The Dimensional Vagabond

The ground cracks beneath his steps. A gray, dry, grainy sand stretches as far as the eye can see. The sky hangs low, dull, swallowed by a thick, opaque layer of clouds. The sun never pierces this cover, as if light itself had been banished from this cursed land.

Kael tightens his cloak around him. The cold isn't freezing, but it seeps into the bones. He hasn't eaten in a while, and the dry air scorches his throat. Still, hunger isn't what bothers him. It's the silence… oppressive. Deadly. Not a breath of wind. No songs. No sounds.

Suddenly, a vibration. The ground shakes softly, but steadily. He stops. His eyes scan the horizon: nothing. Then, a low rumble echoes beneath his feet.

— The Sourgnars… he murmurs.

A shape bursts from the ground a few meters ahead: a hideous beast, covered in a bony shell, with black fangs dripping acid. Then another. And another.

Kael draws his weapon.

The beasts have no eyes, but they sense heat, smell, vibrations. They circle, dig, reappear elsewhere. A deadly game begins.

Kael runs. He knows he can't fight them all. He leaps onto a rock, then slides into a trench. He hides, holds his breath. One of the beasts passes overhead without noticing him.

But the other one… it stops. It sniffs. It growls.

Kael can't wait any longer. He jumps, drives his blade straight into the creature's open maw. It howls, thrashes, and dies convulsing. But the noise has drawn the others.

He runs again. His feet carry him to a hill of ash. He climbs, stumbles, but reaches the top. There, a broken stele awaits. An ancient marker. Carved into the stone:

> "You who defy death, know that you shall die before reaching the end."

Kael is annoyed.

He looks behind him. The Sourgnars are still following, but they stop dead at the foot of the hill. They growl, then vanish underground.

The sky rumbles. A black rain begins to fall.

Kael raises his eyes.

Next destination: the Black Forest of Gwyneil.