The portal spit them out into a massive graveyard.
Nathan took a breath, and it hurt his lungs. The air was freezing and incredibly thin, like the atmosphere itself had died a long time ago. He was standing on cracked, grey stone. In every direction, the ruins of a completely destroyed city stretched out into the dark. Towers were snapped in half. Huge stone walls were crushed into gravel. The streets were buried deep under thick layers of grey ash and old bone.
He looked up. The sky wasn't cloudy, and it wasn't just night. It was pure, pitch black. It was a total absence of light that actually made his eyes ache to look at.
The rest of the team flashed into the World right beside him. Garrett had Volcan gripped tight in both hands. Dillon's katana sparked, and Cloudy hissed nervously around his neck. Elise held Aurora's Heart high, its blue crystal pushing back the gloom. Smithy stood low to the ground, his Void Eel swimming through the ash at his boots.
