Red saw the woman approaching his stand and started the thing he said almost on instinct to people who approached (In fact, he sometimes felt like he said it to some people more than once). "Fresh Root Vegetables, picked just this morning in Miris! How can I help you?" He asked.

~~~~~

Leo nodded the civilians on ahead back to town, then had the gate shut off so that nobody could exit while he and the other Breakers tidied up the area. "Lieutenants Saphira and Jade, we're going to spread out and make sure there aren't any other of these beasts around. Let's make this quick. Report back to me if either of you come across any trouble." He spoke, heading directly into the woods and motioning the two to take to his left and right sides. "Oh, and Jade, if I find out you've brutalized any more small animals for sport on this patrol, I'll have you working latrine duty for the next two months. Dismissed."

~~~~~

As the days in Xenon passed, it seemed as if things only got worse. Criminals seemed more bold, and monster attacks were on the rise. While there was relative safety within the walls of the city, that was only possible to the tireless efforts of the Hunters and the MagiBreakers, and even those two groups seemed to be getting pushed to the limits of their ability to protect the city. Something needed to be done, and soon, but there was no way anyone could have known just what was going to happen...

On that very day, within Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta, an odd occurrence happened. The streets were filled with white gas. Everyone on the streets, by windows, or out in the fresh air, found themselves overtaken by darkness, and fell faint to the ground. When the people finally began to awaken, it came to pass that hundreds, if not thousands of citizens had simply vanished, without any trace...

~~~~~

Red awoke with a splitting headache. He had no idea what had happened. He started to look around, finding that he was unfamiliar with his surroundings. Wherever he was, he quickly realized that he was surrounded by many hundreds of other people, none of whom were familiar to him, and the entire dark room he was in was covered in an ominous faint crimson glow. It didn't take him long to find the source of the pale light.

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"W-what the hell is that?" He mouthed, looking at the giant object. The sheer scale of the thing was almost unreal. It was easily 50 feet tall and 20 feet in width, dwarfing any of the people in the room. He looked around once more, trying desperately to find anyone that he recognized in the crowd, but no matter where he looked, all he could find was a bunch of faceless strangers.

The enormous vaulted room with the crystal in the center was filled with people, some of them unconscious, while many others were waking much like Red had, to a state of confusion. Whatever was going to happen, Red had a sinking feeling that it would not be good.