CHAPTER TEN
An acrid smell filled Aramis’s nostrils. He coughed involuntarily, trying not to breathe through his nose. Everything around him seemed to ripple, as though he were looking at a mirage from far away. It made his eyes water if he stared in one spot for too long. And everything was gray. Not that there was much to see. A barren landscape stretched endlessly before him in all directions.
There was no plant life, no trees, nothing. He thought the ground was dirt until he knelt down and grabbed a handful of it. It was a thick powdery substance. He brushed it off on his pant leg. He looked up and surveyed what he assumed was the sky. It was hard to tell the ground from the sky, for each one was the same dull gray color. Aramis didn’t see any of the creatures. He found that odd, as
