Sunny climbed out of the water and rose to his feet, looking at the desolate, moonlit landscape of True Bastion.
The ruins of the great castle he and Cassie had explored once… were completely gone, melted into a vast, eerily smooth plain of pale rock. Here and there, deep fractures marred its surface, harboring cold darkness. The rock itself was still radiating unbearable heat, making the waters of the lake seethe and boil — swimming to shore had not been a pleasant experience, to say the least.
There used to be a dark, twisted forest on the other side of the lake — now, there was only cinders and ash, with towering bones protruding into the broken sky like charred pillars.
A shattered moon was bathing the devastated land in silver light, reflecting from the restless surface of the dark water… the landscape felt eerie and alien, bearing little resemblance to the bustling city on the other side of the reflections.
