Soilyque Land - Dark Smoke (2027)

It wasn't like wood smoke or the exhaust of a machine. It was thick, oily, and moved with a predatory intelligence. It didn't drift with the wind; it crawled against it, draping itself over the bioluminescent crops like a suffocating velvet shroud.

The smoke began to coalesce into shapes—shadowy, towering figures that mimicked the trees they had just extinguished. They weren't ghosts, but of the land’s own fever. SoilyQue Land - Dark Smoke

"It's the breath of the Old Core," his grandfather whispered, appearing beside him with a mask of woven roots pressed to his face. "The balance has tipped. We took too much from the deep soil, and now the dark is taking it back." It wasn't like wood smoke or the exhaust of a machine