3. Doom

Doom did not descend upon Ringhaven like a storm. It crawled in patient, quiet. Some blame a dragon, a once-floral guardian corrupted by unknown forces. It was spotted circling the mountains weeks before the final exodus, its body veined with black roots, petals wilting like skin from bone. Where its breath once healed, now it spread pollen that choked fields and poisoned wells. Others whisper that doom was summoned from within, that certain townsfolk had begun conducting rituals in secret, drawing energy from the Ring not to protect but to control. Whatever the cause, doom settled in like winter, and none who stayed past the final red moon were ever seen again.