"I was there when the world ended.
The sky shattered into a million pieces.
The blood of the gods turned the world red.
No… that was a lie.
I was there when the world ended.
We never knew it did."
—Testament of a Survivor.
"The world consciousness will not stop the arrival of these meteors," Archimedes screamed out in panic as the sky seemed to be falling, "As far as it is concerned the benefits far outweigh the lives that would be lost!"
The winds that erupted around them and for millions of miles around Trion were like a hurricane from the coldest depths of hell, the falling meteors were pushing the entire atmosphere down due to the heat of their entry into the planet, causing whirlwinds that blew so hard it lifted entire forests and cities into the air.
The number of people carried into the atmosphere from the impact of the winds could not be counted, their screams shrouded the entire planet, and these cries were carried by the winds until they could be heard even from outside the planet.
The world was ending!
Circe and Archimedes no longer held back, this was not a matter of profit any longer but of survival.
Many of the crystallized Aethers falling to the earth were no longer small, some of them were the size of multiple buildings, and among them were some the size of mountains, and their descent shattered the skies, carrying great heat and force.
Circe could barely notice the Ancestors in the distance stopping ninety percent of the falling meteorites, but the ten percent that went through still numbered in the tens of millions.
'By the gods… billions shall perish!'
Archimedes placed both of her paws on Circe's neck and pushed her lightning powers inside her. The Lightning Kirin was more powerful, but she knew that power alone would not save them, Circe would be able to utilize this power far more better than she could.
Circe did not disappoint, pushing through the barriers of her heart, she disregarded the pain, and her eyes exploded with a blue radiance as her feet left the ground, she lifted her hands and began to chant in median, not only using the vast powers inside her but calling all the Aether around her for hundreds of miles, this process was aided by the sheer density of Aether beginning to rise in the surface of Trion as the meteors were pushing the Aether levels of Trion to ridiculous heights.
Buzzing sounds arose from Circe's body as countless runes of lightning were created with every passing moment inside her Territory and sent to her eyes where they traveled up her arms, resembling thousands of ants running along her forearms.
These lightning runes raced down her palms and covered the ground she was hovering above, creating a complex Runic Circle around her blazing with energy, she made an arcane gesture and the circle expanded for about a hundred feet.
With a cry, she slammed both palms together and a pillar of lightning more than seven feet across shot out from the Runic circle with such great force a shockwave erupted from her position. The lightning pierced through a falling meteor the size of a house scattering it into countless pieces, and spread out like an umbrella for twenty miles shielding Circe and countless people underneath.
"What are you doing?" Archimedes cried out in anger, "I thought you wanted to stay low-key? Your guilt is causing you to make irrational decisions!" The Lightning Kirin regretted not speaking to Circe more deeply before now about the weight of power, because of her talents, she had forgotten that Circe was just seventy years old and was still a child.
The guilt that stemmed from taking many lives was felt by all, but as thousands of years go by and you witness the lives of billions of mortals rise and fall in an endless circle, the concept of mortal life that was so fragile and yet so lasting brought about a change in mindset.
"Reduce this shield! They die now or they die in a hundred years, what does it matter?" Archimedes pleaded, this was no longer about staying under the radar anymore, Circe could not hold back the devastation that was about to happen and she was too blinded by guilt to see it.
"Let me concentrate!" Circe snapped, the impacts of hundreds of meteors slamming into her shield drove her to her knees.
"You fool, stop it now, we can't…"
This was what Archimedes could only say before a massive meteorite that was as large as a mountain and bright like a star impacted to the sides, a few miles away from Circe.
The sound of that impact was indescribable, killing thousands of people.
The crash raised a wall of earth tens of thousands of feet tall, pushing more than a million tonnes of soil and rock to the side, crushing multiple thousands of people barely holding on under Circe's shield.
The shockwave of that impact was calamitous, so powerful that it crushed bones to powder and Circe was in the path of this calamity.
She screamed and the shield range doubled as the strength increased, Circe would not stop fighting against the end of the world and was determined to save as many people as she possibly could, but fate was a cruel mistress, laughing at her efforts, as four more massive meteors that were even bigger than the previous one crashed around her.
Unknown to her, a new danger arose when two of such massive Aether Crystals smashed together, due to their similar nature it caused them to unravel when they struck together. Whenever those happened, their delicate crystalline structure disentangled into a gaseous state, which was the more natural form of Aether.
The problem came about when the volume of Aether packed into each of these crystals was astonishing and when they unraveled, it was with a force similar to multiple thermonuclear bombs exploding at the same time.
With a scream of pain and desperation, self-preservation won over, she shielded only herself and Archimedes as her body was buried hundreds of feet under molten earth and crystallized Aether.
The continual sounds of explosions covered her cries of sorrow. She had seen the entire hundred miles of her caravan vapourised into ashes, and she could not imagine the loss of life spread throughout the surface of Trion.
The heat and the energy around them continued to build, and the Lightning Kirin in a stunning move of love and sacrifice expanded itself to become bigger and wrapped her body around Circe.
A massive explosion as multiple Aether Crystals clashed and exploded turned everything into a shade of white and red.
