What was once a mighty river… wide enough to be called a small lake in places… had been reduced to a pathetic, sluggish thread of brown muck snaking through the cracked earth.
The ancient riverbanks, which should have been lush and fertile, were now barren and exposed.
Giant, bleached ribs of long-dead river monsters jutted out of the dry ground like the skeletal remains of fallen titans.
Dried-up shells of enormous water snails and the fossilized remains of ancient aquatic beasts lay scattered across the wasteland like forgotten graves.
Without the river's life-giving water, the surrounding environment had entirely collapsed.
