Among the Ruins (Closed for Amchentai)

[amchentai]

She felt him picking up the pace but then stop. He opened his eyes and looked down at her, and locked eyes with her. He asked her with her eyes if she wanted to take his load on her face and chest or even inside her mouth, or if she wanted it deeper inside her, between her beautiful legs. His eyes seemed almost to glow, but not like the fire his pupils had when he used his attack to hold the monster, but something else. But it was so faint she might not see it in her lust. But it was easy to for the magic to invade him while he was already aroused, like slipping through open back door even if the front door was locked and barred.

 

[siobhancan99]

Sigrid punged her mouth down, taking him fully into her throat. She swallowed again and again and again to keep from gagging, then drew back and sucked firmly at the head of his cock. Her tongue grazed around and around it and her fist pumped his shaft over and over, tugging him into her mouth. Her blue eyes stared up at his and her free hand toyed with his balls, cupping and lifting them, dragging her thumb around each of them. As she felt him swell she pulled back, closing her eyes and started to pump his rigid meat faster, trying to get him to erupt.

 

[amchentai]

With a gasp Iczer came under Sigrid's stroking of his cock. Rope after rope of thick, how cum burst from his cock, srpaying her face and even her neck. But to Sigrid's surprise, he did not go soft. Even after his massive amount of cum splattered her he was still hard. And Sigrid being a magic user could also feel the faint hints of magic in his cum. Iczer stood there panting, but still hard as he looked down at Sigrid's cum covered face and neck and couldn't help but whisper out loud. "Such beauty..." He didn't even realize he was still hard. It would be easy now for Sigrid to follow the trail of Wild magic that had Iczer hard and ready to go again. However, she could tell the spell was not harmful to him or her. She had the option of choosing to take advantage of the wild sexual magic enchanting her partner, or she could seek to dispel it.

 

[siobhancan99]

Sigrid flushed as she felt spurt after spurt coating her. Having a man cum on her face always made her feel nasty in the best of ways, but it was like tehre was a damn fountain of it. She pulled back, then wiped the copious jizz from her skin. She laughed "God's above Iczer, been a while has it?" she blinked and muttered a spell to clean up, then considered the issue of Iczer's still raging erection. She let her eyes adjust, reading the flows of magic. "Iczer..." She hmmed "I regret to inform you that you're going to have to deal with whatever this is for a bit." She stood and looked around, pointing deeper into the jungle "Something in there is the cause of it. I think we can follow the trail to... well something interesting at the very least." She gestured "you may want to put it away. Or not." She grinned and then cast yet another spell as she found more of his release on her. "Let's have a look and see what it is that's so interested in keeping you hard."

 

[amchentai]

Iczer only nodded to Sigrid. He quickly dressed and followed her. "I don't feel much different. Only worked up." He said as they traveled deeper into the jungle. It became clear as day when night fell. Iczer had a soft glow of a pink-ish magic aura around him. All connected to a whisp of a trail of pink-ish smoke that trailed deeper into the Jungle.

After a while, they came upon the ruins they had come here to find. The entire place was aglow with different-colored magic. Blue, whisp-like magif flowed from what would have been fountains. Ghostly human figures danced and fucked in the streets. But a sickly green magic wormed its way through it all. Iczer could see the glow by not the details. The figures are mere blobs and roughly human-like shapes. But due to Sigrig being attuned to magic, she could see faces, details of the men cumming into the women and the ghost cum oozing out of them.

"What do you see Sigrid?" Iczer asked, as he could tell by the look on her face she was seeing more then he could. All the while he still had a hard cock, hard to miss even in his baggy Monk robes.

