The far east of the Forsaken Land of the Gods.
It was a "night" with very little lightning. Following local custom, Lin Chuan carried a lantern he had swiped from Ouroboros and walked through the endless darkness.
He looked around. The dim road had long since fallen into disrepair, and most of the buildings on either side had collapsed. Lantern after lantern hung from the few broken stone pillars beside the road.
This was not Moon City.
Earlier, Lin Chuan had taken down a lantern to inspect it. There was still a partially burned candle inside, even though a full three thousand years had passed since that war of the gods.
He looked toward a stretch of ruins on his right that had once served as a square. Rubble covered the pedestal at its center. He could just make out that it had once been a statue, though not a humanoid one.
This unknown city had probably not perished in the aftermath of the gods' war. Rather, over the course of its long suffering, its people had chosen to abandon their faith in the Ancient Sun God, who no longer answered them, and then Amon had stolen their light.
Since they abandoned their faith in the Sun, they no longer deserved to have light... Lin Chuan guessed at Amon's reasoning and found it unexpectedly reasonable.
As he thought, he kept walking east, the lantern in his hand casting a long shadow behind him.
Lin Chuan was not worried about getting lost. After all, before opening the door, Ouroboros had said, "You will reach Moon City without trouble," not, "Moon City is on the other side of the door."
Given the Snake of Mercury's abilities, he had probably bestowed some good luck on Lin Chuan, though its effects were somewhat diminished