Lillian scoffed at Mikhael's comments. "The barriers protecting us are held together by the collective might of our people, [i]not[/i] the Queen's rule," She grunted. Theodore had backed away from the Queen by now, headed back towards his friends. Lucas lowered his head as the would-be hall fell silent. There were no more announcements to be made tonight.

	"I thank you all for attending, today is a wonderful reminder that the culture of our people has not be lost. We stand united-" The Queen paused and looked to her feet. Nearly everyone else in the hall did the same. The ground shook softly, but most had already known what that meant. Lucas shook his sister's shoulder and moved towards the center of the room.

	"Find stable ground!" He shouted. The Queen glanced at him momentarily, but nodded in affirmation. Her guards pulled her away from the throne and lead her towards the open northern wall. "Earthquake!" Lillian rushed towards the younger initiates, ignoring Henry and Mikhael, knowing full well that they could take care of themselves. There were already knights assisting, but she joined them in their efforts to evacuate the castle walls. The quake that struck several months earlier nearly brought the entire castle to the ground, if this one ended up being nearly as bad..

	Henry withdrew his spear, latching it to his back and rushing towards the exit, hoping that Mikhael would follow. Something was off about this Quake though. The shaking was different, perhaps only slightly, but the keen would be able to detect the subtle peculiarities. This wasn't a natural disaster...

[center][color=black][h2]~[/h2][/color][/center]

	Far off the borders of Kale, a massive creature made its way across the desolate fields of Noir. To the south, the barren and burnt wastelands were subject to a earthly rend. Something burrowed towards the city, almost as if on a mission, turning up stone and dirt like it were sand. The creature was not visible, but the men in the southern watchtowers could tell it huge, and that certainly wasn't [i]friendly[/i]. One of the men in the leftmost watchtower began slamming his sword against a large brass bell, as did the rightmost watchman, signaling the town to evacuate the southern end, and alerting the knights to the danger.

[center][color=black][h2]~[/h2][/color][/center]

	Fortunately, the knights of Kale were organized and formally capable of evacuating without panic, single file. Even as the brass bells sounded, none panicked. None except for Henry, who began pussy-footing behind his peers, falling as far back as he could so that he wouldn't end up on the front lines.

	"A Monster attack?" Lucas questioned, meeting up with his sister near the center of their ranks. "You don't suppose.."