After parting ways with his fellow villagers, Tristan joined Ren and Zammar on a quest to reach The Blacklands before the Und’kal. On their journey, Ren learned that she descended from the ancient line of Torstian kings, and with the reinstatement of the monarchy, was the fallen city’s new Queen. Meanwhile, Tristan befriended an Und named Aythyl. The alien mind shared with him, allowing him to live the lives of several Und’kal.
After crossing the ruins of Kampalla, they arrived in Candahar just before the Und’kal swarm. Ren decided that she would stay and fight with the city. Zammar and Tristan joined her, the latter promising her that he would not hesitate in killing the aliens.
As the battle raged, the Candaharran army was overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Und’kal. After a deadly battle between Zammar and a Kal Prime, the city walls were broken. Still on their top, Ren was unable to escape the destruction.
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She was walking through a familiar garden. Songbirds chirped happily in the trees that bordered the paved path beneath her feet, their melodies blending with the calming trickle of stream water. The wind blew gently, a refreshing breeze that rustled her hair. The sun was high in the cloudless sky, casting warming rays of light and reflecting in golden textures off of leaves and grass.
Sitting in the shade of the tall mountain they were built into, the multitude of holy buildings that comprised the top level of Torst rose above her. Colourful mosaics decorated the windows of towering cathedrals. Tall, elegant spires protruded from their base to end in extravagant designs. Large domes capped flat roofed buildings. Golden spires stuck out from the apex of the domes, identical but longer than the ones that comprised the top of each minaret. Several temples and shrines could be made out behind the buildings at the front, their roofs more edged, but tapering along shallow curves. Everything was made of the whitest stone, so bright that it was almost blinding in the strong sunlight.
The collection of holy buildings created a single place of sanctuary for all the world's religions. Together, they circled the biggest structure at the center of the level: The Golden Sanctuary - House of A'rah. This was where the native Torstian religion was practiced, a place she had gone many times to pray.
The wind changed direction, wafting a familiar scent of flowers her way. She walked on, taking the first turn the path offered in that direction.
The bright sky began to redden. She quickened her pace, instinct telling her to hurry. The new road seemed to stretch forever, disappearing into the curving horizon. A strange haze started to permeate the air, hiding the purity of the city in brown silhouettes. Her surroundings began to take on the crimson colouring of the sky; the leaves on the trees transforming to the crimson shades of autumn. Only the path ahead of her retained its greenery.
Enormous balls of fire streaked across the red sky. Their orange contrails blazed through a curve as their trajectory guided them to the ground. She took a quick glance behind her. The garden was alight, the flames devouring grass and tree alike. In the horizon, the burning ground cracked and ripped itself apart. The chunks began to fall into a deep and endless abyss. She turned back fearfully and ran.
Destruction followed in her wake. The green trees changed to orange as she ran by, and burned behind her before falling into nothing. She sprinted as hard as she could, her sides splitting with the effort. Ahead, the path opened into a clearing that was hidden behind a bright sun glare - the last piece of sky spared from fiery wrath. She concentrated on the aroma of flowers emanating from within as it gradually overpowered the smoke of fire.
She stumbled into the grassy clearing awkwardly, just as the last of the path fell away behind her.
There was a beautiful flowerbed in the circular meadow, and nothing else. The rest of the world had disappeared, lost to the abyss above which this one safe island floated.
Her breath came fast, but easily; the air here was pure. She walked towards the colourful flowerbed, her eyes fixated on the two figures that stood facing away from her.
A tall, burly man with graying hair had his arm wrapped protectively around the waist of a slight woman that wore a shawl around her head.
She took a cautious step forward, feeling the spongy softness of the grass beneath her feet. "Mom, dad?" She called to the two figures.
Slowly, the two began to turn towards her, and the meadow started disappearing as they did. The edges of the clearing simply ceased to be, dissolving into small black flakes that fluttered away to join the abyss below.
Her heart rate sped up again as she ran towards her mother and father. Their bodies began to vanish in a similar fashion, their feet slowly turning into nothing. It started to spread up their legs, leaving pillars floating in the air.
"No! Don't go! Please!" She cried desperately.
Finally, the figures completed their turn to look at her. Nothing remained of her mother beneath her torso, but she gazed at her daughter with beautiful green eyes. Tender love and affection brimmed out of them.
She reached her mother a moment before the figure vanished. Her arms swung through the once occupied air. She fell to her knees, crying.
Looking up, she met her father's gaze through glassy eyes. Only his head remained, and he looked at her with expectation, disappointment.
"Don't..." She whispered, "please...don't leave me." But then he was gone. Everything was gone, and she was falling into the darkness, alone.
