"The cataclysm." Keeper's voice was heavy. "When the world broke and reformed, when the dungeons appeared and monsters rose from the depths—chaos consumed everything. Communities scattered. Cities fell. The masterworks were lost, scattered, buried."
He walked to the curtain and looked out at the settlement beyond, though Marron wasn't sure he could actually see through the mask.
"And then the adventurers came. The guild system formed. Dungeons became... resources. Places to farm for treasure and experience. And when adventurers found these tools in ancient ruins or buried chambers—these masterworks that had once been used to feed families and build communities—they didn't understand what they'd found."
Keeper turned back, and there was something almost like anger in his posture now.
