By the morning of the sixth day, as dawn broke over the horizon, the distant silhouette of Perey Town—capital of the Viscounty of Perceiver—began to emerge.
Nestled between two towering, jagged mountains, the town sat in a valley that might once have been beautiful. But now, from a distance, the devastation was evident. Smoke still clung to the air like a choking shroud, wafting in lazy plumes from the western side of the town where a massive crater marred the landscape.
It looked as though a celestial hammer had fallen from the heavens and crushed a third of the city beneath its weight.
Selena gazed out through the carriage window, her emerald eyes scanning the destruction with a mixture of dread and curiosity. The once lively town of Perey now stood like a broken relic, a grim testament to the force that had annihilated much of it.
The town was divided into two distinct halves. On the eastern side, homes and buildings stood eerily untouched.
Most were small structures, made of dried dung and straw, a reminder of how old and vulnerable the town's architecture had been. These simple, flammable homes had somehow been spared, shielded by the massive stone mansion of the Viscount that once stood proudly at the heart of the city.
Now, the mansion was nothing but a pile of crumbled stone, its ruins still smoldering. Rubble and debris were scattered everywhere, the once-pristine estate reduced to ashes and shattered rock.
On the western side of the town, near the crater, everything was obliterated. Buildings that had been made of wood and straw were reduced to ashes, and stone structures were blown apart as though they had been struck by a god's fury.
The crater itself was vast and deep, blackened by fire and lined with charred earth. Nothing grew there, not even weeds. It was as if life itself had recoiled from the destruction, leaving a hollow, desolate pit in its wake.
Selena's breath caught in her throat at the sight, her mind struggling to comprehend the magnitude of whatever had caused such devastation.
As the carriage entered the town, the damage became more apparent. Soldiers of various battalions combed through the wreckage, their uniforms stained with dust and soot. Some wore blue armor, some red, while others were dressed in the white or black robes of mages.
Zeph, peering out of the carriage for the first time since their departure from the palace, observed the strange assortment of people. Their hair and eye colors seemed varied, especially among the mages.
He saw silver, blue, red, and even white-haired men and women floating through the air, their eyes glowing with the power of their respective elements. It was a stark contrast to the brown-haired, brown-eyed soldiers who trudged through the ruins below.
The architecture itself caught Zeph's attention, making him realize how ancient and primitive this town was compared to the modern structures of Earth. It looked as though the town had been frozen in time, its buildings constructed from materials that seemed vulnerable to both fire and war.
The majority of the homes were built from straw and dried dung, easily combustible and offering little protection against the catastrophe that had befallen the town. The only exceptions were a few sturdier buildings near the center of the town, which had been constructed from wood taken from the nearby forests.
Even the Viscount's mansion, once the grandest structure in Perey, had been no match for the destruction; its stone walls now lay in ruins, shattered by the force of the explosion that had left the crater in its wake.
As the carriage rolled to a stop near the largest remaining structure, an inn that had miraculously survived, the group was greeted by General Rubios Herman and his personal guard.
Rubios, a man of imposing stature with green eyes and jet-black hair, knelt before the carriage in deference. His face was grim, lined with exhaustion, and his armor was smeared with ash. The third army's insignia was emblazoned on his chest, marking him as the commander of the forces that had been deployed to investigate the disaster.
Selena, Anastasia, Vorian, and the others exited the carriage. Zeph's small form appeared next to his mother, his wide eyes scanning the scene before him with wonder and trepidation.
This was his first time seeing the world beyond the palace walls, and though he had spent the journey hidden away inside the carriage to avoid attracting magical beasts with his cries, now he was finally able to take in the sights of the ruined town. The air smelled of burnt wood and ash, the scent mingling with the faint odor of damp earth from the nearby mountains.
Zeph felt a strange sensation as he looked around, as if he were standing in two worlds at once. One was the ancient, decimated town before him, with its crumbling structures and archaic materials.
The other was the modern world he remembered from his past life, with its gleaming skyscrapers and smooth roads. His mind reeled with the contrast. Lucian, ever the helpful presence, spoke quietly in his mind, pointing out details.
"Look at their hair and eyes," Lucian noted. "It seems like their physical traits are tied to their elemental affinities."
Zeph nodded thoughtfully, watching the mages whose silver or blue eyes seemed to glow faintly in the dim light. They hovered above the town, casting spells to clear rubble or search for survivors. None of them had black hair like Zeph or the general.
It seemed that elemental affinity might not be tied to hair color after all, though Zeph couldn't be sure. Lucian's musings echoed his own thoughts—there was something more at play here, something deeper and more mysterious.