Thoren descended from the Abyss tunnel and landed on dark ground.
His boots struck the surface with a soft thud, and immediately he felt the wrongness of this place.
The ground beneath him was not soil.
It was not stone.
It was something else entirely, a brittle, gray-black crust that crunched under his weight like frozen ash.
When he looked down, he saw fine particles drifting upward with every step he took, as though the earth itself was slowly dissolving into the air.
He raised his head and he saw it.
"This…" His jaw dropped.
The sky was gone.
In its place was an endless expanse of black and dark-gray ash clouds. They churned overhead in enormous circular patterns, layer upon layer.
They were so thick that no trace of sun or moon or star could penetrate.
There was no light.
There was no glow.
There was only the oppressive weight of darkness pressing down from above.
