{PRESENTLY}
Ariel stepped onto the streets of Valeria—and immediately, she knew something was wrong.
The air was heavy, thick with the scent of rot and sickness. The sky, once bright and endless, now hung gray and lifeless, casting long shadows over the city she had once called home.
This was no longer her home.
The streets were eerily silent, the air thick with something rotten, sickly, oppressive. Valeria had once smelled of life, of fresh bread, of blooming gardens. Now, the scent that met her was decay.
Her stomach twisted as she walked further into the city.
This wasn't the Valeria she remembered.
This was a graveyard.
and as she passed the market square, she realized—there was barely anything to sell.
Once-bustling stalls were either abandoned or held nothing but spoiled scraps.
Women sat behind their carts, their eyes dull, empty, their bodies frail.
Children sat huddled together, their stomachs bloated from hunger, their ribs visible through their torn clothes.
