0822 The Accident
The sudden and violent commotion erupting from the streets below left Gnarlak completely bewildered and disoriented, his calculating mind was struggling to process the unexpected chaos that had so abruptly transformed his controlled business place into a war zone.
For several heart-stopping moments, the experienced goblin genuinely believed that the security department goons had finally decided to conduct a massive, coordinated raid on his illegal marketplace.
His green face contorted with a mixture of confusion and growing panic as he tried to understand how his wide network of informants and paid officials could have failed so disastrously to provide advance warning of such a significant operation.
Hoppy, still perched on the goblin's shoulder despite the chaos erupting around them, demonstrated lightning-quick reflexes and supernatural agility.
The moment the explosion's shockwave sent a deadly shower of sharp glass fragments through the tavern's interior, the creature launched itself up, executing a series of mid-air maneuvers that allowed it to dodge every single piece of falling debris with seeming effortlessness.
Before the fierce, superheated wind generated by the massive detonation had even begun to subside or the last echoes of shattering glass had faded from the smoky air, Hoppy had already identified its escape route and executed its plan.
It shot through the sharp opening where the tavern's front window had existed few seconds earlier, moving with the speed and precision of an arrow released from an archer's bow, disappearing instantly into the smoke-filled darkness of the New York night.
"Bryan!" Remus shouted with desperate urgency, his voice barely audible above the noise of destruction surrounding them.
Remus had to strain his lungs to be heard over the continuing sound of crashes, screams, and settling debris that filled the tavern's interior.
"We need to leave this place immediately, before we become trapped in here!"
Bryan responded swiftly. Without hesitation, he reached out and firmly grasped both Remus and Amelia.
The familiar sensation of Apparition enveloped all three figures in its distinctive dizzying whirl of compressed space.
Within the span of a few seconds, they appeared safely on the flat rooftop of a six-story brick building that stood on one side of the narrow alley where the Blind Pig tavern had conducted its business for so many years.
From this vantage point, the full scope of the disaster became immediately and horrifyingly apparent.
The night air, which should have been filled with the relatively peaceful ambiance of a sleeping city dimly illuminated by colorful neon lights from various Muggle shops and businesses, was instead taken over by a scene of unprecedented destruction and chaos.
About one city block away from their current position, a large brick office building was now erupting in columns of orange and red flames that reached hungrily toward the star-filled sky above.
The fire's intensity was so extreme that it created its own weather system, generating updrafts of superheated air that carried burning debris and toxic smoke high into the atmosphere before depositing it across a wide area of the surrounding neighborhood.
An entire corner of the building's upper structure had been completely obliterated by the force of whatever explosion had caused this catastrophe. The reinforced concrete and steel framework that should have provided structural integrity had been reduced to twisted metal and pulverized masonry.
Building materials of every description continued to fall like a deadly artificial rainstorm, creating a drumming symphony of destruction as they struck vehicles, sidewalks, and adjacent buildings below.
Throughout the multiple floors of the damaged structure that remained partially intact, the rectangles of lit windows flickered on and off in chaotic patterns as the building's electrical system struggled and failed under the battering.
From behind those frantically lit windows came the panicked screams and desperate cries of trapped Muggle office workers who had been working late shifts when disaster struck. Their voices, soft with terror and desperation, could be heard even across the width of the bustling street that separated the burning building from their observation point.
"Oh my God—this is—I can't—" Amelia stammered, her voice reduced to fragmented whispers as she struggled to process the horrific scene unfolding before her eyes.
Compared to the complex but ultimately manageable bureaucratic challenges of office work and case file management, the tragic real-world consequences of magical violence laid out in such vivid detail had completely stunned the young witch.
For several moments, this recent graduate found herself completely at a loss for words, her mind unable to express any appropriate response to such overwhelming destruction and loss of innocent life.
Her educational preparation had covered theoretical scenarios and historical case studies, but nothing in her academic background had equipped her to handle the instantaneous emotional and practical challenges of witnessing mass casualties and widespread destruction on such a personal and instinctual level.
"Should we—do something to help?"
Remus, despite his experience with dangerous situations and violent magical encounters throughout his complicated life, was himself equally shocked by the scope and intensity of the destruction spread out in front of them.
But quickly, Remus regained his composure, looking uncertainly toward Bryan.
