The street leads me through another broken gateway surrounded by more of the dead. I am so accustomed to them at this point that I hardly pay the bodies any heed, stepping around them with little thought as I make my way through the large gateway and into a wide, open courtyard.
It is unexpectedly absent of the fallen, though it like the rest of the town is surrounded by rubble and ash. The layout seems familiar and reminds me of the Warrior District, yet there is something foreign to it, a peculiar aura that makes me feel like I am no longer alone. A foul whisper on the wind, one similar to what I
experienced in the caverns, confirms this.
"You're a strange one to be in a place such as this," a voice sounds all around me.
I become startled and spin in every direction trying to locate the speaker. As my eyes wander, I see more figures in the shadows, but each disappears as soon as I spot it.
"Where are you?" I stammer.
A calm and deep laughter softly bounces off of the air and rubble all around me. It seems unhuman, like it is being carried throughout this place by some strange power. I heard many tales of dark and mystifying things as a child, but I never believed any of them. Now, I am not so sure.
"Do you hide yourself with some strange magic?" I ask.
"Perhaps, but that is no business of yours," the voice replies, this time in a distinct direction I am able to follow.
A road beyond the courtyard leads directly into the great structure that presides over the city, and that seems to be where the being is calling me from. Things remain silent for a moment as I follow the road and collect my thoughts.
"Who are you?" I eventually ask, this time with more confidence in my voice.
"This is my domain," it calmly responds, "and you are the intruder here. I think it would be polite for my guest to introduce herself first, don't you?"
I feel unsafe offering up my identity too quickly, so I ask something else instead.
"Should I fear you?"
"That all depends."
"On what?"
"On who you are and why you have come here."
The voice sounds much closer now as the whole of the large structure comes into clear view only a hundred feet beyond me. It is hollow in several places, many of its walls having collapsed, but the main entrance remains unbroken and in good condition. That is where I sense that the voice is coming from. I don't know if it expects me to go inside, but I am too apprehensive to move any closer, so I stop and wait.
A shadowy personage then emerges from inside, one who carries the veiled aura of a man, a warrior, though his face is covered by a thin mask of some sort. As he descends the steps from the entrance down to the street, I realize that he is larger than any person I have ever seen and moves more like a spirit floating on the air than a living creature. Surprisingly, this does not scare me. In fact, I've become somewhat calmer now that I can see who it is I'm talking to.
"Your thoughts intrigue me," he says, his voice sounding much more alive and human than it did before.
"Can you hear them?" I ask nervously, his comment making me feel like he is uncomfortably close even though he is still fifty feet away from me, slowly stepping closer.
"Yes, and no," he concedes. "There are some creatures who possess such powers, and I am one such being. It is no simple task, however, to enter the mind of another. Doing so is like planting a seed, one that requires time to grow and flourish. The mind is a maze, a labyrinth that only the master understands at first. Yes, I am inside of yours, but I can only sense how you feel. I would have expected someone as small and as fragile as you to be much more afraid than you are."
There is something about his words that make me feel like he does not mean to harm me, though I immediately reject this idea and assume my calmness itself to be the result of some enchantment of his doing. I have no desire to reveal more than I already have, so I try to change the focus of our conversation.
"What happened to this place?" I ask.
"That is a good question," he replies, stopping only a few feet from me.
Seeing him up close does little to make me feel at peace about him. Whatever he is, it is not human. He stands twice my height, his skin and muscles almost nonexistent as though they are translucent and reveal only his bones beneath. The armor he wears is made of a peculiar white metal and bonds with his bones as though they are one and the same.
"I don't know," he says lightly. "It is a strange scene of life and death for somewhere as desolate as this high plain."
I was right. This area is a higher part of the plains. If I continue beyond this ruined city, I might be able to get beneath the mist and find Eliana, though I get the feeling that this creature before me isn't going to simply let me leave. I also get the impression that he is lying to me.
"I find it a little strange that you wouldn't know." I respond. "Would a being as wise as you choose to dwell in a place like this without knowing the force behind its destruction?"
"You are much cleverer than I gave you credit for," he says, his voice becoming more serious. "You will find that much in these plains is not as it first seems."