[POV: Ruvan]
The first few weeks after waking were tolerable.
Ruvan remained in the shadows despite his desire to reclaim power and influence. He stole supplies from forgotten outposts and hunted the few pieces of small prey unfortunate enough to run into him in the deserted wilds.
…But as he spent each day retracing what used to be his kingdom, he realized how little 'kingdom' was left at all.
He visited four villages and towns on the path to his Citadel… or what was left of them, anyway. They had been reduced to echoes of what they used to be.
Four locations had become hollowed-out shells of what once bent knee to him. All were devoured by snow and buried in silence. There was no scent of kin, no sign of life. Just empty windows and howling wind through collapsed roofs, and torn remnants of his kingdom's banners rotting in ice.
