Dawnlark Plains through gutters filled with black debris

The world had gone mad. Absolutely mad. There was a rising din in the air and a darkness to the horizon which Betelgeuse had pointedly ignored — but then it came, fast and hard, as he was passing through the trees. The locusts overtook the forest without thought and without prejudice, filling the air with their noise; he was left standing by chance alone, overwhelmed by their sudden onslaught and immense appetite. They worked their way through everything green — and Betelgeuse watched them, twitching at every touch they granted him, being transfixed and awed by the carnage they left behind.

He slunk away to a dark place and hid there for hours on end. Sleep did not come — the sound of them swallowed him up, and Betelgeuse was stuck in a state of wakeful silence, watching as the bugs worked. he thought of nothing. Not the quest to find his brother, nor the whereabouts of his sister, or anything else — he just watched. Then, as the din slowly left the area, Betelgeuse pulled himself from his secret spot and began to survey the world left behind.

For starters, there was nothing here.

The grass had been worked over and only open patches of soil were left. They reminded him of fresh wounds where fur refused to grow. Some patches were so bad that Betelgeuse found only the dead bits of bugs. Not even any roots were left in others. The next thing he realized was that @Gypsy wasn't anywhere to be found; he had not seen her in his departure from the trees, and the plains no longer held the tall reeds which could obscure his view. The piggish man was left with nothing but dirt - dirt, and the faraway mountains - and so he turned towards them and began a fresh march.