The world was drowned in cloud and moonlight.
The moon was deep blood-red, hung low above an ocean of dark mist. The air was ash-thick, swallowing the jagged peaks that rose like broken fangs around a lone fortress, veiled and half-hidden within the swirl of churning black clouds, like a shadow carved from hell itself. Its towers were slick with shadow, their edges lit by a dull, hellish glow. Lanterns were cut into the ribs of the dark, their lamps guttering to a stubborn glow that would not be called flame. The wind howled through fractured stone and iron spires, yet inside, the silence pressed like a weight.
