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"Pardon me, senator," Hector had to say, holding up a hand. He didn't wait for the man's response, either; and he turned back through the door they'd entered. He was looking for the Basilica's courtyard, and with the Scarf, it wasn't hard to find. He could sense the others following close behind, but none of them were saying anything, perhaps because they knew there was no point.

It was suddenly occurring to Hector that, despite all this gallivanting around the city and meeting with influential people, he'd still not discovered the source of that "screaming" that Roman had heard when they first got here.

And it felt particularly unsettling, because that background noise hadn't really gone away. It was distant enough and quiet enough that he'd been able to get used to it, almost to the point of forgetting about it entirely, but here and now, he was getting the dreadful feeling that it was about to start ramping up.

This awful aura. Hungry. Thirsty. Eager. Looking to inflict pain.

He could feel it everywhere. All directions. Did it cover the entire city? That seemed unlikely, given how huge Andeyal was, but man. It sure felt like it.

Hector didn't stop at the courtyard. He went up on a hovering platform, not even waiting to bring the others along for the ride. Something told him they might be better off where they were.

He ascended quickly, soon gazing over the Basilica and into the vast cityscape.

Still, nothing was quite clear yet. According to his eyes, at least, everything looked normal enough. It was just this horrible knot in his gut. The massive aura in all directions felt like it might make him sick.

'Sense anything else yet?' Hector asked.

'I think it's coming from the north,' said Garovel. 'It feels like there are tons of souls over there now, when there weren't before. Or at least, they were all kind of migrating to the southwest. Now it's like... I don't know, exactly. They feel off, somehow.'

Hector looked in the designated direction. Skyscrapers blocked much of the view, unfortunately. Perhaps Loren would be able to--

Everything began to tremble. From this stable position in midair, unaffected by it himself, it looked somehow even more disturbing. Like the city was suddenly floating atop a choppy ocean.

Then the ground began to swell.

Up and out at different points. Explosive bursts. Upturned earth. Sometimes as small as a car. Other times as massive as an entire building.