Wailing sirens echoed through the city, panicked citizens running amok through the streets, some of them attempting to get to their vehicles so they could drive away from the chaos. People tripped over each other and debris from an attack in the confusion. The setting sun did nothing to aid the efforts of the terrified inhabitants, only making it harder to navigate the newly perilous streets. Smoke billowed from dozens of buildings, lit from below by unnatural, multicolored flames. These flames, predominantly white but colored with every hue in the rainbow, eagerly devoured everything they touched. Yet, not everything the flames touched actually burned. Oh, everything was changed… but not necessarily into a charred version of the substance it was before.
A lamp post turned into a giant purple tentacle, collapsing under its own weight and flopping around amidst the flames. A person tripped over himself, discovering his feet had turned into gaming consoles, before the rest of him dissolved into salt as the fire swallowed him. A nearby store disintegrated into a swarm of wasps, the road grew a coral reef complete with flying sharks and fish, a flag melted into roll-up candy, a car grew spider legs and walked away. A dog tripled in size, growing rainbow spikes from its back and an extra pair of eyes before going feral and attacking anything living nearby. All of this while engulfed in the strange, white-rainbow flames. Of course, these bizarre occurrences were far from the only ones that happened, and for the most part, the flames were sticking to the expected "fire-burns-things" rule. They simply… didn't seem to want to restrict themselves to such.
At the top of a burning 10-story hospital, glowing green letters spelling "DRT Health" flickered out as the mounted nameplate fell in a blazing conflagration of color, crashing in an explosion of multicolored sparks as it crumpled against the cement below. Nearby was a doctor's bloody corpse, having been crushed by a fallen chunk of the building. In his limp hand, a still-functioning cell phone was playing a streamer's video.
In the video, a gangly teenager could be seen talking animatedly at the camera. He wore a tight zebra-striped tank, sported full-sleeve tattoos of Werewolves and Vampires, 1.5-inch gages in his ears, 2 ring piercings in his right eyebrow and his hair was slicked up in a green mohawk. The camera was mounted on a selfie stick, which shook as he gesticulated wildly to emphasize his words.
"... still no explanation from the government or the news as to what is really going on, but I'm looking out my window, and it's crazy! I swear I saw some sort of giant beast flying through the sky, I'm serious! What, you guys don't believe me? Well just look at this," the Streamer said, reaching up and flipping the camera around to show a view of the city from atop a high-rise building. Half the city was enveloped in the strange omni-colored flames, and despite the thick clouds of smoke, the widespread destruction was still evident. In some areas, it looked like gigantic claws had torn huge chunks out of the sleek buildings, and thrown those pieces into other structures nearby. Giant, 4-taloned footprints like those of a great raptor could be seen imprinted in some of the streets. The city was a picture of chaos and destruction. "Seriously, check this out! There's no soaring way this was done by a Mech. It's got to be a beast!! See those claw marks in that building there, and that footprint there, and I swear I heard it roaring earlier, maybe if we're luck--" his words were cut off as a deep, resounding roar caused the entire city to rumble, and the camera's view suddenly jerked up and to the left. Out of the smoke came a gargantuan maw, a flash of white teeth and a single frame of a blurry, purple forked tongue, and then the video cut out in a burst of colorful pixels before turning black. The screen switched to display a cheery message, white text on a black screen: "We're sorry, this Streamer is having technical issues! Please be patient as they work to resolve the problem. Thank you! ~~ViewTube."
In another part of the city, a woman dropped her phone in shock, screams from outside her window completely ignored as her eyes stared into nothing. "This can't be happening, no, no, no, no!!" Sitting down with a plop in her gaming chair, she clutched her unruly brown hair in both hands, green eyes wide, glasses sliding a bit down her nose as she leaned forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "Faxton, it's under attack, and not just any attack, this has to be a hostile alien force, this can't be happening, the Alliance is supposed to defend us against stuff like this, this is impossible!"
The woman's hysterical mutterings continued as a pressurized stream of white-rainbow fire engulfed the building she was in, setting it ablaze. Looking up and quieting down, the woman's green eyes filled with fear, reflecting the blazing conflagration as it burst the window with its heat and entered through the newly created gap. She stood up and stepped back, knowing she was trapped. The eager flames soon enveloped the room. Back pressed against the door, the woman closed her eyes, tensing up as she muttered, "I'm sorry I wasn't a better daughter, mom…" and the flames swallowed her.