The moment I stepped through the portal, the world I loved punched me in the gut.
Smoke. Blood. Ash.
It hit me first in the nose, then in the throat, thick and suffocating, like the entire sky had been ripped open and poured sorrow into the land. The vibrant forests that once whispered songs to the wind were nothing but skeletons of charred trees. Rivers I used to wade through as a child steamed and hissed as if the very water was trying to escape this nightmare.
This was my home.
Or... what used to be.
My feet crunched over bones. Burned houses sagged like the broken ribs of fallen beasts. And far ahead, trailing like smudges of ink against the ruined horizon, I saw them.
Demon wolves.
Dozens of them.
I stood there, frozen, too angry to move, too heartbroken to breathe. I didn't even notice Lucas and Lira stepping out of the portal behind me until I heard her gasp.
"Oh... no," she breathed, her voice trembling.
