The Expanse

We're pushing through the warped wind
Outstripping the cold sky
Nevertheless, we still continue to wander

World just seemed to love shitting on her day, and while that was definitely not far from the norm Izumi had figured that the guy from the cab would be it. Try to help guy, save him from wandering for hours aimlessly in the cold and then deal with creepy, out of place shit that sounded like it was straight out of your local stalker's - if not worse - playbook. That's it, call it a wrap, world has thrown its best at you that day and all you had left to deal with was the mass idiocy that seemed present whenever people gathered in great numbers like during the mass transit ride home. Given how many years had passed without a single sighting of one of the damn things there was no real way for the student to know how much worse it could have possibly gotten, or how bad it would get.

As the first tremor rocked the ground not more than a few moments later after Izumi had finally broken away from the foreigner's company it was that same usual snark that came to mind - she was outside and a fair distance away still from any of the buildings, all of which were earthquake resistant. The world wasn't done? What, it had something else to throw at her? Bring it the fuck on, she was ready, whatever it had she could take tenfol-

Or so she had been thinking before Izumi noticed something else that made her freeze in place in a way that had nothing to do with the sudden shockwave that had traveled through the ground beneath her or with the cold - a creeping, sickly feeling that Izumi would never forget, and the very fact that she could feel it so strongly despite her inability to sense things well from a distance was enough to immediately form a small, tightening knot of icy cold in her chest. No, nonononono. Not here, not now. There were too many people around, and she was hiding herself - there should have been no way for them to find her like that. More than that, what the hell were the Shinigami doing? If she could feel them this strongly those guys had to be aware of the things out here, and wasn't it their job to control the population and how much damage they did to the mortal plane? That was how her grandfather had described it, but for her to be able to feel them so strongly there had to be more than one - far, far more, and the idea that so many of them could have gathered in one place without anyone noticing made no sense. The feeling was far to sudden for them to have traveled all the way out there, and Izumi's mind was so heavily focused on the sensory input she got from the immaterial world that she almost didn't notice the ripping sound above one of the buildings.

What the fuck was that? Finally forcing herself to move just enough to be able to turn and look towards the source of the noise, what Izumi saw was a first for her - never before in her life had the woman seen something that was so obviously out of place. Where there had presumably been pale blue sky before, uniform and unbroken as it always was, there was now something that Izumi could only describe as a break, as if the space above the school was something as physical as glass that could be cracked and then pulled apart. What was causing that? It couldn't be what she was feeling - no way in hell. They didn't get that big, not from what Izumi knew and she had drilled her grandparents for information on the things in the interest of learning to defend herself from them, several generations' worth of accounts to work from. Some of it might have admittedly been lost or distorted with time, but it was a big fucking idea to swallow that one massive enough to cause that kind of phenomenon would have just slipped someone's memory.

The foreigner having more or less completely slipped her mind by that point in the interest of far more pressing issues, Izumi's brain had only started to work on normal time again when another loud ripping sound tore its way through the air somewhere off to her far left. Far, far lower, too, presumably at roughly the height of a second story building as Izumi's head turned towards the noise - where was that? The faculty parking lot? It had to be, there was nothing else in that direction, and in the moment that Izumi had figured that out she finally saw her first of the creatures - three of them. Already one more than before, but the fear that the woman felt was not for herself. With as much snow and icemelt as there was on the ground, not to mention whatever was flowing through the storm drains and through the school's plumbing, three of the creatures alone barely constituted a threat to her - rather, it was the possibility of other students being present that concerned her.

Logically speaking, there was no way they could be there for her - Izumi didn't know why they were, but she wasn't their target. Five full years running and not a single sighting of the things after the first attack? She was keeping her presence hidden as always specifically to avoid attracting the attention of the fuckers, but the fact that the portals - as evidenced by the three falling towards the ground from one right now - were appearing far too randomly as far as location went. They were looking for something, or more accurately, someone, but it wasn't her. At least she hoped they had a concrete target in mind - Izumi didn't even want to think of what would happen if they weren't. There were far too many people present, none of whom could see the things - and while the students had obviously felt the tremor from before, to her knowledge none of them were spiritually aware beyond maybe getting a vague, instinctive feeling that something might have been present near them. In any case, if the monsters decided to start hunting souls at random it would be a slaughter - she'd improved a great deal, but she was still only human. The campus was a big place, and she couldn't be everywhere at once aside from the public implications if someone were to see her fighting the things.

In the time that it took for all of that to pass through her head, however, the three creatures from the smaller rip had finally fallen to the ground, and it was that small tremor from their impact that finally snapped Izumi back to the present - finally regaining the feeling in her legs and the ability to move them, the teenager would pivot on the spot before breaking into a full on sprint back the way she had come from earlier and passing the building on her way to the parking lot. She was still mulling over her options - the first and most obvious being to use herself as bait since it would draw the ugly bastards to her like fat kids to the smell of a fast food restaurant, on top of letting whatever Shinigami there might have been in the nearby city know that the monsters weren't the only thing there - but for the moment she could at least deal with the three that had dropped in the parking lot, or failing that draw them away from anyone else who might have been present.

And on arriving at the top of the stairs leading down into the lot, Izumi would find herself met by yet another surprise that day - albeit one far more welcome. Down on the asphalt yet another portal had formed, albeit one far, far different from the crude rips in the world that had preceded it - this one, rather, was almost elegant in design, resembling far more familiar shapes and contours mimicking a traditional waiting room's doors. The being that stepped through it, though, was something that Izumi was more than familiar with - the black gi and hakama, the white sash, he was a Shinigami, no doubt about it. But why the late- no, screw it, not the problem, that was something that she could ask later. Maybe. Perhaps. In any case, though, his presence did simplify things a LOT - aside from the extra muscle in dealing with- okay, fuck it, nevermind. Within mere moment of appearing all three monsters had been dealt with, reminding Izumi once again that it was pretty much their job to kill the things. Concerning that first portal above the building, though.....

Almost as if to counter the appearance of opposition, however, yet more tears would rip through the sky above the campus - unlike the others, however, these did not stop like the first or limit themselves to just three of the creatures as they began to flow forth from whatever void lay beyond. Which, more or less, finally pushed Izumi to do what she had been considering before as she finally cut loose, giving up all pretenses at hiding as the woman turned and began running down the stairs towards the Shinigami in the parking lot. Good as he might have been there was no way he would be able to deal with all of those as quickly as he had the first three, and between the two of them there was no way to cover the entire campus without endangering the normal people present. This, frankly, was the best option that Izumi could see - the fuckers wanted a meal, so she'd just advertise herself as the biggest one they'd find and draw them right to their executioner.

We're pushing through the warped wind
Outstripping the cold sky
Nevertheless, we still continue to wander