The city was still.
Quiet.
Abandoned.
Nothing alive remained, exactly as it had been since the day of its founding. Ancient architecture persisted in immaculate condition, untouched by time. Vacant archways stood watch over empty sandstone lanes. No sounds of merchants selling their wares echoed in the town square. Homes were void of laughter and warmth. No children ran through the streets playing games. Plants turned dormant in their pots, frozen in the emptiness. Wind no longer passed through in search of trouble to cause. Suspended in time, the city held its breath.
Dead.
Forsaken.
Forgotten.
Loneliness lived here, surrounded by walls of lost potential and broken oaths. An echo of shattered dreams remembered only by the pale moonlight. It was fitting the only inhabitant was now a ghost of a memory.
For too many years, the spectral shade haunted abandoned pathways predating her occupation. Under a full moon, cloaked in white, she appeared without fail, forever wandering in deafening silence. Waiting.
Wind tousled her ethereal hair, warning of the prowling pair of shadow wolves hunting for non-existent intruders.
How much longer would this forlorn existence remain?
Fate smiled.
A hushed murmur reverberated like a shock wave through the barren landscape. Wind rushed through every corner, an invisible messenger stirring life into the foundations once more. In response, the city inhaled, feeling alive for the first time since its creation. Long sleeping vines opened their buds, joining the ghostly figure’s gaze toward the source of the sound.
“So it begins.”