[Realm: Álfheimr]
[Location: Outskirts]
[Rumpelstadt Mines]
"Damn it… what the hell…" Ivan coughed out, voice rasping as he pushed himself up on shaking arms. The air was so thick with dust it felt like he was breathing ground-up stone. His lungs burned. His eyes watered. It was almost hard to tell if the world was still shaking or if that was just his nerves refusing to settle.
Beside him, Alexander remained upright—barely. Dust streaked across his face, his posture rigid, every muscle coiled. His eyes never once left Conroy.
Ivan blinked through the haze. The forest that had surrounded the mines was gone—not merely uprooted, but almost completely destroyed. Trunks were snapped clean in half, others speared into the ground like crude markers. The soil had been turned inside out, veins of darker earth exposed beneath spiderwebbing cracks that plunged into the depths.