 

[siobhancan99]

Sigrid sighed "be glad you can't see it. I think this civilization might have fucked itself to death. Maybe they deserve whatever terrible plant thing we fought as their final punishment. There's some kind of strange green magic working its way through you." She paused for a moment, then muttered a few words and twisted her hand, slowly unravelling whatever magic it was that was making its way into the monk. "Look, just in case. I think it is best we free you from whatever compulsion might have afflicted the people of this valley." Something resisted her attentions, trying to keep its hold on the monk, but she was eventually able to sever the connection between him and whatever it was that was loose in the valley. "Maybe we should turn back"

 

[amchentai]

The spell broken, Iczer did not feel the raging hard on he had just a moment ago. But the effects still lingered. He kept looking at Sigrid with an almost hungry look in his eyes. The figures kept fucking though Iczer could not see them. To him it was just blobs of somewhat humanoid figures moving around. To Sigrid though, it was crystal clear. Beautiful women, handsome men, all having a care free and sex fueled orgy before her. Yet it was the green magic, the sickly green mist that moved among the dancing figures that worried her. It had the same thrashing that the vines had. Almost serpent-like in the way it moved.


Iczer also agreed that maybe they should leave. But Upon trying to leave, they would always just end up back in this section of the ruins. No matter how many times they tried to leave the area they would somehow end up standing in the very same spot. "Well it appears we can't leave just yet." Iczer said. Looking around, he waved his hand through one of the blob figures and his hand passed through them as if they were not there. So he continued to look around the large town square they appeared to be stuck in at the moment.

 

[siobhancan99]

Her interest was now piqued. The magic was a trap. A fascinating trap. Dimensional at the very least. Potentially time as well. Who knew how the flows of time were affected. If she had a nearby University and a supply of food she could study this phenomenon her whole life, she felt. As it was, being trapped inside it was sub-optimal. Still, an interesting puzzle for sure. "Well the thing to do is to figure out if it's the ghosts somehow keeping us here, or some sort of object or ritual." She hmmmed and looked around the square. "I don't suppose you're an exorcist hmmm?" She knew some monks were, some monks weren't. If it were the spirits they might be able to just banish them. If it were some magical trap, that would require her expertise. She sat in the square, unpacking some items so she could perform some rituals and try to analyze the flows of magical energy in the square. "It's hard to concentrate with all this ghost fucking around. Be glad you can't see it."

 

[amchentai]

Iczer shook his head. "No. That was not what I trained for as a Monk." Iczer said as he looked around with her. But around her the Ghosts seemed more interesting in fuck then anything else. It was almost as if she were the ghost. Seeing the ghostly figures fucking each other and passing through her to find new partners as if she wasn't there. Now and then, she would catch sight of the sickly green magic that moved through the area.

Iczer kept trying to walk out the way they came. Ending up just walking right back into the square where they first entered. Iczer could see the blobs, feel some of the energy moving about. But could not make out the figures as Sigrid could. He would poke one with his staff from time to time, but it would pass right through them as if there was nothing there. The mix of Magic Sigrid could feel was all over the place. Powerful wards protecting the city from deep underground. Charged sexual magic from the ghostly figures. Something elusive and dark, calling out like hushed whispers that were right at the edge of her hearing.

Iczer could feel the wards, knew better then to attack the walls to try to make an opening. He had seen wards used at the Temples he trained at. Not something he understood well enough to make a comment on, but having see bandits once attack the gate and upon their weapons hitting the wooden gates themselves, they were thrown back like leaves in the wind. He did tap one of the stone walls in the square, and indeed, a circle with an intricate pattern appeared, protecting the wall from any damage the staff might have caused. This was out of his depth, and so her took a seat next to Sigrid and waited. She would be the one to get them out of this mess.

 

[siobhancan99]

Sigrid sat in the square, seeming to do nothing. She simply breathed, from all outward appearances. She was, however, tracing the lines of magical power that seeped into the very stones of the square. They were responsible for the trap, after all. She shifted her weight a little, analyzing the complex set of runes and interlocking energy fields. "This is going to take a while." She said to Iczer "Maybe a day. Maybe more." If the wards were easy to untangle, any invader would just do it. This would require time, concentration and energy. She got out pen and paper, making some notes and drawing some diagrams. It would be easier to sit and think about this first before making an attack on the lattice of energy. The lattice had to have some manner of failsafe. After all, the locals would have to have a way to shut it off. If she couldn't figure that out, there was usually a nexus point that if it dissolved would unravel the whole thing. She grimaced, and set about doing the analysis quietly. "Don't suppose you have any food or anything in your pack? Might not be able to leave the square till tomorrow."

