Smoke and snow blanketed the battlefield in a choking shroud, the air filled with the ragged screams of wounded students.
The sound was sharp and piercing, cutting through the muffled silence of the storm.
Moca stirred, her lashes fluttering open to a sky torn by unnatural colors. Snowflakes drifted downward, their purity tainted by streaks of ash, while above, a dark aurora bled across the heavens like some cursed wound in reality itself.
"Ahhh!...
She gasped, her chest convulsing as a violent cough wracked her frame. Dust and the metallic taste of her own blood filled her mouth, dribbling down her chin as she groaned.
"Cough...Cough!!...
Her voice was ragged, weak. She tried to rise, but the world lurched beneath her. Her limbs trembled and she collapsed back into the snow, agony searing through her like fire.
When her gaze dropped, her stomach twisted. Her right leg dangled by torn flesh, little more than shredded meat clinging to bone.
