204

Gregor awoke to a world of fire and smoke. The ground beneath him was hot, the air thick with ash and the smell of burning flesh.

He groaned as he pushed himself to his feet, his body aching from the strain of the previous battles. But as he looked around, he realized that he was alone.

“Carson? William?” he called out, but his voice was swallowed by the roar of the flames that surrounded him.

He was standing in the middle of a volcanic wasteland, the ground cracked and scorched, with rivers of molten lava flowing through the fissures.

The sky above was a dark, stormy gray, with ash and embers swirling in the air like a deadly blizzard.

In the distance, he could see massive volcanic peaks, their slopes glowing with the intense heat of the lava flows.

There was no sign of his comrades, no trace of the others who had fought by his side.

Gregor clenched his fists, his mind racing as he tried to make sense of the situation. “Where am I? What is this place?”

But there was no time for a