Sigrid tentatively tried to draw power out of the lattice, and was unfortunately rewarded with nothing. The wards were tight. They'd require a good bit of time to unravel for sure. "At least it isn't raining. right?"

 

[amchentai]

Iczer pulled his pack from his back and set it on the ground in front of him. Digging inside the small sack, a bag of holding that was much bigger on the inside then it looked. He pulled out one of the few remaining travel rations they had packed for the trip and handed it to her. Upon hearing say something about it not raining he looked to the sky as if to see if the Gods themselves had heard her. But the darkening sky was clear. He settled down near a wall out of her way as he left her work.

The magic was split into two clear sets. The Ghostly figures and the different sexual and none sexual elemental magics were mostly harmless. It was the sickly Green magic that held them here. And whoever or whatever was behind the sickly green magic knew a thing or two about spells.

The night was cool and Iczer was out of the way, resting up against a wall. The ghostly figures allowed Sigrid to work through the night, as the light they radiated enabled her to see what she was doing. Meanwhile, the sickly green magic was like a snake worming its way through the orgy on display.

 

[siobhancan99]

Sigrid slowly unweaved the magic. She had to be careful, as she wasn't sure the green source of energy wasn't sentient and wouldn't retaliate or start to rebuild the weave. She worked at it painstakingly. Undoing an enchantment of this sort of the fly wasn't exactly easy. or recommended. If she wasn't trapped in it she'd take weeks to do it. She didn't have weeks. She had hours at best. Eventually, she'd be too starved and fatigued to do it. So it was now or never. To Iczer's eyes she mostly muttered, drew in the air and seemed to pry things here and there that didn't exist. Like some sort of insane mime. Day became night and night became morning as she worked her way around the binding enchantment. Finally, she drew the last vestiges of power away from the trap and into herself, using it to restore some of her lost spell power that she'd ordinarily have regained after sleep.

"Good news, and bad news. The good news is we can leave the square. the bad news is the source of the magic I don't really dare touch for now." She leaned into Iczer, comforted by the solidity of his muscular frame "and I'm tired. Like weary to the bone and I need to sleep or I'll be fucking useless."

 

[amchentai]

What she thought was Iczer was a statue of a Hero or a heroic figure. Iczer was gone. The statue was not him either, she didn't know who it was. And as she looked around now that the spell was gone. The place did not seem as old as it used to be. No longer the ruins she and Iczer had found hours before. She hadn't noticed that the ghosts were gone now too. Though the square was empty, it did not have the same feeling it had before. The fountain was running and the air seemed fresh.

The sound of footsteps coming from nearby alerted her that someone was approaching. The sound of heavy footsteps sounded larger than a normal human. Voices could be heard as well. Deep and booming, and neither sounded like Iczer. Rounding the corner into the square came a Minotaur, an Orc and a human female. The Orc and Minotaur were in full plate, but did not look as if they even struggled to carry the weight of it. The Human woman, though stood out. Hair white as snow, and her hair emitted a magic light that gave her an almost angelic look. Her eyes closed as if she were blind, and a staff with more ruins than Sigrid knew could be enchanted to a staff.

 

[siobhancan99]

Looking Up Sigrid blinked. This was a horse of a different color. Well, and different species. And time period. She stood up and looked over the trio. On her best day she couldn't handle a Minotaur and fully armed orc. The woman was likely an arcanist of some sort as well, and likely powerful enough that she shouldn't even think about any kind of offensive action. She observed the trio for a moment, then decided her best course of action was to look like she belonged, so she went over to the fountain and splashed some water on ehr face, then refilled her canteen. She nodded at the trio as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Despite her calm demeanor she was a moment away from panic. The only thing keeping her from fully freaking out was the mystery of it all. Had she been transported back in time? Was this all some elaborate magical trap? Where the fuck was Iczer? Was he experiencing the same thing? Curiosity was enough to forestall a full on freak out. She looked around the square, trying to be casual about it for now.

