Abasdarhon's Castle

North.

Approaching Aksot, an elf and a demon stumbled upon what had been a battlefield just yesterday. Corpses of soldiers from Lafir and Tsutar lay everywhere. The soldiers of Tsutar wore strange collars around their necks. Among the dead, warriors from some of the republic's legions were occasionally seen. As they advanced, the number of dead increased, and eventually they were replaced by skeletons. It seemed as if their skin, muscles, and other organs had disappeared in an instant, leaving only bones. At the same time, their clothes, armor, and weapons were intact. Tarleon and Belerot also noticed that here and there, on the ground, lay black, shiny spheres in the sun, about the size of an adult's fist. Almost reaching the city, they saw a destroyed camp and a large black sphere, about 2 meters in diameter. Next to it lay the skeleton of a huge griffin, and a man in a wizard's robe stood nearby.

Not far from him, skeleton workers were bustling about, loading the remains of fallen warriors onto a cart. And there was more than one such cart.