ASHVALE

After Eros's conversation with Nira, they started moving. The massive wall that had loomed behind them was slowly disappearing. After a while, they reached a grassland—lush with green leaves and trees. It was pleasant. The air was clean and soft.

Varik raised his left hand.

"Let's rest here."

They had been walking for about five hours, so it was clear they needed a break.

Jae sat on the grass and let out a heavy sigh of relief. His hand hadn't healed since the incident, but the utility-type Firstborn had patched him up just enough to be usable. He didn't only treat Jae—he treated everyone: Varik, Eros, Nira, and even Riven. He couldn't heal all their wounds, only the minor ones, but he stopped the bleeding and dulled the pain.

Riven stared into the distance.

Then he noticed it.

Ash.

A lot of it—floating in the sky, but not above them, It was ahead, far ahead. The sky above where they stood was the peaceful blue everyone knew, but the sky in the distance was different—overcast and grey, with streams of ash rising from the ground below.

"What's that?" Riven asked.

But no one replied,or maybe they just didn't hear him.

Jae looked at Eros.

"This Ashvale... what kind of place is it?"

Eros glanced at him and sat on the grass.

"I don't really know, Varik knows more about it than I do.

He paused

"All I know is, it was once a battlefield."

The crimson-haired Firstborn sat beside Jae.

"Are there any monsters there?"

Eros tapped his forehead.

"From what Varik told me, there are none, Ava."

The female Firstborn—now known as Ava—replied with a small smile.

"Okay."

After about fifteen minutes of rest, Varik stood.

"Let's go."

The group moved quietly through the open grassland, the wind brushing past them and rustling the trees. The air was fresh—almost calming. No one spoke. They just walked, letting the silence settle over them.

When they finally reached the edge, they stopped.

And stared.

What stood before them was something else.

The land ahead was dead. Barren. The ground on the other side was different sickly brown and grey, cracked and dry, as if nothing had grown there in years. The trees were bare. Their branches twisted like old, brittle hands reaching for something that wasn't there. There were no leaves. No grass. Just dirt and dust.

Where they stood was green and alive.

The land ahead was not.

Even the sky had changed, behind them was the calm, beautiful blue of day. But over Ashvale, the clouds had thickened into a heavy grey ceiling. Ash drifted steadily through the air—constant, soft, and endless. It didn't fall from the sky; it rose from the earth itself, from cracks, from unseen wounds in the land, from whatever had once happened here. It was like the world had been split in two—life on one side, rot on the other.

Riven turned his head and saw it.

Hanging from one of the trees was a body—something that had once been human. And it wasn't just one. Nearly every tree he could see had something hanging from it.

Some were bone now, picked clean by time. Others still wore scraps of clothing. Their faces were long gone. It was quiet. Way too quiet, there were no birds not even a single animals or a single buzz of flies.

There's was nothing.

Only the wind.

Everything here was dead.

Eros looked at Varik, his voice tight with unease.

"Hey... you sure this is safe?"

He paused, staring at one of the hanging corpses.

"Look—they even gave us a welcoming gift. Varik, you sure there's no other way to get to the City of Silence?"

Varik shook his head.

"There's none. And this place should be safe."

Then added, more quietly:

"Probably."

Eros looked at Nira.

"Hey, do something."

Nira didn't reply, she just started moving forward.

Riven didn't want to follow, no sane person would.

Jae hesitated, then said,

"Miss Nira... what veiled Eros said—it's true. This place doesn't look safe."

Nira sighed.

"There's no turning back. We can't go back the way we came. And this seems to be the only road forward."

Varik began to move, The others followed.

Except for Eros and Jae.

Riven had no choice. He was a captive, after all.

As he stepped into Ashvale, he could feel it. The air was heavier here. Each breath came with effort. It pressed down on his lungs like invisible hands. The light dimmed even though the sun hadn't vanished.

After the others had moved on ahead, Eros and Jae looked at each other—then followed.

They didn't want to be left behind.