• Location: The final 60 km stretch of the Trade Route toward Firetown (Ralar Section)
• Type: Travel · Transition · Optional Interaction
• Era: Beta Age
• Tone: Anticipation · Reflection · Fading Cold

Atmosphere & Sensory Cues: Rhythmic rattle of wheels · hoos breath clouding in the cold · dull thud of snow against cart plating · faint orange shimmer on the horizon growing hour by hour

The storm fades into silence as the convoy pushes east. Hour after hour, snow drifts past the windows like falling ash. Inside the cabin, warmth from the small ethanol heater hums through the vents, and exhaustion wraps around everyone like a blanket.

Beyond the frosted glass, the horizon glows faintly — a smear of orange and gold flickering in the distance. Firetown. The Burning Wall. You’re getting close.

If the passenger cart survived the raid, all travelers — Mira Reis, Hiram Quill, the six laborers — are aboard again. Those who began on mounts and lost them now sit beside Joren Kett in the driver’s cabin — an enclosed, insulated compartment with a bio-ethanol heated seat, sealed windshield, and mechanical wipers fighting the frost.

For the next ten hours, the Trade Route stretches on — white, silent, endless. Nothing unexpected happens, yet something about the journey feels heavy, like the world is holding its breath before the next turn.