A mountain split into four sections, two intersecting valleys run through it that look like it was cut by a giant knife. It’s dark, the mountain silhouetted and rain pours from the sky.

On the mountain I meet an old crone who speaks in nonsensical meaningless rhymes. A single maroon horn protrudes from the centre of her forehead and dinosaur scales run along her arms and legs. I take shelter from the rain next to her under an outcropping for a rest.

When I stand to leave she stops me, thanking me for keeping her company, and hands me a small mummified head. The head looks like it’s screaming in agony and inside its eyes and mouth are dark voids. Apparently this is used as a catalyst for the type of magic that only works on this mountain.

Further up the mountain I come across a city. I am stopped outside the gates of the City of Tears by a narcissistic guard who tries to kill me. He ends up being killed by my hand and before long more guards come outside to check on what happened. The guards are not at all bothered by his death and offer me the dead man's job. I take it as I have very little money on me and it’s a way into the city.

Inside the city for my duties I am assigned to patrol over one of the numerous portals that line the wall of the mountain. These are used to get all over the mountain quickly for things like resources.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

Some other guy is assigned with me and we both enter the portal. The portal leads to an underground area that looks like an abandoned mine. Not long into the patrol through the mines does the man try to kill me as well. I learned that this is commonplace but violence is forbidden inside the city.

I knock him out and strip him of his valuables before leaving him to die here. I break the control panel for the lift that leads to the portal on the way out so he has no way up or out.

…

I am assigned a new partner and are told to enter the same portal and fix the malfunctioning lift. We fix the elevator and head down to the room where I killed the other guy. I managed to get him to not notice the dead body.

Even deeper into the exploration of the mines, at a split in the pathway I see my new partner stealthily pulling his knife from its sheath. He spins around to try to stab me and catch me by surprise but I already had my own knife out and smoothly slit his throat. I turn back to leave after reaching a dead end and marking it on a map I have.

When I return the city is empty. Looking up I see that the rain has let up and there are no clouds in the sky but it is still dark. The sky is completely blotted out by giant wings made of coiled flesh. A monster that’s painful to look at walks by me. A piece of rubble falls down somewhere else and the creature snaps its head to it and rushes towards it. I couldn't notice much about the creature but I know that it doesn't have eyes.

I can’t find a single person in the city no matter where I search. Near the front gate that I entered the city from I see a cat stalking along the ramparts, its eyes are missing and strands of muscle that looks like a flower blooms from its forehead.