Thank you Bhavana Varma for tagging me.

1/10: "The mud on the merchant's boots was older than the ruined bridge he now had to cross."

2/10: “With every step, the mud shook off like a protection spell fading away, as it was getting closer to him.”

Here is my sentence:

3/10: The little boy observed all of this while tucked away in his hiding place in the alley.

I nominate Bryn Norel - Fantasy Author to continue the story. Here are the rules, per Byczon Epic Fantasy :

I want to start a collaborative Fantasy chain story with all of you. Let's see where our combined imaginations take us!

The Rules:

You write exactly ONE sentence to continue the story (Dialogues are allowed!).

After your sentence, you must tag EXACTLY ONE person to write the next one. Only the tagged person's sentence counts!

The Safety Net (24/48h Rule): If the tagged writer doesn't reply within 24 hours, they must nominate a new person. If there is no response after 48 hours, the turn automatically returns to the Creator of the post (me!), and I will keep the story moving!

The Weaver: The person writing the 10th sentence has a special task. You add your 10th sentence to close the current scene, and then you must paste the entire 10-sentence story together in your comment before tagging the next person to start a brand new paragraph!

Number your sentences: Every participant must start their comment with the number of their sentence (e.g., 1/10, 2/10... 9/10). This way, the 10th person instantly knows they are the Weaver. After the Weaver, the next person starts again from 1/10.