human
Make a concise location description of a depressing scene outside a wilderness clearing with ash.
assistant
The trees thin to reveal a broad expanse of fine ash. Powder-fine dust clings to the leaves of nearby trees, fading their green to grey and killing weaker vegetation altogether. The foliage closest to the edge of the blighted clearing is stunted and gnarled, the tree limbs twisted back as if bent against a constant onslaught of wind despite the stillness of the air. Whatever force flattened the area also sunk it deeper into the ground, leaving the sea of ash a few feet lower than its surroundings.