North of the Northern Territory, more than a thousand years ago, numerous city-states and ancient kingdoms were scattered across the land.
It had once given birth to the splendid civilization of the Western Regions.
Unfortunately, as time passed and the climate changed, vast stretches of fertile soil gradually shrank under the erosion of wind and sand.
First, they became oases scattered like stars across a chessboard. Then the oases began to shrink and disappear as well, until only a few scattered fragments remained, dotting the great desert and providing passing creatures with a little fragile shelter.
However.
Although the ancient civilization had faded away, some cultural customs had taken root in the blood of the people of the Northern Territory, passed down continuously over hundreds and thousands of years.
For example.
People from north of the Northern Territory never went out during sandstorms.
It was said that three hundred years ago, a huge caravan had encountered a sandstorm while traveling. More than a hundred people had mysteriously vanished amid the winds and sand that blotted out the sky and sun.
It was not until more than fifty years later, when this desert revealed the ruins of a buried village for some reason, that—
Someone discovered the missing caravan members in that village.
They had already become dried corpses.
But what was strange was that these people did not look as though they had died after being buried by wind and sand. Some were sitting in the ruins of houses, their postures making them look as though they had been eating.
Others were lying beside their goods, as if sleeping soundly.
Still others were squatting on the ground with their knees bent, clearly using the toilet. Dried excrement had even been found beneath them.
All these details—
Added a mysterious air