 

[amchentai]

"Ah, I see..." The female said. However, her voice was less spoken and was just heard. The woman reached out her free hand towards Sigrid. Sigrid would feel a slight tug, and then as if her left arm had been caught in some invisible rope. As she would look down, she would see her arm coiled in the sickly green magic. Like a snake coiled around her arm. Her arm would be pulled towards the three who just entered the square, and with a slight pain, the sickly green magic would come off as if it were a snake. Flying to the woman's hand, she would look down at the snake-like blob, and even though she kept her eyes closed, it appeared as if she was looking at it.

"They always work in pairs..." She said, again, her mouth not moving, and only a soft, silken female voice that seemed to emanate from her. She squeezed her hand, and the runes on her staff lit up before the blob of green magic began to burn in what Sigrid could only guess was holy based magic.

"Your friend is waiting for you." She speaks and turns around slowly as the green blob of magic burns up in her grasp. It makes an ear-piercing shriek as it is consumed by the blue and white flame. The Minotaur and Orc look at each other as the green magic sound hurts their ears. But the Orc turns to follow the Human woman leaves. The Minotaur looks at you and waits.

 

[siobhancan99]

Sigrid looked down at the foreign magic, at once repulsed and fascinated. it was utterly alien to her own elemental power, and frankly she was curious but wary. She thought of trying to analyze it, but that would require more exposure and discretion being the better part of valor she let that plan go almost immediately. "who works in pairs? What the fuck is going on in this?" She frowns as she realizes the magic is foreign because it's divine. She had left the cold gods of the north behind when she left home. She had a healthy fear and respect of theurges and their ways, but they weren't her ways and defied understanding.

"where? Where is he?" She looked at the minotaur, wondering if it was easy to speak with that snout, but gave him the benefit of the doubt and assumed that he could after all "uh." She started, quite articulately "where is my friend and is he ok?"

 

[amchentai]

The Minotaur looked at Sigrid. "Your friend is fine... But it might be best if He explains things." The Minotaur said, A deep booming voice that felt like it alone could cause earthquakes. He motioned for Sigrid to follow the woman and the Orc. The path leading away from the Square was not what Sigrid thought; what had once been the ruins of a forgotten city was now alive and well. The path they followed took them along balconies that overlooked a grand city of golden stone. A massive harbor that didn't make sense given that the ruins had been in a valley before, but here she could see it and the ocean beyond. Magic crystals in small glass fixtures along the path bathed the area in a warm and dim light. Enough to see, but not bright enough to hurt the eyes. This part of the city was built into the cliff wall; she could see the half-circle of buildings around the left and right sides before they opened up to the ocean.

Upon reaching a set of large double doors, the Human woman stopped and motioned for Sigrid to enter. She, the Orc, and Minotaur made no motion to enter. Upon entering, the doors closed behind her. She was in a grand hall lined with books scattered about. It reminded her of the Temple Iczer was from in many ways. The stone work was beautiful, but the chairs and tables seemed far too simple and did not match the grand stone work of the building itself.

"Ah, so you have finally arrived." She heard a familiar voice. An older man stepped out from behind a large desk at the end of the hall. The window behind him overlooked the harbor. His hair was short, but well-kept with streaks of gray among the black hair. A short and well-kept salt and pepper colored beard sat upon the man's face, but there was no denying the fact that this man was Iczer, but much older.

"It is good to see you again Sigrig. It's been oh... About 30 years or so from my point of view." He said as he smiled at her.

 

[siobhancan99]

"It's good to see you too. It's been about 30 minutes for me though."

Sigrid screwed up her mouth. Had she been trapped for 30 years like some folk legend? Or had they both gone to the past except at different points? She was aching to find out and Iczer had the answers. She looked out the window and saw a harbor ... so they'd been transported in space as well. Or the contours of the land had changed. or both. Magic wasn't really all that explainable. That's what made it magic. She set her staff aside, then shrugged out of her pack "I could use a bath so you'll forgive me if maybe I don't hug you right away." She chuckled "You seem to have done well for yourself here, Iczer. Are you part of the government? Some kind of great hero?" She gestured out the window. "Everyone seemed to be anticipating my arrival. Or at least they were very unsurprised about it."

