Akeo, you awake in the middle of the night as you descend the stairs of Saturn's Tavern.

Your brain is on autopilot as you move methodically past the empty tables

and out the front door. Through the dark and empty corridors you weave in and out of side streets

until you are exiting the stone gate, making your way to the stables where your horse and carriage is boarded.

After releasing the horse, you position yourself atop the seat and make your way down the

main road, heading east out of town.

The road is shrouded in the cover of darkness, but you navigate the path as if you've ridden it a hundred times.

You ride for hours and hours until the moon overhead has been replaced with the bright burning sun, and longer still until the cycle is repeated itself.

Only stopping to rest your horse, you travel across the road. longer still until the cycle is repeated itself.

Only stopping to rest your horse, you travel across the paved road to the east

and then break north on a smaller, less used trail.

Something in your brain compels you to ride.

You hear whispers of a man's voice in the deepest recesses of your brain, issuing orders as you go.

On the afternoon of the second day of travel, you look out around you only to see a barren landscape

littered with dead or dying trees, and the dirt and soil of the earth slowly being replaced with

sand and dust. The air is dry and sharp, cutting through the layers of clothing, reminding you that you didn't bring enough food or water for an extended journey.

You quickly pushed the thought from your mind and the pace quickens.

Subconsciously, you know you were close to your destination.

Soon you pass a sign on the road that says,

Trail ends in five miles, turn back now.

The farmhouses in Shaxet once dotted the horizon have been replaced with hollow shells

of former domiciles.

...