Scorched Earth — Map |top|

The map was not drawn on paper or parchment. It was etched into the underside of a giant, slowly revolving tortoise shell, each scar a river of obsidian, each divot a crater of frozen ash. Kaelen, the last Geometer of the Ashen Covenant, traced his fingers over the grooves.

He was looking for a place that no longer existed: the Well of Tears. scorched earth map

The white glass shattered. A pillar of silent, white-hot flame erupted from the Well, not destroying, but completing . It consumed Kaelen's shadow first, then his flesh, then the tortoise shell map. And in the last nanosecond before his eyes turned to vapor, he saw the truth: The map was not drawn on paper or parchment

The map on the tortoise shell was a record of loss. Each line represented a scorched quadrant. Ninety-three percent of the known world was now labeled Exanimis Terra —Dead Land. He was looking for a place that no