She inhaled and exhaled, trying to get her mind to stop spinning so she could absorb whatever details Iczer had to give her. "You look good. You know, for an old man."

 

[amchentai]

He motioned for her to follow him. He led her through the hall, down a much more normal-sized hallway. Upon reaching a spacious bathroom, he began to answer some of her questions. "I woke up from sleeping to find myself here. The city with no name. Upon which I met Synthia, the woman who led you here. I had some type of parasitic magic attached to me. Maybe the thing that kept us from escaping back then." He paused as he looked out the large window on the far side of the bathroom. Once again, looking over the harbor, sailing ships and cargo ships, unlike anything Sigrid had seen before.

"She told me that if left unchecked, it would have slowly and painfully drained my life force. And that it was always cast as a pair. I was panicked as I figured you must have been the other side of this coin. I spent years trying to find a way back, or maybe to the future... I'm honestly not sure which way we traveled. I was never good with magic after all. But either way, Synthia said that the magic would always find each other. She said the magic would always find each other. She didn't tell me it would take 30-some years to do so..." He sighed, looking out the window still, as if lost in thought as he spoke to her.

"But I have been collecting some books and scrolls over the years to help you figure out how or if we can return... As for your other questions. No. Nothing so grand. This place was given to me by an old man I met shortly before he passed away. He used to live here. I helped him a few times, and I guess I reminded him of his son. He too was lost like us. As for being part of the government, I have been in this place for nearly 30 years now, and no one knows who runs this place. We just know not to make trouble or constructs seem to appear out of thin air, and deal with any trouble with ruthless efficiency. The only way to leave the city is to go by boat. But those who leave never return... The city gates act like the magic we found in the ruins. No matter how you try to leave, you end up back in the city." Iczer looked up at Sigrig and gave him a wary smile.

"Sorry... That was a lot to dump on you at once. I will leave some fresh clothes for you on the chair outside the door." He said and bowed to Sigrid before turning to leave. There were towels piled near the door, and the grand bath in the center of the room was more like a pool with a statue of a beautiful woman. The water flows down the statue from atop its head. The room had the same beautiful stone work as she had seen before. Just the way it looked made it seem like this place was a royal palace of sorts. The same magic crystal shards inside small glass containers hung on the walls to light up the room. The small glowing shards are slowly spinning, trapped inside their glass housing. Faint magic emanating from them as well.

 

[siobhancan99]

Sigrid contemplated the information as she undressed. It was possible, she supposed, that they were not free of the trap but fully caught in it. That this was all a clever illusion and their bodies were wasting away in that same town square. That would explain why nobody could come or go, why the topography didn't match the valley and why there was a city without attendant farmland and the economic infrastructure necessary to support it. Everything here was a magical construct or inside the mind. It was possible Iczer had not been here for 30 years, bt had merely perceived it to be that long.

It was also entirely possible that he had been here thirty years, that this was some kind of pocket dimension or other anomaly and that it had a divine origin given the magic she encountered in the square. For her own part, she decided whether illusory or real she'd buy into it for now. She slipped into the heated bath, relaxing, letting the warmth of the water seep into tired muscles, aching from sleeping sitting up in the square. She inhaled the scent of the steam, picking up something vaguely floral. Lavender perhaps or lilac. One of those scents used for relaxation and soap. For now though, she just let her body drain of tension, slowly at first, working on a mental exercise she learned at the mage school. Finally, when she felt slack and peaceful she somewhat floated in the bath for a moment. She luxuriated in it. A few weeks on the road with the monk she'd had a fair share of cold stream baths with harsh soap. This was a luxury she'd enjoy even if her real body was being eaten by rats or something. She contemplated, wondering what people did with their time in this magical city, and resolved to figure out if she even wanted to leave.

The parasitic magic bit did prick at the back of her mind. Was it still an issue? She'd need to find that out for sure.

