Andrei’s POV
I watched Natalia disappear behind the tree. And the moment she did, the world dissolved around me.
The forest disappeared. The trees melted away. I was standing on a mountain. But it wasn’t made of rock or earth.
It was made of bodies.
Thousands. Hundreds of thousands. Piled so high they reached the sky. Limbs were tangled, mouths hung open in soundless screams of agony. Some were fresh, still bleeding. Others were rotted down to the bone. The smell was overwhelming. Rot. Decay. It was almost… sweet.
At the base of the mountain, a river of blood flowed. The surface bubbled and popped, and I could see things floating in it. Organs. Pieces of flesh. A child’s hand, fingers curled like it had tried to grab something one last time.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
The voice.
“No.”
