all along

These lands were hard to stomach, an island with nothing but death and despair was not the place for the emotionally weak Empress. She could hide her inner turmoil easily enough but she could feel the tug in the corner of her eyes as she looked at the struggling plants life and the desolation around them. The greenish orange tints were like poison reaching through the ground and the trunks of the dead and dying trees.

Duch’s words disrupted her thoughts, she warned there would be repercussions if either of them tried to take a drink or find a bite to eat here and Venom couldn’t argue. "No, I don’t believe there is.” Venom concurred softly as the pair of them arrived at the end of the island. She didn’t regret coming here, and would keep it in mind just in case there really was something she could find use here for.

"Venom"