Chapter 68 - The second Sin.

The tundra, once an unbroken stretch of white and silver, had been reduced to a scorched wasteland. Blackened husks of trees stood like skeletal remains, their limbs twisted and broken. The ground, once frozen solid, now steamed in places where embers still smoldered, the heat having melted through layers of permafrost. Ash rained gently, carried by the shifting winds, settling over the charred landscape like the remnants of a forgotten battle. The air was thick with the acrid scent of burnt chitin and seared vegetation, a stark contrast to the once-crisp, frigid purity of the tundra. The silence that followed was heavier than any sound—a void left in the absence of skittering legs and whispered death.