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The grassland rolled like a green sea under the morning sun, and for the first time in a long time, Sekhmet felt the world breathe normally.
No damp rot. No dead-tree bitterness. No purgatory stench that clung to skin like guilt.
Just wind, sunlight, and the distant sound of people arguing over absolutely everything.
Chatter Chatter!
Ahead, the city walls rose like a cliff carved by civilization. They were not simple stones. They were layered stone, reinforced with metals and runes that shimmered faintly in daylight like heat on a blade. Watchtowers jutted up at regular intervals, each crowned with banners that snapped in the wind.
Flap… flap…
Bat Bat circled overhead and made a sound that was half squeak, half victory trumpet.
"Wall big," it declared.
