The Storm Sideways

Of the entity there is a suggestion of awareness
Foresight
Be it visual or otherwise, the entity has the knowledge of what is to come
The rushing forward
In a straight line
And the sum of itself and others like it
The abstract of that sum
Moving slowly across the ground
While the entity itself flies with great speed
Passing through anything in its way
Accompanied by countless entities similar in nature
One aware of the other
Rushing forward

The sun hangs in afternoon
Sooner to set than from zenith
Citizens move
Stay stationary at their activities
Tasks
Necessities
Which is first is never known
Close enough to prevent any exact measure
A hole appears in the side of a building, accompanied by a loud crash of materials struck from their bindings
Energy is released as sound and movement
Buildings across the face of the city are punctured
The destruction quickly penetrates the ambiguous line of first striking
Continuing with great quickness to the next building behind
And the next after it exits
And the next
Those that by chance see it approach have a moment to inhale
Some of them emit the first energy of vocalisation
A yelp of surprise
A scream
Then the destruction appears in the building in which they stand
A force seen only in the effects of its passage
The citizens are struck
In the tiniest fractions measured in time, the cells of their bodies are violently separated
Crushed against the broken, non-uniform materials of the buildings
Of the objects once stationary and now flying about the space
Blood briefly freed from the body dies the air crimson
Then disperses in vapour in the quickness of the force
Any sound escaping from the citizens is masked by the crashing of things
Of stone, steel, glass, wood and manufactured materials
Debris is flung from the exit-holes
Fanning out over the ground as it falls
Dragged across the ground in the wake of each penetrating blow
Tall towers are weakened
Those struck at the base topple downwards as they are torn by repeating strikes
Others are struck repetitively much sooner in the random pattern-less destruction
Fragmenting like the bodies of the citizens
Materials quickly separated, one from the other
Until no unified form remains
The holes continue to appear in a direct line
From one end of the city to the other
They exit the city leaving the localised region of it shattered
Followed by countless repetitions of force

All around the dull sounds of force permeate
The Beast walks between two buildings
Above him a hole appears in the building on one side
Almost at the same time, a hole in the building on the other flank
An almost continual thudding, crashing of sound
He approaches a street
Sees the shapes then, shambling forward in the same direction as the blows
Much slower
Through the dust and the debris flying in the air
He sees them
Walks out into the street and stops
All around him they walk
Shapes resembling beast and figure
And nothing at all
They walk slowly from one side, across his vision
Can sense them behind him, continuing away to the other side
The debris thickens and obscures the sun
Ambient light becomes dim in the swirling air
He sets himself down on his haunches in the street
The city around him in chaos
He will stay there until it stops