From the sheer scale of this incident, it was clearly no small matter, and obviously magic-related. This was trouble for the Magical Congress of the United States of America. Getting involved as foreigners would not be a wise move.
"Let's go have a look."
But the calm and restrained Bryan spoke concisely. He took Remus and Amelia and Apparated again, appearing in an instant on the building several hundred feet high.
The howling wind that swept across the building's damaged rooftop carried with it the pungent smell of burning materials. Just a few feet away from where they had appeared lay the massive crater that had been blasted into the building's structure by whatever explosive force had initiated this catastrophe.
The detonation had been powerful enough to completely obliterate the top two floors of the building's northeastern corner. At first glance into the debris-filled crater, Bryan's eye immediately classified the presence of at least a dozen crushed Muggle corpses scattered among the shattered concrete blocks and twisted steel reinforcement.
The massive impact had caused structural cracks to appear throughout five or six floors of the remaining building. In the hellish lighting provided by the blazing fires, electrical systems throughout the building continued to fail in spectacular displays of sparks and explosive sounds as power lines shorted and circuit breakers surrendered to the overwhelming damage.
The most disturbing aspects of the scene, however, were the human remains that lay scattered throughout the impact zone.
Those Muggle victims' severed limbs and torso fragments were already beginning to char and roast in the intense heat of the spreading fires, creating a combination of visual horror that made even Remus who had witnessed his share of battlefield carnage feel his stomach lurch with revulsion.
The stench of burning human flesh combined with the toxic smoke from various burning office materials to create an atmosphere that was both nauseating and potentially dangerous to breathe.
Amelia's face had turned completely white as she covered her mouth with both hands, her entire body trembling with shock and nausea.
However, despite the carnage and destruction surrounding them, Bryan's examination of the blast site revealed one detail that struck him as particularly significant and somewhat surprising.
No wizards had died in this location.
This observation surprised him considerably given the apparent scale and intensity of whatever confrontation had taken place here. The explosion had been powerful enough to devastate a large office building and kill numerous innocent bystanders, yet whoever had been responsible for causing this magical catastrophe had somehow managed to survive the blast and escape from the area.
Such survival in the face of such destructive forces showed that the perpetrator possessed considerable magical skill and experience in handling dangerous situations.
Obviously, the wizard responsible for this destruction had already used Apparition or other magical transportation methods to flee the scene, and the violent explosion had effectively erased many of the magical traces that might else have provided clues to their identity or destination.
However, Bryan's senses still detected something that gave him hope of tracking the perpetrator.
On the far side of the bustling street below, where a series of tall office and residential buildings stood pressed against each other in typical urban density, Bryan's slightly narrowed gaze focused on the distant horizon with intensity.
He could sense that something was rapidly moving away several miles off. Considering that less than two minutes had passed from the explosion to their appearance here, that creature's speed was evidently quite remarkable.
"Draw your wands."
Without needing reminding, Remus already had his ready. Bryan glanced at Amelia and said,
"What we're about to encounter won't be easy to communicate with."
Amelia stood dazed for a moment, then stammered her agreement, fumbling to pull her wand from her pocket.
Remus looked worriedly at Bryan. If this were in Britain, if Bryan had his wand, he would absolutely not prevent Bryan from containing this incident from expanding. But given the current situation... Remus sighed inwardly, then tensed up and gripped his wand tightly.
Bryan could only Apparate with two people within his line of sight. In an instant, they made four or five appearances, the high-frequency teleportation conducted at such rapid intervals without proper recovery time between jumps caused both Remus and Amelia's stomachs to churn violently.
At the end of this row of buildings along the street lay railway tracks that cut through the city. Bryan paused for a moment at the edge of the last building, squinting to discern something, then led Remus and Amelia to appear on the elevated railway tracks, finally getting ahead of the "culprit."
The creature they had been pursuing seemed to possess supernatural awareness of its surroundings, because the moment it detected the presence of the three wizards who had suddenly appeared to block its escape route, it came to an abrupt halt.
Like a bolt of lightning that had been racing along the ground suddenly frozen in place, the creature stopped its hasty flight and turned to stare with obvious hostility and rising rage at the three individuals who had dared to turn around and confront it directly.
The moment Bryan's gaze fell upon this fearsome magical beast and he was able to see it clearly in the dim illumination provided by the city's ambient lighting, Remus who had steeled himself to face any conceivable danger and had positioned himself protectively in front of Bryan with admirable courage felt his breath catch in his throat and instinctively stepped backward half a step.
