On most nights, London, England, would already have been ablaze with lights and neon, but tonight, shrill police sirens plunged the bustling metropolis into panic.
The government had announced in advance that a curfew would be imposed that night for military drills and counterterrorism operations.
Yet the sight of countless fully armed soldiers moving in still left ordinary citizens trembling in their homes.
The grinding of tank treads, the roar of attack helicopter rotors, the synchronized footfalls of marching troops.
Again and again, the sounds frayed the nerves of people hiding beneath their covers or behind locked doors and windows.
Before long, earth-shattering explosions began ringing out from the city center. The ground shook with every blast, and many residents in high-rises felt their entire homes tilting, as though an earthquake of magnitude eight or nine had struck.
Thousands of people ran outside in terror, their hair disheveled, only to be ruthlessly driven home by the soldiers.
Seeing the streets packed with troops, ordinary people finally realized that the soldiers entering London were not just from England, but from France and Russia as well.
"What the hell is going on today?"
"I'm filing a complaint against the prime minister! I'll have him removed from office!"
"This is outrageous! How can they hold military exercises in the middle of London?"
"It's an earthquake! We can't stay inside!"
Amid angry complaints and curses, the soldiers continued driving ordinary citizens back into their homes.
Of course, the soldiers' own eyes were filled with terror too.
In central London, the once-bustling streets had already become ruins. Everything within a radius of several kilometers had been leveled.
The helicopters circling overhead were shot down by clouds of black fog as soon as they approached, crashing to the ground and exploding into fireballs.
On a stretch