Rotten land.&nbsp; She couldn’t remember how she got here; more than fifteen years had passed since she entered The Ring. The rotten air of this forsaken city had drowned her lungs long ago, the memory of fresh air seemed to be no more than an illusion. She spent ten minutes staring at her reflection, the mirror covered in grime and rust barely reflecting her face. It couldn’t show her large wrinkles nor the loose strands of hair that hung above her head, it was not capable of conceiving the bleak and empty image of her eyes. Her nose, thick and curved like a fat spiral, alongside her massive mouth exaggerated the hopelessness in her expression. She let out a sigh and wiped non-existent tears from her eyes as she put on an old hat, with her head down she joined her hands and muttered wishes disguised as prayer. She looked up, adjusted her hat and walked out of the room. She walked down a set of broken stones that pretended to be the steps of a stair, they always threatened to collapse, but she walked them unphased. Her daughter was laid next to the first steps of the stair, sleeping peacefully wrapped in sheets of old paper as if it were soft cloth. The woman barely managed to not wake her up, she looked at the little girl for a moment with a calm and sweet expression. She looked around at the cafe she had built, a sense of pride and despair flooded her heart every time she saw it. The cafe consisted of some tables made from rotting pinewood, these were surrounded by stools made from stones tied with rusty metal strings. The floor and walls are made from broken stone held together by a mix of trash and solid paste. The woman faced this scenario behind an oak bar that shone in the bleakness of the cafe. The roof was leaking like an open wound, with brownish water seeping through the stones, the smell was hideous, but she was already used to it. It was calm, an eerie quietness sang along the subtle sound of rain. The woman let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes, and then looked at the bar. She remembered the mercenary that came by a couple of days ago, “The Pharisee” she whispered to herself. She remembered every time someone mentioned that title, a ruthless monster, a merciless murderer, a killer without compassion, among many other descriptions of the man that sat in her café days ago. None of those titles resembled the man she met, though at the same time his hands and stance confirmed them all. She remembered the look on his eyes the most, they were the eyes of a man drowned in pain. In a bizarre way he reminded her of a man she once loved, a tear flowed from her eye, and she wiped it away immediately. Suddenly the earth shook and the sound of footsteps stepping on mud flooded the air, her child woke up confused, the woman went to her, and they hugged. The roof started to crumble down, letting broken stone and dry paste fall. The woman grabbed her child and rushed out of the cafe, barely dodging the falling debris. She crushed the rotten piece of wood that pretended to be a door, and as soon as she got out, the rain hit her with all its might. She collapsed and shielded her daughter with her body. She tried to look up but only managed to see a multitude of feet walking on the mud, they walked towards the center of the city, whispered prayers could be heard almost clearly. They were chanting in whispers, all in unison praying and marching. The woman struggled to get up while holding her child close to her chest, she turned around and saw how the building she once called home crumbled to the mud and trash that composed the ground. Her eyes couldn’t cry because they didn’t want to, her heart and mind agreed that this was a signal that things were going to be okay. Suddenly the streets were quiet, only the rain remained, everyone that was marching had vanished. The sky was of a rotten brown color with black clouds of evil, alternating in a macabre pattern of nonsense and terrifying images. The houses made of broken stone, trash and paste collapsed and mixed themselves with the mud. The dense mud that composed the ground had let the rubble mix itself with the corpses of inhabitants and critters alike. The rain struck the mud and rubble, mixing them further, letting out a smell so foul no words would ever be able to describe it. The woman stood with her child wrapped in her arms, she didn’t know what to do next but that gave her a sense of peacefulness. From a distance loud and deep screams could be heard along with the sound of thunder, the woman didn’t think and walked towards the sound. Soon the sound of chanting could be heard, they recited words that didn’t have order nor sense, but they always ended in one specific phrase “the obelisk is salvation, the politicians its translation”. The woman walked on the thick mud, struggling with every step of the way, as she got closer the storm raged with even more strength. She could see a multitude of shadowy figures kneeling around the great obelisk, in front of them there was the mercenary and another man grappling each other. Thunder struck the mercenary and his rival mercilessly, while steam emerged from both of their bodies. Their screams were fierce and strong but soon ceased, the rival fell to the ground and the mercenary stood victorious, yet his expression was of defeat. The mercenary’s appearance was completely different from what she remembered, his left arm, left eye and right leg were made of a rough and dark coal. His muscles made no sense at all, a being with such physique shouldn't be able to move yet he does. He dressed up and the woman rushed to him, the crowd chanted louder as a slim figure approached the mercenary. The woman screamed at the top of her lungs, calling out to the mercenary while holding her child for the mercenary to grab. The people soon raised their heads, many started tearing the slender figure apart and devouring its flesh. The people around her lacked eyes, with a tar like liquid flowing from their eyes, nose, mouth and ears. They clapped while the woman extended her arms and gave her kid to the mercenary, he managed to grab the child. As soon as he grabbed her child a cold and piercing feeling struck multiple parts of her body, she could hear the cries of her child as sharp cold appendages tore her apart. The obelisk slowly fell and parted the brown sky of The Ring, the sun shone over the rotten city after years of darkness. The woman smiled while admiring the beauty of the sky, she extended her hand towards the light as the darkness tore her to shreds. Her mind was clear, she let out a sigh while thinking of the outside, her body torn to pieces and her soul at peace. “What a beautiful sky” she thought.

Rotten land.

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Rotten land

Antariel

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Rotten land.

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Antares Ariel Ciarlo Zosi

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