The instinctive fear response was so overwhelming that it bypassed all his conscious attempts at self-control and rational thought.
Though he quickly recovered his composure and stepped forward again to resume his protective position in front of Bryan, holding his wand defensively across his chest in a combat-ready stance, the terror that had briefly dominated his heart was completely exposed by that initial involuntary reaction.
Compared to Remus's momentary loss of composure, Amelia's response to seeing their opponent was significantly more severe and long. Her entire body began trembling uncontrollably. Her lips had drained completely of color, leaving them a pale, bloodless white and her eyes contained only terror.
The magical creature confronting the three of them had red and black interwoven circular markings all over its body, sharp spikes covering its entire form, and a swollen collar around its neck that rhythmically pulsed with red light, resembling the outline of a male lion's mane.
Sharp, needle-like spikes covered virtually every inch of its form, protruding from its hide at irregular intervals to create a natural armor that would make physical contact extremely dangerous for any potential attacker. Around its thick, powerful neck was a distinctive swollen collar of flesh that regularly throbbed with red light, creating a pattern that bore a strong resemblance to the majestic outline of a male lion's mane.
The fierce beast's powerful limbs gripped the ground tightly, its massive body crouched low, but its equally strong spike-covered tail was raised high, ready to deliver a deadly strike at any moment!
Huff... hiss... huff... hiss...
In the sharp whistling wind, Remus could actually hear his own labored breathing. He sincerely hoped tonight would be a full moon—in werewolf form, he would at least not have to suppress the impulse of fleeing that his rational human mind was demanding.
"Nundu," Remus managed to whisper with considerable difficulty.
Every magical creature expert and government classification system had unanimously assigned this beast a danger rating equivalent to that of a fully grown dragon—the 5X classification that indicated a threat level so extreme that even teams of experienced professional handlers approached such creatures with extreme caution and comprehensive backup plans.
The Nundu before them was half again larger than an African lion, clearly an adult specimen. Most deadly of all, this Nundu had a wound about a foot long on its shoulder, the hideous gash with flesh turned outward, steadily seeping blood!
Injured wild beasts are often the most dangerous—this was a very simple truth.
"I'm afraid I can't handle it, Bryan."
Remus pressed his lips together, squeezing out these words through gritted teeth. His implication was obvious—given the current situation, retreat was the wisest choice.
"We can't retreat!"
Amelia suddenly trembled, instinctively crying out.
"We have to hold it here, to prevent it from reaching the populated areas of the city or it will cause greater destruction and loss of innocent life!"
Remus glanced at Amelia, his brow furrowed tightly.
Strictly speaking, what Amelia said wasn't wrong, and her spirit was even commendable—it just didn't align with their position.
But this Nundu wouldn't graciously wait for the three of them to discuss and reach a conclusion. In its homeland, it had been hunted by a large group of wizards, imprisoned in a cage, and transported across the ocean to a completely foreign land. Just minutes ago, a wizard had even tried to kill it. Now, its heart was filled with infinite rage!
Brown saliva slowly dripped from its bared fangs, hitting the railway sleepers with a sizzling sound as acrid white smoke rose from the corroded wood and quickly dispersed in the wind.
Seeing this, both Remus and Amelia's faces changed dramatically. If the wind direction shifted and began blowing from the Nundu's position toward their location, that toxic smoke alone could prove fatal within minutes of exposure.
Red light began flickering ominously in the depths of the Nundu's black pupils as it focused its attention on the three wizards who had positioned themselves between it and freedom. The creature's massive claws extended fully and began digging deep furrows in the steel railway tracks.
Sizzle... sizzle... crack!
The Nundu emanated an even more ferocious aura. The electrical poles standing on either side of the railway suddenly sparked with lightning, and blinding electrical discharges struck to its left and right, as if this were a thunder beast capable of commanding lightning itself!
The deadly sense of crisis stuck in their throats made both Remus and Amelia's scalps tingle. Remus pressed his lips tightly together and looked at Bryan once more.
"Hold it steady first, Remus. I'll cover you until the Aurors from the security department arrive, then let them take over."
Bryan said calmly. No matter what, he couldn't allow an extremely dangerous 5X-class magical creature to rampage freely in Muggle territory.
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