GLASS || The Catalysts, #1 [REWRITE]

I

A demon is outside the window.

Its inhuman shriek pierces even through the magnetic levitation train: through the thick metal frames and the glass panes lining both sides of the silent transport.

As a passenger of such an advanced technology, Lena shouldn't feel any movement at all even as the maglev known as the Aerotrain speeds across areas of the city. And yet, there's the undeniable jolt before a brake, and they are stopped mid-tracks, nearly unnoticeable. It takes a while for most passengers to realise this, because a moving maglev—quite so stable yet swift in travel even with its unsettling speed—is equivalent to a stationary maglev. But when they do notice the interruption, they notice they are not alone.

And yet no one is bothered by this.

Lena glances out the wide screen glass windows, ignoring the visions that form whenever her eyes settle on any glass surfaces at all. The rising morning sun permeates the transparent train clearly, and through that, buildings and skyscarpers as tall as the height of the Aerotrain's platform ultimately contribute to the landscape of the City of Leatia. Trees and greenery are but pieces of a jigsaw, sometimes popping from within the indoor gardens of buildings or terraces. The sky is a beautiful, stark blue, the sky's colour hued by the only thing in the view that remains to be unmoving and stagnant: the solid purple barrier-like walls that forms a dome-shape encasement over the entire City. It is made of pure energy, and is only open at one angle where the Bridge is built—the Bridge that connects the City of Leatia from the rest of the world that isn't already destroyed.

Over the horizon, even higher than the towering skyscrapers, is a dimensional rift. Lena steps closer to the windows to observe, making sure not to look down from this height. A dimensional rift is a breach between their world and the unknown—where the demons are from, presumably—a tear between dimensions. While various forms of passive demons coexist with the human population in the City of Leatia, only higher tier demons attack through a dimensional rift, and will threaten or cause chaos to the current balance. Which is why the Catalysts, a group of highly skilled, trained professional ability users, are the ones tasked with eradicating these threats.

These highly respected individuals are probably the ones causing the flashes of lightning and explosions in the sky right now, dealing with the rift. The flying cars levitating through the designated tracks are sometimes thrown off course from the battle in the sky.

Stunning as it is intimidating, the battle surrounding the rift is too far away from Lena's Aerotrain to be the cause of the jolt she felt earlier.

Another slight jerk of the train brings her attention back from the beautiful City to the Aerotrain's passengers. More of them seem to notice the interruption now, and are beginning to try and figure out the source like Lena by peering out the windows. If anything, they seem more impatient than anxious or worried about this situation.

Without a companion to smother her worries and without anyone around her worrying, Lena takes it uppon herself to be anxious, her eyes roving from outside of the window—where, a building in the distance is now going up on smokes—to the people around the car's cabin. That's where she finds, a cargo away, two young students wearing the same uniform she has on her body.

Students of Arcane Academy! There they are—her future peers and perhaps friends. A girl and boy pair around her age stands together, shoulders close. They are laughing at something before the boy with golden, slicked back hair looks out the window, noticing the rising smoke. The bronze golden-skinned girl with a short dark hair follows his line of vision and her own eyes linger there. Each Aerotrain cabin is separated with yet another glass panel that slides for passengers to weave easily along the train, and Lena begins making her way forward, greeting the glass surface that is currently projected a city in shambles. She ignores the vision and focuses on the two students next door, observing their reactions.