Ling didn't know what to do. He was standing in the middle of the street together with Maga, frantically looking around for escape or how to help the city residents running past them. However, he knew it was pointless.
Earlier, the two rushed to enter the city when they heard the screams inside. What welcomed them was a market situated on the edge of the city, with the people running in every direction, leaving the things on the ground that might have been used for a celebration. Some where even leaving those who tripped, and the others even pushed those in front of them to run ahead.
They didn't pause to look around the new sights. Instead, Ling followed where most of the people were going, shouting to ask what was happening, but the people ignored him, even the ones who fell then stood up to run again. Surprisingly, they were avoiding the city center where the large tower-like structure he saw earlier was at.
Later, during the chaos, they heard a baby crying in one of the open areas. There were also pieces of stuff left from a celebration around, food, flowers, wreaths, firework sticks and others, hence, they hadn't seen the baby lying on a basket beside a large flower vase.
Almost all the people had already left, ignoring the crying baby, so Ling went there instead of trying to ask the residents again.
He crouched down and slowly reached out his hand to not scare the baby, while Maga remained vigilant, guarding the two from the still unknown danger. However, the baby still kept crying.
Deciding to concern himself with finding its parents first before soothing the baby, Ling hurriedly tried to pick the bundle from the basket. Tried was the word, since his hand passed through the bundle.
Ling was surprised at first. After a pause, he tried to pick up the crying baby again to no avail. Seeing that Ling was taking too long, Maga bumped its head to move Ling and tried to bite on the basket handle to carry it. Of course, the dragon's mouth also passed through.
The two looked at each other. Then, they were distracted by the running footsteps behind them, followed by a grateful cry.
The events that followed further made Ling and Maga realize what was happening. It was a young woman behind them, crying as she tried to run faster. When she reached the basket with the baby, it ignored the two and crouched down, passing through Ling who was in her way.
Seeing that the baby was hiccuping when it stopped crying, the woman held it closer to her breasts, mumbling and crooning softly, then ran back to where she came from.
Ling was reminded of Mayari's story again. That brought a chill to his back as he looked at Maga again, with his eyes wide, when they couldn't see the young woman anymore.
Before he could voice out his thoughts however, they heard another loud sound. This time coming from the center of the city, from the high tower.
Ling had an ominous feeling when he looked in that direction. They were further shocked when a rumbling sound reached their position, followed by the top of the tower braking off and falling.
Boom!
The screaming in that area immediately stopped but the ones near the edge of the city escalated. That was when he saw a dark cloud behind the tower. He thought it was just the cloudy night sky, but now, he could see that it was moving, wrecking havoc as it passed through the city, until even an object that flew out, with a roaring sound, from the city center was swept in.
Ling couldn't tell where the people were going. Some were running to escape outside the city, while there were still several that went back to the center. Perhaps hoping that they could save the others. However, their companions were pulling them back, knowing that this force of nature would catch up to them.
Maga's whimpering took back Ling's attention to their situation. Even though the sandstorm might not affect them, it was still worrying what happened to them and how they could escape this illusion. If it was really an illusion.
But then, more horror followed while the two just watched. A flying debris from the storm hit a house, destroying it and the stones then hit some of the running people. Several people who had already escaped out of the city came back, running away from the disturbed beast previously hiding under the ground.
Now, even these fierce animals had to run to escape the unstoppable force of nature. The creatures were all in one mind, to escape wherever was safe, until the storm still caught up to them.
It went on for days. Ling would close his eyes to rest, unable to keep them open for another second, then wake up to the same view, a smaller storm making the remaining resident hide under the debris until it went away again, until the glorious city Ling and Maga had seen earlier had become ruins.
Ling didn't know how long they had stayed in this illusion. They still couldn't sense their companions' 'mist' but they kept trying to look around, exploring or maybe escaping the happenings in the former city. However, after seeing the flickering oasis again, they would realize they just rounded back to that destroyed city again.
Fortunately, the two did not become hungry.
Or maybe, they just didn't want to eat, joining the stealing going on with the remaining peole in the area. Some had even eaten the remains of their dead companions.
Before long, Ling didn't know how long, the 'haze' finally faded enough for them to sense a familiar 'mist'. Stopping his sharpening of a knife on a fist-sized stone, Ling raised his head, an unexpected smile appearing on his face, although it didn't reach his eyes.
Standing up, he brushed off the sand on his clothes but then decided that action wouldn't do much. He picked up a bag made of his blankets and looked at Maga who had also raised its head, sniffing in the same direction.
"Let's go."