A’arilon Ray looked around for signs of life, but there were none. The lonely howl of the wind ripped down the barren hillside. It caught his long, dark, green-tinged hair, whipping it about as he made his way to the top.

Few details ever changed in the rote, familiar ascent. The same bleak landscape rolled out before him. Black sky. Gray, muddy earth. The long incline that ended at the maw of an abyss. He slipped on the wet ground and made slow progress but, ahead, stood the man he cam. . .