The farther they walked—
The worse it became.
At first they only saw damaged buildings.
Collapsed towers.
Broken roads.
Burning homes.
Things that could be rebuilt.
Things that could heal.
Then they reached the outer districts.
And realized the problem was much bigger than that.
Much bigger.
Alice stopped walking.
Raj nearly bumped into her.
"What happened?"
Alice pointed.
Neither Raj nor Taai spoke.
Because ahead of them—
The fields were dead.
Not burning.
Not damaged.
Dead.
Every stalk of grain had turned gray.
Every vegetable patch had withered.
Every fruit tree stood lifeless.
As if decades had passed in a single night.
Taai crouched down.
Picked up a leaf.
The moment he touched it—
The leaf crumbled into dust.
Nobody said anything.
The silence felt heavy.
Uncomfortable.
Wrong.
A farmer sat nearby.
Staring at his field.
His expression empty.
Completely empty.
The man wasn't crying.
Wasn't shouting.
Wasn't angry.
He simply stared.
Like his mind couldn't process what happened.
Alice looked away first.
Then continued walking.
The others followed.
The road gradually became crowded.
People.
Hundreds of them.
Then thousands.
Entire families.