We abandoned our transport vehicle at the outer edge of the true Ashen Territories, where the Deepdark saturation became too intense for mechanical systems to function reliably. From this point forward, we would be traveling on foot through terrain that had been fundamentally transformed by centuries of concentrated necromantic energy.
The landscape around us was both beautiful and unsettling in equal measure. Crystalline formations jutted from the ground like dark jewels, their surfaces pulsing with inner light that seemed to absorb rather than reflect the dim ambient illumination. Twisted trees with metallic bark reached toward the perpetually overcast sky, their branches bearing leaves that shimmered with colors that had no names in normal spectrum.
'This isn't just magical saturation,' I realized as we began our trek deeper into the territory. 'The Deepdark energy has been here so long that it's fundamentally altered the physical properties of everything in the region.'