 

[amchentai]

*Iczer fetched some simple robes for Sigrid to change into. Simple, he thought as he placed the robes down on the chair just outside the bathroom. They were far from simple. They were softer than anything he had come across before, and edged with fine gold silks. As he looked around this whole place was far from simple. Luxury beyond what he knew the Kings and Queens could even dream of. The lights dimmed and brightened with the time of day and need. Always being at the right levels of light, regardless of the time of day or weather outside. He returned to the grand hall and the desk. He neatly set aside some books and Scrolls he knew Sigrid would most likely want to look over. Collected over the last 30 years from the merchants who would come through on the ships. Merchents who he could not remembers the faces or names of. As if they were ghosts or spirits of some kind. Always there, but never alive. He sat down in the large, comfy chair behind the desk at the end of the grand hall that was his home. A gift from the old man he once helped. This chair, grander than even the throne of the King that ruled over the area he and Sigrid were in before finding the ruins. It even allowed him to turn in place and look out the window. The once clear skies were now full of clouds as rain began to fall. The sound always helped soothe him. He closed his eyes as he listened to the rain outside.

Inside the Bathroom, above Sigrig, the large glass ceiling soon was being flooded by the rain that had seemed to come out of nowhere. Though flash storms and weather were not totally uncommon near the sea. She might not have even noticed the crystal shades adjusting their brightness as the whole room was still bathed in the even lighting from when she entered.

 

[siobhancan99]

Sigrid sat in the bath a bit, and looked up at the ceiling as the rain started. The patter of the fat droplets was soothing, she felt like she could fall asleep if it was dark, but it wasn't with the magical lights in the room. She considered a moment. The use of magic here wasn't just prolific. it was extravagant. Wasteful. Magic at points for the purpose of magic, at least to her mind. It was fascinating, as it implied a society so rich in magic it could use it for conveniences like this. It was at once inspiring and a little off putting. she stood, taking a fluffy towel and drying her lean tall body. She put on a robe and marvelled at the exquisite nature of it. Surely magical in and of itself. The way it slid along her skin was almost like the caress of a lover.

She moved along into another room adjoining the bathroom and looked out a window, not seeing much as the driving rain obscured the rest of the city. She wondered if it was illusory, designed to reduce the drain on magic that might come if the entire city were a construct designed to fool those trapped inside. She wondered if Iczer himself was an illusion, drawn from her own mind. Was she sitting in that square still? Was there a real Iczer worried because she hadn't come out of her magical trance? Was she about to be eaten by some kind of terrible magical monster? Did she care?

That was the real question. If she lived a lifetime in an illusion, if illusion this was, what was the harm in that? Was there some virtue in reality? She felt the softness of the robe again and considered that perhaps there wasn't. Maybe there'd be a bevy of beautiful girls and handsome young men to go along with her luxurious surroundings. If she was being eaten by something in reality, it wasn't a bad way to go.

Moving back into the main area she regarded Iczer behind his desk. She couldn't even ask him questions to determine if he was Iczer, as the answers would be drawn from her head if he weren't. An interesting and philosophical conundrum, but for now she had more normal concerns. "So what do we do for money? Is there work? How do we eat?"

 

[amchentai]

Iczer slowly turned back to face Sigrid. The same questions ran through his mind shortly after he arrived here as well. "Yes and no... Bottomless coin bag." He pointed to a small bag on his desk. It looked like any other coin bag, but if she was to grab it and attempt to empty it an endless stream of coins would fall from the bag.

"Again, yes and no. There is work, like any other city. You get paid, as pointless as it is, and spend money to buy things. Books, Scrolls. This city has everything, yet it is almost meaningless." She had known him long enough before this all happened to know if he was making a joke, and by all signs, he was not.

"Eat as much as you want. It all reappears when needed or comes morning. Taverns and food stalls never have a want for product. Drink till you can't drink anymore. I tried that in the early years. Even the toilets have magic that will clean you when you are finished..." He stood and gave her a warm, but tired smile. He slowly walked around his desk and motioned to a pile of books and scrolls.

