Bright lines of deep red and fiery orange lit up the sky as the sun rose like an open wound on the horizon. It was an awful omen, casting an unearthly light on the world below.
The light reflected off shattered windows, broken cobblestones, and the distant trails of smoke rising from villages already caught in the storm.
But the most terrifying part wasn't the color of the sky—it was the sound.
The sound of thousands of beasts moving as one. The far-off screams of birds that sounded more twisted and untamed than birds anymore with the rumbling thuds of paws, hooves, and claws hitting dirt, grass, and stone.
Edge of Aurelia Forest
The town of Arlen lay just outside the forest's edge, its people unaware of the storm brewing in the woods. The soft glow of lanterns dotted the streets as people moved about, most too busy tending to the chaos caused by the earlier surge.
