And indeed, it didn't take long for Riley to witness what he had dreaded. And of course he was not alone to suffer the view from such a gruesome mess.
"Hak!"
"Hak!"
"Hak!"
A retching sound echoed through the air, barely audible over the hum of flies swarming the grotesque scene before them.
Riley turned to see Luna, her slender frame trembling as she doubled over, vomiting onto the bloodstained ground.
Her face was pale, her breaths ragged, as if her body itself was rejecting the reality laid out before her.
She had insisted on coming, eager to see the world beyond the sect's protected walls, eager to "expand her horizons"—but she had not been prepared for this.
No amount of training or meditation could have steeled her against the sheer brutality of war, the overwhelming stench of rot, and the sight of human bodies stacked like discarded firewood.
"How… how can anybody do this?" a voice asked, soft yet filled with horror.
