William took a deep breath, composing himself as the faint cry of a baby broke through the eerie silence. His face, ashen and streaked with the remnants of the magical explosion from mere moments ago, twitched with emotion.
The world around him was utterly transformed—an expanse of scorched earth, once teeming with life, now lay barren and desolate. The thick, towering trees that had lined the valley were gone, evaporated as if they had never existed. Nothing remained but a haunting emptiness, an abyss where life had once thrived.
