“Change requires sacrifice, and sacrifice requires death. With the eruption of a blinding green light searing past the stars, and waves of every color, powerful and dominant, the universe became still and silent. For five seconds, the raging tempest calmed and all was peaceful…before every soul was wiped away.”

- General Sarah Aluri

I ventured Eastward, neither knowing what lay ahead, nor what I was seeking. Both day and night were equally harsh. In the afternoon, the scorching heat threatened to turn me into dry ash and steal what small amount of liquid I possessed. As the first night descended, the air became chilled and frozen, my bones feeling like brittle stone, easily cracked upon little pressure. The weather threatened to force me to turn back, but there was no turning back. Not now.

Yet, the strangest and most bewildering phenomena was the storm.

I walked through the winds of the oncoming storm, desperately seeking shelter before it struck, but only discovering broken walls and remnants of shelters, too small and shattered for even a refugee like me. Unable to prepare for the first storm that approached, I stopped where I was. Huddled within my coat and wrappings, my arms tightly embraced my legs that protected my head that was nestled between them. The storm, howling like a wild animal, with the ferocity of the ocean and the speed of a Starling Ship charged toward me.

Holding the strange cube, I braced myself for the inevitable, ready to become one with the Earth. The winds raged like a beast, coming to devour me, hurling scattered remnants of stone and metal through the air like they were nothing more than weightless dust. Eyes shut tightly, lips pursed, and my small, thin body tensed, I awaited the impending storm that was closing in from behind.

It arrived.

The storm crashed onto the rocks around me, effortlessly pulling them along, yet no force pushed me along with them. Shocked, I dared not move. Slowly, my dirt-crusted eyes tentatively opened, wary of the swirling sand that could tear through them like a sharp knife to young skin. To my amazement, I sat untouched in the midst of the storm. Glancing behind, I witnessed the storm stopping mere inches from my back, splitting into two enormous walls on either side of me. A silent laughter reverberated within my throat as I refrained from unnecessarily opening my mouth and breathing in the dry air and dust.

It was then that I noticed that the cube had subtly transformed within my hands. Its usual cool touch changed to a warm, comforting feeling, heating my palms and radiating through my body as if by some strange science. It was protecting me. Bowing my head between my legs once more, I waited out the storm.

The cube continued to keep me safe as I journeyed further into the east of the vast Echoedrome. Twice a day, I survived the storms, the cube protecting me as if it harbored a desire to keep me alive. When the storms approached, the cube would become warm and shelter me, and as the storm subsided, the coolness returned.

Days turned into weeks as I ventured further and the landscape gradually began to change around me. The first city I encountered was one of the later constructed cities, built during the final years of the war. It was smaller than I would’ve imagined, empty, and in ruins. Yet, this was the first time that I had ever encountered a city and its appearance was still very large. I was accustomed to caves and modest, square stone buildings housing twenty to thirty people when they could only comfortably fit ten. This would’ve fit hundreds.

Scorch marks marred nearly every stone and beam of steel, and the uneven ground was broken like shattered glass. Not a single skeleton or trace of life remained to hint that humans once lived here. Stepping through the ruins, I stopped in the center of the city where a large stone square displayed fractured metal protruding from the top of it in all sorts of twisted angles, clearly the remnants of a statue that was ripped away. My gaze shifted downward, revealing something that I hadn’t seen in a very long time. So long in fact, that the memory had nearly faded until now.

The color blue.

On the front, bottom side of the stone was an old, weathered symbol that I had only seen once before in my childhood; a mark on a stranger's shoulder patch when they had passed through our caves. The seal of the Blue Crested Mulnark.

Some thought it represented freedom, while others, death.

It was many days before I found another city, nearly five times larger than the first. The once-strong walls and enormous size indicated that this was a Bellatora, a warring city, meant for the defense and protection of its people against the Nameless. All were quickly destroyed in the war. Every wall lay broken and torn, except for two pillars and an archway marking the entrance. The city's name, spelled out in metal letters clung to the archway’s remnants. Only a few letters remained on either side, a “Br” on the far left and an “en” on the far right. At least five or six letters were missing in the middle.

