The sky was overcast, gray, a light rain fell from the sky, coating the ground in shallow puddles that shone slightly in the light, water spraying up as cars drove by. Some would call it miserable, dull and dreary. But Jacob rather enjoyed it, it was home, it was familiar and comfortable. He would never understand why Evie had been so eager to leave. It had to have been, what? Three years now? That sounded right. She had left fairly soon after they had finished high school. He had seen her a few times when she’d come home from the holidays but other than that he barely heard from her. He didn’t even know where abouts in the world she was at this point. Suddenly he felt someone bump him and was quickly drawn back from his thoughts, looking up at the woman.

“Oh! Pardon me, I-” His words caught as he looked at the woman and took in the world around him. The streets of London; gone! The cobble roads and taxis, the noise the hustles and bustle the rain and clouds. Now he was in some kind of park, the sun was shining and birds were singing. Green, soft grass below his feet.

“Monsieur? Est ce que tu vas bien?”

“What?” now that he was looking at her properly he realised this woman did not look like she came from England. She certainly didn’t have the accent and she was not speaking English. It sounded like… French? “Sorry… do you speak English? Where am I?”

“Je suis désolé. Je ne comprends pas.” She smiled slightly but shook her head. “Bonne chance, monsieur.” Letting her hand gently touch his shoulder she continued on her way, allowing Jacob a moment to look around once more, his eyes widening at what he saw.

A large metal structure, spanning several dozen stories high. This wasn’t just any park. That was the Eiffel Tower! Walking rather unsteadily towards the Parisian landmark the man was suddenly knocked off his feet by a force wave. Slightly winded Jacob coughed as he climbed to his knees. The tower itself now looked decidedly unstable, many of the support beams buckled worryingly in places. But that probably wasn’t the thing they needed to be worried about. At the base of the tower now lay a large, circular… glowing disk, he supposed was the best way he was able to explain it. With, what looked like, white glowing chains criss-crossing over it, blocking it up.

People were beginning to crowd now, phones out recording and taking photos while others ran, screaming in fear and confusion. Caution would tell Jacob to not get too close in case the unstable tower decided to collapse. However caution, aka Evie, was not here. And he was far too curious to keep back. Quickly approaching the large crowd he began pressing through the crowd, trying to get a better look at the damage to the tower and that strange glowing thing! Sirens were beginning to blare in the background as Jacob shoved his way through the crowd towards the front. 

What he hadn't expected to see there was… a girl? He assumed it was a girl. She looked like a girl, mostly. There was definitely something off-putting about her though, something that sent waves through him, telling him to get as far away from her as possible. But he had gotten very good at ignoring those feelings over the years. A sudden loud groan of failing metal rang out over all the noise of the crowd and the tower itself tipped a noticeable number of feet before being stopped by the remaining structure. But it wasn’t going to last long at this rate. And that girl was right under it.