On the morning when all seemed lost, the land fell silent. The ground broke apart, the air filled with putrid gas, and life itself seemed to rot. Trees crumbled to ash, animals lay down and died, and birds fell from the sky. As the kingdom braced for annihilation, Marie emerged from the depths of the castle. She was calm, her face glowing with serene understanding. The sounds that had haunted her now took form as words. She sang softly, an eerie yet beautiful lullaby, as if soothing a frightened child. Her song grew, reverberating across the land. A great thunder rolled, shaking the world to its core, and then—silence. The land stilled. Its decay slowed, settling into a natural pace. The kingdom rejoiced, realizing salvation had come—but the time for celebration was not yet. The land, Dragon, their home, was dead, and the people needed now to mourn him. Marie, fully grown into her calling, led the kingdom in its mourning. She guided them through the deathwork, clearing away the dead predecessor’s remnants from the fleshy infant land beneath.

In the end, it wasn’t a hero, a cure, or some great power that was key to saving them. It was their desperate attempts to resist the natural death of their land first that nearly destroyed them. For even creatures so great as an earth dragon fear death, yet must eventually surrender to that gracious host when she comes gently singing, guiding to silence the sound of their agonal prayer. (it was a slow night at work. Thank you for giving me a task to focus on. I hope you find at least one good idea with it that helps).

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