The morning wind was thick with the acrid scent of ash and dried blood, urging their steps forward. Golden light crept across the ground, revealing the full extent of the devastation — trees shattered like matchsticks, the earth scarred with dark fissures where the corruption of the Lady had flowed.
A palpable tension hung in the air, stronger than the stench of death. With the Guardian fallen, his invisible barrier had vanished. The Cemetery of Heroes, once a sanctuary, was now an exposed prey. The creatures that once dared not approach, restrained by the Guardian's dread, would soon sense the void and converge.
Time was very much against them.
Yet they could not leave. Not yet. Not without completing what they had come here to do — in this cemetery that wasn't even on their path to begin with.