Drawing the cube from my bag, I held it in my hand. This time, it was much colder than before, almost unbearable to hold. My palms began to ache, prompting me to put it away. Peering into the midst of the city, I looked carefully and longingly to glean what I could from here. There were no visible flags or indicators of which group of people or military faction once controlled this Bellatora, but a strange feeling swelled in the pit of my stomach, urging me to move on. The air hung quiet and still, and I knew there was no danger within, but I recognized that this was not the end of my journey.

As weeks turned into a month, my bag lightened considerably. The last remnants of my water were almost gone, and I only had a few days left. This morning’s breakfast marked the end of my rations, but I knew that I could survive another two to three weeks without sustenance. The world around me had changed into a desolate wilderness of nothing but dirt and storms. Cities, wreckage, and any other lingering signs of past life had been erased, reduced to less than even mere shadows of their former existence.

Lost in an unknown expanse, I remained oblivious to my location or the distance I had traveled, yet I knew that I had not reached my destination. Despite my dehydration, weary legs, and growling stomach, I refused to die in the wilderness after coming this far. The persistence to press forward, even without water surged within me; an inexplicable force pulling me towards something more, something beyond the skeletal remains of the Earth. I will not stop until I take my final step.

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Over the next four days, the very life within me began to wither and fade. The last drops of water had been greedily consumed a day earlier. The raging heat, ever more relentless, seemed to grow fiercer each passing day as if threatening the world that it would be inevitably consumed by engulfing flames.

Two more days had passed and my vision was fading along with my weakened body. The world morphed into a blinding haze of light, its shapes nearly vanishing into indistinguishable forms. My hands, when only mere feet from my eyes, blur into obscurity. My lips have begun to crack and bleed uncontrollably. I ripped off several large pieces of dried skin that clung around my mouth, offering no further use or protection. I tossed them to the relentless winds. The scorching heat beat upon my back, enveloping me like a blanket. Though the cube still protected me from the storms, even this strange phenomenon would not save me. Not anymore. I recognized that with the approaching nightfall storm, I would succumb to the elements, and lying where I fell, I would leave my body to rest eternally as the last vestige of humanity.

Stumbling even on the relatively flat ground, I struggled to maintain balance and strength. Every few feet, I collapsed to my knees, struggling to lift myself back up. For the past hour, my eyes had remained closed. I dared not waste the strength required to keep them open.

I could feel the coolness of the air changing, and I knew that the sun was descending behind the horizon. My final night was approaching all too quickly. I yearned to die, to be released from this endless pain, yet, I resisted the urge to give up. If death were to meet me tonight, he would be forced to rip my soul from my body, for I would not part with it willingly.

With a groan of agony, I staggered forward, managing only two more steps before collapsing onto the ground. Dirt and dust spewed into my face, and it seemed as though all my efforts had been in vain. Discouragement threatened to overwhelm me, yet all it could muster was a single tear. Even my tears appeared to have dried up.

“This is not how it ends,” I muttered angrily, gritting my teeth.

Summoning every ounce of remaining strength, I pulled myself to my feet and took three more steps before my body crumbled beneath its own weight. However, as my knees touched the ground, the strangest thing happened. The sun vanished instantaneously, replaced by a cool, refreshing shade that enveloped me. Wiping the crust and dirt from my eyes, I raised my head and beheld a city whose walls soared higher than the sky, resembling a mountain before me. I had collapsed within its protective shadow, and the sheer size of the city left me awestruck. My gaze wandered to the left and right, revealing an endless line of demolished walls except for a singular spot in front of me like an oasis.

