Ethan pushed aside the last giant leaf of The rainforest and stepped through.
A desert stretched out before him.
He stopped at the sharp border where rainforest met sand, caught off guard by how abrupt the change was. Behind him, tangled green life pressed close and humid; ahead, an ocean of pale dunes rolled into the distance. The division felt wrong, almost surgical, as if some invisible blade had cleaved the world in two and decided that everything lush would end here, and everything dead would begin.
"Holy hell… if I didn't know this wasn't the Sea of Death, I'd think I was home," Blackie muttered, squinting out at the dunes.
