The endless gray expanse. The eternal reddish hue sky. The swirling clouds of dust covered the land, coating everything in a thin layer of coarse crushed rock.

“I… hate this place.” Thalza murmured to herself quietly. After weeks of walking, her patience was nearing its limit.

The army mindlessly marched beside her, the novelty of stone golem soldiers having vanished a long time ago. Terracotta Warriors, that’s what Gerald called them. It was supposedly something he decided to do on a whim in his spare time to keep boredom at bay.

Thalza expected him to finish one or two before switching to something else, not an entire freaking army! Each of those creatures required a core and a Soul, both of which were in short supply in the Lower Plane.

For him to just waste them like this… She breathed out in frustration before taking a lungful of old, stale air.

Not my money, not my problem. Just ignore it. Just ignore it. She repeated to herself in her mind like a mantra.

The calming effect came, but it was not as pronounced as she had expected. Having been forced to use it many times over the last few weeks, the technique seemed to be losing its effect. Soon it completely disappeared as a blinding light came from the front.

Ugh, he’s at it again!

The Terracotta Warriors gave Gerald some space as lightning began radiating off his body. It was not the first time he had done it, and probably not the last either.

Blinding white arcs thicker than her arm spread their tendrils, scorching the ground and stretching toward the sky like thorny flowers.

As he lifted off the ground, Gerald was soon encased in a halo of lightning as he shaped massive lightning bolts with his bare hands. The deep red of his skin was especially striking while being bathed in that pure white light. After so long in such a dark, dreary place, he stood out way too much. It was difficult for her to look away.

The lightning he was using wasn’t the common, Mortal thunderbolt. Instead, that was the genuine Arcane Lightning, the purest form of energy Thalza was aware of. It was difficult to produce, and even harder to control. Only the greatest warriors of Drowkind were capable of wielding it.

And Gerald… He said he lacked destructive power, if you could believe it, and so he just began condensing energy until something snapped. At least that’s how he explained it. In short, he was just looking at how far he could go.

The true reason he was doing it was to see how close he was to the Sky Qi, which was to say he was not close at all. Only a madman like him would even consider condensing Sky Qi at the Third Level of the Spirit Realm.

But in doing so he did somehow accidentally discover the Arcane Lightning. When Thalza nearly fainted at the sight, he just said something along the lines: Hmm, this might be good enough.

Good enough?!

Thalza felt like throwing up in anger despite the fact that her stomach was empty and it had never tasted food before. She resurrected just about a month ago after all and hadn’t eaten since. Her body was still young and did not yet need to feed, though she was slowly growing hungrier as their travels continued.

Anyway, back to the lightning…

Gerald kneaded the blazing energy with his hands like it was a piece of dough. He stretched it out and twisted it every which way. He made swords out of it, spears, and who knows what else.

Sometimes he straightened it out and froze the wild energy in place, creating a peculiar shape with a pointy end. He even shapeshifted into an older, pale-skinned man with a long white beard, pretending to be some buff guy named Zeus.

She didn’t dare disrupt his playtime, especially since every Arcane Bolt of his could kill her ten times over with the energy it contained. And he was tossing them around like they were common pebbles. Some exploded on impact, blasting craters into the gray stone substrate, while others turned into a thousand smaller lightning bolts that jumped around for a few seconds before being fully absorbed by the Lower Plane.

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[Ah! I love this place!] Gerald suddenly shouted, discharging a lethal amount of Arcane Lightning.

“Ack!” Thalza had to throw herself away to avoid being struck, yet before the energy could reach her, it was reabsorbed back into his body. She dove underground for no reason.

Damn it! I hate this place! She cursed in her mind and stood up, dusting herself off. On the surface, her expression was neutral, but her patience was reaching its limit. Again!

“How much longer do you plan on just walking like this, in a straight line? Where are we even going?” She shouted to get Gerald’s attention.

The man turned and she spread her hands wide as if to emphasize the point. “There’s nothing here, just infinite wasteland in every direction!”

Gerald shrugged. [Nobody told you to follow me. I plan to explore this place a bit, maybe spend a few years here… I feel like this place has much to teach me.]

“Hold on… Years? You are just going to be walking for years?! There’s nothing here!”

