The city of Vorah was silent, but not the serene silence of dawn—it was the heavy silence of ruin. The smell of soot still lingered in the air, and the black earth beneath the warriors' feet seemed burned to the soul.
Scarlet walked among the rubble with her usual upright posture, though her eyes betrayed her fatigue. At her side, her three daughters—Cassandra, the eldest and most restrained; Daniela, impatient and thirsty for action; and Bellatrix, the youngest, but with a gaze as cold as steel—moved among the ruins, searching through the remains of what had once been the eastern sector of the city.
"Last five blocks cleared," Cassandra announced, her voice steady as she watched a floating arcane map she had conjured herself. "No sign of life. Just bodies. And smoke."
