A large nightmare creature trudged down a beaten dirt path. It closely resembled a boar, but due to its massive size, it could easily be mistaken for a bull. Behind it, a wooden cart creaked under the weight of an assortment of mundane tools and pulleys.
Following close behind was Bennan. He had been placed in this work group earlier that morning after arriving at the grand entrance gates to the refugee city.
"What about you? Are you excited?"
"Huh?"
Bennan turned toward the short man walking beside him, only now realizing the guy had been talking to him. The man looked to be in his mid-forties, barely 5'4", with a round face and a excited expression.
"I said, are you excited for next week? They're finally moving us to the main city and giving us real jobs. I can't wait, man," the stranger said wistfully.
"I'm assuming you were in the same group I came over with—"
He laughed and added before Bennan could answer.
"Do you have any idea how cramped those prefab houses are with four kids?!"
"Uh—yeah. I'm just ready to be someplace warm for once," Bennan replied hoping it would get the man to stop talking to him.
As the man continued talking, the dirt road underfoot shifted to cut stone as the makeshift path joined the proper road—though proper didn't really do it justice. It was immensely wide from end to end, and as the caravan spread out, Bennan couldn't help but imagine the terrifying abominations the Queen might one day march across it.
Bennan let the voice of his chatty coworker fade into the background as he gazed along the caravan. With them were two nightmare creatures in service to the Queen. The one closest to him, walking just to his left, was a massive bird-like beast that vaguely resembled a cockatiel. It was missing large patches of feathers, and what remained was matted and disjointed.
Feeling uneasy, Bennan turned to the other. It was a large… well, he wasn't really sure what it was. Some kind of bipedal creature, clad in full plate mail that completely obscured its body. As far as he could tell, it definitely wasn't human.
Behind the creature came the human pilgrims, or what was left of them. The corpses of those who had perished within the Song Domain.
They trudged forward, faces blank and distant, indifferent to the work ahead. The mundane laborers—Bennan's group of ten—would share in the workload, but the twenty or so pilgrims would bear the brunt of it.
"Creepy, aren't they?"
The suddenness of the voice startled Bennan out of his stupor—only now realizing he'd been staring.
Embarrassed that his older coworker had caught him off guard, he cleared his throat and replied,
"Yeah. I've worked alongside them a few times. Being around them always makes me uneasy."
"Yeah, no kidding. If I go, just put me in the ground man."
Bennan looked at the man but didn't reply. Just the thought of becoming one of those things made his skin crawl.
He didn't have time to dwell on it—they had arrived.
The cart ahead creaked to a stop as the stone road gave way to cold, packed dirt. Though the trees in front of them had been cleared for a quarter mile, it was clear they still had a long day ahead.
The site lead—a tall, handsome Awakened—jumped onto the back of his boar-like echo and turned to address the group.
"Listen up. You can't see it from here, but up ahead, the trees are marked with red cloth. That's the edge of the Song Domain—and as you all know, it's a no-go zone for the unawakened.
The Saints of Song have made great progress extending the domain the rest of the way to Godgrave, but until then, this'll be your last day on this site."
His gaze swept over them, pausing just long enough to let the weight of the moment settle.
"Well, get to it!" he barked.
The workers sprang into motion. Bennan's chatty coworker reached into the cart, grabbed a pickaxe, and handed it to him.
"Hey, what's your name?" Bennan asked, taking it.
"Oh, you forgot already? I'm—"
The man's head vanished in a fine spray of red mist.
The caravan froze for half a second.
Then chaos erupted.