The train from Berlin to Vienna was not as arduous a journey as Bruno had anticipated. However, the moment he crossed the border, it felt as though he had stepped into an entirely different world.
Once fertile and productive, the land now lay barren—not by design, but as a symptom of societal collapse. Farmers, too addicted to substances, neglected their fields, lost in stupors of intoxication.
The young men returning from war, having seen too much violence and indulged in too many government-issued narcotics, were in no state to rebuild their lives, let alone their homeland. Of all the crises plaguing the Austro-Hungarian Empire—long-standing issues left to fester for decades—addiction had been the least expected yet the most insidious.
