~ Nocte Invidia -600 ~
==All==
An uneasy air hangs over the city as the storm finally makes landfall, throwing sheets of mist and rain over the city along with a heavy atmosphere and constant oppressive noise. In the school, an occultist and his accomplices are shifting furniture, painting wards and generally doing everything short of sacrificing goats to turn a empty classroom into a focus-site and prepare to channel the power of the storm into the form of a minor nature spirit. Tensions are both because this is very off curriculum and their own personal shitstorm earlier that same day. Meanwhile, protection and recovery efforts begin in the city itself as citizens gather to fill in the gaps that trained professionals may well be too busy to handle. An odd mixture of local activists, social organizers, courageous civilians and, of course, university students....
==Lily, Dom, Bernie==
The trio walk a lonely road, empty of people due to prompt warning of the hurricane coming in. Well. Not entirely empty, there are several more like them, students at the school who’d volunteered to help minimize the danger of the storm to those who chose to stay and the property that’d been left behind. The sky above them begins to darken, the hurricane rolling in with a near-constant rumble of thunder. They look to the sky, and see several diminutive figures flying toward the storm, despite all logic, though they’re too far away for them to make out any real details through the curtains of wind and rain. Luckily the whether isn't bad enough to affect visibility close to yet. Their comrades are easy to spot, in part thanks to the screaming yellow raincoats handed out to all the volunteers. In part as protection from the unavoidable cold bearing down on their futures like a freight train but more to the point as a measure to ensure that losing track of your group is nearly impossible. There'll be no relieving the relief efforts.
Specifically, the three first-years had been assigned to stay near the school and keep an eye out for any minor spirits of wind and lightning that break away from the ‘primary containment efforts’ taking place high above, and should they make landfall nearby, to assist in subduing or destroying them. They were also given a radio that, over time, reported several such events throughout the city, though it seems like the school’s defenses themselves were dealing with most of anything that headed their way. A senior student was assigned to them, too, an asian-looking man with an honest-to-god no-dachi which practically hummed with energy. Dom had even been given back his weapons, and the others in his group had been leant weapons of their choice as well, imagine that.
==Alex, Scarlett, Idunna, Albert==
The ritual begins without issue. Alex in his ritual circle begins the rite of empowerment, deepening his bond with Yggdra, and those nearby prepare themselves in their own ways case something goes wrong. There’s an air of volatility over the whole thing, as energy is called down from the storm as it rolls in, a faint smell of ozone filling the room as the sky outside darkens and roars with thunder. The tension in the room is almost electric.
==All==
It all goes well, at first. The ritual continues to drag along, calling in power from the storm above, the rescue efforts manage to keep at least as much of the city as they can safe. Then, the sky changes. They’re within the eye now, the three first-years having been kept relatively close to the school for their own good helping with relief there, and for a moment, everything is calm…
And then the sky turns crimson and the wheel of fate turns once more.
There’s the sound like the roar of some terrible beast, and all with an unobstructed view of the sky raise their heads toward it, seeing… well, seeing several small figures fighting what appears to be some sort of eastern dragon, and above that, the tear… no, the gate, their minds correct themselves for some reason, begins to move, to twist and contort itself in the sky, lightning leaping from the clouds below and into its hungry maw.
This was not supposed to happen.
Crimson lightning strikes the ground all around them with a sound like screaming, even smashing through a window in the room where the ritual is taking place, seeking out that which was feeding upon the storm, and after a moment they are surrounded, by several gangly figures seemingly made of electricity, like stick-figures with claws built of crimson lightning, accompanied by a constantly low rumble.