Story 942: Beneath the Pale Sky

The world was wrong.

Draven could feel it in the air—thick, stale, humming with something unnatural. The Hollow Junction was gone, but what lay beyond was no better. The land stretched endlessly, a barren wasteland of cracked stone beneath a sky that churned with slow-moving tendrils of pale mist. The stars above seemed too close, as if watching.

Mira adjusted her grip on the Cursed Book, its pages still warm from the unnatural forces at work. “I don’t like this.”

Elias exhaled, watching the vapor curl from his breath. “Ain’t exactly a tropical paradise.” He nudged a skeletal hand, half-buried in the dirt. It twitched before turning to dust.

The Forsaken Girl stood ahead, staring at something unseen, her starless eyes reflecting nothing.

“We’re close,” she whispered.

Draven stepped beside her. “Close to what?”

She turned those empty eyes on him. “The Rotting King.”

A low groan rumbled beneath them. The ground shuddered.