Chapter 128: The Place That Once Was
The plains were barren, their soils a mix of grays and blacks, the few grass bushes that dotted the land brown and lifeless. Despite the clear blue sky that they had experienced all day, simply stepping out of the forest and into those fields made it feel like the weather itself had changed in an instant, to a gloomy ambiance lacking in color and even the usual sounds of nature.
Along the barely noticeable road path ahead of the crab’s party, they could see vague remnants of civilization through the toppled sign posts and broken pieces of wooden fences.
Whatever that place once was, it was long gone, leaving nothing but a bleak memory behind.
“Druma don’t like this place,” said the agitated goblin, clutching his staff tight against his chest as they walked into the plains.
“Me neither, buddy,” Balthazar said, his frowning eyestalks scanning the area for any signs of life. “You traveled around a lot, haven’t you, Rye? Have you ever seen anything like this?”
“No,” the concerned adventurer responded. “I’ve seen ruins, I’ve seen abandoned buildings, I’ve even seen a burned village recently, but nothing so suddenly out of place as this. It’s like a complete dead spot in the middle of the land.”
The crab looked over to the edges of the forest around the plains. They were full of greens and the normal autumnal golds and oranges, with abundant foliage and life all around them, up to the exact point where the woods ended and the clearing began, barren and devoid of color.
“It’s like something very bad and very specific happened here, but only here, up to a specific point,” the merchant commented.
Rye rubbed his neck nervously. “Are you sure this is the place we want to be in? I can’t imagine anyone living here, and I’m getting a really bad feeling from it.”