South of the city, across the sprawling farmlands, a vast cloud of tenebrous mist continued to shift from one location to another. However, as if having a mind of its own, the dark cloud steered clear of the city. Wherever it passed, the land slowly corroded away.
Inside the darkness, flashes of light continued to appear from time to time. One moment, they would appear at the edge of darkness, the next, they would reappear all the way on the other side, over a hundred meters away.
In a second, light would flash close to a dozen times. It looked like a dozen lighthouses had appeared in the middle of a stormy, dark sea, only to disappear the next moment like a fleeting mirage.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the flashes of light stopped. All that remained was the ever-shifting tenebrous mist.
Headmaster Marcus Blackwood and Elder Marden Benton stood a few dozen meters apart from each other.
