"Is that... a fire?"
Roland's question wasn't born from unfamiliarity with fire itself, but from the scene before him.
Even though the distant sky was stained an ominous orange-red and thick smoke rose like a great pillar, the pedestrians on the narrow street they occupied maintained a bizarre "normalcy."
People would only glance up occasionally in that direction, their gazes a mixture of worry, numbness, and even a hint of fatalistic acceptance, before lowering their heads again to continue on their way or get back to their work.
There was no panicked flight, no gathering to gossip. It was as if the disaster illuminating the skyline was just another insignificant backdrop to a dull day.
Roland frowned, pulling his gaze from the distant blaze and letting it fall upon the endless stream of people around him.