"I bought these from the traders that come through the port. Books about magic, magic that would or is forbidden from where we come from." The stack of books looked well kept but looked new. The gold lining of the books had the same feel of being for royalty. Yet she could see that they were not written by the same hand or pen. If this place were merely an illusion, whoever crafted it was a master of the art.

"I'm sorry I could not be more... aimed on the topics. These are books on time magic and long-term displacement. If you need something more specific, then you can ask Synthia to help you find it. And if it is not among the books and tomes at the local library, then we can make a request of the many traders who come through the harbor.

"Oh, and if you were anything like me and worried that the lighting would keep you up at night... Don't worry, those crystals seem to be able to read one's mind. They dim when you lay down to rest..." Iczer told her. Again, it all felt real. Nothing felt off other than how openly magic was being used for even the smallest details.

Iczer returned to his chair and waited for any more questions for Sigrid, he knew she probably had a better idea of the questions to ask since she understood magic better. He had tried reading up on it, but being unable to tap into the magic powers himself, it was not something he kept up with. The rain outside the window was soothing, soft, but steady. No thunder or lightning to disrupt the sound of it hitting the window and roof of the building. The lights of the city blooming softly outside from the cliffside home

 

[siobhancan99]

"I have a lot of questions but I'm not entirely sure they will let me know anything even if I have the information" She considered for a moment "Is anyone born here? like are there children? Or does everyone sort of appear here as an adult?" She wasn't sure, entirely what that would mean in terms of escaping or even if she wanted to escape. "Also I saw evidence of divine magic. Is there a central religion?" She felt if she probed a little at the society it might give her answers, or it might not. "Are the people you interact with persistent?" Iczer might not even be necessarily aware if they weren't "Like, have you had long time friends here? If so have any died while you are here or do people just disappear?" The whole thing was fascinating and strange. She got up and walked over to a cabinet, taking a bottle of spirits out of it and pouring herself a glass. She lifted it and sniffed, strangely it smelled like the distilled fermented honey flavored with herbs that her people drank. That it should be here coincidentally seemed too clever by half. Still, she downed it, feeling the firey liquid warm her as much as the bath. "Do you have a wife? A husband?" She turned and swirled her glass a little after refilling it "Is anyone actually from here?"

 

[amchentai]

"Yes, this is by all accounts a fully functional town. Families and kids are running around the streets during the day. There are people like you and me who appear out of thin air once in a while." Iczer explains to her, having seen people who have just appeared on the street. "Some of them stay and some leave by the boat... But anyone who has left by boat has never been seen again." Iczer turned back to Sigrid to answer a question she would ask him right after. "We do see the same people on the boats that come and go, who trade goods and such. I know one of the merchants whom I often buy books from. Most of the books in that stack there are from a man named Ner'wel. A human male who had a family with a wife and daughter. Though I never met them as they were from his homeland far across the sea." He told her.

"As for the magic. I sadly don't know much about that. As for religion, we have many. No one religion rules over the city. There is a temple near the city square that features a small area dedicated to each of the religions commonly found in the city." Iczer told Sigrid. He smiled warmly at her, having missed her curiosity that was unlike anyone he had met in the city.

"Yes, I've made friends, know some of the shop owners and tavern keeps. And have been working with Synthia for a while now. She is the one who said you would appear at some point due to the way the magic parasite thing works." He told her. He turned and looked up at the high ceilings of the long hall that served as the grand entrance to his home. "Yes, people die. Due to not being able to have a proper burial outside of the city in a graveyard. We load the bodies onto a small single-person boat. Light a fire to it and let the ocean currents carry the burning boat out to sea. Like I said before. I only live here because the old man I helped and worked for in the early years left me this house." Iczer told her.

"No, never married. I've spent the last 20 years or so seeking books, tomes, and scrolls on magic for when you would show up. Hoping you will be able to figure out what the heck happened. The first 10 years were just settling into life here. Working odd jobs, earning enough to stay at the inn. I mean, other than the fact that you can't leave the city by normal means, it is a normal, large-scale city." He told her, leaving out the part about him having spent some of his early money made on nights with some of the local woman. He doubted she wanted to hear about that anyway.