[Sure there is.] Gerald pointed straight ahead. [There’s a village about 50 kilometers that way. As I said, we are going to look for the others.]

“Others… Other people trapped here?” She asked.

[Precisely. Now, let’s go, I’d like to reach the village before nightfall.] Gerald waved her to follow him.

Thalza paused, her brows furrowed. “Wait… That means we have an eternity to get there! There is no nightfall here! It’s always dusk!”

Gerald snapped his fingers at her and grinned. [I knew you would get it eventually. Here we’ve got all the time in the world!]

He then laughed and put his hands behind his head, whistling as he slowly continued the eternal walk.

Thalza was rendered speechless, suddenly flooded by the impulse to strangle him to death. But, damn it, the bastard would probably enjoy it, as twisted as his mind was. So, with a mountain worth of effort, she breathed in and then out, taking the frustrations away. It lasted a whole ten seconds before Gerald did something unheard of again, spiking her stress hormones once more.

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Echoes of the Forgotten Dawn was a small settlement in the Ashen Wastes. The people there were living modestly, as there wasn’t much wealth to be had.

In the middle of the village was a tall tower made of rusted iron. Despite its inferior material properties, it was still three times better than the gray stone. On top of it sat a man, slowly spinning on his seat, looking at the horizon.

“Ah!” Suddenly a rising cloud of dust appeared on his radar. He focused his eyes and stretched his senses, but visibility was low in the Lower Plane, and his Spirit Senses were limited by the thirsty land drinking his Qi.

He jumped down, running to find his superior.

“Chief! Chief!”

An older man with a trimmed gray beard and large mustache turned, looking at him. “What is it?”

“We’ve got incoming, Chief! A large cloud just appeared on the horizon.” The man reported.

“Good, good.” The Chief nodded. “Tell me, what is it this time? Beasts? Bandits?”

The man shook his head. “I’m not sure. This place is obstructing my senses…”

The Chief clicked his tongue and then waved his hand. “Whatever. You have done well. I’ll check with our Diviner, maybe he can give us a better picture of what to expect. Gather our forces just in case. Tell them to get ready.”

Talking to a large hut made of beast skins and bones, the Chief entered. Just as he was about to open his mouth to speak, the Diviner cut him off.

“I know why you are here… Trouble approaches.” The man sat with his eyes closed and a bushy black beard hiding his mouth. He spoke. “I see creatures with rocky skin. They are small, but there are many. Easily fifty of them.”

“Fifty?! That’s more than-“

“And!” The Diviner lifted his voice, angry to have his words interrupted. “Two monsters are leading them. Curiously, all have humanoid forms.”

The Chief jerked back with suspicion, his brows furrowing. “Humanoid? Are you sure they are not just humans?”

“Do humans have red skin? Or horns? Or a tail?!”

“Hmm, well…” The Chief stroked his mustache.

“They do not.” The man said with a tone of finality.

As it seemed the Diviner was not going the speak anymore, the Chief cleared his throat and backed out of the hut. “Thank you, for your… wise words. I shall… gather the men. Yes.”

As the Chief left the stuffy hut behind, his expression darkened. That was even more so after he saw the sorry state of his army.

Oh, great. We are dead. This ragtag bunch couldn’t kill a single Rock Snapper, much less an entire horde of unknown monsters. With special specimens leading them no less.

He was well aware that if the Diviner knew their names, he would have said so. The fact that he was just describing them meant they were an unknown. And an unknown in a place that never changes usually meant trouble. Big trouble.

“Men!” He straightened his back, trying to appear intimidating. “An unknown enemy is upon us!” He marched up and down before the gathered warriors. “Tell me!” He demanded. “How will we fight them?”

“With bravery and honor, sir!” One of the men shouted back.

“Absolutely not! Don’t you fucking dare!” The Chief roared, pointing a finger at the guy. “Anyone seen fighting with honor will be punished! These are wild beasts we are talking about! Monsters! Show them no mercy! As soon as you see them, attack! Hold nothing back! Use tricks if you have to! That’s how we will survive!”

He stood tall and proud, satisfied by his speech.

“Is that understood!?”

“Yes, Sir!” They all answered in unison.

“Good! Now get into position! Show them what the men of the Ashen Wastes are capable of!”