only that instead of the white or yellow lights normally used, it was now flickering with blue, oftentimes swiftly replaced with the orange-red of normal fire.

Sniffing the air, the first, noxious fumes of smoke and fire trickled my nose, urging me to move. If everything was starting to burn, I didn’t want to be stuck at the top of a building. Firefighters would have better things to do than help me if they could even act at all.

Panicked, I scrambled to the stairwell, ripped the door open and stumbled down the dark stairs, the odd, blue flames providing little to no illumination. I didn’t even trying to turn on the light, that seemed like a profoundly stupid idea. Somehow, I was able to vaguely see things before me and managed to make my way to my apartment without falling down the stairs. The smell of smoke was getting worse, only that it wasn’t the worst thing I could perceive, that spot was held by the screams. Screams of fear, screams of pain and, worst of all, something I could only describe as feral screeching, somewhere between an angry cat and a car engine, interspersed with the sounds of heavy impacts, as if someone was slamming a slab of meat against a wall.

Driven by a primal need to escape, I focused on nothing but returning to my burrow. My apartment, my home, the place one place I could reach that would make me feel safe. The only place better, would be safely held in Sigmir’s arms, but…

I pushed the thought away, the entire can of worms far too much for me to handle at that moment, escape had to come before everything else.

Fumbling with my keys for a moment, I managed to open my door, stumbling inside and closing the door behind me, trying to lock out the strange noises that came from all around me, the scents and everything. My home was my castle, and here, I was safe.

But I knew that the safety was an illusion, just sniffing the air for a moment, I could detect the smoke and when I looked into my living room, I could see that my TV set was already smouldering as if it was about to burst into flames at any second. The entire apartment felt a little too warm for comfort, despite the winter, making me wonder if there was fire in the walls or something.

Shaking my head, I forced myself to keep moving and ignore the blue flames all around me. Running into my bedroom, I grabbed a backpack and frantically tossed in the bare necessities, clothes, some important documents, things like that. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I didn’t want to stay in a burning building, be the flames blue or not.

As I was moving, my eyes briefly fell on the blades I had been gifted by Mr Wu, the actual, sharp blades, not their practice counterparts. I had always seen them as ornamental, a gift of appreciation not something I would ever consider using.

But now, after seeing the world literally go up in flames, I wanted to have something sharp and pointy with me, just in case.

Grabbing the blades and their sheats slowed me down, especially when I felt the need to change the jacket I had been wearing to a long, warm coat that, coincidentally, would conceal the blades, just in case. In case of what, I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to be prepared for things going to shit, as that was where everything seemed to be headed.

I only wanted to get somewhere where I could see my surroundings, where there was nothing that could fall on me, or trap me, or start burning below me. Somewhere, I could feel at least somewhat safe.

Running outside, a tiny, idle part of my mind wondered why there was no fire alarm, or at least the smoke detectors going off, but I couldn’t focus on the question. Hurrying through the hallway, I was almost hit when a doorway slammed open, crashing into the wall next to me with enough force to crack the wooden frame.

What I saw stumbling out of the door might have been the most disturbing thing I had seen the whole evening. It was my neighbour, a guy in his early thirties who did some sort of home office, someone I had exchanged greetings with when meeting in the hallway, an acquaintance.

But now, that acquaintance looked like the caricature of a human, skin taunt, blood streaming from a somewhat crooked nose and, worst of all, those eyes.

His eyes, normally a somewhat muddy green-brown were gone, replaced with flames, flames of that blue colour that I immediately recognised, given that it was the same colour as the flames that were not-burning all around us.

Before I could fully react to his wasted appearance, he lunged forward, moving a lot faster than I had ever seen him move before.