We walked in silence on the way back home. As we reached a fork in the road, I walked in the opposite direction of the Falling Sky Kingdom. Maven stopped and turned back towards me.
"Where are you going? You are heading in the wrong direction."
"There's somewhere I want to stop by first," I said.
I heard Maven's footsteps trailing after me. We continued down the dirt path until we made it to the empty, deserted land—a sudden change from the once green forest to the yellow dusty kingdom. I continued down the road. I looked to see the familiar tree I had seen before. The leaves fell in the same rhythm as they had been before.
The roads were covered in scattered pieces of the buildings that once held families, were now half up and crumbling still.
"Your Majesty, what are we doing here?" Maven asked behind me.
"Don't call me that. My name is Merkikh."
"That didn't answer my question." I heard Maven mutter behind me.
