At the doors

Even with everything that I went through so far, this experience was something entirely new. For a briefest of moments, it seemed as if all the laws that bound the universe suddenly loosened up, only to restart their settings back to the usual a fraction of a second later. 

Raising my eyes sharply at the men in front, I hoped to see some kind of reaction, signifying that at least they know what was going on… But the soldiers standing in the neat rows just a few steps away from me didn't seem to notice anything at all. Taking a short glance to my back, I quickly confirmed that it was the same case for the crowd that marched with me. Not even the mercenaries of all sorts of powerful families seemed to be as shocked as I was.

"Bring us your leader and you will be spared. Upset the order that we preserved, and you will die."