Chapter 81: The Grave Of The Saved
The light from the portal vanished with a faint hum, leaving only silence behind. Birds chirped above them, and the wind rustled the leaves, normal sounds that felt utterly wrong.
They had returned.
Cadogan stretched his neck, letting out a breath, while Atlas dropped his bag and grinned. Ned yawned, cracking his back. Dune was the last to step out, blinking at the sunlight.
But then, something shifted.
A bitter stench crept through the air.
Cadogan flinched, then sharply turned his head, nostrils flaring. "Wait."
The others froze as he covered his nose, his eyes narrowing, body stiffening. "That smell... rotten... something's dead, no, not something..."
Without another word, Cadogan dashed forward into the forest, his boots slamming into the dirt. The others followed, expressions turning grim as the wind thickened with decay. They sprinted through the trees, the smell growing unbearable.
Then, the forest ended, and horror began.
Down below, in a wide, open clearing at the base of the slope... lay death.
Tens of thousands of bodies. Piled. Scattered. Twisted.