Oliver woke up with a sharp ache in his back. For a moment, he couldn't even remember how he got here. The last thing he recalled was the glowing runes, the light swallowing him, and then… nothing.
He sat up slowly, his vision adjusting. He wasn't in a chamber. He wasn't in some boss room filled with monsters. He was standing in the middle of a massive cavern. The ceiling stretched so high that his eyes could barely make it out in the dim glow of faintly lit crystals embedded in the walls.
But what caught his attention wasn't the cavern itself.
There were houses here.
Rows of them, built from stone, standing silently as though they had been abandoned centuries ago. A well in the middle of a plaza. Broken carts. Empty stalls.
It looked like a village. A village that once had people.
But now, it was empty.
Oliver forced his tired legs forward. His footsteps echoed unnaturally loud against the stone ground. Each echo bounced off the cavern walls, reminding him how alone he was.
