The man sat on the ground in heavy silence, in the middle of a vast stretch of red soil.
The land was dry, slightly cracked, its color leaning toward crimson…
As if it had drunk ancient blood and had not yet forgotten its taste.
There were no crops.
No wheat stalks, no trees, not even wild grass.
Only naked earth… stretching around him until the horizon swallowed it.
He extended his legs slightly, planted his palms behind him into the rough soil, then slowly lifted his head toward the sky.
The silence was not real.
From far away…
The sounds of battles echoed.
Dull booms…
Distant metallic collisions…
Cries that shattered against the wind and vanished.
Battles were taking place in scattered locations beyond the borders of this farmland, yet close enough for him to feel them… like an irregular pulse shaking the world.
And yet… he did not move.
He only listened.
In the sky, the scene was even stranger.
There appeared enormous objects there…
