Ash stood upon the ridge, the wind curling gently around him. Behind him stretched the Lushwood Expanse- a living canvas of greens and golds, where the morning dew clung to leaves and birdsong still dared to exist.
Sunlight pierced through the high canopy, casting warm dapples across moss-covered stone and ancient roots.
The land here was alive and thriving.
But ahead everything changed.
It began slowly- so subtle that it could almost be missed. The vibrant greens faded to a sickly gray, and the golden light was swallowed by a deepening gloom. Vines that once wound gracefully now twisted in knots, pulsing like veins clogged with shadow. Trees, once proud and tall, became hunchbacked and warped, their bark split open like blistered skin.
The scent shifted too.
The ridge marked a boundary.
A fracture between two biomes.
'It's like the land has been drained of its colour and life,' Ash mused.
He then made his way down the ridge and the world changed.
