(( Minutes Before Victor Jumped In ))
The world beyond the red circle was nothing like Earth and yet it was...
The sky burned like a wound that refused to close, painted in shades of molten crimson and dull orange. Great rivers of heat swirled within the clouds, making it appear as though the heavens themselves were bleeding.
Craggy mountains clawed out of the ground like broken teeth, with their zigzagged ridges glowing faintly with lines of molten fire that pulsed with a steady rhythm, as if the land itself was alive.
Volcanic ash fell like dark snow, settling upon a blackened earth where no grass dared grow.
The air carried an acrid and metallic stench that stung the lungs with every breath. This was not a place where nature thrived. It was a graveyard of fire and stone, reshaped to suit its new masters.
And at the heart of this fiery wasteland stood a fortress unlike anything Earth could ever produce.
