The descent into Valkyria was a walk through the fossilized heartbreak of Arborea. Cold, thick air hung heavy with the scent of ancient dust, ozone, and the metallic tang of spilled divinity – the lingering aura of Hera's sundered grace. The petrified trees of the Ashen Fields yielded to colossal ruins of dark, volcanic stone: shattered archways like broken ribs, towers leaning like drunken sentinels, and vast plazas paved with hexagonal slabs worn smooth by millennia of vanished processions. This wasn't merely a city; it was a fortress-temple, a monument to the martial Castanic spirit that had once been the western shield of the Eternal Vale.

Written by: Valky Fischer • Narrated by: VREXIRA • Music by: Våldsam Zane

The land beyond the monoliths wasn't merely desolate; it was wounded, as though Arborea itself had gashed its own flesh and left it bleeding ash. The Island of Dawn gave way to the Ashen Fields, a vast expanse where the earth appeared bleached of life. Beneath the Wanderer's boots, brittle tufts of grey grass crunched like old bones, each step a reminder of what once thrived here. Around them, petrified trees clawed at the bruised sky, their branches frozen mid-scream, as though time had stilled in the throes of agony. The air was unnervingly still, carrying only the faint, acrid scent of ozone and decay. Above, light was no longer the product of a living sun, but a diffuse, melancholic glow that offered neither warmth nor comfort.

Written by: Valky Fischer • Narrated by: VREXIRA • Music by: Våldsam Zane

Silence wasn’t merely the absence of sound in the Grey Steppes; it was a tangible force. A thick, suffocating blanket pressing down on the cracked, ochre earth. No bird song pierced this void; no wind stirred. The air tasted of dust and forgotten time, as though the world itself exhaled only stagnant, ancient breath. Above, a bruised sky, perpetually twilight, offered no solace - only a cold reminder that the world here had once known greater light. And across this wasteland, only the monoliths broke the desolation.

Written by: Valky Fischer • Narrated by: VREXIRA • Music by: Våldsam Zane