They left the next morning. Seong, the queen, Kalib, Kaien, Al, Elara, and Varen. Seven travelers, setting out on a new road, toward a new danger.
The journey took five days. The land changed as they traveled south. The green fields turned to golden plains. The golden plains turned to rocky hills. The rocky hills turned to sandy shores.
On the fifth day, they saw the ocean. And on the shore, they saw Velos.
Or what remained of it.
The city was gray. Not gray like stone, but gray like absence. Like color had been drained from everything. Like sound had been swallowed. Like memory had been erased.
"This is worse than I imagined," whispered Elara.
They walked through the empty streets. There were people, but the people were like ghosts. They moved slowly, silently, their eyes empty, their faces blank. They did not speak. They did not react. They simply... existed.
"What happened to them?" asked Kaien.
"I do not know," said Varen. "But I have felt something like this before. A long time ago. Before the roads. Before the cold."
"Tell us," said Seong.
Varen was silent for a moment. Then, "There was a creature. A being of pure emptiness. It did not feed on fear or pain. It fed on existence itself. It would erase everything it touched. Not kill. Not destroy. Simply... unmake."
"Where is it now?"
"I do not know. I thought it was gone. I thought it had been defeated. But perhaps... perhaps it was only sleeping."