A minuscule glimmer of hope rose within my chest, giving me a spark of new energy and life. I pulled myself to my feet and walked through the crumbled sections of the wall into the heart of the city. To my left was an enormous airfield, strewn with broken aircraft, while on the right, endless training grounds sprawled out. Directly ahead, on the front of the crumbled and destitute city, was a colossal symbol in dull blood-red paint, the Sigil of the Founders, the Archangel.

This was the first of the War Cities. The greatest, the largest, the first to witness utter destruction.

I could almost imagine the battle as it took place so many years ago; golden bullets flying through the air, cannons bursting into the stone, exploding with fire and death, the Nameless, taking no captives and destroying all life without reason.

I stumbled through the wreckage of the once-mighty city, making my way towards the rear wall. As I approached the city’s edge, a faint glimmer of light beneath some rubble caught my eye. Clearing away a few small stones, I uncovered a golden pin hidden beneath. I dusted it off and held it close to my face. It bore the depiction of a woman adorned in military clothing, and underneath was inscribed, “To Live Without Honor Is To Die Without Worth.”

The Founders’ Motto. I had heard it before as a child. These were now empty words.

The pin dropped to the ground with a soft clink as I continued walking to escape the city. I did not have the time nor the energy to care whose likeness was on the pin or to carry it with me.

It was time for the end.

I climbed over the rear wall, its structure completely torn down, and knelt on the ground to gaze at the Earth one last time. The sunlight was nearly gone and the coldness was bringing in the storm. My eyes hungrily absorbed the vast, empty land before me. Unwrapping my head, I discarded the wrappings onto the ground, not caring if they became even dirtier. This marked the final occasion they would serve any purpose. The weight of my pack seemed heavier than ever. Seeing no further need for it, I unstrapped it from my shoulders and let it fall to my left. As its weight touched the earth, an unfamiliar sound, unlike any I had heard before reached my ears; a small, soft crunch. I moved my pack aside, discovering the most unlikely of things. Something that no longer existed.

A single, dried-out plant.

Laughing in amazement, I allowed my mouth to open while in the elements for the first time. “This is a suitable place to die.”

I moved my pack away from the plant, allowing it space to grow, and looked forward, welcoming a sense of peace to wash over me. In that moment, I suddenly remembered that I had never discovered what I had set out to find. Could it be this solitary plant? To realize that perhaps the Earth did have a chance even in my absence, that its memory will live on?

My body’s strength waned to the point where I could hardly keep my eyes open. Ready to spend my final moments in harmony with the world, I retrieved the cube I had found. To my surprise, it felt hotter than usual, despite the storm being far off. Lying down, I cradled it tightly to my chest, and as the strength was leaving my body, the cube became warmer and more radiant. With my chest slowing its rhythm until the last breath escaped, the cube became overwhelmingly hot, and a light, more radiant than the sun, instantly appeared before me. I was forced to cover my eyes from the intense brightness. Sitting up, I still grasped the cube whose heat was almost too warm to hold. As my eyes adjusted to the brightness, a singular tall shadow emerged from within the light before splitting into five distinct shadows, dispersing the brightness.

“This must be a dream,” I mused to myself.

The shadowy figures drew nearer, their forms still mere silhouettes. Though they remained silent, something within me knew who they were. These were the strangers I saw in my vision. This was the purpose of my journey.

They were here, for me.

My eyes shifted to the cube that was now glowing as if it contained a star that was desperately trying to break free from its prison. This was theirs. It belonged to them and I was meant to deliver it. One of the figures extended their arm, prompting me to surrender the cube. Slowly, my hand stretched towards theirs, and as the cube neared the stranger, it began to shake violently. The stranger touched the cube, and it erupted in a blinding, powerful white light. In that fleeting moment, I witnessed the beginning and end of time, overlapping in a single entity, the birth and death of the universe, both events as one and the same thing. I beheld stars forming and exploding in a beautiful display of every color, the majority of which I had never seen. Space and time accelerated past me at a pace beyond my comprehension, hurtling towards a new light, brighter and more dominant than all of the rest.

And as I reached it, everything plunged into darkness.