The roar intensified, a primal scream from the heavens that swallowed all other sound. Outside the classroom window, the sky, moments ago a familiar, dull grey, transformed into a canvas of apocalyptic light. A colossal, obsidian mass, streaked with veins of angry crimson and pulsating with an eerie, sickly green luminescence, plummeted towards them. It wasn't a distant star; it was a world-ender, descending with terrifying speed.
As the students and Mr. Harrison stared, paralyzed by a terror that transcended comprehension, the immense meteorite began its catastrophic fragmentation. Cracks, like lightning bolts, spiderwebbed across its surface, revealing deeper layers of the same malevolent black, fiery red, and unsettling green. With a series of deafening explosions that felt less like sound and more like a physical blow, the monolithic entity tore itself apart.
First, gargantuan chunks, each the size of mountains, ripped away, trailing fiery plumes as they veered off course, destined for distant continents. Then, these colossal fragments themselves began to shatter, breaking into smaller, yet still devastating, pieces. The sky filled with a horrifying, glittering rain of destruction: shards of black rock, glowing red embers, and fragments of the unsettling green crystal, each a harbinger of localized devastation. They screamed through the atmosphere, igniting the air, turning the daylight into an inferno. The school building groaned, windows imploded, and the very ground beneath their feet buckled violently.
Panic erupted. A cacophony of screams, shouts, and the shattering of glass filled the air. Students, teachers, everyone, moved as one, a desperate, surging tide towards the exits, their faces contorted in pure, unadulterated terror. The orderly rows of desks became obstacles, bodies collided, and the instinct for self-preservation became the only law.
Amidst the pandemonium, Kael felt a strange, chilling clarity. His heart hammered, but his mind, usually prone to quiet observation, was now calculating, processing. He saw the raw, unthinking fear in the eyes of his classmates. This wasn't a drill. This was the end of everything familiar. He didn't join the stampede. Instead, he spun, his gaze cutting through the chaos, seeking the faces he knew.
Jax, surprisingly, wasn't running. His eyes, usually full of restless energy, were wide, fixed on the terrifying spectacle outside. A strange, almost primal excitement flickered within them, even as the building shuddered around them. He seemed to be absorbing the raw, destructive energy of the moment, not fleeing it. Orion, too, stood apart from the fleeing crowd, his slender frame rigid, his head tilted slightly, as if listening to a frequency no one else could hear. His eyes, though still human, held a distant, knowing dread.
"This way!" Kael yelled, his voice surprisingly strong, cutting through the din. He pointed towards the sturdy science lab, a place with reinforced walls and fewer windows. It was a gamble, but better than being caught in the open. Jax, with a nod that was almost imperceptible, immediately moved to follow, his raw power already asserting itself as he shouldered through the panicked crowd. Orion, without a word, simply shifted his direction, his movements fluid and precise, falling in behind Jax.
As Kael pushed through the last wave of fleeing students, a hand gripped his arm. He turned to see Estelle, her face pale but her eyes, usually so composed, now wide with a mixture of fear and something else – a desperate, unyielding resolve.
"Wait!" she cried, her voice barely audible over the roaring sky. "Where are you going? I'm coming with you!"