The Sunset
Across Realmspace, the voices of over 150 billion beings die down.
Silence, complete silence, replaces the clamor.
The news that nations are raising colossal 11th level magical strikes, strikes home.
On Krynn, the news is heard, and the medieval peoples of that world fall silent.
On Athas, the fierce and warlike people of that world, too, also fall silent.
On Mystara and in the Hollow World, all activity stops, a hush descending over the myriad cultures and peoples of that world.
On Oerth, the grim realization that the Secret Retreats are now exposed, that there is no safety to be had, nowhere to run, no place to hide, no way to escape, sinks in. Silence falls.
- - -
Gleams of blue, silver, purple, and red light up the trees, shrugs, even the buildings, across many worlds.
The sky over Oerth turns a strange reddish color, then fills with multicolored clouds, with purple lightning streaking from cloud to cloud.
On Mystara, the ground begins to tremble.
Volcanoes start to steam and hiss.
Sudden windstorms spring frantically to life, thrashing the trees, tossing the corn in the fields, shaking houses and manors alike.
Unnatural waves slosh across the oceans, causing serious coastal flooding worldwide.
On Athas, the Cerulean Storm begins to build.
Already colossal, it grows greater, it's hurricane force winds extending outward, torrents of hail falling from the clouds, lashing the desert, killing those caught outdoors and exposed.
Meanwhile, a feeling of revulsion comes up from the interior of Athas - a feeling of rage and abhorrence.
Rajaat is using 11th level Defiling Magic.
On Oerth, the flow of Oerthblood increases, and here too, quakes begin.
Perhaps the very world itself senses what is coming, and is shaking in terror. That is a possibility.
On Toril, the green sky slowly turns a grayish color, streaked with gleams of silver.
The gleams of silver increase in size and number, becoming like great clouds of silver light.
Below the strange sky, a deathly hush is felt.
No wind stirs. No leaf moves. No birds sing. No insects give their assorted noises.
- - -
Klazoms blare. Alarms sound.
Men and women, beings of all types, scramble from their bunkers and barracks, streaming towards every kind of weapons system.
Starships power up, their fusion beams warming up, antimatter missiles checked and ready.
Computer targeting systems come online, their magical backup ensuring a near 100 percent chance the target will be hit.
Antimatter bombs are readied by the thousands, placed on Worldwalk Platforms, Teleport Platforms.
Groundpounders are readied.
Thermonuclear weapons in the gigatons each are readied, the tops coming off of silos, missile launchers raising their cargoes upward, satellites preparing to disgorge their deadly contents.
Disintegration beams are powered up, antimatter transporters power up, particle cannons glow brilliant blue from the energy feeding into them.
11th level magic, has incredible power.
That incredible power, is pouring into the minds of many beings now, being stored, being accumulated, being grown to a force of destruction so colossal it beggars the Rain of Colorless Fire.
The energy becomes titanic, impossibly great, beyond the imagination of most to even contemplate, and still it goes on growing, becoming ever more terrible, ever more dire, it's promise of destruction shaking the very worlds on which it is being held and built up.
Defenses are activated.
Toril blurs and becomes brown looking from space, as worldwide shields of 11th level magic are activated to protect it.
Great shields go up around cities.
Greater shields go up around military bases and all strategic points.
Great shields, multiple shields, shields against everything, shields against any and every conceivable kind of attack.
Special contingency spells go off, giving people magical defenses to survive various kinds of attack, to withstand nuclear fire and disintegration and prismatic destruction.
Similar defenses go up on Mystara, as the Immortals put forth all their strength to protect themselves and their world.
On Krynn, Mina calls on the One God, and begins erecting defenses of strange nature.
Mindspin alterations occur over vast areas, while enormous armadas of the Dead appear, to protect the world of Krynn from the coming war.
- - -
There is a sense of unreality about all this, to most people in Realmspace.
It cannot be happening.
Shock is widespread. People sit, stunned, in their homes, not thinking, not even wondering.
Disbelief, denial, and confusion are almost universal.
Where the reality is setting in, there is panic, terror, or just great sadness.
On Oerth, even the war-hardened people of that world seem confused, seem to be in shock, and many are in denial.
Most are sad, grieving, or openly weeping.
On Krynn, Mystara, and Athas, there is confusion, disbelief, and bewilderment.
What happened?
Why is this happening?
They never even knew about this until now. How could this happen? How could this be happening?
They didn't even know there WAS an Oerth until a few days ago (a few months on Krynn.) Or a Toril. Or an Athas. Or a Mystara. Or a Shade Empire. Or a United Commonwealth.
They know they are in grave danger, that Armaggedon is looming over them, and they do not even know who is threatening them.
They do not know why they are being threatened.
They wish they knew what they did, that this sudden disaster is about to come down on them all.
What did they do? Why is this happening?
What? WHAT? Why? Why? WHY?!!
Where did it all go wrong?