The sound of construction echoed more insistently as the midday sun hammered against the corrugated sheets. Since the County of Pilaf had claimed the area, work on the base had begun—but it dragged on, lacking labor.
A dangerous delay. Because the longer the base took to build, the more exposed it was to potential attacks from the County of Martissant. So, despite the crushing heat, workers kept raising walls and laying foundations at a frantic pace. The base had to be up and running at all costs. The threat didn't come only from Martissant.
The central territory, the one everyone coveted, was larger than the two counties combined. But it wasn't empty. It teemed with creatures, beasts that had sculpted the land in their image over time. Building here meant erecting an outpost—a bulwark not just against human foes but against the environment itself.
Among the figures pounding concrete, hoisting beams, and following orders without question, there was a boy.
