They'd been walking for about three hours when Serian stopped.
The sun was high overhead, burning through the strange purple-tinged haze that had become the new normal since the merge. Sweat dripped down Nox's back, his shirt sticking to his skin despite the cool breeze that occasionally drifted through the ruined city streets.
The road they'd been following was barely recognizable as a road anymore. Cracked asphalt mixed with stretches of cobblestone that definitely hadn't been there a week ago, medieval paving stones just appearing in the middle of a modern highway like reality couldn't decide which world it wanted to be. Trees grew through buildings, their roots massive and twisted, tearing up foundations with alien strength. Branches reached through broken windows. Reality had been stitched together wrong and the seams showed everywhere.
Nox almost ran into Serian when she stopped abruptly, caught himself at the last second.
