A gargantuan wall of wood surrounded a small oasis within the desert. This was not a natural oasis, as there were none so close to Durthangrim's gates. It was manufactured, though no less beautiful. Bountiful plants, from food crops to flowers to even weeds, permeated the space.

A large, bulbous tree grew from a pond in the center, its trunk hollowed out and made into livable space where people shuffled this way and that.

The wall surrounding the oasis matched the bark pattern of the tree within, and it wrapped around itself in a tangled spiral. Thorns slick with some sort of oil jutted threateningly from the exterior wall, and atop it stood a garrison of adventurers armed with bows and magic.

They rained arrows, bolts, fire, and whatever other projectiles they could muster down on a horde of crawlers as they attempted to climb the walls. They seemed to be in some fit of rage, as they ignored the demise of their brethren, even using their impaled bodies to climb up further.

Ravina stood at the front of a company, shouting orders and gesturing for focused fire. She stood strong and proud, but one need not know her well to recognize the dark circles around her eyes and sunken cheeks.

She was exhausted.

Maintaining the oasis garrison was all she could manage for now hoping that reinforcements would eventually arrive, and they could—together—move into the city. Right now all they were doing was preventing the crawlers from spreading their wrath further into the world unchecked.

Their posture was defensive, but the crawlers were endless. They never ceased, neither the intense desert sun nor the shockingly cold nights discouraging them. This meant that the adventurers were on a perpetual four-cycle rotation of five hours on, fifteen off.

That schedule might sound generous, but these were five hours of constant battle and strife. The crawlers were unceasing and relentless, and even after five hours of fighting, rest was difficult. The oasis was not large. Everyone within could hear the sounds of battle, and every single person worried for the friends up on the wall.

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Sleep had become a luxury that not many could afford.

Still, they held on, both due to their concern for their home—Durthangrim being where most were from—and due to Ravina's leadership. She had come a long way since leaving this city over a year ago. Gone was the confrontational and standoffish leader that caused fracturings within her ranks.

The Ravina now commanding the wall was a seasoned general whose troops respected her. They had been through hell together, and there was no amount of suffering they wouldn't endure as long as she led them.

While the situation was slowly deteriorating, it was stable for the moment. Yet the adventurers all knew it couldn't last. The more tired and worn down they became, the greater the opportunity for mistakes—and one single mistake could be deadly.

Each death would chip away at their numbers and their morale until, eventually, the entire defense collapsed.

Something had to change—soon.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. The adventurers atop the wall braced, some toppling over in the earthquake. So intense was the vibration that several crawlers even fell from the wall they were climbing, dislodged by the shaking when even the oil-slicked thorns hadn't managed it.

A searing lance of white energy burst from the ground several journeys away and shot into the sky. Ravina and the adventurers stood silent, watching in shock as the ground around the energy beam melted away. Despite the rumbling and chaos, the air was still—quiet—as all instinctively recognized where the beam originated.

Durthangrim.

What had happened to the city? Did that beam signal its destruction?

The beam continued into the sky—and even beyond it—stabbing all the way across the vast, black expanse before piercing one of the pinpricks of light at the very edge of the universe.

The star exploded, releasing a wave of energy outward in all directions. Fortunately, the wave thinned as it traveled, but the beam shifted, moving toward another star.

Far away, beyond even the stars in the sky, the razor-thin soap bubble containing everything—separating it from the endless, ravenous nothing of the Abyss—shuddered.

And then it cracked.

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