Zohar

She had heard that it came about in stages. The end of the world. The world had already been intent on tearing itself apart, what with the continued use of fossil fuels and the disbelief of climate change. Poor governments and economic decisions. Wars and civil wars and injustices in bounds. That was when the pandemic came and tensions grew more taut. After that it was the natural disasters. The tsunamis and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions were vicious and unforgiving and never ending, it seemed. That was finally the beginning of the end. Then the monsters came, killing off any that they fancied in the years that followed. Very few survived. Most, if not all that were left, while being untrusting and scared, began banding together. The hope being that there was strength in numbers. But morals were no longer as black and white as they used to be. And the world as a whole, the people and the land itself, had become completely unrecognisable compared to what once was.

Sabia had been built upon the horrible crimes, cunning and rare resources of its past. It was among the most bleak countries in its corner of the world. There were no opposing groups against the current leadership, but that was only a recent development. The state's most pressing threat was the new reapers, but the current leadership was willing to sacrifice a lot to solve this issue.

After the last set of storms brought more reapers with them, Java, the most current, heinous, self proclaimed leader of Sabia, had decided to send Larissa out from behind the stats walls and into the clutches of the beastly creatures, as if that would prevent them from attacking the stronghold that the people had crudely constructed fo some level of protection against the elements and the horror outside of its defences.

With a lot of luck and the reaper's attention focused solely on the stronghold and not the lone figure lurking in the shadows, Larissa managed to slip past the main body of the gathered horde. The gentle road that led to Garigill was torn to pieces by the elements. Grass filled the labyrinth of cracks and sand covered whatever was left. The occasional reaper could be heard rustling in the tall grasses of the unkempt gardens or the wild overgrown bushes. Abandoned buildings and homes of old lined her way. Some doors were shut tightly, others were broken down. Some forcefully, others had simply seemed to have collapsed under their own weight as the elements continued to eat away at them. There were signs of fires. In some cases it was merely a trail of soot and smoke above a window pane, in others it was a pile of ash where once a building stood. Garigill, once, if not exactly rich, had still housed life, hopes, dreams and aspirations, now it had become nothing more than a painful memory with the most recent influx of monsters, the place abandoned once again. An eerie silence had taken over and was only interrupted by the cracking of wood in the wind and the occasional bird who had made its home in one of the many collapsed roofs.

The Zohar Pass was an isolated place, far from what was left of civilisation and the prying eyes of them. The result of a near spontaneous change in the landscape. The mountains appeared and formed over the course of just a few weeks. Now they were giant monoliths overlooking the state of Sabia. It was a treacherous journey for one to embark on, one only braved and attempted by the most desperate and hopeful of souls. The refuge of the Zohar pass was hard fought for. Larissa looked out at the distant mountains through the broken glass window of the vacant shed in which she was currently holed up in. She needed to get there. No matter what it took, she would get there.

A buzzing and rustling sounded through the thin wooden walls making Larissa startle with fright. Her heart thundered anxiously and her hands began to shake. She crouched low and ready and held the position until she was sure that she was once again alone. She felt a stray tear sweep down her dirty cheek as her emotions started to overwhelm her. After a few deep breaths, Larissa tentatively opened the shed door a smidge, to peek outside. What she saw confused her.

It was a box. A small wooden box, intricately carved with images too small to discern from her vantage. Larissa observed her surroundings for a few beats longer before reaching out for the mysterious box. As her fingers made contact with it, a jolt of shock ran up her arm and she snatched it back quickly. Before her now stood a shimmering, colourful distortion.

Larissa strode forward through the eerie portal. Immediately, she was met by an ominous world. The air stung her eyes and skin and she coughed as each breath burned her lungs. Uncertainty surrounded her, not the thrilling uncertainty of exploration, but rather the dreadful fear with which she had become so accustomed to in recent times. Even with these rough conditions she did not feel as though she was in danger. This world, undeniably hostile, but even so Larissa still fancied her chances better in this world than the one she had just left. Far off to the right she could hear songs and shrieks of creatures she had never seen before. While they appeared to be docile and safe, she kept her distance and an eye on them. There were traces of fluffy creatures, feathered creatures, and what she thought might be slithering creatures of some sort.

Larissa rounded the huge trunk of an ancient looking tree and stopped short. Two narrow eyes watched their surroundings from their large sockets and a round nose rested below. However, it was the average mouth below that took all the attention. A brittle smile revealing two pointy canines and a large tongue. Narrow squared ears sat on each side of its small, narrow head, which itself was covered in coarse silvery hair. Its low lean body was hunched over with two broad arms dangling at its sides ending in small hands and long fingers, each with pointy nails. Its legs were broad and stood straight. Its body was covered in short fur and its shoulders were narrower than its pelvis, from which a short tail swayed back and forth.

“Welcome.” Its voice sounded odd and grinding, as though it struggled to form the word. Larissa stood frozen, unsure on how to proceed. She felt no imminent threat from the being before her, but to be blindly trusting was not in her nature, especially given recent events. It struggled for a few moments to form more words, but Larissa eventually understood what it communicated. It said “Welcome to Zohar.”