If there was list of things Hardwick wasn't anticipating at that moment, 'sudden door explosion' would have been at the top of it. He slammed the whiskey glass back on the bar, but instead of the satisfying [i]*thunk*[/i] of a tumbler on polished mahogany there was an almighty din of splintering wood and twisting metal.

It took him a few moments of confusedly staring at the empty glass before he realised that the sound had come from [i]behind[/i] him. He turned and looked at the source of the commotion, the anxiety rising once again like fire from his belly. [i]It's not possible,[/i] he told himself. [i]There's no way they could have broken through. The exit - it changes, it wouldn't open for them, surely, I'm safe, this is safe...[/i]

What was left of the door had put up a good fight - the newcomer had ripped it half off its hinges, while the other half lay on the floor with the man wedged in it. With relief, he noted that the stranger wasn't clad in occult robes. He looked at the doorframe and saw...

Well... It was difficult to describe. It looked like a street pulled straight from a fairytale, but something was [i]wrong[/i] about it. The features in his peripheral vision seemed to warp and change, and when he focused on them he couldn't help but feel they were imperceptibly different. Without even realizing, the scene had changed to a modern concrete walled side street, and continued to warp and alter in the face of conventional physics.

The front door shut itself. This confused Hardwick, given that only moments earlier the front door had been shattered into countless splinters of wood. Ayeka was long gone, having walked off to help the newcomer out of the door and to tend to the other patrons.

Before he could put his journal away, a loud thud came from the seat next to him. A man he hadn't noticed before had sat next to him and placed a large and obviously heavy book down on the bar. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the girl from earlier staring intently at this new patron.

[@Pineappletumble] [@Song Book]