"Urgh. He..l..p" moans of pain filled the air.

Ash fell like black snow.

The capital of Eirenos no longer had a name, only cinders and silence. Streets had melted into a river of despair, palaces gutted to skeletons, towers leaning like burnt matchsticks against the bloodied ground. The stench of scorched flesh clung to the wind, heavy and threatening, curling through the ruins as if the air itself mourned.

From above, a shadow uncoiled.

Wings wider than stormfronts beat once, ...