As I pass through the wall my entire body tingles and then I am blinded by a bright light. As soon as I can see again my mouth drops open in shock, I can't believe what I am seeing. Unless it is some kind of illusion, I am looking at a city, a ruined city, but still a city.

It is just sitting there in the middle of a lake, I can see hundreds of buildings, and in the middle a massive column that looks like it reaches the ceiling. I can't see much of the ceiling because the light is too bright, it is as bright as the sun in summer.

From where I stand to the edge of the lake is a long rolling meadow with normal looking grass and flowers. Around the lake itself is what looks to be orchards, but I can't really see what is on the other side of the city from here. I was expecting another weird colored mushroom forest like I found beneath the mine, not something I would expect to find on the surface.

Kechara is staying close to my side, which surprises me, either she is being good and remembering I told her to stay close or something is worrying her about this place. Keeping that in mind I move slowly into the meadow, instead of rushing straight to the city which is what I want to do. No matter how I focus I can't detect any kind of threat, the meadow seems perfectly normal and peaceful.

There are even small animals here and there, from what I can see they look like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel. They stop and look at me as I pass, not showing any signs of fear, which should mean there are no predators here. Kechara stares at them but still stays by my side instead of running off to chase them.

When I reach down to pet her I find that her muscles are tense, like she is ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. I try to reassure her that everything is okay but she doesn't let down her guard for a second. Trusting there is a reason for her behavior I turn my paranoia up a few notches so all my senses are on high alert.

'Summon Bones!'

Bones says "Master?"

"Unknown area, possibility of ambush, stay alert. If we are attacked, focus on protecting Kechara."

With a nod Bones steps up to Kechara's other side so she is sheltered between us. Even with Bones now protecting her as well Kechara doesn't relax at all but I can't sense anything dangerous. As we walk across the meadows I find my attention again drawn to the city, who built it and why build here?

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If it was built by the ancient empire then the location would make some sense, after being almost wiped out by a dragon. Although this cavern is big enough for a dragon to fly in, if they kept all the entrances small enough then it couldn't get in. But if that is the case then why is the city abandoned and in ruins?

My curiosity is prodding me to move faster, but instead I keep my pace slow and my senses sharp. I don't know what Kechara is reacting to but I don't plan to let my guard down. When I ask Bones if he senses anything he points to one of the small animals and then shakes his head.

So he can't sense any danger either, but I still keep my guard up as we cross the last section of meadow. Reaching the trees around the lake I can see several different types of fruit, so this was probably an orchard. Stopping the others I pick a couple of each type of fruit and then take small bites to check for poison.

Once I am sure they are safe I offer one to Kechara, she sniffs it and then eats it before going back to looking around warily. Instead of trying to cross to the city straight away I decide to circle the lake first. As I walk I pick every ripe fruit I see and put it in my pouch, after all food is why we came down here.

Circling around the lake reveals that all that is behind the city is more meadows. The meadows go from the orchard to the walls all the way around the lake, although I do see a few more entrances. Except for one large one all the entrances I see are the same size as the tunnel we came down.

The one large one is at the very back of the cavern and is about five times the size of the others. I can't see much from here but it definitely looks like it goes down deeper. I will leave checking it out until after I have explored the city and hopefully solved the mystery of this place.

When we return to the point we entered the orchard I turn and cautiously approach the lake itself. The water is clear enough that I can see fish swimming around, but not enough that I can see the bottom. Since anything could be hiding down there I keep my guard up as I crouch on the lake's shore.

After a minute of nothing happening I scoop up a handful of water and sniff it. Not smelling anything unusual I take a small sip and find that it is completely normal water. If anything it has a slight mineral taste to it such as one would get from spring water.

Now the problem is how to get to the city, it is obvious that there used to be bridges across the lake but they have all collapsed. While keeping one eye on the water I move towards the nearest bridge. When I reach it and take a closer look I can see that it was made with marble and the seams are so fine I have trouble seeing them.

The bridge was obviously well made, and when it was intact it was probably very beautiful. The problem is I don't think a thousand years is enough time for this kind of damage. So either the bridges were destroyed intentionally or this is a lot older than the ancient empire.

Moving away from the water's edge I sit down and pull out the archmage's diary. After skimming through it for an hour I can find no mention of a city being here, it only talks about the library and the temple. Which probably means the ancient empire never found this city, and it may have been built by the race that built the temples.