The sun bled crimson on the horizon, its dying rays casting an eerie, blood-like glow across the desecrated ground. Beneath this apocalyptic sky, a horrifying truth lay sprawled before Ashton, a truth that threatened to crack his very foundation. Every fiber of his being screamed with a primal fury that threatened to consume him. His face, usually radiating, had curdled into a mask of chilling horror, the healthy flush replaced with a deathly pallor. Shards of broken stone, like the remnants of his shattered peace, littered his trembling feet.
Beads of sweat, icy despite the heat of his rage, erupted on his brow, each one a testament to the silent war raging within.
The worst imaginable torment wasn't physical; it was the violation of what he held most sacred. To defile the memory of hi
