

Mars, The Dead Planet Chapter One - The Old OnesMars, The Dead Planet by ~Vlad-Man
The land had lain utterly barren for more than five million years; parched and cracked open in so many jagged seams. Or, crumbling to powder as fine as talcum, that wispy tendrils of atmosphere could yet swirl up in frail attempts to shield the ruins from a blistering, merciless sun.
Gone were the majestic spires with family colors glittering in bannered tapestries on gilded staffs. No longer did the royal pennants wave popping and snapping in the breeze from atop regal turrets of the rose stone palace. All gone reduced to an undulating sea of pumice beneath a cycloptic eye of fire burning down from the hea