ASHES OF THE ORDINARY

CHAPTER TWO:CRACKSIN REALITY,THE BURNING REALM

Let me describe this scene to the best of my ability with the twist of my dramatic flair, because so much was going on at the same time and the scene really looked like a sci-fi movie brought alive.

The air was thick with ash, each breath a struggle against the weight of smoke and silence, or so i thought. Ammie pulled her jacket tighter, though the heat pressed against her skin like a burning fever. Sirens wailed somewhere far off, their cries swallowed by the roar of collapsing tall buildings. The city was unraveling its state in the ruins of the shadows of its former glory, and yet she felt suspended in a strange stillness, as if the world had slowed just for her.

She moved through the chaos, her boots crunching on broken glass, her eyes searching for something, anything, that might anchor her to reality, but all she heard were the echoing screams of the people scrambling to get to safety away from the chaos. The suffocating atmosphere of death and destruction was all that was in the air as the bodies kept on piling on the streets. Soldiers scrambled to issue evacuation protocols to local civilians, but the effort was futile. Screams and cries filled everywhere as people held on to each other for comfort and shelter, praying for mercy from the heavens.

That was when she saw it: a bus stop standing untouched amid the ruin of the destruction. Its glass panels gleamed faintly, shimmering as though they belonged to another world. No ash clung to it. No cracks marred its surface.

Above it, a single word glowed in pale light: Enter.

Her breath caught. “Is this real?” she whispered, though no one was near enough to hear.

The crowd surged past her hurriedly, blind to the anomaly of the bus stop. Faces streaked with soot, eyes wide with panic, they rushed toward safety that did not exist. None of them saw the bus stop. None of them slowed down. Ammie stepped closer, her reflection bending in the glass, her own face distorted into something unfamiliar yet familiar.

Then came the voice. Low, resonant, impossible to pinpoint where it came from.

“Reality smolders. Fantasy waits.”

She staggered back, heart hammering. “Who’s there?”

No answer. Only the ripple of glass, shifting like water. Beyond it, a landscape unfolded, jagged mountains clawing at a burning sky, creatures moving in the shadow, their forms indistinct but menacing. The air on the other side shimmered with heat, alive with danger.

Her pulse raced rapidly in her chest. She wanted to run, to cling to the ordinary world—even if it was burning. But something deeper pulled her forward, a thread woven into her chest like a call embedded in every fiber in her body.

She reached out gently. The glass was warm beneath her fingertips, shimmering like water, humming with energy that vibrated through her bones.

“Choose,” the voice whispered once again. “Step into rehearsal, or remain in ruin.”

Ammie closed her eyes. Behind her, the city collapsed. Ahead lay madness. Yet at that moment, she understood: the ordinary world was already gone and what lies ahead is a world full of secrets to be unraveled.

She stepped through not knowing where she was headed, next into the unknown.