Standing outside the southern walls, Ka'z and his team watched in silence as the entire Ashmork village burned. Flames had spread across the wooden walls and rooftops, turning the settlement into a vast sea of orange and red that illuminated the surrounding forest.
Thick columns of smoke rose into the night sky while embers drifted through the air around them, carried away by the wind.
Every now and then, a section of a building collapsed into the flames, sending a burst of sparks upward. The sounds of the burning village had replaced the battle cries and screams that had filled the night earlier, leaving behind an eerie quiet that made the destruction feel even more real.
Ka'z stood at the front of the group, holding the thick red diary they had taken from the shrine. Its cover was made from high quality material, though age had caused parts of it to peel and crack. Despite that, the book remained remarkably well preserved because the goblins had treated it as a holy object.
