Annan trudged through the empty streets, occasionally avoiding the source of a strange noise. Running into either Oddities or Gold Prospectors would be bad news.
As for the people from the Southern Kingdoms... Annan agreed with the Skeleton King: he doubted they could accomplish anything, so there was no need to avoid them.
Unless they decided to send a Legendary from The Faction over.
After three hours on the road, the city no longer seemed quite so dangerous... but the first night had yet to come.
The distant sky slowly turned amber as evening approached. While looking for a place to spend the night, Annan came upon an empty Square. A huge Portal stood at its center like a Giant.
As Annan stood on the ring road around the Square and looked up, the dust-covered Portal, gilded by dusk, began to glow faintly. Ripples spread across it like water, and a vast, blurred apparition emerged from the other side. It spoke in a strange language that was not the Common Tongue, yet Annan could understand it:
"The Expeditionary Fleet proclaims the will of the great Blacklight Emperor to this world. All of you are the Emperor's Slave. Offer yourselves to the Emperor—" The grandiose declaration cut off, replaced by panicked cursing. "Retreat! Retreat! This is another dead world! There are fucking monsters everywhere!"
The enormous shadow that had nearly emerged from the violently rippling Portal suddenly stopped. After a burst of dazzling firelight, the ripples settled, then vanished.
The huge Portal stood silent once more in the Square at dusk.
How strange...
Annan had already guessed what the Portal was for—a passage prepared for visitors from the Otherworld.
As for what "another dead world" meant... there were too many possibilities.
At best, it referred to Strange Tales City. At worst,