The ancient doorway closed behind us with a dull rumble that echoed across the barren wasteland.
The library disappeared without the slightest trace, replaced by a sky the color of dying ash. Dark clouds hung low above us, swirling endlessly around a crimson sun that seemed far too close to the world below. The air carried the scent of scorched earth and old blood, while violent winds swept across an endless plain littered with shattered mountains, dried riverbeds and craters so immense that entire cities could have disappeared inside them.
This place had witnessed war. The land itself bore their scars.
Broken weapons larger than castles protruded from the earth like forgotten monuments, while enormous skeletons lay half buried beneath drifting sand, their species impossible to identify after the passage of so much time.
Nobody spoke.
"This..."
Gerald muttered quietly.
"...isn't natural."
Before anyone could respond, the familiar sound of polished shoes echoed behind us.
