Shards of Felwyn

Skierti Valley

The morning that Cosmo, Lysander, Elias, and Molniya left was calm and quiet. They had awakened before the sun had even risen and had finished getting ready just as the first rays illuminated the Zavuali Sea. The majority of the village were just beginning to arise, which meant they had to depart soon. With a respectful farewell from Queen Rasseyat and Ometa, the four were off on their journey to Kran.

"In order to reach the Orcish camp," Molniya started, retrieving a small map from the backpack Ometa had carried to Meer. "We must travel through Skierti Valley." She put the map away as she stretched her arms, looking up at the enormous mountain ranges ahead. Cosmo looked back as Meer grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

"What awaits us there?" Lysander asked, not hiding the fear in his voice.

"Oh, nothing, actually." Molniya stated, adjusting the straps that hung over her shoulders.

"You mean to tell us that no unholy beasts dwell within this valley ahead?" Elias asked, easing himself. "I am glad I will not be sending more creatures to meet Tatiova."

"No, Skierti Valley has been barren for decades, ever since Folcanrog scorched the area. Perhaps you will understand the term better upon seeing the interior of the valley, but our people call it En Dorovo Goryaschivist. In your language, it is called the Great Burning Hatred."

"Why do your people refer to it as so?" Elias asked, pulling out his journal.

"The area torched by Folcanrog's flames never recover from the damage. Her flame breath covers an immense amount of area and the inferno is remarkably hot. Steel weapons have been said to liquify in seconds from a direct blast. Apparently the landscape does not take too well to this, either. You will see the scar that remains upon Skierti Valley soon enough. For now, I would prefer the journey to remain silent. I do not look forward to meeting with the Orcs and I would like to relish the uneventful travel."

"The last time someone told me a journey would be uneventful, I was swarmed by elementals." Lysander remarked, chuckling. Cosmo laughed for a short while, but soon shifted his gaze and attention to the road ahead, mesmerizing himself with the monotony of travelling by foot. Hours passed in the dry heat of the Boiling Pot as the titanic mountains in distance slowly became larger, towering over the four of them. Eventually, they were among the mountains, the enormous peaks casting cool shadows on the crimson rock below. Looking forward, Cosmo now saw the scar that Molniya had mentioned.

The valley was barren and vacant. Cosmo found it difficult to say anything about the area, simply because of the astonishing vacuum of noise the dead land imposed upon the four of them. Never had he seen something so devoid of life: nothing moved for miles and miles and the emptiness soon became terrifying. Blackened roots crept out from the cracks in the rock, as if attempting to crawl back to life. The dark red stone outside of the valley contrasted the environment on the inside, that was shaped from a pale pink rock, almost the exact color of Cosmo's arm.

"What... happened here?" Cosmo asked, to nobody. He gazed up at the scarred land in front of him, in horror. The ground was almost like sand, blowing away in the occasional gusts of wind, the pebbles stinging Cosmo's ankles. In the deafening silence of mass extinction, the desolate wastelands seemed otherworldly, soaking up sound like a dry sponge in water.

"I told you." Molniya gritted her teeth as she glared into the distance. "Folcanrog." She spat the word.

"It is impossible." Elias murmured, at a loss. "In my whole life... I have never seen such death. This beast... no, this demon. No being has the right to eradicate the blessing my Lady has given us in such a horrible way."