The valley had fallen silent, but it was not the silence of peace.
Dust still hung in the air, suspended in pale, choking veils that caught in their throats and stung their eyes. It coated their skin, their hair, the inside of their mouths, until every breath felt like swallowing ash. The stillness pressed upon them like a weight, as though the valley itself did not want them to leave, as though it wished to bury them here, among the broken remains of constructs, beneath the shattered terraces, one more offering to its endless grave.
