As Asher slid the helmet onto his head, a strange pulse reverberated through his body, like the shifting of unseen tides, warping the very nature of the world around him. The moment the helm settled, reality twisted.
The air grew heavy. The fog that had once cloaked the hilltop was swept away by a sudden, unnatural gust, a wind that didn't howl, but whispered like the breath of an ancient one. The sky above dimmed, darkened, as if day had been strangled by the night.
Then it happened.
Crack!
The sky splintered, fractured like a mirror struck with a hammer. With a deafening roar, the shards did not fall… they rose, shooting upwards as though gravity itself had been reversed. Beyond the broken sky, something immense and terrifying revealed itself.
An inverted volcano.
