Ruske;;

      I did not wander aimlessly, as I had before. No sensation of guilt or worry drove my steps from the World’s Edge; instead, I went pulled by curiosity. My knowledge of Helovia had grown immensely since my arrival, but still blank spots remained – entire swaths of land completely unknown. I had little enough work in the World’s Edge; I yearned for more to do, and so I traveled. Hungrily, I drank in all this new land had to offer.

      Southwest I went, past the secluded green of the Secret Grove, which I knew well, and through the foreign trees beyond. One aspect of Helovia which placed it high in my regard was the amount of trees – tall, sturdy trees casting long shadows. Isilme had provoked in me a fondness for the woods, but better than that, they made a nervous old man feel marginally safer than flat ground ever had. I walked without much concern to mind; I had found little danger in this place so far, after all. My thoughts were easy as they ever had become; my limbs moved languidly beneath me.

      Then something glimmered through the trees.

      It did not provoke fear in me, though on another day it might have managed that. Instead my ears came forward and I approached the thing, which grew stranger the nearer I stepped: like a rock formation but certainly not, a multicolored dome suspended over tall, narrow pillars. Something flowing and gauzy, like spider web, fluttered near the pillars. I crept forward on reluctant feet, wariness edging out curiosity as the full strangeness of the random artifact impressed itself upon me. The air in this place hung heavy, suspended in a muffled silence, save for the brief, sharp noise of water chuckling nearby. It was like something from a story, though clearly very real.

      I stepped forward to nose at the fluttering things, and though they moved as if alive, decided they meant little harm, at the moment. Under the great dome, then… Light shone down through its surface, light in many colors, like a rainbow except no rain. It dappled my back as I entered. And why? Though I looked, I found nothing which might explain the unnatural structure. Had it been made? And if so, by who? I peered up once more through the glass, breathing in the green smell of the colored air. It was a peaceful place; it spoke of something old, of masters now forgotten with more knowledge than myself. I envied them, whoever they were, who placed this thing.

      Looking down, I pawed with a restless hoof at the dusty floor. “Tell me your secrets.” But of course, it was not alive.