Adrith had seen countless horrors, he had countless times where he had been bitten, clawed, slashed, blinded, deafened, made unable to move, fight, was mind controlled and forced free. He had felt every pain the human body could bear, and been healed by magics that were just good enough to close the wound yet made the user relive the pain. He was set on fire, drowned by mucus, had acid shot at him covering parts of his body and seeping to his bones, and even had to live through the process of being digested as they tried to free him from a monster that ate him in their sleep.

He had conquered countless fears. He had taken on incredible ordeals. He had braved through even the fear of death countless times. Worked through untold pain. Adrith had entered certain death in the name of a hope. He had watched countless friends die in the most gruesome and terrible ways imaginable. He had lived with every regret he had of his life.

Adrith had dedicated himself to a cause that he would never see finished. He had performed some of the greatest ordeals a normal man would ever do within his mortal life and had taken them further into his undead one.

Of every horror the world had ever thrown at him. Of every pain, challenge, ordeal, and loss. This single scene was something he could never be ready for. It was something that left more trauma on him than any horror had ever done.

As far as his eyes could see, he could only see the withered world he once knew. The once green grass and rolling meadows he remembered where he spent much of his time visiting was now gone. He could remember almost as if it was yesterday the land, the scenery, he could remember seeing in the distance a woman going through the meadows and maintaining them. He could remember her coming to him to travel to the knight garrison, she was an Awoken matron of the alchemist shop. She had dedicated her existence to those flowers as they were the one thing she was able to keep from her home in Fairhaven.

Now all he could see was the dark gray dirt which had brownish-yellow grass that stuck out like just like the hair of a balding man.

Yet it wasn’t only the view of the ground, it was the smell, the once gorgeous plains had a fragrant and pleasant smell that made one feel at ease. It was a smell which not only carried on the wind but stuck with you from all the way to Fellwinter and even to the Necropolis above the dungeon.

Yet now, the only smells that lingered were that of a dry sooty dust, dead vegetation, and a stench that left one uncomfortable and uneasy. The smell was so powerful and dry, that coughing was a normal sound to hear of the wagon wheels turning and crushing the blade-like grass that laid on their path.

Adrith couldn’t even begin to imagine what could have happened to the world he knew. He thought as long as the awoken existed it would be okay. As long as people survived and lived on, the world would never change. Even the sky was different from the one he knew, the one he last saw right before entering the dungeon. The sky Adrith remembered was one of a brilliant azure blue. One that he remembered was filled with birds, and one that which clouds lazily filled the sky.

Yet this sky he looked at now was barren. It was as if it was just a place to hold the sun and nothing more.

“Hey”, Evelyn’s voice called to Adrith, yet no response was made on his side. Evelyn pursed her lips as she sat down next to him and looked out.

“Gloomy isn’t it?” Evelyn tried to make some talk for the moment, yet she could see Adrith was looking off still, almost as if he was not there.

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Evelyn moved closer and shook his arm for a moment, his head turned to her as she said, “You wanna talk?”

Adrith took a breath in as he looked back out for another moment. He shook his head, “No, I was just surprised things changed so much”.

Evelyn nodded her head as she saw him lean back onto one of the side walls of the cart. She looked to him, he was shaken by something. It must have been something out there he remembered. Maybe Fellwinter was closer, or something more tragic. Evelyn wanted to know what was on his mind, maybe this was her time to try and connect with him. After all, he had tried countless times to help her in her weak moments, maybe this was his.

Evelyn cleared her throat as she asked, “What was it like?”

Adrith looked up to Evelyn as he heard the question, yet it did not register to him, “What?”

Evelyn was slightly taken aback, yet she repeated her question, “What was it like?”

She gestured her head to the scenery that was following them, “You’ve been looking out for a long time, what was it like during your time”.

Adrith looked off into the plains, thinking that it was death that had settled onto the land. He took in his breath and his words, as he began to think, “It was…calm”.

Evelyn perked up, realizing that Adrith seemed willing to share, “Calm?”

Adrith nodded, “Calm. Beautiful.”

Evelyn looked off into the land, she could never imagine something like this to be beautiful. Yet it seemed something was different. So she asked, “How so?”

Adrith took a breath in and recounted the world he remembered. The sky, it was a gorgeous cool blue like a giant ocean of water that would never end. In it pearl white clouds which floated and would meander through the sky. The sun was just as bright as it was now, yet when sitting in that gorgeous sky, it felt much brighter. Even with that, it felt much cooler in the air. Within these fields were not the countless dead blades of grass that never withered of broke. It was filled with a sea of green that flowed and winded across the hills. The ground wasn’t this deathly gray that reminded one of the many horrors of the dungeon. It was a deep brown which smelled of life. The land was cool as the ground always felt moist and viral.

Within this sea of green that was more bright and vibrant than the capes the Guards wore, there were countless meadows of flowers that filled the green grass. Flowers of countless gorgeous colors, brilliant and vibrant, they were colors that were only able to be found now in gems and other precious materials. Adrith recounted the vibrant red flowers that were a deeper color than any ruby. The countless yellow that seemed to beam the sun right back at it and white flowers which were more pure than any powder could have been.

As Adrith recounted his world, Evelyn felt a great envy within her heart. Such a beautiful world to live in, she wondered if that was why he chose to live his life. She wondered if he would have chosen the same path in life if he had lived in her time. Would she have been able to live a different life.

Evelyn turned back as she saw Connor and the others looking back to Adrith, their jaws dropped, “Wow, you are old aren’t you?”

Adrith turned to look at the others, “What do you mean by that?”

Gloria speak up, “Well from books I was able to find, the land became barren centuries ago”.

Adrith nodded his head as he said, “Anything else?”

Gloria continued, “Well from what I know, that came about, five hundred years ago at this point”.

Adrith nodded his head as he looked out, as Evelyn was the one to then ask, “Wait, when was the last Crusade into the dungeon?”

Gloria sighed as she thought for a moment, “I think, maybe it was about, six hundred years ago at this point”.

Adrith and Evelyn both raised their heads. Adrith looked to Evelyn as he realized, she had not been dead for long. It was something that didn’t make sense to him, why was she back so soon?

Evelyn turned to the others as she blurted out a question, “Do any of you know about the mage known as Charlotte the Red?”