The morning sun had barely risen over the border town of Clear-Brook when a cold, rotten wind blew in from the east.
It was the middle of summer, yet the grass along the roadside suddenly turned white with frost. On top of the newly built brick watchtower at the eastern gate of Clear-Brook, three border scouts shivered and pulled their wool coats tight around their necks.
“Why did it get so cold all of a sudden?” Scout Captain Lin rubbed his arms and breathed out a puff of white mist. “Did someone leave the ice-storage warehouse doors open?”
“Captain! Look up at the clouds!” the youngest scout yelled. His voice cracked with fear, and the brass spyglass slipped right out of his shaking fingers.
Captain Lin caught the spyglass before it hit the brick floor and raised it to his eye. The moment he focused the glass lens on the eastern sky, the blood drained from his face.
Half a mile up in the air, a dark green cloud was rolling toward Clear-Brook against the wind. No birds flew near it. In fact, a flock of wild geese that accidentally crossed the edge of the green cloud stiffened in mid-air and dropped straight to the ground like stones.
