Shoutout to Bruh_Vista for beta-reading and providing extensive feedback for this chapter!
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It was a dark and moonless night, with only the faint light from the stars illuminating the budding forest. The density of trees here was sparse, with signs of uprooting and replanting evident all around. The ground was patchy with greenery, and there was an uneven distribution of flowers and other flora. The place was mostly silent, which was interrupted intermittently by the drones of crickets projecting their presence to others of their kind.
One could say that it was peaceful... a little too peaceful. It felt like the calm before a storm. Though it was strangely ominous for a metaphorical storm to come so soon after rampaging and devastating these lands. These were the plagued lands of the Solar Empire; this was the region that once lay ravaged and abandoned by the Plague of Dark Cleansing.
